New iPad Nano Textured Glass in Cockpit?

Cogito

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Messages
378
Location
Los Angeles
Display Name

Display name:
Cogito
I know they’ve only just started selling them, but the latest iPad Pro has a nano-textured glass option which sounds perfect for flying. I have one of Apple’s monitors at home in a bright room with many windows and the textured erases all reflections. I bought a new iPad Pro last year, so the difference in the cockpit would have to be outstanding for me to upgrade.

Please chime in, any early adopters, and let us know how the new iPad Pro performs for pilots. Thx.
 
Last edited:
I’m curious how that texture will hold up. On the XDR they warn against even using the wrong microfiber cloth on it and now it’s on a screen that gets thrown around, touched with all manner of things from fingernails to the apple pencil
 
It sounds like a nice feature, but if I had to guess I'd say it's not going to be an outstanding upgrade.

Even if it takes away 100% of all reflections, IMHO if it doesn't have the sunlight readable brightness needed number of continuous nits (1100 at the minimum) it's just not going to be sunlight readable in the cockpit.
 
It looks to be an "outstanding" upgrade. In that there are two things that are better - one is the nano textured screen. I hate it in the office, but if it truly cuts down glare in the cockpit - thats a huge plus. but the other thing is that with the new ipad pro (which has the nano textured screen) the brightness is now at 1000 nits. That is compared to 600 (or 500) previously. Thats a big jump in screen brightness as well (unless you previously had the 12.9 which I think also had 1000 nits of brightness). So eventhough my ipads are only 2 years old (2 previous generations), will probably move to these when mounts become available.
 
Not sure the $1700 price point is worth the upgrade just for that nano-texture option unless you're in the market for a top of the line tablet. Otherwise I just can't see how the new screen would be that much of a game changer. I've been using a tablet in the cockpit as an EFB for 14 years now and never had any readability issues whatsoever even with the older gen stuff. YMMV...
 
the only real question that I want to see is if it has better heat dissipation and perhaps less overheat in direct sunlight. That being said - the new M4 chip definitely runs much cooler than older previous ARM chips, but its also a function of battery charging that also generates heat. That will be an interesting to see how that is as the new units are also close to 35% thinner than previous models.

As for "upgrade" - if you have a fairly recent model, there is a value associated with that as well. Apple will trade in value them at $500 (for last couple years model) and you can get a bit over $600 for them yourself. So that knocks off another 1/3
 
Note on Apple Nit claims. An Apple table now can have in some occasions a brief high Nit output. But not continuous. So read carefully what exactly they mean by the new Apple having 1000 Nits.
 
you’re correct, looks like constant brightness on 2024 ipad pros has been tested at 938 nits, peak brightness is rated at 1,600 nits and testing showed it only at 1,516 nits. https://www.tomsguide.com/tablets/ipads/ipad-pro-2024-and-ipad-air-2024-tested-heres-how-apples-m4-silicon-performs#:~:text=In our testing our iPad,close to the advertised 1,000.
For reference, this is what I compare things to.

1300 continuous nits in summer direct sunlight, 2 hour battery life running I fly, and I can’t get it to over heat even here in Atlanta.
 
I would love to see a comparison between the nano-textured glass and the standard glass with an anti-glare screen protector. I'm definitely in the market for a new iPad, so I'd be curious.
 
I'm in the market too. Thought I'd share this from iPad Pilot News' website....


Left is Pro 13. Right is Pro 13 Nano Screen.

IMG_9877-scaled.jpg
 
I’d think a better comparison would be the new nano glass vs a reg I pad with an anti glare sceeen protector on it.

Is the glare difference - if any - worth the extra cost of the nano screen?

I guess I’m still in the camp of “that’s nice and all, but wake me up when they make a Pad that matches my Android tablet.” It can run at 1200 NITs continuously outside in the summer without over heating for two hours - and costs less than a $1000. And it has no glare problem.
 
the nano glass mutes colors pretty badly. it does help with glare, but videos and such suffer. And its extra money on top of forcing you to get the higher end models. S'not cheap.
 
I’d think a better comparison would be the new nano glass vs a reg I pad with an anti glare sceeen protector on it.

Is the glare difference - if any - worth the extra cost of the nano screen?

I guess I’m still in the camp of “that’s nice and all, but wake me up when they make a Pad that matches my Android tablet.” It can run at 1200 NITs continuously outside in the summer without over heating for two hours - and costs less than a $1000. And it has no glare problem.

but the android based tablet cant run the best EFB software out there, and its limited to the next best thing (probably Garmin Pilot) - running a few versions even behind the ios version. ..

the nano glass mutes colors pretty badly. it does help with glare, but videos and such suffer. And its extra money on top of forcing you to get the higher end models. S'not cheap.

It does. But if you're just using it for aviation - then its really a pretty damn good platform. Much better brightness (almost complete sunlight readable), and reduced glare. Its really hitting quite of the issues that we pilots have. Its expensive for sure, but it is/was a huge improvement over the previous gen Ipads (and ipad pros).
 
but the android based tablet cant run the best EFB software out there, and its limited to the next best thing (probably Garmin Pilot) - running a few versions even behind the ios version.
Spot on / mostly. I use IFly, which is “Androidable”. But I’ll stick with my current old I Pad (yes, I have both old I Pad and sun light readable high NIT android tablet) until the I Pads come up with a leap forward to catch up with the display brightness.
 
Back
Top