01 April 2012 | The New iPad is Ruining the Internet

My new iPad is ruining the Internet for me.

I've got to admit that I have buyer's remorse about getting the new iPad. I didn't need it. Yes, it's heavier, although only by 20-plus grams but I notice it. Yes, it's warmer, but the whole litany of complaints about it seem more like bitching for the sake of bitching than having a faulty product. My iPad 2 ran very cool, almost cold, but this one is warmer. However, I don't need any Consumer Report branded gloves for it.

The biggest difference, as has been noted before, is the screen. You know, it really does make a difference, especially when you're reading an e-book. While I prefer iBooks to Amazon's Kindle, even I did a double take when opening up the latter's updated app to read a chapter from a book. Text--the thing we see all day long on various screens or the printed page--just looked crisp and amazing. As a big user of the Zinio reader app, I am just amazed that I can now read articles in portrait mode without needing to double-tap to zoom in. It's **that** clear.

And that also has exposed a problem. Well, "problem" might be the wrong word to use. Let's settle on "challenge." When I see graphics on the new iPad that haven't been updated to take advantage of the Retina display, I notice it. I notice it alot. While I have the kind of personality that's prone to that type of minute attention, there's no way even a casual user of the new iPad won't notice it to the point where you start to wait impatiently for a developer to update his app.

But it's not just apps on the iPad. Now it's just about everyplace I look on the Internet. While text looks great, you start to notice how pictures just have enough of a ever-so-slight "blur" that you know they're not "high resolution." And you find it wanting. (As an aside, I've never understood why certain news organizations that have iPad apps still use less than stellar resolution.) There's been some noise about how high resolution anything will increase the size of an app, but once you've been using a display--any display--that proffers such visceral quality, you almost don't care anymore. You want apps to start looking as sharp as the text, down to the icons.

I guess that's just the price you pay for early adoption. Now I see jagged pixels everywhere, including on my regular computer monitor. I won't laud Apple for pushing everyone into a "resolutionary" future, (ugh, what marketing terminology crap) but the company certainly is pointing the way. Now everyone will want high res displays and demand their apps meet that challenge quickly. Even in a "post-PC" world, standard computer monitors will need to embrace pixel density like never before.

Thanks a lot, new iPad. Thanks a lot.