Apple has just lifted the covers off its latest creation, the new iPad. Yes, that is the official for Apple’s latest tablet, it’s not the iPad 3 or the iPad HD, Apple simply calls it the “new iPad”. So what’s new with the new iPad? Let’s look at the details.
First up, we have the new 9.7-inch Retina Display that packs a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixel giving
you a PPI count of 264. As we’ve mentioned before that’s well under the 326 PPI Retina Display
standard on the iPhone 4 and 4S, but Apple still deems the screen on the new iPad worthy of the Retina Display name because it claims that at the optimal operating distance – about 10-inches – the individual pixels are indistinguishable. If we follow the same logic, the iPad 2 with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 and a PPI count of 131 can also be deemed a Retina Display if viewed from a distance of, maybe, 20-inches?
While the pixel count isn’t as dense as its iPhone 4/4S, the new iPad’s resolution is still higher than the recently announced HD Android Tablets. In comparison, the ASUS Transformer Infinity and Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD pushes 1920×1080 resolution.
Apart from the new HD display, the new iPad uses a A5X processor that features a quad core graphic processor which they claim is much faster than Nvidia’s Tegra 3. In terms of imaging, the camera on the iPad is finally bumped to 5MP which Apple calls it iSight that’s similar to the one found on the iPhone 4S with backlit illumination and 1080p video recording capabilities. The front facing camera for Facetime remains unchanged.
With 4G LTE gaining momentum this year especially in the US, the new iPad now supports 4G LTE as well as HSPA+ with speeds up to 42Mbps. Since it is able to tap to high speed networks, a new welcome addition for the new iPad is the ability to share the connection with WiFi hotspot.
While the new iPad doesn’t look any different from the current iPad 2, it is actually heavier and thicker at 652 grams with a thickness of 9.4mm for the WiFi version. As comparison, the iPad 2 weighs 601 grams and is 8.8mm thick. The height and width of the device at 241.2mm X 185.7mm remains unchanged on the new iPad and it is good to know that existing accessories including the Smart Cover still works.
In terms of availability, the new iPad will be on sale starting on March 16 with US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore & Australia as first wave countries. There’s no mention of Malaysia at this point but it should be pretty soon. Pricing remains unchanged at US$499 for the entry level 16GB WiFi version and Malaysian pricing shouldn’t deviate much from current pricing but subject to latest exchange rates.
For more information, head over to the new iPad page.
