iPad 2 to quadruple resolution to 2048 x 1536

New details have trickled out about Apple’s upcoming iPad 2’s resolution. It had been previously rumored that Apple’s second-generation tablet will inherit the critically-acclaimed Retina Display from the iPhone 4. The problem is that a 300 DPI, 9.7-inch iPad would need a resolution of 2560 x 1920 - more pixels than Apple’s top-of-the-line 27″ LED Cinema Display.
New information suggests that the upcoming iPad 2 will in fact get a 2048 x 1536 panel running at 260 DPI — double the amount of horizontal and vertical pixels as the iPad 1. Apple may still brand it as a Retina display because the iPad is held further away from your face than an iPhone, resulting is the same effect.
MacRumors reports the discovery of pixel-doubled bookmark graphics in Apple’s iBooks app:

"Version 1.1 of Apple’s iBooks application seems to have accidentally included some artwork for this hypothetical pixel-doubled iPad. As shown above, the App’s bookmark icon included versions for the iPad, the iPhone and the iPhone Retina Display (iPhonex2). It, however, also included one additional version labeled “iPadx2″. Sure enough, this is exactly double the resolution version of the iPad icon and is distinct from the other versions."

MacRumors also spotted another tell-tale graphic in iBooks 1.2, a 1536 x 800 pixel wood-tile background. The previous Wood Tile.png in iBooks 1.1 was half of that - 768 x 400 pixels.
So called resolution “doubling” should be easy for developers to support, allowing legacy apps to run in a pixel-doubled mode until developers can re-write them to support the iPad 2’s larger panel. Apple the same thing with the iPhone 4, increasing its resolution from 480 x 320 to 960 x 640.

from: zdnet.com

Report Says Apple to Launch 7-inch iPad by Christmas

Apple is readying another tablet similar to the iPad but with a 7-inch touchscreen for launch as early as the end of this year, according to a major Taiwanese newspaper.
This is the second report of an iPad 2 sighting in Taiwan, and it comes from the island's Chinese-language Economic Daily News financial newspaper, which was among the first to correctly report that Apple was making a tablet when other news sources said it would be a netbook. The launch of the original iPad proved the paper correct.
Taiwan's Digitimes newspaper last week reported that Taiwanese companies were starting to assemble a 7-inch iPad for Apple.
The Economic Daily reports that Taiwanese companies have won a number of component contracts for the iPad 2. Chimei Innolux will supply 7-inch LCD screens, which use the same IPS (in-plane switching) technology found in the original iPad, which improves viewing angles and color on LCD screens. Touchscreen technology for the screens will come from Cando Corporation, the report says.
Apple has also tapped Compal Electronics, one of the world's largest contract laptop computer makers, to assemble the new iPad, the report says.
The companies named in the Economic Daily report declined to comment. Contract manufacturers and component makers normally do not reveal what products they're working on because failure to maintain secrecy can cause them to miss out on future contracts.

from: pcworld.com