In case you've been living under a dusty 'ol desktop, you no doubt know Apple officially took the wraps off its third-generation touchscreen tablet on Wednesday.
Yours truly was on hand at the iPad unveiling in San Francisco, and while the expectations were ludicrously high due to the flurry of rumours surrounding the product, the new tablet does deliver the goods in five main areas.
It's not a perfect 10, mind you, but pretty darn close and certainly a step forward in the evolution of the iPad, and tablets as a whole.
The following is a look at a half-dozen key strengths of the new iPad (from $519) — and yes, it's simply referred to as "iPad" and not 'iPad 3" or "iPad HD," as previously believed.
1. Screen dream. After getting some hands-on time with the iPad after the event, one thing was perfectly clear: the screen. The new iPad features Apple's Retina display technology, packing four times the pixels onto the same 9.7-inch real estate as the first- and second-generation iPad. The games, video and photos I flicked through looked gorgeous, while text was crisp and jaggy-free. Truly, this screen — also with 44 percent better colour reproduction over previous iPads -- will blow any other tablet display out of the water.
2. Wild wireless. The second major improvement over the previous iPads is support for 4G or LTE (Long Term Evolution) wireless networks, in supported cities. In case you're not familiar with the technology, it offers broadband-like speeds via cellular connectivity. Therefore, you can stream movies (now supporting 1080p video), download digital files (such as apps) or browse the web quickly and smoothly. In areas not covered by LTE networks by Rogers, Bell or Telus, the iPad will revert to HSPA+. The new 4G-enabled iPad can also be used as a "personal hotspot," to let nearby Wi-Fi devices gets online wirelessly.
3. Need for speed. Gamers will appreciate the new A5X chip with quad-core graphics as it means apps open quickly, run smoothly and game designers can pack more visuals into the game without fear of slowdowns or crashes. I tried out the Diablo-like Infinity Blade: Dungeons (an action-heavy role-playing game from Epic Games) and a modern jet simulation, Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy, from Namco. Both ran quickly and looked stunning. The new processor will also help speed up non-gaming applications and tasks.
4. Snap happy. While the front-facing FaceTime camera remains the same as the iPad 2, the rear-facing camera has been greatly improved. It's now a 5-megapixel iSight camera (opposed to the 0.3-megapixel camera in the iPad 2) and boasts advanced optics, backside illumination (for low-light shooting), image stabilization, face detection and the ability to record Full HD 1080p video (compared to 720p on the last iPad). I played around with the camera following the event and was impressed with the quality of the still photos and video capture.
5. Say what? The new iPad has voice detection. When you're composing an email or iMessage, browsing the web or jotting down a note, a small microphone button on the keyboard can be tapped, which then converts your spoken words into text before your eyes. It's not a full Siri experience, as with what's in the iPhone 4S, but it does at least offer dictation — which is often faster than typing. Apple says third-party apps will also have this feature as it's integrated into the keyboard, therefore you'll be able to Facebook and tweet using your voice, too.
6. All-day companion. Another reason to like the new iPad — aside from the fact it's the same price as when the previous iPad debuted a year ago — is the new battery that can deliver the same 10-hour charge as its predecessors. This is still the best in the industry. The higher-quality screen, faster processor and better wireless radios would likely gulp rather than sip power, but the new battery -- not to mention power management tweaks made by Apple engineers -- means you still can go all day without needing to bring a charger with you.
But — there's always a "but," isn't there? — the new iPad is slightly heavier and thicker than the last model, due to the new battery. It's not by much but you can feel the difference in weight when holding it. The iPad weighs 1.44 pounds, up from 1.33 pounds in the iPad 2. It doesn't sound like much but I noticed it right away. Less of an issue is a little more bulk at 9.4mm thin, up from 8.8mm thin with the iPad 2.
Overall, however, while some might be disappointed the product didn't live up to the insane pre-launch hype — and truthfully, no product really can — the new iPad is not only the best one yet but is the finest tablet on the planet.
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