SAN FRANCISCO – March 7, 2012 – Apple releases a 3rd
generation of the iPad with a high-definition retina display at the launch
event at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
However, Philip Schiller (Apple’s Senior Vice President of
worldwide marketing), Tim Cook (CEO), and all of the various Apple execs who
took the stage never named the newest member of the Apple family; referring to the
new device as “the new iPad” and not the iPad 3 or iPadHD as most of us were
predicting. No joke - for reference, check out Apple’s
official press release for new iPad.
What’s New
Display - The tablet boasts a 9.7-inch retina display of 3.1 million
pixels, a resolution of 2047x1536 pixels, twice as much as the iPad2 (1024x768)
and the highest resolution currently available over any other tablet or laptop.
Processor – An A5X quad-core graphics processor upgraded
from the iPad2’s A5 dual-core processor, allowing for higher CPU capabilities
and mainly to support the need of processing twice as many pixels on the display
screen.
Camera – The “new iPad” has 5-megapixel iSight backside illuminating
camera supporting 1080P video recording
Network – In addition to standard Wireless, the new iPad
supports 4G / LTE data connections with
AT&T and Verizon.
What’s Missing/Disappointment
The new iPad design is virtually indistinguishable from the
prior iPad2 released in last year 2011. The glass and aluminum constructed device
still measures 9.5” tall and 7.31” wide
but now has a thickness of 0.37” weighing 1.5lbs.
The front-facing camera has remained unchanged and the rear
camera has been upgraded to 5-megapixels but not a higher quality 8-megapixel
that most smartphones and a few other tablets currently have such as the ASUS
Eee Pad Transformer Prime.
Looks like Siri (digital personal assistant) will be staying
with the iPhone 4GS. She isn’t present on the new iPad; however, there is now
voice dictation that could assist with transcribing emails, browsing the web,
etc.
Some of Apple’s old iPad complains still remain regarding no
additional lead in extending battery life (Apple claimed ~10 hours / 9hrs on 4G). There
isn’t a microSD memory expansion, a dedicated video output port, or a truly universal
connection for charging/data transferring. Also, let’s not forget the absence
of Adobe Flash support vs it’s support on ALL other products other than iOS but that's another topic.
Many were hoping for an entry level tablet device that would
compete directly with the $199 Kindel
Fire or Barnes
& Nobel’s Nook Tablet. Numerous other companies have been flooding the
market with entry-level tablets that are smaller and cheaper than Apple’s
iPads.
Pricing /
Availability
Preorders at
Apples online store began today in the US. Good luck today or the next
couple days as the site seems to be down since everyone and their brother is on
the site trying to get their hands on the new tablet.
iPad Wi-Fi models will be available in black
or white on Friday, March 16 for $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB), and $699 (64GB)
models.
iPad Wi-Fi + 4G will sell for $629 (16GB), $729 (32GB), $829
(64GB), and will be available on AT&T and Verizon networks.
On March 16th the device will be available in Australia,
Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Sinapore, Switzerland,
UK and the US Virgin Islands. Many other countries will have the availability on
March 23, 2012.
The iPad 2 price has dropped to $399 (16GB Wi-Fi), and $529
(16GB Wi-Fi + 3G).
Final Thoughts - Upgrade
or Skip?
If you have an original iPad then upgrading to the new iPad
would be a good investment. However, for iPad 2 owners the scene is more
unclear. When looking at the core of the new features it comes down to “is the high-definition
screen worth it?”. If you can justify another $499 this year for a base-model of
the new iPad to really appreciate and show off the retina display then by all
means go for it. However, it might be a better bang for your buck value /
feature-wise to just wait another year for the next release when there are more
device capabilities to make the purchase worth-while.
Alternatively, tablet seekers could look towards the $199 Kindel
Fire or Nook
Tablet. Last week, Microsoft deployed its Windows 8 operating system for
tablets, many suggesting Windows-based tablets could make a serious presence in
the tablet market. In addition to
Windows, Android has been maturing in the tablet market. Many Android-based
tablets offer features that have been successes over the shortcoming of various
Apple iPad features. Our favorite Android tablet to date would have to be the ASUS Transformer / Eee Pads ~$499, same as Apple's starting price point.
Your Thoughts
What do you think about Apple's New iPad? You will order to upgrade, wait until next year's 4th generation release, or go Android or Windows 8 tablet?
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