Well, seems like the rumors were true (some of it anyway) and today
we’re finally seeing the official specs of the third generation iPad. As
expected, the main draw here is its beautiful 9.7-inch, 2048 x1536
resolution display, that quite frankly, blows everything else out of the
water. That’s 264 pixels per inch, and Apple says that the new iPad has
44 percent better color saturation than before. To put that in
perspective, the new iPad has more pixels than current full-HD TVs.
Powering the entire thing is the new A5X quad-core processor, and Apple
says that the new processor is twice as fast as NVIDIA’s Tegra 3.
The new iPad also uses a 5-megapixel backside illuminated sensor and
boasts slightly better specs than the camera on the iPhone 4S. The
device also features 1080p video recording, which is on par with most
hi-end smartphones currently out in the market.
The new iPad now features Siri-like functionality in the form of a
dedicated microphone soft button at the bottom of the virtual keyboard
(right beside the spacebar). Also a surprising feature: 4G LTE
connectivity. We guessed that the new iPad wouldn’t have it, well, we
guess we were wrong. The new iPad will feature 4G LTE right out of the
bat, though how that’ll work in multiple countries with different LTE
spectrums, we don’t know (you can’t just bring an LTE device provisioned
for a certain carrier to another place and expect it (LTE) to work).
You can of course just buy a version without the LTE capability built-in
(or just use 3G), but were’s the fun in that? As an added bonus, the
new iPad can be used as a personal hotspot too.
Probably the best thing about the new iPad is that it’s able to
squeeze out 10 hours of battery life – 9 on 4G. The device is about
9.4mm thin and weighs in at 1.4lbs.
The new iPad will cost you $499 bucks for the 16GB version, $599 for
the 32GB and $699 for the 64GB version. LTE versions of the device will
retail for $629, $729 and $829, respectively.
First countries to get dibs on the new device will be US, Canada, UK,
France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan on March 16, with other countries
getting theirs (sorry, Philippines isn’t on there) on March 23.
