The new iPad (entitled “new iPad”) doesn’t arrive tomorrow but somehow many major tech bloggers have already tried it out. It’s as if they got them early or something. How did they pull that off? Weird.
Until someone knocks him off the throne, the world looks to Mossberg first.
the key upgrades are to those core features — the 9.7-inch screen and the data speed over cellular networks. These upgrades are massive. Using the new display is like getting a new eyeglasses prescription — you suddenly realize what you thought looked sharp before wasn’t nearly as sharp as it could be.
Joshua Topolsky at The Verge thinks it’s great and offers advice:
For owners of the iPad 2, this isn’t necessarily a slam dunk. While the updated features are a boon to the new iPad, it doesn’t offer an experience that is significantly different from the previous version. If your screen never bothered you, and you never wanted a faster cellular connection or a better camera, there’s not a great argument to upgrade (especially considering many of you just shelled out for a new tablet less than a year ago).
However, if you’re in the market for your first tablet, or upgrading from the original iPad or an Android device, do not hesitate. The new iPad is the most functional, usable, and beautiful tablet that any company has ever produced.
David Pogue in the Times offers some notes of caution:
High-definition videos look dazzling. This is the world’s first tablet that can actually show you hi-def movies in full 1080p high definition. But Netflix’s streaming movies don’t come to the iPad in high definition (yet, says Netflix), so they don’t look any better.
There’s another price you’ll pay for all this clarity, too: in storage. Tests performed by Macworld.com revealed that the graphics in Retina-ready apps consume two to three times as much of the iPad’s nonexpandable storage than pre-Retina apps. To update their apps for the new display, software companies must redo their graphics at much higher resolution, which means much larger files.
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