Apple has another solid hit with the “New iPad”
Apple’s “New iPad” was announced last week to much fanfare in San
Francisco. As is usually the case with new iPad or iPhone
releases, launch day pre-orders sold out quickly and those who were late
to get their orders in could end up waiting for a few weeks to get
their hands on one.
As a refresher, an Apple A5X processor that has seen its onboard RAM
double from 512MB to 1GB powers the new iPad. The A5X is also blessed
with a quad-core GPU which boosts gaming performance and helps feed the
new iPad’s biggest new feature: a 2048 x 1536 resolution Retina display.
Other niceties include a 5MP rear-facing camera, and optional LTE
connectivity.
On the negative side, the weight and thickness of the iPad has grown
to accommodate a new 42.5 watt-hour battery (the iPad 2 had a 25
watt-hour battery). In addition, Apple is once again being stingy with
storage capacities on the iPad. Even though app sizes are doubling or
even tripling in some cases due to Retina support, Apple is holding firm
with 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities — the same lineup as when the
first generation iPad launched in 2010.
Tonight, however, we’re getting our first look at what the new iPad
can do courtesy of a flood of reviews. Here are some select excerpts
from the reviews that are currently available:
Joshua Topolsky of
The Verge gives his thoughts on the iPad 3′s gorgeous new Retina display:
Yes, this display is outrageous. It’s stunning. It’s
incredible. I’m not being hyperbolic or exaggerative when I say it is
easily the most beautiful computer display I have ever looked at…
You literally can’t see pixels on the iPad’s display when you
hold it at a regular distance, and even up close you have to really
inspect the thing to see dots. For rendered text or high resolution
images, it just looks otherworldly; like a glowing piece of paper.
The difference between the iPad 2′s display and the new iPad’s Retina display [Source: The Verge]
Walt Mossberg of
AllThingsD fame touched on the battery life
of the new iPad. While it’s not quite the power-sipper as its
predecessor, it still posts some impressive numbers.
Apple claims up to 10 hours of battery life between charges,
and up to nine hours if you are relying strictly on cellular
connectivity. In my standard battery test, where I play videos back to
back with both cellular and Wi-Fi on, and the screen at 75% brightness,
the new iPad logged 9 hours and 58 minutes, compared with 10 hours and 9
minutes for the iPad 2. Other tablets died hours sooner in the same
test. In more normal use, the new iPad lasted more than a full day,
though not as long as the iPad 2 did.
The original iPad didn’t have any cameras at all, while the iPad 2
came with a standard front-facing camera for FaceTime and an incredibly
subpar rear-facing camera for pictures and 720p video. The new iPad can
now features a 5MP camera and bumps video recording up to 1080p. Vincent
Nguyen of
SlashGear gives his thoughts on the new optics:
Apple says it has borrowed the camera technology and optics
from the iPhone 4S for the new iPad, though still the 5-megapixel images
the tablet is capable of do lag behind the 8-megapixel examples from
the smartphone. There’s more visible noise and chromatic aberrations at
full zoom, though the quality is far, far better than any stills the
iPad 2 can achieve. You also get face recognition for up to ten people
per frame, automatically adjusting focus and exposure, but the camera
app UI itself is no more complex than before.
While the actual CPU hasn’t improved much over the iPad 2, the
integrated GPU has definitely been turbocharged, as witnessed by Jason
Snell of
MacWorld:
That power comes from the X factor in the A5X processor—a new
quad-core graphics engine. And sure enough, the third-generation iPad
blows away every other iOS device in terms of graphics performance. In
our tests using the GLBench 3D graphics testing app, the
third-generation iPad could draw a complex 3D scene at the full frame
rate of its display, 60 frames per second, without breaking a sweat. And
in GLBench offscreen tests, which aren’t constrained by the display’s
frame rate, the third-generation iPad had a frame rate 1.6 times that of
the iPad 2 (and 13 times that of the original iPad).
Overall, the new iPad seems to be another solid entry into the tablet
field for Apple. It holds the line on CPU performance and battery life
(at the expense of device thickness and weight) while offering an
impressive Retina display, optional LTE, and a tremendous boost in
graphics performance. Pricing remains the same as previous iPad model
($499/$599/$699 for Wi-Fi; add $130 for LTE models), but Apple still
doesn’t have the guts to give users an increase in storage capacities.
To sum things up, Joshua Topolsky offers these words of advice:
Let’s be clear: the new iPad is in a class by itself, just as
its predecessor was. As the latest product in a lineage of devices that
defined this category, the iPad continues to stand head and shoulders
above the competition. With the addition of the Retina display, LTE,
more memory, and a more powerful CPU, Apple has absolutely held onto the
iPad’s market position as the dominant player and product to beat.
- WHERE: Via conference call. The dial-in number for
press is (877) 616-0063 (toll-free) or (719) 219-0041. Please enter
confirmation code 592016.
- WHEN: Monday, March 19, 2012 at 6:00 a.m. PDT/9:00 a.m. EDT
Some Wall Street analysts have referred to Apple’s $100B+ in liquid assets as a liability and have said that it’s time for Apple to return some of the money to shareholders.My take is that Apple will announce a dividend for shareholders on tomorrow’s call.