New iPad 3 impresses, but not much

By Hasan S

Apple’s latest iPad version (new iPad 3) is making headlines across the world. This is a product that was being awaited for months and now when it is reality, it is being hailed as the best thing to have happened to the tablet market. Though not much has changed in the outer design of the tablet, inside has been completely transformed by Cupertino based tech giant.

The new upgrade to Apple’s iPad 3 comes with several improvements in the tablet. The upgrade will substantially improve the functioning of iPad 3 and bring many more customers to Apple’s door. A report suggests that before yearend Apple will sell at least 100 million units of the tablet. The improvements in the new tablet include a much more improved camera. Earlier iPad had VGA camera, but now it has a very efficient 5 mega pixel camera. Besides it comes with a retina display, A5 X chip instead of A-5 chip. Though it is not expected to be as good as A-6 processor as it was being talked about, the new processor will make the tablet faster and many times more responsive.

If people were looking forward to physical changes in the iPad 3, they must be feeling disappointed. But the people who were expecting a much more responsive tablet, they must be feeling very happy. The new iPad comes with a revamped version of Apple’s famous A5 chipset. Called the A5X, the ARM-based chip will power the third generation iPad. The Cupertino based tech giant says that the new A5X chip will perform four times faster than the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad core processor. Alongside the A5X chipset, the 2012 iPad version will draw its graphical power from an unspecified NVIDIA graphical chip.

Another great feature in the new tablet is iOS 5.1. There were rumors that Apple may launch the new iPad with iOS 6, an improved OS, but Apple didn’t. The company just previewed iOS 5.1, the first major update to the current iOS 5, which came into existence on iPhone 4S in October last year. Certainly, we are to receive the new iPad with the iOS 5.1. Reviewers are not very excited about the latest update. Cupertino based giant says that iOS 5.1 addresses bugs that affect battery life and an issue that sometimes caused audio to drop for outgoing calls.

The new tablet comes with a much more improved display than its previous avatar. Apple has kept up the same 9.7 inch display on the new iPad. The difference it makes from iPad 2 is its integration of Apple’s famed high-res Retina Display technology. It features a whopping resolution of 2048 x 1536 at 264 ppi. The pixel-per-inch rate may be paltry; however, it looks sufficient for 2048 x 1536 pixels and the screen also touts enhanced color saturation.

But the one improvement that has made many people crave for the latest upgrade is 5 mega pixel rear camera in the new iPad. The new tablet comes with a 1080p 5-megapixel iSight rear camera with the capability to shoot high resolution videos. iPad 3 features a 5-element lens, auto focus lock, auto face detection, image stabilization and much more. To top it all, the iPad camera highlights tap-to-focus and video geo-tagging features as well. Indeed, users can feel an enhanced video and image capture experience on the new iPad.

One major improvement in the new iPad is its 4G LTE connectivity. Apart from 4G LTE (73Mbps) and Wi-Fi, the new iPad will support HSPA+ (21Mbps) and DC-HSDPA (42Mbps).

Meanwhile reviewers are not very excited about the new iPad. Jonny Evans while writing about it says, “  I want to have a little moan about the new iPad’s name: “The new iPad”. … I can already see the executive team laughing maniacally…as the Apple writers…wisely bowed their heads and, with sagacious fallacy, intoned…”It will be the iPad 2 HD, the iPad HD, the iPad 3″.”

John D. Sutter of CNN while reviewing the new Apple tab says, “The truth is that the new Apple iPad probably falls somewhere in the middle. It’s neither dud nor game-changer… Who’s to say whether these updates will lead people to want to purchase the new iPad, or to upgrade from a previous version. Nothing about the iPad was completely overhauled, but the overall user experience is crisper and speedier than before.” Meanwhile Apple will start shipping the new iPad from March 16 onwards, just 12 days after the official release.

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Posted by admin on March 9, 2012. Filed under Business, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry