Apple Unveils New iPad 989
adeelarshad82 writes "As expected, Apple announced the new iPad complete with a Retina Display, quad-core processor, 4G LTE, and an improved camera. The new iPad will run the rumored A5X processor, which according to Apple will provide four times the performance of the Tegra 3. The revamped tablet will also include a 2048-by-1536 display, apparently the most in any mobile device. And finally with 4G LTE, the new iPad will provide up to 73 Mbps download speeds; partners for which include Verizon, Rogers, Bell, Telus, and AT&T."
Nice upgrade, but no big surprises in the new iPad (Score:5, Interesting)
Someone take that awesome display... (Score:5, Interesting)
And put it in a netbook with a Thinkpad-style trackpoint... I'd buy that right away.
Thicker and heavier than the iPad 2 (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Someone take that awesome display... (Score:2, Interesting)
This this this this this.
Why do all notebook displays suck in dpi?
The Screen (Score:4, Interesting)
That screen is just incredible. I mean, here I am working on a dual monitor setup - two 22" 1680x1050 monitors, side by side. That's about 3.5 megapixels. But along comes the new iPad, with a 3 megapixel screen in a 10" form factor - 85% of the pixels in about 15% of the area. Crazy. I'm not planning on buying one right now (already have iPad 1, which at this point I'll use until it dies), but I'm really glad that somebody is pushing screen resolutions above the relatively low 1080p we seem to be stuck with today on virtually every LCD.
Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Nice upgrade, but no big surprises in the new i (Score:5, Interesting)
Everyone who ever took a photo cares about white balance. They might not know the phrase white balance. But they care if the pictures look too orangey or too blue. And auto white balance means that problem is mostly fixed without ever having to learn what white balance means.
The one downside... (Score:5, Interesting)
This is exactly what everyone predicted, and I'm fine with that. I'm just a hair disappointed that the front camera is still VGA. [apple.com] Even if FaceTime is bandwidth-limited or someting, it'd be nice to take pictures of, say, yourself and your kids in greater than 0.3MP.
Oh, and the name--iPad, iPad 2, The new iPad. :-( Reminds me of my file versioning system: index.html, index-old.html, index-new.html, index-newer.html, index-newest.html, index-final.html, index-absolutely-final.html, index-final-i-swear-to-god-i-mean-it-this-time.html...
So what does all that mean? (Score:2, Interesting)
It is an impressive list of statistics, but for the end-user (consumer) who is not a nurd, what improvements does it actually offer? What is new besides the brand names and measurements?
Re:Still don't want one (Score:4, Interesting)
3G and LTE? (Score:4, Interesting)
So, there are two models, an AT&T one and a Verzon one, but they both have UMTS/HSPA/GSM bands that would cover the "world" but also AT&T 3G service.
So, can I buy the Verizon model and slip in an AT&T card for now? 4G won't get to my area for a couple of years yet, but Verizon is more likely to have the better coverage when it happens.
Re:Queue the stupid (Score:4, Interesting)
You could have made the same arguments for MS in the 90s, the big difference being that Apple screws developers more than users. The popularization of curated computing is the worst thing ever done in the history of computing (for the industry itself and users, of course worse things have been done using computers). And that's all Apple's fault.
If that isn't bad enough for you, Apple is now abusing patents worse than IBM or MS ever did, among other litigation like suing manufacturers for the use of concentric rectangles with rounded corners, and and is currently the #1 employer of ethically questionable labor.
The way I see it if you hated MS in the 90's you should sure as hell hate Apple now.
Wow, if that isn't pointless nitpicking... (Score:5, Interesting)
264 dpi, 2048x1536 in 10 inches... maybe your complaint is about some imagined deficiency, but if you'd care to explain how this is actually a failure, I'd love to hear it. Are you actually complaining that if you freeze frame and squint really hard from two inches away you can actually make out... (gasp)... pixels? Because you couldn't make them out at normal viewing distance.
In other words, tell me how your post isn't just a knee-jerk, pointless, anti-apple jab with no redeeming value.
