First Hands-On Impressions of 'The New iPad'

Such a gorgeous screen and an amazing update this year.

Such a gorgeous screen and an amazing update this year.

What's amazing to me is that you can blow through your entire monthly data plan in fifteen minutes. What happened to all those unlimited data plans that were going to allow Apple's iCloud to become a serious storage platform? In an era of ever increasing resolutions and ever shrinking data plans, why are we expected to settle for local storage that is less than a tenth of what the PC era gave us? Each of us has different expectations as to what makes a great tablet, but I don't recall reading post after post and thread after thread about how bad the resolution was or how slow the processor is. So why is Apple so busy fixing what isn't even broken and yet so hesitant to address (or even acknowledge) what people are actually upset about?

So the verdict on the name is "The new iPad?" We definitely can't just call it iPad, as we reference the original iPad all the time.

It could be just iPad, just like iPod, or iMac, or MacBook Air.

It's the iPad (3rd Generation)

Nice. Go iFixit and tear it apart to see the new GPU, the CPU, and ram and tell us whats inside.

Oh and take my money apple!

So the verdict on the name is "The new iPad?" We definitely can't just call it iPad, as we reference the original iPad all the time.

Right, because everytime apple refers to 'the Mac' they are clearly talking about the original 1984 model and not their current generation..?

I thought Tim Cook's stage presence was fantastic today. I look forward to more of his keynotes.

German Apple online Store says "iPad (3rd generation)"

I see. I guess they are doing what they do with the Macs and Apple TV - don't give it an iteration name.

We'd be on MacBook Pro 11 by now or something. Wouldn't surprise me if the next iPhone is just called "the new iPhone".

Not sure I completely agree with them refusing to name it iPad 3 though. Though I guess it'll be known as the iPad (early 2012) model..

The pundits and several posters here are tripping all over themselves to not be enthusiastic about the differences, stating or implying it is a minor update.

That doesn't pass the smell test. At the same price, battery life, general feature and operating method, and size, it offers surprisingly increased benefits.

It has network access up to 10x as fast wirelessly, so if you need/want to you actually can practically play wireless HD video away from a fixed internet spot.

It has about 4x the screen resolution.

It has about 2x the processor speed and 4x the graphics capacity so you do not see slower response despite the 4x visual capacity.

It is at some basic level (2G/3G) a world phone data access device.

It is pitched as a hotspot, presumably either with a minimum service level or encouraging you to consume data so you simply pay more when you use it.

It facilitates new classes of software previously limited to desktop and laptop devices with CPU, graphics, and memory chips which themselves cost as much as this entire device, but includes an entire computer platform.

That sounds at least "fair" to me and based on how I presented it, I think a majority of people reading this will actually think it "above average to exciting".

Maybe it's just me. I doubt it.

Rocketman

I felt the Tim Cook intro would lead to something just a TAD more revolutionary. He's absolutely right, but in the wrong year: it is a PC supplanting desktops. I was on the edge of my seat for him to say something, like...

...and so we made a dock to connect the iPad to a hard drive which can store a terabyte and provide expansion to the iPad when it becomes a desktop during sedentary times...

But, no. Figures. The moment Apple gets off its iAss and makes something like that, they shut down about every other desktop out there for 90% of the market, and conquer everything ever made.

I'm guessing years from now this will be the "early 2012 iPad." Just like how they refer to their computers.

EDIT: Kilamite beat me to it.