iPad Next

'The New iPad' was announced yesterday in a typical Apple Press Event and it is a big step up for tablets everywhere, although it's not really a revolutionary change, it IS (as Apple puts it,) A Resolutionary change... and that title is very fitting.

The main difference between the new iPad and the iPad 2 is the display itself. The new iPad will feature a display that is considered 'Retina' quality, meaning that even at an extremely close viewing distances, the pixels will be practically indistinguishable. Just as the the iPhone 4 display was a drastic change from the iPhone 3GS, this iPad will do the same for the iPad lineup.

Other changes included bumps in most of the internals. For the processor, they are using the quad-core (I think it's quad-core, I'm not that good at remembering these kind of things,) A5X, and they will supposedly have 1 GB Ram instead of 512 MB that the iPad 2 currently has. The back camera will make a huge jump from .7 mp to 5 mp (although the front facing camera is still the same crappy one from iPad 2.) The battery has also increased to accommodate all the internal changes and the new display, and it will reportedly carry the same battery length. Oh, it is also slightly thicker than the iPad 2 and a bit heavier, but according to some early 'hands-on' reviews, this is insignificant and they couldn't really tell a difference at all.

Another big change is that the cellular data getting a big boost. This will be the first mobile device that Apple is releasing that has 4G/LTE capabilities (as long as your area supports 4G, that is.) This is potentially quite huge, as 4G speeds can sometimes hover above those of broadband.

I think that's pretty much it about the device itself, although one thing I didn't mention was the name... it looks like Apple is forgoing the use of numbers for iPad, because this is Not the iPad 3, Nor is this the iPad HD, it is simply 'The New iPad.' Which makes sense to me because you don't have an iMac 6 or an AirBook 4 or whatever. I imagine that when the new iPhone is released later this year it will also be dropping the numeral suffix.

The other items from the press event were an updated AppleTV, which mostly just brings support for 1080p, plus a slew of new apps and updates to other apps. All of the iWork apps will be enhanced for the new display, and Garageband will be getting some new features (including the long awaited 'note editing'... woohoo.) A new app is also making it's way from OSX, iPhoto, which will bring a nice bit of photo editing ability to the iPad. Oh and iMovie is getting updated somehow too.

In conclusion... This iPad makes a Usain Bolt type of run, leaving all the rest of the tablets of the world in the dust. I know I want one... Bad... and I will get one!... in fact my order is already in and will be delivered next Friday. That's it.