Re:The Screen (Score:5, Interesting)
That screen is just incredible. I mean, here I am working on a dual monitor setup - two 22" 1680x1050 monitors, side by side. That's about 3.5 megapixels. But along comes the new iPad, with a 3 megapixel screen in a 10" form factor - 85% of the pixels in about 15% of the area. Crazy. I'm not planning on buying one right now (already have iPad 1, which at this point I'll use until it dies), but I'm really glad that somebody is pushing screen resolutions above the relatively low 1080p we seem to be stuck with today on virtually every LCD.
The sad thing this device exposes is how current desktop operating systems don't handle resolution independence nearly as well. I have 3x1080p 24" screens on my work desktop setup, and I still have to squint to see stuff because Windows7 and the apps I run have built-in assumptions about pixel sizing. Hopefully Win8, ChromeOS or OSX-next help to resolve this.
Re:Which is an... odd way to talk about graphics (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh I don't know about that. I gave a talk only last week in which I described AMD's latest GPU (HD7970) as having 32 cores and I ran that content past some of the chip's architects first. If you look at the design of the chip it quite clearly has 32 cores: 32 scalar cores each of which having 4 16-wide SIMD units hanging off the side.
Of course, how the marketing department at Apple defines cores is open to question, but 4 strikes me as a reasonable number for an embedded GPU. The ARM Mali designs are around that kind of core count.
Re:Upgraded Apple TV announced (Score:4, Interesting)
On the contrary, most of those suck if you're not a tech geek. I've tried 3-4 different boxes, and the ATV2 was the simplest to set up and the simplest for my family to use, without needing constant hand holding. I got a Roku and practically nothing worked on it. I even set up the ATV2 and Roku side by side and the Roku streaming choked on Netflix while the ATV streamed without stopping to buffer every couple of minutes. At the time, they were both $99. Guess which one got sold on eBay?
I've also tried WMC, XBMC, Popcorn Hour, and one or two other (though it's been a couple of years). None of them are as simple as the AppleTV with Plex for streaming local media. FWIW, I did try the Plex client on Roku and, at least for a month after the release of the current gen of players, Plex was hopelessly broken. It may have been fixed by now.
So where are the rest of the super hi-res screens? (Score:5, Interesting)
Alright, so count me as a doubter that didn't think they'd pull out the super hi-res screen and keep it at the same price. So all of a sudden Apple comes out of nowhere with screen resolution that leapfrogs everything out there, including pretty much all of the LCD desktop monitors that I've used. So where is everyone else with super hi-res screens on commodity LCD monitors, laptops, etc.? Let alone Android tablets? When and where will we see those?
Re:Still don't want one (Score:5, Interesting)
I have a desktop and a laptop to do "real" computing on.
But how long until the iPad becomes so deceptively capable that people buy it as their only computer?
Re:the new ipad (Score:4, Interesting)
I seriously do not get the problem some people seem to have with this.
I have a 2011 Macbook Air, not a Macbook Air 3. My friend drives a 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier, not a Chevy Cavalier 17 (or whatever it would be). Apple just announced the 2012 model iPad. What is the big deal?
Most brands drop "numbered sequels" after a certain point. MS Office anyone? Or how about Windows? (Yes, they went BACK to numbers, that probably had something to do differentiating the fuck away from Vista).
And no, "The New iPad" is NOT *literally* the new name. You think that's going on the box? It's just the "iPad". This year's iteration. The end.
Too large? Absurd. (Score:4, Interesting)
1280 pixels is the sweet spot for browsing
It is silly to think in terms like that for browsing.
On a smaller screen the increase in pixel density is very useful, because you are mostly looking at fairly scaled down web pages. The text can render readably even down to as small as five points or so, which makes the whole browser more usable because you spend less time zooming in and out to read.
The iPhone4 screen has been fantastic for reading, I am REALLY looking forward to this newer high DPI screen for reading all kinds of things, browsing among them.
Re:So where are the rest of the super hi-res scree (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple painted themselves into a corner resolution-wise. They have to double it, or not change it at all.
For some reason iOS developers all forgot how to code for multiple screen resolutions -- even though they've (for the most part) been doing it for years, and handling highly variable aspect ratios at the same time.
Even when I'm targeting a specific mobile device, I make sure that the layout adapts correctly to various resolutions and aspect ratios. It takes very little extra work and the rewards are great when your needs change in the future and you need to port it to a different device or class of devices with different resolutions and aspect ratios.