Analysis of the new Apple iPad
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 9, 2012 1:37 AM ESTFinal Words
In many ways the new iPad was a known quantity. We knew to expect a faster SoC, a significantly higher resolution display and LTE support - Apple delivered on all fronts. The new iPad, much like another iPhone, is simply a tangibly improved version of its predecessor.
The iPad 2's display quickly became unacceptable from a resolution standpoint. The 3rd generation iPad's Retina Display completely addresses the issue and creates a new benchmark for other players in the tablet and ultraportable notebook space to live up to. It really is great to see Apple pushing display technology so aggressively and at reasonable price points. I do hope it's only a matter of time before we see a similar trend on the Mac side.
The finer details of yesterday's announcement were interesting - a much larger battery and 4x-nm LTE baseband. Arguably the most important information however is what Apple didn't talk about.
Today we have a first-world-problem with tablets, including the iPad - they are spectacular for certain usage models, but frustrating for others. Tablets aren't notebook replacements yet, but they can be more useful than a notebook depending on what you're doing. At the same time, tablets can be considerably worse than a notebook - again, depending on what you're doing. The solution to having the best of both worlds is to switch between or travel with two devices: a tablet and a Mac/PC. Ideally we'd like to see consolidation where you'd only need one.
Windows 8 proposes a solution to this problem: a single OS that, when paired with a convertible tablet (or dockable tablet like the Transformer Pad), can give you a tablet experience or a full blown desktop OS on a single device. Apple hasn't tipped its hand as to what the iOS UI strategy is going forward. I suspect we'll get some update at WWDC this year, but Apple is playing it very quiet at this point. Microsoft's strategy does bode very well for Windows users who also want a tablet, however it does alienate Windows users who want a more robust desktop experience. It's clear to me that Apple is trying to move the iPad closer to the MacBook Air in its product line, but it's unclear to me whether (or when) we'll see convergence there.
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solipsism - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
The reason you typically not state something is because it's not favourable but it's hard to imagine it's lower. After all we are talking about a 70% larger battery with no display or active system resources being used in standby mode.I hope AT or someone tests this but obviously this will take a very long time.
joelypolly - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
Might take a few weeks to get the results. Idle standby (radio & wifi off) on the iPhone 4 I had was around 14 days.Death666Angel - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
I'm not Apple fan (own no product and would advise my family and friends to go with other brands 90% of the time). But if I had the spare change for a toy like this, I'd totally buy an iPad 3 over the Android competitors. As it stands now, I don't have the money (need better graphics cards when the 28nm generation is fully launched to support my new 27" display) and so I will wait a few years until such a device can replace my subnotbook. I'll be interested to see if it will be running Android, iOS or Windows. :-)berma001 - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
any chance flash will be viewable on new ipad?vision33r - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
Flash is dead, Adobe already stopped development. You can still use it on Android but they won't do any new releases with new features.WaltFrench - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
hahahahaha.Yeah, for apps that a developer converts to Air.
Adobe announced that they were NOT porting Flash to any new mobile platforms. And it's still Copyright © Adobe, Inc., so even if Apple had an ahem, “change of heart,” they still couldn't.
There are now something like a billion mobile devices that can't view Flash. Smartphone sales outpaced PC sales last year, and with tablets (uhh, iPads) growing explosively into the notebook space, they are likely to outpace PCs in a year or two, also. Windows on ARM ain't gonna support it either.
In other words, websites that rely exclusively on Flash are soon to be unwatchable on the majority of web-accessing devices. The smart ones see that coming. Those that cater to people running Flash games or even (gasp!) work-related videos on their desktop office computers have a bit more time become they, too, watch page views go to zero.
Michiel - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
People who wait for Flash on a tablet, iPad, make me sad somehow.It started as Macromedia Flash about 150 years ago. Back than it was just as bad as it is now.
Hurray for the death of Flash ! Long live HTML-5 and thank you so much Apple for helping Flash out of its misery !
doobydoo - Monday, March 12, 2012 - link
If you're desperate for flash, try Skyfire, iSwifter, or Onlive, all of which offer flash on iPad.flyguy29 - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
more power new form factorxype - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link
"It's clear to me that Apple is trying to move the iPad closer to the MacBook Air in its product line, but it's unclear to me whether (or when) we'll see convergence there."Uhm, can you elaborate on that? How is that "clear" in any way? Because both use aluminium and are thin while also sporting a display?
If anything, Apple has been very vocal about their thinking that these are two very different kinds of devices—they even call it PC vs Post-PC. Do you think that’s just marketing? That it’s not actually how they feel about it?
This feels a bit like an argument from someone who would _want_ the devices to all be the same, ultimately converging into a PC-like experience again. I don’t think that’s really going to happen with Apple, at least not in a big way like Microsoft is attempting. Sure, they’ll port some of iOS to OS X and vice versa, but I don’t think they consider merging the two at least for a couple of years, still.
Microsoft is the first doing it (and hats off to them, the Metro UI is a very bold step), but they were the first doing tablets, too, remember?