Best Android display viz iPad Retina

pfgpowellpfgpowell Posts: 5,347
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Just been staying with my sister who has a 3rd generation iPad, whereas I only have a lowly 8.9 Samsung Tab (first generation if there was more than one generation). We were watching the world cup on both, and her picture was streets ahead of mine. Now I can't afford to splash out on an iPad (and anyway I rather like Android) but can anyone suggest an Android tablet which comes pretty close to the very good display on the iPad?

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  • Rodney McKayRodney McKay Posts: 8,143
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    pfgpowell wrote: »
    Just been staying with my sister who has a 3rd generation iPad, whereas I only have a lowly 8.9 Samsung Tab (first generation if there was more than one generation). We were watching the world cup on both, and her picture was streets ahead of mine. Now I can't afford to splash out on an iPad (and anyway I rather like Android) but can anyone suggest an Android tablet which comes pretty close to the very good display on the iPad?

    I have an LG Gpad 8.3 and that has a noce 1920 x 1200 display, only cost £119 from Tesco when they had them on sale at Easter!
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    Some would argue it's not all about the resolution.
  • alan1302alan1302 Posts: 6,336
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    Stig wrote: »
    Some would argue it's not all about the resolution.

    And they would be right - resolution is part of it but a quality screen at a lower res is usually better to look at than a poor high resolution screen.
  • psionicpsionic Posts: 20,188
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    Stig wrote: »
    Some would argue it's not all about the resolution.

    A bright display with good colour gamut more important IMHO. Higher res is obviously desirable but more pixels alone don't necessarily make a better display.
  • pfgpowellpfgpowell Posts: 5,347
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    Stig wrote: »
    Some would argue it's not all about the resolution.

    To be honest I 'know' about resolution and pixels per inch and the rest, but what I am really looking for are subjective views. For example my Samsung Tab (as I say 1st generation) seems to have a decent spec, but when it came to watching the football on the screen compared to my sister's iPad, there as no contest. Her's was sharp, as good as a TV screen, whereas mine was blurry when there was action etc. The Samsung is fine for watching pretty static action when using it to watch internet TV, but for sports it seems to me to be pretty useless.
  • Anika HansonAnika Hanson Posts: 15,629
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    Some of the top end android devices like the Samsung galaxy tab pro line or even the new nexus 7 on paper rival the iPads screen. I say on paper as I've not done a direct comparison, but I don't see why they wouldn't be just as good or better considering that a lot of android phones have stunning displays.
  • Anika HansonAnika Hanson Posts: 15,629
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    pfgpowell wrote: »
    To be honest I 'know' about resolution and pixels per inch and the rest, but what I am really looking for are subjective views. For example my Samsung Tab (as I say 1st generation) seems to have a decent spec, but when it came to watching the football on the screen compared to my sister's iPad, there as no contest. Her's was sharp, as good as a TV screen, whereas mine was blurry when there was action etc. The Samsung is fine for watching pretty static action when using it to watch internet TV, but for sports it seems to me to be pretty useless.

    The iPad 3rd gen has a much higher resolution display than any of the first, second or third generation samsung galaxy tabs.
  • GeordiePaulGeordiePaul Posts: 1,323
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    I've had a Samsung note pro 10.1 with a 2560x1600 resolution that looked poor to my eyes with over saturated colours and the pentile display reduced sharpness to way less than what you would expect from a display with that resolution.

    I've also had a Sony z2 tablet which was decent but only 1920x1200 and you can tell it could be slightly sharper, but to most intents and purposes, is pretty nice.

    But it's no match for the iPad Air. There may be tablets with higher resolutions or dpi but the colours are rich and vibrant, blacks are good and everything just looks really nice. Even compared to my iPad mini retina, which has a higher sharpness, the screen is definitely more pleasing to the eye and it's not just because it's bigger, it just looks more vibrant.

    My iPad mini retina is the best small tablet screen I've seen yet, the nexus 7 came pretty close but not quite there.
  • D_Mcd4D_Mcd4 Posts: 10,438
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    I have a 1080p screen res. HD videos and photos look amazing but the bbc iplayer stuff looks crap at times especially fast moving images like footie. Maybe the Apple app has better processing to make the video look better? That is if you are using the bbc iplayer, if not ignore this post:)
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    The Tab is Samsungs basic product so the screen might not even be made by Samsung.
    The difference between the Fire HDX and the iPads are meant to be night and day too, in favour of the HDX. The new Nexus 7 is said to beat the iPad too.

