iPad Air, Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 si Google Nexus 10 are 3 of the best tablets that have high-resolution screens, and those from Display Mate decided to make a comparison for what matters most, i.e. the screen. In the image below you can see their results and Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 it is the tablet that wins in most tests, the tablet iPad Air always coming in second place, while Google Nexus 10, launched in 2012, has the worst results.
The iPad Air has mostly incremental but still significant improvements over the excellent 3rd and 4th generation iPad displays. Compared to the 4thgeneration, the screen Reflectance decreased by 23 percent, the Peak Brightness increased by 7 percent, and the Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light increased by 32 percent – all good. Absolute Color Accuracy and Image Contrast fidelity are very good (but somewhat below the Kindle Fire) and are discussed in detail below. The emphasis for the iPad Air is in reduced size, thickness, and weight. The most important under the hood display improvement is the switch from a-Si amorphous Silicon LCDs up to a much higher performance IGZO LCD backplane, which was discussed in our iPad 3 Display Shoot-Out article last year. The switch to IGZO produces an impressive 57 percent improvement in display power efficiency from previous Retina Display iPads – so the iPad Air doesn't get uncomfortably warm like the earlier iPads.
I told you in iPad Air review that Apple did not improve the Retina Display in the tablet, only implementing a thinner and lighter panel, without modifying in any way the way the images are rendered. This positions Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), behind the tablet Amazon and although the differences are small, they exist and for some they will matter. Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), it needs an improved Retina Display with a slightly higher resolution to be in line with the rest of the Android competitors, otherwise in the coming years it risks losing even more of its market share.
