Review: Apple's new iPad
As was widely anticipated, Apple unveiled the third-generation iPad last
March 7 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Analysts
speculated that we would see the iPad 3 or perhaps the iPad HD but Cupertino
defied all in attendance by simply calling it "the new iPad."
Color reproduction is also improved greatly over the previous models. I've
never been unhappy with the way the iPad 2 displayed colors, but you can
tell at a glance that the colors are more vibrant and nuanced on the new
screen. On the old iPad, the Facebook icon looks blue; on the new one, you
can see that it's more of a purple tone. Useful? Maybe not. But once you've
used it, you won't want to go back to a less-colorful screen.
Make no mistake: This is the best tablet any amount of money can buy: the
successor to the best tablet money could buy, which was, in turn, the
successor to the best tablet money could buy way back when Steve Jobs was
alive and Palm was alive and Android was still a scrappy upstart. But Palm
and Steve Jobs are both dead, and Android is a no-foolin' juggernaut now.
There are more expensive and more powerful and faster tablets to be bought.
But they're substandard.
If you don't already own a tablet computer, and want one, then the new iPad
will be tough to resist - if you can afford it. The device, which goes on
sale March 16 in the US, Canada and 10 other countries, will sell for $499
to $829. If you want to save some money, consider the iPad 2, which Apple
will continue making and sell for as low as $399.
