Apple iPad 2 faces iPhone 4, 3GS in an epic display shootout

The iPad 2 has already gone through dozens of reviews after its launch, but none of them is as scientific as this one. The guys over at DisplayMate have compares the tablet's 1024 x 768 pixels screen to the iPhone 4 Retina display and the iPhone 3GS modest HVGA screen.

Here's some of the more interesting findings from the review - the iPad 2 display has a maximum brightness of Brightness 410 cd/m^2, which is pretty good, but not quite as impressive as the 541 cd/m^2 achieved by the iPhone 4 and even slightly short of the 428 cd/m^2 of the 3GS.

However the black levels of the iPad 2 are the deepest of the trio at 0.43 cd/m^2 (iPhone 4 got 0.48 cd/m^2 and the 3GS 3.1 cd/m^2), which gave it a contrast ratio of 962:1. That's nearly seven times better than the 3GS but not quite as good as the iPhone 4. Still both the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4 pulled off excellent numbers, considering their LCD nature.

Also the color temperature of the iPad 2 is said to be lower than that of the iPhone 4 so colors appear slightly warmer on the slate, compared to the smartphone.

Apple iPad 2 vs iPhone 4 vs iPhone 3GS display shootout results table

As far as viewing angles are concerned, all of the three tested devices lost more than 50 percent of their brightness at a 30 degree viewing angle, but the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4 still had pretty good contrast at that point (564 and 556 respectively).

Finally, the reviewers measured the different screens power consumption. The iPhone 4 was found to need the least power at maximum brightness (0.42 watts), while the iPad 2 was sucking 2.7 watts. If you level the field by setting both to the same brightness and divide the iPad 2 consumption by the amount that its screen is larger then the iPhone 4, you get a pretty similar power efficiency though (0.32 watts for the handset vs 0.34 watts for the tablet).

And it's a pretty good indicator of the progress Apple made when you compare the iPhone 4 to the 3GS. The HVGA screen on the previous-gen smartphone requires almost twice the power of its successor.

Check out the complete iPad 2 screen review by following the source link below.

Source