I am just comparing my IPad2 and my iPad4 and looking at the screens I do not see any difference when viewing my HD videos and looking at live T.V. Connect from Cox. also maps look about the same. And it seems the map refresh is slower filling of the screen with the iPad4. My searching the Net. seem about the same speed times. It just does not seem that there is any improvement from my old iPad2 with the so called "4th Gen" iPad4. I have till the 22nd of Nov. to return it, and my Major Credit Card to protect me. I am just wondering if it's Apple marketing or a real upgrade the iPad "4th Gen" iPad4 really is.
Ok. Now I am going to have some fun with this and get REALLY technical.
First and foremost - NO DUH! on video content. Lets think about this for a second....
Most streaming HD is done at 720P. That means there are 720 scan lines of pixel information shown 60 times a second. The iPad 2 display size is 1024x768. The HD spec for 720P is 1280x720. So that means the iPad already HAS the number of lines needed to display the content with no degradation. (All of you screaming in the background, hush! I am about to get to that part. Sheesh).
Now at this point you should counter with "But Skull One, the width is different hence it has to shrink the video to fit and you are losing lines of resolution". Yeppers, you are spot on. But here is the counter to that and where life gets really interesting. Every iPad app is written for the iPad 2 resolution. There is no if, ands or buts to that statement. Which means unless the developer SPECIFICALLY wrote EXTRA CODE to handle the 2048x1536 resolution every single iPad app will look exactly the same way, save for text, on both devices. IE don't blame your iPad. Blame the DEVELOPER for not taking the time to update their app for the extra graphic power the iPad 3 and 4 provide.
And which map application are you having an issue with? Because I am willing to bet I can show exactly why it is possible to be slower on the 4 than the 2.