New Ipad Review

Apple has been popping out iPads every year and we finally managed to get our hands on one. The third generation iPad, called ‘New iPad’, has been on the market for a few months already and we were able to have one for a week to see how good it really is and how different it is compared to previous versions already on the market.

Highs:
-Great screen
-Simple interface
-Excellent network compatibility
-Great web browser

Lows:
-Device can overheat
-Apps take up too much space
-No camera settings
-marginal battery life

The new iPad looks pretty much like the old iPad. It’s got a white or black bezel with a curved metal backing. The tablet still has a sealed-in battery and no ports other than a MicroSIM slot, a standard headphone jack, and an Apple 30-pin dock connector. The screen on the iPad is one of the best that we’ve ever seen. The 2048 x 1536-pixel Retina display helps to create amazing detail for almost any picture and makes looking at the old iPad very hard to do since the old iPad’s graphics will look much more grainier than they ever have before. One area where the new graphics display really is a blessing is on the Ipad’s web browser. Pages load up fast and you can see every detail of the text and pictures which were a bit grainier and harder to read with previous versions of the Ipad.

The interface uses iOS 5.1 with much larger icons in the home section compared to an iPhone device. You can fill as many home screens as you like with apps and there’s a slot on the bottom that will display six regularly used apps for convenience purposes. Apple has copied Android’s interface somewhat by displaying notifications on the top to avoid clutter on the screen. In addition, people who don’t want to clutter the home screen with a top of apps have the choice of placing apps in individual folders. One thing we thought could be fixed for the next iPad release would be to have more customization with interface. Right now, the interface is too simplistic but this is good enough for most casual users.

More geekier or artistic types of people might prefer another tablet device that offers more of these customization options. One thing that Apple really got down right was the use of your hands to create shortcuts when interacting with the device. You can double tape the screen to open up the music section or pinch your fingers in order to zoom in on a certain area of text and these and other shortcuts become commonplace after an hour or two of using the iPad. There are other features that have carried across here as well, with the Reader tab in the address bar turning any text on the page into an ebook like experience. This will allow anyone to simply read the text from a site and not be bothered by all the pictures or ads that will take up a lot of room when wanting to read something important on a website. Internet connectivity works pretty well with the iPad. If you’re lucky enough to have LTE coverage, you’ll get download speeds upwards of 20 mb compared to 6-8 mb with a wi-fi connection. In areas without LTE coverage, you’ll connect to 3G networks (HSPA, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA).

Of course, these stats all depend on who you choose as your carrier in the USA and Canada. Depending on the carrier, you can even turn the iPad into its own personal hotspot. The battery life on the iPad can be hit or miss. The battery life is supposed to be over 10 hrs. but we managed to only get up to 5 hrs. with the screen displayed at full brightness. If you dim the display to half brightness, you’ll manage to get up to 10 hrs. of battery life. Also, beware that it takes up to 7hrs. to recharge the iPad from 0%. The rear camera on the iPad shoots 5 megapixel photos. They did decent enough in low light conditions and looked nice when viewed on the iPad.

Videos are now shot in 1080p and look spectacular on the iPad. You can take these videos and move them over to your television with the iPad’s built-in HDMI support. Watching the videos on the Ipad was decent but we did experience some frame-rate problems a few times with Apple’s own video software. Media is another strong component of the new Ipad. The new iPad 3 offers up over 200,000 apps to choose from. One problem we did notice is that the size of many apps are becoming increasingly larger. You can only choose a 16GB, 32GB or 64GB model iPad and the media that you purchase will quickly add up in space. For example, a HD movie can take up anywhere from 2-4 gb and some apps are nearly 1 gb in size. This means that only 1 or 2 movies can max out your internal storage space if you’re not careful. This isn’t a very good sign when one of the main selling features of the iPad is the Itunes store where you can purchase many of these great apps but then have difficulty with the lack of space on your own device.

The gaming element of the new iPad 3 has been enhanced once more with the addition of the A5X chip. The quad-core gaming experience helps to improve gaming on the iPad but isn’t going to beat the graphics of a PS Vita or Nintendo 3DS anytime soon. The display is decent but polygons do pop out at you every once in a while. One nice addition to the gaming experience is the use of the touch screen on the tablet which gives games a slightly new and fresh appeal on the iPad. We’ve yet to really see any improvements from the retina display that the iPad offers but the device is still new and many developers are sure to take advantage of this feature for some upcoming games. Another issue that we found is that the device tends to overheat when playing certain games. Engineers at Consumer Reports recorded temperatures as high as 116 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius) on the front and back of the new iPad when plugged in and while playing certain games. We agree with this point and it’s something that Apple should definitely address very soon. We were never fans of the price of these devices and the Ipad 3 will start at 500$ for the 16 gb version with wi-fi and go up to 700$ for the 64 gb version. If you prefer wi-fi + 4G then the starting price is 629$ for the 16 gb version and goes up to 829$ for the 64 gb version.

Our final verdict is that this device is still one of the best tablets on the market regardless of its price. We think that Apple should offer a bit more cool hardware features or throw in some free apps with the purchase of the device to justify the price. From a performance standpoint, if you already own an iPad and are looking to upgrade then we don’t think there’s enough of a reason to buy this device. However, if you’re an artistic or graphics person then it’s hard for us to say no to the new retina display which will most likely convince even an iPad user to purchase the latest version for the improved graphics alone.

So, iPad users…Please try to avoid going to the electronics store and comparing the new and old iPads side-by-side and your wallet may thank you for it later. Anybody else who hasn’t purchased the iPad can gladly go to a store near you and check out the improved graphics and judge for yourself whether the device’s improved beautiful graphics are a reason enough to purchase the device instead of looking at the iPad 2 which is now 100$ cheaper than the iPad 3.

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