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After months of talk, Apple finally announced the release of its latest tablet device at an event in San Francisco, Calif. on March 7.

World, meet the new iPad. (That’ right, “iPad.” Not iPad 3, not iPad HD, not iPad 2X — just iPad.)

While the device doesn’t look too different from its predecessor on the outside, like the iPhone 4S before it, the differences are mainly internal. Share your thoughts in the comments below!

• Retina Display - The photo above shows the difference between the iPad 2′s 1,024 x 768 pixel display and the new iPad’s high-definition Retina display, which has double the resolution and four times the pixels (2,048 x 1,536 pixels). Apple has described a Retina display as ”pixel density is so high your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels.” And how does it stack up to other tablet displays? GDGT’s Ryan Block said of his first hands-on with the new device: “It’s the best display I’ve ever seen. Anywhere, period.”

• 4G, A First For Apple - Apple’s March 7 event marked a first for Apple, the arrival of 4G LTE connectivity on a mobile device. Purchased with a two-year contract from either AT&T or Verizon, a 4G iPad will, according to The Wall Street Journal, ”allow users to connect a[t] speeds roughly 10 times faster than current 3G data networks.” 4G models will also “work on any 3G network,” per GigaOm.
  
  New iPad models equipped with this unique feature, however, will cost users slightly more than models without 4G. (More on this later.)

• Meatier Specs – The new iPad may look pretty similar to the old one, but it’s packing some serious hardware upgrades within its thin frame. These include a faster processor, the “quad-core” 1GHz Apple A5X, which Apple claims to offer twice the processing power of the A5 CPU (found in the iPad2) and four times the graphics-rendering power of the Tegra 3 processor found in many Android tablets, per Wired’s live blog of the event. Gizmodo argues that Apple has also probably upped the device’s RAM, “if only to handle the new resolution.”

• No Siri – The new iPad did not get Apple standout iPhone 4S feature, the voice-activated virtual personal assistant, Siri. What it did get was Voice Dictation, which will be a blessing for anyone who has ever tried to type on the iPad’s tricky virtual keyboard.
  To use the handy new feature, just tap the microphone icon on the keyboard and start talking. Current languages supported by dictation include U.S., U.K. and Australian English as well as Japanese, French and German.

• Look – While the new iPad offers quite a bit more than the iPad 2 in terms of display, hardware, and connectivity, the outside remains almost identical to its predecessor, measuring 9.5 x 7.31 inches.
  As expected, the biggest difference between the updated Apple tablet and its predecessor is its thickness…

• A Bit More Heft – Compared to the .34 inch iPad 2, the new iPad measures .37 inches deep, according to Apple’s website. In addition, the new iPad has .11 pounds on the iPad 2, weighing in at 1.44 lbs. The 4G version of the new iPad is even heavier, weighing in at a whopping 1.46 lbs.

• New Photo Tools – The new iPad boasts 5-megapixel rear-facing iSight camera that shoots 1,080p HD video.The iPad 2′s rear camera was only .7-megapixels and recorded video in a paltry 720p.
  iPhoto, Apple’s photo-editing software, is now available for the iPad. The app can be used for editing, effects, beaming photos between devices and sending finished products to iCloud or social networking accounts. The app also lets users create photo journals, digital scrapbooks into which users can insert maps, notes and weather widgets. The new iPhoto app costs $4.99 and is available today.

• Personal Hotspot – The 4G version of the new iPad also comes with a feature called Personal Hotspot, which “can be used to share the fast network connection on your iPad with up to 5 other devices using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB,” according to an Apple press release.

• Powerful Battery – Even though the new features like Retina Display and 4G connectivity will be consuming a lot more juice, a larger, more powerful battery will keep the new tablet charged for the same amount of time as the previous model.
  Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, had the following to say about the battery during Apple’s Wednesday event (per GDGT): “You may recall we claim 10 hours of battery life, and 9 hours on 3G. The new iPad delivers the same 10 hours of battery life, and 4G is 9 hours.”

• Price And Availability – The WiFi-only iPad starts at $499 for the 16GB then jumps to $599 for the 32GB and $699 for the 64GB. The 4G version starts at $629 for 16GB and tops out at $829 for the 64GB version.
  The iPad is available for pre-order now and will begin shipping on March 16. 

• Apps – In addition to its own apps, Apple also introduced a new generation of apps made specifically with the new iPad’s higher resolution and enhanced hardware capabilities in mind. According to Engadget, these apps came courtesy of third-party developers like game-maker Namco, which previewed its jet combat simulator SkyGamblers, and Epic Games, the developer behind popular role-playing sword-fighting game Infinity Blade and creator of the new Retina display-optimized Infinity Blade: Dungeons.
  In addition, 3-D design software manufacturer Autodesk showed off its Sketchbook app, which allows for a whole new level of sketch detail thanks to the new iPad’s improved display.

Related articles

• The new iPad: sharper display, same price (thehindu.com)