"The new iPad" and more

Wednesday, in San Francisco, California was another big day for Apple. Several things were announced, including the much-anticipated next generation iPad. Many rumors were put to rest, including a whole television set dubbed ‘iTV’, as well as the availability of a smaller-inexpensive iPad, totaling 7” diagonally.

“The New iPad” includes Apple’s Retina-defined screen, where a compiled 3.1 million pixels are on a 9.7” diagonal screen, which has a screen resolution of 2048 by 1536 – and by the way, that’s more than what a typical HDTV in your family room would have! This amazing screen allows for more eye-popping features, the inability to pick out single pixels, more bursts of color, and much more that isn't currently available on the iPad 2.

Also announced inside the device is an improved processing chip, called the ‘A5X with quad core graphics’ chip; a mere-powerhouse inside a 1.5-lb device. This will provide for more fluid graphics as well as better responses when playing your favorite games, reading your best books, and watching those new episodes or movies on your device that fits in your lap.

A surprise for me and for others that was announced on the new iPad – the ability to be surfing the web with 4G LTE capabilities. This is breakthrough for Apple, since this is the first product in their own market with this specification. The blazing fast capability is much more advanced than that of the regular 3G speeds, in that, you can watch a YouTube video or download pictures in less than 10 seconds, compared to waiting a minute for a video to buffer half-way through a movie. This leads me to believe in the summer that the iPhone 5 will most likely have the same, 4G LTE networking capabilities as the iPad, when announced at Apple’s WWDC announcement in June.

The iPad also has a few minor improvements, such that of being able to ‘dictate’ what you would like to type (the current capability on the iPhone 4S with Siri, where you can say what you want type, and the iPad types it for you), a 5 megapixel ‘iSight’ camera on the back of the device which also shoots 1080 p HD video, much like the iPhone 4S (except the iPhone has an 8 megapixel camera).

But you may ask, well due to the additions and improvements of the device, how will battery be affected? The iPad will still have the amazing 10-hour battery life as it does now on the iPad 2, and 9-hour battery life when using 4G LTE.

Apple updated the software that runs on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch today to iOS 5.1, which allows users to delete photos in Photo Stream (a feature in iCloud), updates to increase battery life, users in Japan being able to use Siri, carrier updates, and more. To update, plug your device into iTunes and select the ‘update’ feature, or, if you are already running iOS 5, go into settings, general, and select software update.

Apple also announced a new app to add to its collection, presently on the Mac – iPhoto. iPhoto includes breakthrough Multi-Touch features so you can use simple gestures to sort through hundreds of photos and find your best shots, enhance and retouch your images using fingertip brushes and share stunning photo journals with iCloud, which was made available yesterday. iMovie, Garageband, and the iWork suite received updates today as well, improving the overall performance, capabilities, and features in the apps, taking the HD screen to its full advantage. All of the mentioned apps cost $4.99, (except iWork – which costs $9.99 per app) and if you already have iMovie and Garageband, the app update is free.  (The updates, as well as iPhoto, require you to have updated to iOS 5.1)

Many Apple fans are slightly disappointed that Apple didn’t include a suffix to the end of the iPad title, such as ‘iPad 3’, or ‘iPad HD’. However, it is noted that “adding such numbers or names dates the products” and therefore, already outdates your device. For now, Apple is calling it ‘the new iPad’ and later will be referenced to just ‘iPad’.

Besides the iPad, an updated Apple TV was announced, allowing users to watch full-HD movies and TV-shows on their “little black box” as well as their iPad. An updated user-interfaced was announced with it.

The iPad will be available on the market on March 16, starting at $499 for the 16 GB model, in black and in white, and the 4G LTE model will cost $629 for the 16 GB model as well. The new Apple TV will also be available for $99 on March 16 as well. The current iPad 2 models have been lowered in price, with the 16 GB model costing only $399.

Are you looking forward to buying the new iPad or new Apple TV? What are you most excited for in the iPad? Many will be checking it out at Partridge Creek on Mar. 16 for sure! Tell us in the comments!