Apple have officially announced the sequel to i-Pad 2, the i-Pad 3 (at least we expected it to be i-pad 3). Apple have not named it the i-Pad 3. On the contrary, they are satisfied in calling it "The New i-Pad".On the first look, the new i-Pad can be easily thought of as a complete xerox of the i-Pad 2.
There has not been much changed in the body and design of the new i-Pad. But after taking a look at the specifications of the device, the difference became much more pronounced. Some serious changes have been made in the interiors of the device.
The new i-Pad has been provided with the retina display which is the same as on the i-Phone 4 and 4S leading to super clear screen and along with a startling resolution of 2048*1536 pixels, there are absolutely no issues of pixelation in the device. The display is crystal clear and can be regarded as one of the best available in the market. Th size of the screen has been kept the same as the i-Pad 2 at 9.7 inches.
Talking about the hardware, it is powered with new A5X ARM based chip. It has quad-core graphics but is a dual core chip. Although, everyone expected the A6 version, but Apple came up with the A5X chip. Apple claim the A5X to be twice as fast as the Nvidia tegra 3 and provide four times the graphics than the Tegra 3. Although, we think Apple might be saying a bit too much. The Tegra 3 is not just any other processor. Tegra 3 has 4 CPU cores and referring to the graphics, its GPU has 12 cores. Let's see whether the A5X is really worth its hype or its just another bloat from Apple.
Coming to the OS, here also, Apple leaves a lot of people disappointed. While everyone expected the iOS 6, Apple used the iOS 5.1. The version is an upgrade to the one used in i-phone and 4S. Apple said the new i-Pad will have a feature of dictation but never did they used the word "Siri" which was the prime attraction of i-phone 4S, which leaves a lot of people wondering whether the new i-Pad contains Siri or not.
The new i-pad houses the standard Li-Po battery which is capable of standby time of up to 10 hours. Although, when LTE is active, it reduces to about 9 hours. Also, it is capable of up to 720 hours of talk time.
The camera is also one of the upgrades that has taken place in the new i-Pad. It has been equipped with a 5 MP rear camera capable of shooting HD videos up to 1080p. The camera has features such as auto face detection, touch focus and video stabilisation for video. There's also tap-to-focus as well as photo and video geotagging.
The new i-Pad is to be available in the markets by 16 March in North America, UK, Japan and a few others and will be available in 3 models, 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB. So, if you are a 128 GB model, you have to wait. The Wi-Fi only version will cost up to $499(16 GB), $599(32 GB), $699(64 GB). The 4G + Wi-Fi version will be released only in North America and will cost up to $629, $729 and $829 respectively for 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB models.
