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Why 4:3?

by Mike Schramm Feb 2nd 2010 at 5:30PM

Kirk McElhearn over at Macworld has attempted to answer the very first question I've had since I first heard that the iPad wasn't going to be in a widescreen format: Why 4:3? The answer: because for the majority of things you'll be using your iPad for, that's the right resolution you'll want. Magazines, books, the web, productivity, and so on, McElhearn argues that 4:3 is the right way to go.

Of course, taste plays a factor in there -- I prefer to browse the Internet on a widescreen monitor, actually, and I think games, which I'll be playing a lot of on my iPad when I eventually get one, tend to work better with a wider field of view. And let's be honest, the 4:3 ratio only allows Apple to start small and go with an "iPad XL" or an "iPad HD" in the future, widening the screen and perhaps even upping the resolution.

But McElhearn makes a good point that the 4:3 ratio has been Apple's home until only just recently, and for most objects that you hold in your hands and read like the iPad, from magazines to newspapers, the 4:3 ratio still fits. The ratio likely won't affect sales at all, but we'll have to see if movie watchers hold out for a better format for their media.

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Kirk McElhearn over at Macworld has attempted to answer the very first question I've had since I first heard that the iPad wasn't going to...
 

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Eric

Here are the specs for the ipad at a glance http://gopost.info/79

February 03 2010 at 12:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
davemorgan


This argument about the 4:3 ratio for movies on the iPad perplexes me. There is a maximum size for a convenient portable reader, and as a Kindle DX owner, I can say the iPad and DX are about it. If the device was made 16:9, it would have to be made NARROWER, not TALLER... or else the thing would just be too cumbersome to carry around. So movies on it would be exactly the SAME SIZE!!!! The dimension of the device is constrained by the LONG SIDE of the aspect ratio. A 16:9 iPad with the same SHORT DIMENSION as the 4:3 one would be RIDICULOUS!!

February 03 2010 at 9:41 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kent

I personally hate the 16:9 format. Especially on my home entertainment system. The 4:3 is by far the best for viewing. I don't have to continually turn my head or get further back to view. I have read all the reasons to like 16:9 and I don't buy it. If you are actually in a theater with a curved screen and are viewing a action movie, maybe. But, don't keep screwing up systems with widescreen. I watch lots of sports and the 4:3 ratio works by far the best for them.
I have not been to a regular theater in a long time, because I like the home theater sounds, picture and seating much better. I can't stand looking at photographs on wide screen. Probably only half of my 20,000 pictures are taken horizonal. Most people pictures are vertical. I don't want a device I have to continually turn to view. Only turn when I really want to see bigger.

February 03 2010 at 8:49 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Yoshi1080

"But McElhearn makes a good point that the 4:3 ratio has been Apple's home until only just recently, ..."

Err – no? Cinema Displays have been 16:10 since about 2000, PowerBooks have been 15:10 since the introduction of the Titanium design in 2001 and 16:10 since the aluminium design in 2003 or 2004, and iMacs have been 16:10 since about 2003. It fact, Apple was one of the first companies to use wide(r) screens. In computer terms this is like a century!

February 03 2010 at 7:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
JAQ

16:9 is good for making and watching movies. It can be helpful if you're running two apps side by side. But for a device running a web browser, book reader, mail client, games that aren't about running around shooting at people, etc, etc, and only displaying one of them at a time, 16:9 would be incredibly bad design.

February 03 2010 at 7:22 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to JAQ's comment
balls

you hit the key point: if you're only allowed to do one thing at a time, then 4:3 makes sense.

February 03 2010 at 1:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Marcello

"But McElhearn makes a good point that the 4:3 ratio has been Apple's home until only just recently"

oh, really?
tell that to my 2002 powerbook...
that's 7 years ago...

February 03 2010 at 2:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
balls

Garbage. I use a wide screen monitor, and I run more than one app at a time.

I know TUAW is all about apple, but don't fucking support every idea they have, even if it's garbage (and yes the ipad in its current state is garbage).

February 03 2010 at 12:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to balls's comment
David Ahn

If you don't like it, make your own and see how many people buy it. Apple has 35,000 employees way smarter than you. I don't agree with everything Apple does, in fact they infuriate me often with their decisions (Only AT&T?!? No Flash?!? No physical keyboard?!?). But in the end, nobody makes cooler, more esthetically pleasing devices with better UI's than Apple.

4:3 is about flexibility and the ability to use all the screen real estate most of the time. None of your powerbooks or desktop monitors or TVs are designed to flip to portrait mode, nor are they designed to have a touch-typeable virtual keyboard take up the lower 2/3 of the screen (4/5 if it was widescreen).

David

February 03 2010 at 4:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
balls

Ah spoken like a true moran.

Yes, I couldn't ever come up with something better, seeing as I am one man. But I sure as fuck could improve on what they've come up with.

Apple employs 35,000 employees. Not all of them are engineers. Some of them are retards just like you (after all thats how they do such a great job with your type).

Apple does make some awesome looking, and well designed devices. That's not the issue.

Apple also does a great job with killing older (what they feel is obsolete tech) while attempting to support newer technology. Pioneers of FW400, then FW800; pioneering Display Port, LED LCD's, HTML5, Multitouch, 802.11n and many more.

That's not to say they don't get things wrong from time to time. the Original iPhone missed by not having 3g, and requiring special head phone adapters. When this was announced, there were Apple cumwhores much like yourself out there to defend this decision by saying things like "Apple's 35000 engineers are smarter than you."

Yes, 4:3 is great for browsing the web. If thats all you are going to be fucking doing. With a larger device such as the iPad, it should support multitasking. Why can't I have iChat open along side safari? Why am I constrained to only having one application open at a time? On a phone, makes sense. On a device that is a "Netbook killer" I expect more.

I suspect Apple is content to release a "supersized itouch" because morans that love all things apple will buy it, which will subsidize the cost for the proper devices that the rest of the planet will love.

February 03 2010 at 1:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
HÃ¥kan

You are all forgetting the most important reason: the on-screen keyboard!

Imagine yourself a 16:9 iPad. In vertical orientation, how large would the OSK be? Not large enough is my guess. In horizontal orientation, how much screen real estate would it cover?

February 03 2010 at 12:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mystic

Wow, will the complaining ever stop? I EASILY prefer the 4:3 screen for a tablet. Easier to view web pages, easier to use multi-touch, a good use of space.

February 02 2010 at 11:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
iAmInTheHouse

Personally, I would have preferred an aspect ratio the same as the iPhone screen - 1.5:1 - but I guess 4:3 isn't too far off, so it doesn't really worry me too much. Maybe in future versions of the iPad the ratio will change, who knows. I'm fine with it how it is at the moment.

February 02 2010 at 9:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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