ipad 3

Showing 25 posts tagged ipad 3

Liveblogging The Letdown

John Gruber on the anticipated letdown reaction from some following tomorrow’s new iPad announcements:

But if a faster processor, more RAM, a double-the-resolution retina display, a better camera, and maybe even LTE networking make for a “modest” update, then what would it take for the iPad 3 to be deemed an immodest update? A fusion energy source? Teleportation? A camera that sees into the future?

Nothing has actually been announced yet and it’s already starting. I’ve actually heard this letdown sentiment several times today. Again, from people who haven’t actually seen the product yet and actually don’t even know for sure what’s coming.

I mean seriously, if all of the rumored new features are true, this is going to be a major upgrade. And the actual sales figures will reflect that, even if some of the stories tomorrow don’t. 

Many folks seem oddly tied to form factor when it comes to upgrades. The iPhone 4S was a “disappointment” to some because it looked like the iPhone 4. I suspect the new iPad will get the some of the same reaction since it will look like the previous iPad.

My prediction: those left underwhelmed will have one thing in common. They’ll be idiots. 

Also, the AP story Gruber links to happens to have the most dickishly intrusive ads ever. 

The A5X iPad

Josh Topolsky reports that the new iPad won’t have the oft-rumored quad-core chip, but instead will have the more recently unearth A5X, another dual-core chip — “basically an A5 on steroids”. The A6 may get saved for the next iPhone.

But, while the chip may not be quad core, the report also says the new iPad will feature more RAM than the previous models. This was a contentious point about the last iPad.

Ultimately, no normal user will care if it’s a A6 or A5X, if it’s quad-core or dual-core, or if it has double the RAM. All they’ll care about is if it’s noticeably faster. I suspect that will be the case.

I’m personally most excited for the screen and the LTE functionality. 

I’m also excited for the possibility 1080p films on the new iPad and the new Apple TV.

Buttongate

Buttongate spills over into day four, despite my repeated attempts to assure everyone there is indeed a home button on the new iPad. 

I get why people want to believe there won’t be a button — I love the iOS 5 iPad gestures too! — but there are other reasons that a button needs to exist, as Dave Caolo points out.

Regardless, there’s a button because there’s a button, according to sources familiar with buttons on iPads. 

[via The Loop]

iPad 3! iOS 6! Retina!

There is a lot of chatter right now about different sites looking at their logs and finding evidence of the iPad 3 thanks to its Retina — 2048 x 1536 — display. The report linked to above from Ars Technica even seems to show evidence of iOS 6 (which is unlikely to be unveiled before WWDC this summer, but is probably in early testing mode).

But there’s one big problem with at least the resolution aspect of these logs, as Eric Slivka of MacRumors points out:

The problem with speculation about these resolution entries representing the iPad 3 is that the new device should still report 1024x768 as its resolution. With the higher pixel density intended to increase sharpness rather than screen real estate, web content would appear far too small on the device if it reported itself at its true 2048x1536 resolution. This situation can be seen with Retina-capable iPhone 4/4S and iPod touch models, which report their resolutions as 480x320 instead of their actual 960x640 resolutions.

What If… (Office For iPad Edition)

Watching the back-and-forth yesterday about the whole Microsoft Office for iPad thing was nothing if not amusing. The basic rundown:

“It’s coming, here it is.” “That’s not it.” “Yes it is.” “No it’s not, but we didn’t say it’s not coming.” “A Microsoft employee showed it to us.” “No they didn’t, you’re mistaken.” “No we’re not.” “Stay tuned.”

But what if we all missed something obvious going on here? What if Microsoft was being so cagey — and maybe even disingenuous — for a very real reason? What if they don’t want to spoil a very big surprise set for a certain Apple event taking place in a couple weeks?

Now, to be clear, I have no actual information on this one way or another. But this tweet by Matthew Maurice makes some sense:

It’s very clear at this point that Apple and Microsoft both hate Google far more than they hate one another. And both sides seem willing to do whatever it takes to destroy Android. What if Microsoft is planning to do Office for tablets as an exclusive for the iPad (until the Windows 8 tablets come out, of course), while totally shafting Android?

Wouldn’t such a move be worthy of an announcement on stage at an Apple event which also happens to be all about tablets? I think so. 

Doesn’t mean it will happen. That’s just a random, wild guess. But when Microsoft implies that all will be revealed in the “coming weeks”, you can helped but be tickled by the thought…