Hands on with the new iPad

Talk about pressure. Apple launches have always had an element of Willy Wonka-esque hype about them, but Wednesday's launch of the new iPad had more of an element of suspense than many before it. How successful would Apple be in presenting its iconic tablet to the world, for the first time not overseen by Steve Jobs? And would the new device be impressive enough to stand up to the smorgasbord of new tablet devices expected to be launched on Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system? Some were even willing to stake money on what could be unveiled: a betting firm removed the wagers it was offering on the tablet after an immediate run of money.

Although most of us had predicted that Apple's new tablet would be called the iPad 3, the company has decided to shy away from its usual numbering system and just call it the new iPad'. Not surprising, considering that apart from becoming slightly thicker and heavier, there aren't any major changes to the look and feel of the tablet. Those who were after a new look iPad will be disappointed: it's the same 9.7-inch tablet as its predecessor. There are neither new slots, nor the revamped magnetic cover that many had hoped for. But inside, there was a different story.

Apple does seem to have addressed some of the gripes that users had with the iPad 2. Topping that list was the camera, something Apple has clearly spent a lot of time on. The iPad 2 was endowed with a measly 0.7-megapixel, fixed focus camera at the rear, but the new iSight camera has a 5-megapixel sensor, auto focus, auto face detection and auto exposure lock, and lets you record video in 1080 p Full HD. There's also helpful backlighting to assist you in dimly lit surroundings. There are also small details I appreciated, such as when you hold the iPad up to take a picture a little camera icon appears on the right hand side of the screen, which allows you to click more easily on the screen than having to fumble for the bottom button. A feature I didn't try was the image stabilisation when you film a movie, but which Apple demonstrated during the presentation.

The new 3.1-million pixel Retina Display does make photos look fantastic: I contrasted it with an iPad 2 and sure enough those once clear-looking iPad 2 photos had a distinctly fuzzy feel to them in comparison. Compare it to the old 1,024x768 resolution on the iPad 2, the 2,046x1,536 pixel density is miles ahead of the competition. With nearly 50 per cent more colour saturation, the pinks and reds of images I saw were particularly vivid on the new tablet. Opening up the iBook app I zoomed further and further into a page but each letter looked just as distinct no matter how far you zoomed in or out.

They've also introduce iPhoto to the tablet for the first time, with lots of nifty editing features, which you can bring up in the form of a palette at the touch of a corner of the screen. There's something called edge detecting which allows you to brighten the colour of for example a red bridge by roughly moving your finger over it, without adjusting the colour of things surrounding it. Its also got the ability to help you select similar pictures and pick the best one, and has little tweaks that allow you to adjust it to suit a right or left-handed person.

The new iPad includes an upgrade to its processing unit. The dual-core A5 chip has been replaced with an A5X processor and a quad-core graphics processor and will run on an updated operating system, iOS 5.1. Existing iOS 5 users can upgrade to version 5.1 as of now.

Some of Apple's games partners have produced games to show off the new HD screen technology, and I had a go at a new one called Sky Gamblers Air Supremacy, a simulated dogfight. So clear were the images that as my aircraft lurched and swerved as I moved it around, I almost feel a bit giddy.

There were other welcome tweaks to existing software: for example Garage Brand, which impressed me a lot on the iPad2 (I must admit I have never used it since!) has a new Jam session feature which allows up to four tablets on the same network to play and record together as a band. iMovies also has a new feature that helps you create trailers using standardized format options.

There were additions I found less impressive the voice dictation for starters. You can use it when you want to send an email or write in the Notes section, or even Tweet. It seemed to suffer the same weakness as Siri, the personal assistant, on the iPhone 4s, struggling to recognise some accents or function in a noisy room. It had issues recognising and typing even my simple question: What time is it? though I must admit it was somewhat better when I used the speaker on the headphones to command it.

Other aspects I was more neutral about. The new A5-Z processor, introduced to let the device keep up with its new graphics capabilities, didn't speed things up. I timed how long it took me to open up the Photos and iBooks apps on the new iPad and the iPad 2 and it took just as long. There's also no improvement on battery life you get the same 10 hours.

Originally posted here:
Hands on with the new iPad