March 14th, 2012 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Platforms: iOS | No Comments »
Though having four times more pixels and a new CPU is a great feature to sell the new iPad (especially to those having the first generation iPad), developers seem to run into problems with the new Retina display as 10Tons explains.
The size of apps
As the developer explains on its blog, universal builds for all iOS devices will massively increase in size as they need to be outfitted with graphics for the new Retina display. Of course, 4X more pixels won’t exactly mean 4X more MB’s, but the increase in data traffic and the ‘data claim’ on consumer devices will be spectacular.
Issues with testing
Another practical issue for the developer is testing apps for the new iPad. As Apple states, the Retinadisplay holds more pixels than a regular Full HD screen, so getting the right screen in-house for testing is a nightmare. As the developer states: “Even the best Apple Cinema Display doesn’t have enough resolution to fit it in!” Another issue is the iOS Simulator. The performance is simply awful, even on a new iMac. This makes the developer curious if the new A5X CPU can handle the load it will be getting.
