New iPad display, iSight camera improvements give Apple an edge over competition

TORONTO – The new iPad landed in stores across Canada on Friday. Our tech-guru Steve Makris shares his first hands-on impressions of the iPad with globalnews.ca.

Global News: What is your overall take on the new iPad? 

Steve Makris: It looks and behaves very much like previous models and runs the same software. Most of the noteworthy improvements are hardware, enough to distance the iPad even further from competitors.

GN: What impressed you the most about the new iPad?

SM: Without question, the incredible display with more detail than the best HD TV, shrunk down to a ten inch screen. After a while you forget you are actually looking at an LCD screen. For example, a small spot in a photo might be defined by four pixels and look blurry on any other Mac or Android tablet, but on the new iPad it is defined with about 16 pixels, showing more detail. Switching back to an older iPad or laptop becomes visually disappointing. The New York Times looks like newsprint with e-Ink like text and high resolution photos which are sharper than the newspaper itself. Despite it having a much sharper screen, it responds to finger touch and swipes just as fast as previous models, thanks to the quad graphics processor. 

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GN: What are its coolest features?

SM: The five megapixel iSight camera is smartly improved by much better optics- the secret to the best digital cameras money can buy. Compared to any recent Android tablet, even with eight megapixel cameras, I found the iPad’s five megapixel iSight camera looked sharper on large computer monitors. And the 1080p video shooting quality, up from the 720p of the iPad2, is sharper than any 1080p Android smart phone. Needless to say, any video or picture is a stunning visual experience when viewed on the new iPad’s display screen. 

 
GN: Should original iPad and iPad2 owners upgrade to the new iPad?

SM: Old iPad owners will see many improvements by skipping the iPad2 and jumping to the new iPad, selling at original iPad2 prices. The $100 difference will be worth it. iPad2 owners, especially if they have an iPhone4s, won’t gain as much, unless they can move their iPad2 on.

GN: How do I decide on whether to get the 4G version?

SM: The iPad WiFi + 4G model will be more convenient for all your data connection needs and at 4G+ it seems just as fast as your home Internet connection. If you have any portable hotspot capable smartphone, you may consider using it for Internet access for the new iPad WiFi-only model. But keep in mind, your data connection will be limited to the iPhone’s 3G connection. But this would keep you on one cellular plan, since chances are your smartphone won’t be too far away. 

GN: Will other tablets be able to catch up to the iPad family?

 
SM: Not right now. Apple has a two-punch advantage by defining the hardware standard of its iOS products and having the most software. It is expected that more than 100 million iPads combined will have sold at year’s end. The huge selection of more than 200,000 iPad quality apps, against far fewer Android “tablet” quality apps (compared to Android Smart phone apps) gives Apple a hard-to-beat tactical advantage. The only contender is Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 OS which will work on any PC or touch tablet design and tie in with Windows Phone 7, much like Apple does with all its devices today. But device makers will have to up the quality of their hardware to that of Apple’s.

 
Check out Steve’s Tech Talk Sundays and Mondays on the Morning News on Global Edmonton, and at www.techuntangled.ca