Prior to the announcement rumors of Apple hording OLED screens were rampant and possibly true. But if they were true it was a move by Apple to maintain what might be the tightest lid on info about a device in history. What we got was a 10 inch IPS LCD. If you know much about LCD or big screen TVs you know that the most popular king of LCD is the TFT.
So, what does that mean for consumers?
Aside from cost there are really there are two big pros and cons.
The Con
IPS required twice as many transistors per pixel than TFT TN. Roughly, twice the transistors equals twice the power consumption. More power consumption by the screen of course means less battery life. Steve Jobs said that they were able to achieve up to ten hours of batter life from the device. I’m betting that it’s far less than that. Only time will tell what real world use will attain but I think it’s unlikely to be a perfect ten.
The Pro
One good thing for consumers about having an IPS screen on the Apple iPad is that it provides a powerful backlight. A powerful backlight mean for users that they’ll get a wider better viewing angle for the device. Also IPS screens are able to provide more accurate color. This means a great deal for a device that will be used in your lap or on the Apple kickstand or dock accessory.
A little history on the Apple A4 processor
