It’s March, and that means that it’s Apple time. Just like with the iPad 2 last year, Apple has once again chosen March as the month to reveal its newest iPad version. Interestingly, Apple has not named the newest iteration, iPad 3; instead, it’s just being called the new iPad. It certainly has some new features, but whether it’s worth a purchase will depend on the buyer’s tablet history.
How does it compare with the iPad 2?
The biggest difference between the two iPads seems to be the screen resolution. The new iPad’s screen resolution is 2048×1536 at 264 pixels per inch, while the iPad 2’s resolution is half of that. This makes the display of the new iPad the best resolution of any current tablet.
What other specifications are important about the new iPad?
Apple claims that the A5X processor is capable of a graphics performance four times greater than NVIDIA’S Tegra 3 chip, which can be found on many Android tablets. The new iPad will also have a new quad-core graphics processor, which will make playing games on the iPad look even better, and will support 4G LTE for faster networking.
Anything else?
The new iPad has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera that can record video in 1080p, an improvement over the iPad 2’s 0.7-megapixel camera which only captures video in 720p.
So, what’s the price?
The basic new iPad 16GB model starts at $499 and is available in black or white. The price goes all the way up to $829 for the new iPad with 64GB of memory and 4G. The iPad 2, by comparison, is now $399.
It all comes down to how much you want the latest technology, but iPad 2 owners should most likely be content to stay with last year’s version. While the upgrade in screen resolution is eye-catching, all of the other upgrades seem to be similar to the jump from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S — relatively incremental in comparison.
ERIC C. LIPSKY can be reached at science@theaggie.org.
