Here at Phones Review we’ve been bringing you plenty of details about Apple’s iOS 5.1 since it was released to the public last week and now we have news that Apple has increased the limit for OTA downloads for music and apps on devices running iOS 5.1.
As the new iPad, due for release this week, has a hugely impressive Retina Display with resolution of 2048×1536, apps fully utilizing the new display will need to be larger and so the limit for OTA download purchases has now been increased by more than twice as much. The new cell data download cap is 50MB instead of the previous 20MB limit so it certainly seems as though Apple is preparing for the many new apps that will want to take advantage of the third-generation iPad’s Retina display.
Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing said last week at the new iPad debut, that apps already existing would be able to scale up to the new display. However he also noted that app developers could “do even more” to improve the look of their software, according to Apple Insider. Schiller compared the process to the changes that were made by developers when the iPhone 4 featured the first Retina Display.
The bumped mobile data cap also applies to iTunes customers who can now download bigger media files (to the 50MB limit), as well as to app purchases via the App Store. Device owners will be pleased to hear that the increased data limit is applicable for any device using iOS 5.1 and app developers will be pretty pleased too. One developer previously stated that coding for a higher resolution display would be very hard if trying to keep apps to a 20MB limit.
Because of the new cap the usual pop up that warns users to switch to WiFi when wirelessly downloading more than 20MB will not appear any longer. An article on the WSJ also discusses the new download limits and makes an interesting point about how the relaxation of data restrictions and larger files might affect download speeds and cellular data networks limits.
Do you think Apple has made a timely move by increasing download limits in time for the launch of the new iPad? Bear in mind that many new apps will no doubt be appearing that will now be able to utilize its Retina Display to the full?