I’ve just finished heaving a sigh of relief after hearing the roundup of new features in the next-generation iPad. As a fairly recent iPad 2 owner, I was dreading the announcement of the “magic” feature set that would have me rationalizing an upgrade in the next few months.
GeekWire helpfully sums up the basics:
Features unveiled so far include a Retina display with 2048 x 1536 screen resolution, a new A5X processor with quad-core graphics, 1080p HD video recording, voice dictation, 4G LTE connectivity with theoretical peak download speeds of 73 Mbps, with the ability for the iPad to be a personal hotspot if carriers support it.
If you’re purchasing your first iPad, this is all to the good: the Retina display, the better resolution camera, the 4G speeds. But I have never taken a picture (other than trying it out) with my iPad 2, because my iPhone 4 is always with me and it’s much more conveniently sized. To save on data plans, I also opted for the WiFi-only version, again, relying on my iPhone 4 to fill in hotspot gaps. (Something to consider re: 4G LTE in Seattle, according to GottaBeMobile, your choice is Verizon, not AT&T.)
And while the Retina display is beautiful, it doesn’t improve the experience, say, of a choked Netflix stream delivering pixel-blocks–a far more common experience. It may help long-form reading on the iPad, but this will depend in part on the source, and the resolution they deliver.
Photographers will certainly love the Retina display and improved iPhoto app, and I can understand why digital media guru Hanson Hosein would be enthused about 1080p video recording, since putting together video segments on the fly is easier on an iPad than an iPhone, but these seem niche markets of power users.
Otherwise, Apple’s improvements to the iPad–in resolution, connectivity, and processing–all fall in areas I haven’t had any complaints about. Generally speaking, the rest of the internet hasn’t caught up with the iPad 2’s capabilities yet. If my iPad seems slow, pixelated, or stuttery, it’s because of external factors that have nothing to do with the iPad itself.
Likewise, missing the Siri experience hasn’t been enough to make me sneer at my iPhone 4. I do regret the camera upgrade, but not piercingly (in photography, limitations can become interesting). My photo gallery of a trip to Las Vegas is exclusively an iPhone 4 creation; I left the DSLR at home in favor of the iPhone’s inconspicuousness. Again, if I were buying new, I would be delighted to crow about the iPhone 4S feature set, but with an iPhone 4 already in-pocket, nothing there screams must-have.
I know Apple is supposed to reinvent the world every six months or so, but their recent incremental approach has taken some pressure off my tech budget, for which I am grateful. It will also, I hope, give content and service providers time to catch up with the iPad’s sprint ahead. I can assure you, for instance, that CenturyLink’s DSL is not Retina-ready. I live in the one of the most densely populated areas in Seattle, and their “pipes” only allow 3 Mbps. So they could really use this breather, too.
Ditto there, brother. I was dreading the announcement as well since I’m not in a class bracket that would allow me to spend $700 every 6 months. The new display I’m sure is amazing but with 4x the pixels the new graphics processor will be busy dealing with that and probably won’t provide much of a performance upgrade at all. The iPad 2 is great and you’re right that a lot of developers still haven’t caught up with that. I like the approach that Apple is taking that makes more sense for an “every other” new model upgrade model on my part. I’m sure the leap from iPad 2 to 4 will be amazing though, like the jump from iPad 1 to 2 or iPhone 3GS to 4. Apple makes so much money now that they can afford to take the pressure off their customer base to constantly upgrade and I’m grateful for that.
You just sound bitter and like you’re looking for excuses not to need the ipad 3. Pretty lame and non-objective reporting.