The upgrade dilemma
There are other new features, of course, but these are almost irrelevant when deciding whether to upgrade from an iPad 2 – or for fondleslab virgins who might want to opt for the now lower priced iPad 2.
There’s a new rear-facing camera that now allows 1080p HD video recording and has a 5Mp resolution for stills, and the image quality is clearly much improved as a result. But, from a point-and-shoot point-of-view, the iPad’s 12in slab of metal and glass is an ergonomic disaster when it comes to photography – as I discovered when I carried it around with me to take a few test shots over the weekend.
I’d have been far happier if Apple had upgraded the iPad’s front-facing camera, which still has the same blurry 640 x 480 resolution for both video and stills. The FaceTime video-conferencing app only works with Wi-Fi connections, so the front camera could easily have gone up to 720p for video-chat sessions without straining your broadband too much.
Sample Shots
Click for a full-resolution image
Click for a full-resolution image
Another missed opportunity was the failure to include the iPhone 4S’ Siri voice-recognition system in the new iPad. There is a kind of Siri-lite dictation option that actually proved to be more accurate than I had expected – although, like Siri, it only works when you have an internet connection.
Unfortunately, I found the lack of feedback during dictation to be both frustrating and limiting. You press the microphone button on the on-screen keyboard to start dictating, but you don’t see a single word appear on screen until you press the button again to end the dictation. There’s no way to correct errors while dictating either, so – as with Siri on the iPhone – this feature seems more like a gimmick for impressing your friends rather than a genuinely useful tool.
Verdict
If you don’t already own an iPad or an Android tablet then the new iPad could be the one that finally breaks down your resistance. It certainly blows away the Android competition and should ensure that the iPad continues to dominate the tablet category – especially with the iPad 2 still on sale at a reduced price.
Existing owners of the iPad 2 are faced with a trickier decision. The new display is lovely, but is perhaps more of a luxury than a must-have. But you’ll want it all the same, and all that bottled-up techno-lust will keep the iPad at the head of the pack for another year. ®
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COMMENTS
but it's not like the hi res screen is a surprise though, is it? it was long rumoured for the iPhone, and when it arrived, it was obvious that the iPad was going to get it too.
so WHY hasn't the competition already got higher res screens? it's impossible to think they weren't aware this was going to happen, so why haven't they already got a tablet in the market with at least the same spec screen?
instead, they're all just sitting on their hands, taking a back seat, happy to give Apple all the market share and the publicity. Sure, they'll probably rush a product to market now, and it'll be obviously rushed and critically, later than the iPad.
for the competition to be competition, they've gotta start getting ahead of the game, not just content to constantly play catch-up
It's always the next Android tablet that's going to blow the iPad out of the water though, isn't it.
One never quite seems to come along though.
Overpriced gadget from a corrupt company
This is overpriced and soon you will be able to an Android tablet with the same display (they made by Samsung after all). With Android you wont be contrained by Apple's fachist restrictions. The only reason you will buy a new iPad is if you a fashion conscious pleb thats just wants the latest shinny thing that Apple offers even though all they provided is a better display without any meaningful new functionality. If you get the 4G one you even a bigger idiot.
Fully disclosure: I recieved my new iPad (non-4G) on Friday. I love it every bit as much as my iPhone. I thought it best though to save the Apple haters some valuable time by posting on their behalf.
Re: Depends. As usual
4:3 is fantastic as fas as I'm concerned.
You know that there are some of us who can't stand this fad for 'widescreen' displays.
The amount of vertical scrolling that you have to do on many, many web sites is a testament to their designers (who seem to love more and more white space) total lack of nonce about Usability.
Using the iPad in eirter orientation if a far more pleasurable experience than any Widescreen Android tablet I have tried.
SO 4:3 in 2012? YES PLEASE.
For Apple, the iPad is the result of a vision for a device that will deliver a certain sort of experience.
For Apple's tablet competitors - well ... it's just not. They don't have a vision, they don't have the desire to bring something innovative to people, they just want a slice of a particular market's profits: their heart isn't in it; they're always going to be playing catchup because their motives are poor.
And I say this as someone who largely dislikes a lot of the controlling, anti-competitive shit that Apple pulls.
