The New iPad Review Round-Up
The results are in, and now that we're less than 24 hours away from the launch of the 2012 edition of the iPad, the tech world has its hands-on say if and how Apple's newest slate trumps the competition. We've got our own review up as well as the mixed opinions from across the web – in general the consensus has been that if you're in the market for an iPad, it is as it's always been: the older model may be cheaper, but the newest model is worth the extra cash. That and the fact that Apple is preparing their content for the much more high definition world of the new iPad's Retina quality display should have you reeling all night long.
You'll find an intensely thick review coming in from our own Vincent Nguyen, with this key quote sounding off on many blogs as the siren call for the reality at hand:
"Apple doesn't need another revolution, it has already started one, and the new iPad brings a fresh degree of refinement to a segment in which it is undoubtedly the king."
Check out our Full Review of the new iPad and compare and contrast with the rest of the reviews coming out this week:
All Things D's Walt Mossberg concentrated on the display especially in his review of the device:
"It's not as if people are complaining about the screens on their iPads, a device so attractive and useful that Apple sold about 55 million of them in two years. But this display is a big leap forward. It's hard to illustrate on a Web page or in print how brilliant this new display is. You have to see it." – Mossberg
Over at Daring Fireball, John Gruber notes that Apple has shown not just a fabulous new package, but their priorities in that package, one by one:
"What is changed — and what is unchanged — in this newest iteration of the iPad reveals Apple's priorities. Most important: how things look on screen, how they feel, how smoothly they animate. Not important: a faster CPU. Important: faster graphics processing. (Those last two priorities emphasize the hole that Intel has dug itself. Their expertise — CPUs — is no longer the most important processing bottleneck for personal computing. Graphics are.)" – Gruber
On The Verge you'll find Joshua Topolsky speaking on the overall design of the product – not all that changed from the previous model iPad 2, this device will stand the test of time he says:
"or a tablet device where the display is the only substantial method of input available, you need little more than a screen — and that's what the iPad provides. Much like the classic Dieter Rams Braun products most modern Apple devices are aping, one feels that 50 years ago or 50 years from now, this product won't look too out of place. In the world of industrial design, that's a rarity." – Topolsky
In the New York Times review by David Pogue you'll find a bit of talk on the missing Siri elements that many expected to be present in this new model:
"Weirdly, though, speech-to-text is the only piece of Siri, Apple's smart voice-control software, that the new iPad inherits from the iPhone 4S. You don't get the rest of Siri's features: the ability to set alarms, send text messages, look up calendar appointments and snag facts from the Web just by asking out loud. That the full Siri isn't available smacks more of a marketing department holdback than technical limitations." – Pogue
MacWorld's Jason Snell had a bit to say on the transition apps will be making from the iPhone 4S to the newest iPad, and the iPad 2 to the iPad here in 2012 as well:
As with the transition to Retina displays on the iPhone, app developers will need to step up to take advantage of the higher resolution offered by the new iPad's display. Surely many (if not most) of them knew this day would come, but it's quite a job for developers to create new, Retina-sized versions of every graphic in their apps, and it may be some time before all iPad apps are updated. (Non-Retina apps look more or less like they did on previous iPads—but on the new iPad's Retina display those pixels really stand out.)" – Snell
The Loop's Jim Dalrymple notes the improvement in the camera quality over the iPad 2 – having an iPad 2 right here in front of me (me being Chris Burns), I'd have to agree with him without even having used the new iPad extensively: the iPad 2's camera just isn't that great – can't wait for the big jump!
"I love having the ability to capture quality content on the iPad. Having a camera to take pictures and video is one thing, but having a quality camera is quite another. Knowing that the media you take home will be so good that you can make an HD movie or produce a slideshow is a huge plus. It's the person with the iPad that won't be saying, "excuse the quality, I didn't have my good camera with me." – Dalrymple
The USA Today review by Edward C Baig has a bit of info on his experience with the battery life on this new model:
"The iPad got through an entire day of being worked hard with no battery problem. Inside the device is a larger capacity (and physically larger) sealed battery than the one in the iPad 2. The third-generation iPad may not be the game-changer that Apple's original tablet was, but you know how this movie is going to end. Apple is going to rake it in on the heels of its latest matinee idol." – Baig
Finally there's TechCrunch's MG Siegler with another perfectly simple way to put the difference between this tablet and the rest of the tablet world, including the iPad 2:
"It's weird because I was never one of those people who thought the original iPad's and the iPad 2′s screen was poor (but there were plenty of those people in the post-iPhone Retina world). I guess it's just like a pre-glasses world — you never realize how blurry things are because that's just how you've always seen everything. And then you put the glasses on and you wonder how you ever managed without them.
Once you see and use the new iPad, there will be no going back." – Siegler
For those of you heading out this week to purchase an iPad, I must suggest you take a peek at the "Your Friday new iPad gameplan" post for full details on your futuristic battle. Then for those of you terrified of the lines and the possibility that you might not get a tablet at all, there's always the All New iPad Giveaway courtesy of SlashGear. It's time you got your hands on the HD future!
