Finally it’s here! There has been no greater hype around an upcoming tablet since Moses came down brandishing the 10 commandments.
We have had our Brand new third generation iPad delivered on release day and are happy to bring you TheAppleUpdate’s first review of the New iPad.
First of all it has to be noted how quickly these things sold out, I preordered mine the next morning after the announcement and less than a few hours later shipping times were dropped to 2-3 weeks. As you can see from the pictures the one Ive got hold of is the white 32GB model.

As far as packaging is concerned, not much change there. Upon opening you are immediately greeted with the iPad itself, wrapped up in its typical Apple cellophane covering to protect from the initial salivation that inevitably follows opening the box. In the box as expected we have the usual bare minimums: USB to 30 pin connector cable, power plug adapted and a tiny Apple booklet with 2 pieces of paper and 2 Apple stickers.

Now the iPad, once you have gone through the quick 5 minute steps of setting the device up your ready to go, and are immediately greeted with this glowing Retina screen. For the people that have been wondering, just how good is this screen, or is it even that much of a big deal? – yes, it just is.
Just flicking through the initial apps on the home screen you are almost in awe at the quality of this screen. It’s not only the amazing resolution but the colours really jump out at you and it truly makes everything come to life.

First of all I flicked through a few of the things I use regularly on and iPad, things like browsing and twitter, and one thing very noticeable is how much clearer the typography is on everything you read. By having this super new screen it means the developers of apps can make the fonts a lot sharper, and on word intensive apps such as twitter this really does make a huge difference and the words feel like they’re jumping off the screen.

Next, the new iSight camera. One of the criticisms of the iPad 2 was its terrible cameras, yes it did shoot 720p video but the camera itself was less than a megapixel. I’m happy to say that on this new iPad the camera is fantastic. Not only does it now shoot 1080p definition video, but the camera quality is of 5 megapixels and with the ‘improved optics’ found in the iPhone 4S. Here’s a close up picture below I took with the iSight rear facing camera:

Now onto the general speed of the device, both previous iPads really have set the standards in terms of speed of not just tablets, but when it comes to things like Internet browsing, there really is nothing better. Well when considering the new iPad it really has upped the game once again. It’s noticeably quicker than the already lightning fast iPad 2. Everything from typing, to flicking between tabs on safari is just that little bit quicker, and it just makes using the new iPad even more pleasurable.

I have also had a chance to play around with the new dictation feature, and after some use there’s not many complaints to report. Yes, it does make mistakes, but generally I was finding myself surprised about how accurate it was. You can speak completely normally and 95% of the time it gets exactly what you want. It’s not perfect yet, but when compared to other similar software it feels years ahead, and unlike other competitors I could actually see myself using this, and it not just being a gimmick as voice dictation has always ever been for me.

The verdict? Essentially in this New iPad Apple have updated and improved the major factors of the iPad 2, and really focused on bringing you an even greater user experience. Two main things that you rely on most in a tablet pc are speed and the screen, and with this new device they’ve made it even faster, and given you a simply astounding screen to view all of your content on. For that alone the new iPad is a fantastic update. Combined with the other features such as the fantastic Camera, voice dictation and a beautiful design, their is no question Apple have really done themselves proud and proven their reputation here.

There is no doubt this is the best iPad yet, and if you have the money and use it as much as I do, an upgrade is a must. The iPad has once again put itself a number of steps in front of any near competitors in the tablet market.