    Bear in mind that the iPad screen is a mixture of different brands, Sharp, LG or Samsung, that is why quality is middling.
    That looks sensible, of the 3 its HDX first, followed by the Air, followed by Retina Mini.
    But of course you might not get the exact same screen with your Air, so it could be further behind.

    I'd possibly slot in the 2013 Nexus 7 into 2nd, ahead of the Air.
  • whoever,heywhoever,hey Posts: 30,992
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    Nexus 10 has a better display than a samsung tab.
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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  • David (2)David (2) Posts: 20,632
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    I am using a 3 week old new iPad mini with retina display.
    The display quality and the text input are the best features of it....the picture and video playback are higher than a "full hd" TV, and it shows.. After playing back some video in hd on it, then looking at broadcast TV on my TV, it really shows up how far ahead the mini retina display is. The only time my TV gets close is when showing a hd channel or playing a Blu-ray Disc. also, if you view any low quality pics on the iPad, they actually don't look that good, especially if you zoom in in them, as the very high quality resolution shows up all the imperfections in the pic. A high quality pic, though, looks stunning.
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    Was it the high bit rate of the video or the shrunken artefacts due to the small screen that did it? On that subject of video and such like, no one ever talks about the dull greyness of the screens.

    I do find it weird where people talk about colour whilst ignoring not being able to handle blacks properly. There OLED wins for its near perfect blacks/grey scale giving a better all round picture. On the Vita with both an LCD version and a Super AMOLED version the AMOLED is preferred. In the English speaking west I think that anti-OLED movement does reality. Its not really a movement, its just that it stays very low key, despite the superior features of that expensive tech.
  • kidspudkidspud Posts: 18,341
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    I would always recommend the person buying the device to compare any that you plan to buy yourself.

    When I bought my iPad mini, the nexus 7 was the main alternative. I spent a fair amount of time on both before choosing the iPad.

    Overall quality was just way better on the iPad and the OS ran a lot smoother. I was already an android user and have no problem using both.
  • David (2)David (2) Posts: 20,632
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    I also looked at lots before going for iPad.
    One thing I don't like about other designs is android, it's just so messy with features dotted all over the place.
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    A wide range of features versus a limited subset then?
    Those 'dotty' ones could do with a better description though.
  • David (2)David (2) Posts: 20,632
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    No point having multiple routes to the same feature.
  • D_Mcd4D_Mcd4 Posts: 10,438
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    Android having too many features is a complaint I have seen before from people who prefer iOS however the OP is interested in a good screen rather than android Vs apple. Aren't Nexus 10 tabs a good deal at the moment as a new one is due soon? The screen is HD and the device is still capable.
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    It is a bit of daft thread.

    Picture quality mainly depends on 'bit rate', that mainly overriding any screen quality.
    Also the iPad Retina quality varies, either between model or the luck of the draw on screen manufacturer, Samsung reckoned being the best on the iPads.

    I also think the new Tab Pro might well be with us because Apple have moved further into buying alternative cheaper displays.
  • corfcorf Posts: 1,499
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    Its possible its the app not the screen. IMHO (while it may have changed) a lot of android apps use a generic resolution due to the fragmentation of screen sizes etc. iplayer was much worse on android than apple for a long time, im not even sure its caught up now.
  • chandlerpchandlerp Posts: 4,924
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    Many many android apps are still developed for phone screens and as such look a bit washed out or stretched on the larger screens.
  • grumpyoldbatgrumpyoldbat Posts: 3,663
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    chandlerp wrote: »
    Many many android apps are still developed for phone screens and as such look a bit washed out or stretched on the larger screens.

    Unfortunately that can only be solved by developers not being so lazy and creating suitable graphics for higher resolution screens. It's not a hardware fault. It stands to reason that if you make your graphics the correct resolution for the smallest screen devices, they'll look rubbish when scaled up to higher resolution screens, regardless of how good the scaling algorithm is within the OS.
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