Is it reasonable to consider a future Retina / HD iPad when starting a new project?

Question

A few days ago a client asked me if the transition to the iPhone 4s retina display was a difficult one, development-wise.

This made me ask myself whether I should have considered iPhones with high resolution dispays even before the iPhone 4 had been announced - creating artwork with higher resolution, preparing codepaths... (while, of course, creating high resolution artwork is never a bad idea, considering its use for marketing, porting to other platforms etc.)

Now, with the iPad being around for some months, first rumors of a future iPad with retina display emerge from the depths of the www. And I start wondering - would it make sense to prepare new projects for such an iPad? I'm pretty sure that apple will in fact release a retina iPad at some point in the future, because it would be quite a logical step. So, I guess the important question is "how soon can we expect such a device?". There is much to consider when thinking about that, most of all production difficulties and the impact of a resolution of 2048 x 1536 (if apple sticks to simply doubling the "old" specs) on a mobile devices performance...

So, what do you think? Will it pay up to prepare new projects for a retina iPad, starting now? Or do you think the overhead is not worth it, yet?
Maybe some of you are already developing with the retina iPad in mind..?

I'd be glad to hear some of your thoughts! Thanks alot, guys!

Answer 1

I wouldn't spend too much time making your app work on a theoretical device. But that doesn't mean you can't be prepared. Ever since they started changing things around I've been considering the following:

• Use vector art wherever practical. That way resizing should be simple
• Don't assume that the screen is 768x1024 or 320x480. Try to make your views gracefully resize
• Don't assume that there will be an on-screen keyboard

So far Apple have allowed time between announcing products and making them available, and even there un-optimised apps have still worked.

Answer 2

Most of my work is for a client who has their own designer, who provides me with layered Photoshop files to pick image elements out of. I now have a policy with them that ALL images will be provided to me at double resolution. I don't care if it's just text, if it's only going to be on the iPad, I want it at 2x no matter what.

That takes a lot of thinking and judgement out of the hands of the designer (who's a good designer but not a particularly good technician or strategist), and allows me maximum flexibility in what I'm building.

Right now, I don't think I'd build @2x support into an iPad app just now (although presumably 4.2 will allow you to do it and have it downgrade nicely, just like 4.1 does), but I have the graphics here ready to install when needed.