Apple’s iPad is iconic in design. Competitors try to emulate Apple’s success, but nobody can mistake the aluminum frame and its companion piano black or pearl white bezel for any other product. While it’s a product known for its distinct shape and size, the iPad’s character is only truly revealed when you power on its display and begin to explore the contained interface. With the Retina display, the new iPad is unlike anything you’ve seen before.
Consumer Reports, just one of many news outlets, reporting on the iPad’s newest apparent feature: hand warming.
During our tests, I held the new iPad in my hands. When it was at its hottest, it felt very warm but not especially uncomfortable if held for a brief period.
I’ll grit my teeth and bear the sensationalist headlines. I’m okay with tech blogs comparing temperatures between various iPad models for the sake of “science.” But I’m not okay with the above testimony. It’s a complete white whine.
The iPad 2 could get slightly warm after gaming or watching videos for a period of time, and the iPad (3) gets noticeably warmer (but not hot) at the back left corner where most of the processing components are located inside. While there are sometimes exceptions in the various Apple-gates that the media tends to manufacture with every new product launch — the iPhone 4′s antenna being an actual problem for lots of customers — the fact is that computer chips generate heat and the combination of technologies in the latest iPad (A5X processor and the Broadcom chips) contribute to this non-issue. The problem with a lot of these articles is that they’re completely misleading concerning how hot the new iPad is to the touch.
It’s something else for the press to complain about and get page views for despite the technological accomplishment of not only fitting a 2048 x 1536 resolution display in the space of 9.7 inches, but then being able to smoothly render games like Infinity Blade II and Air Supremacy on top of that. If getting a little warm is the trade-off for having a high performance iPad, then I’m completely okay with that. Unless the iPad is actually scalding your hand or is boiling hot to the touch (it’s nowhere close), the heat dissipated through the aluminum frame shouldn’t be a concern. Apparently, scalding hot laptops aren’t a problem, but a lukewarm iPad is.
Today’s one of those days when I can sit happily at my desk and know that the tech press didn’t win. Despite the mounting evidence, the alleged photographs of bits and pieces, and the last minute rumors of x-chip and y-feature for a gadget we seemingly knew everything about, Apple still managed to pull a fast one that was so obvious it makes even the most certain journalists curse under their breaths. iPad. You should have seen it coming right? Even the iPad 2 was simply referred to as the iPad on its aluminum shell. iPad. Even if it was just a little surprise, it’s a simple reminder that not even those with the best sources can fully beat Apple at its own game. As long as this continues to be true, I’m pretty sure that means Apple is doing alright.
With that said, let’s check out all of the great stuff Apple just launched.
It seems like only yesterday when I took a wrong turn at a shopping mall and ended up waiting in line for some magical device I knew nothing about. Granted, there were lots of people wrapped around an Apple Store, but how was I to know Apple was launching a new iPad that was as thin as a pencil, had a faster processor, and could be individualized with those foldable Smart Covers? And if I could predict the future, it sounds like I’ll be waiting in some longish line again for another flat computer that has an even better display, an even faster processor, and surprise features that’ll dazzle us before the glow of a blue Apple retail shirt.
I already know most of you already have your wallets out. Some of you are checking the source code on Apple.com for any imminent hints, while the rest of you are furiously refreshing Apple’s store page. Although, I hope you’ll read our predictions instead (we’re half intelligent, half coffee-addled). But if you’re looking for the real skinny, we’re just going to have to wait for Wednesday. We’ll be here on March 7th: still rambling, still highly caffeinated, and probably drunk on iPad 3 rumors… or is it iPad HD? iPad 2S?
To find out what the name of the next iPad will be, tune in tomorrow at 12:30 pm EST when Don and I will be kicking things off early to answer your questions and engage in general mischief before the iPad event. Whether Apple livestreams the event or not, you’ll get all of our flavorful commentary and up to the minute information about the crazy stuff being presented on stage.
Don’t forget to refresh the MacStories homepage regularly tomorrow — the rest of the MacStories team will be writing articles as fast as these products and numbers and shiny things are being announced! If you can’t be in the now, you can always catch up with the announcements later in the day. Don’t worry — it’ll all be here.
Bookmark this page and set a date for Wednesday, March 7th, for our realtime coverage.
13:00 — New York, New York
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05:00 — Sydney, Australia
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02:00 — Shanghai, China
23:30 — New Delhi, India
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19:00 — Rome, Italy
18:00 — London, England
Don’t see your city? You can use this link to get your exact time.
At 10 AM tomorrow, Apple will begin the presentation of one of the most (if not the most) anticipated products in the company’s recent history: the iPad 3. Rumored to feature a Retina Display, improved graphics, and a better camera, the next iPad will have to build on the amazing success of the iPad 2 (where by “amazing” we mean “just look at those numbers“) whilst giving owners of the original iPad a reason to upgrade after two years. And with the possible implications behind the rumored new features, it looks like those who stood in line back in April 2010 will have more than one good reason to consider the Next Big Thing.
As a team, we typically refrain from reporting every single rumor that shows up ahead of an Apple product release, leaving our crystal ball and teardrop-shaped hats under the editorial desk. Having considered the variables behind a Retina iPad 3 in the past, however, we couldn’t resist this time — much like we did back at WWDC ’11, we had to get together (in a cozy Campfire) and share our March 7th Apple Event predictions. Our own Gabe Glick already explained why he thinks a big announcement will be about software — specifically, he neatly illustrated why Aperture may be coming to iOS and the iPad 3. Below, you can follow the rest of the MacStories team as we reflect on what we think has to happen, what could happen, and what we generally would like to see in a Retina-enabled tablet future. Lots of coffee may or may not have been involved in the editing process of said predictions — pardon the excitement, but we think the next iPad is going to be a fantastic upgrade.
After the break, you’ll find our predictions. We will check back on these later this week, and make sure to tune in on MacStories’ homepage tomorrow for our complete coverage. (more…)
Matthew Panzarino at The Next Web has a good overview of a possible issue with the rumored iPad 3′s Retina Display and universal apps: download sizes and 3G. He explains:
Apple’s iPad 3 is set to launch next week and all signs point to it having a Retina display running at 2048×1536 pixels. This should provide a clearer, sharper image to most users and will display many applications in a fantastic new light, as long as developers have prepared them properly.
But the necessity to include these images may present a problem with the mandatory 20MB file size limit that Apple has imposed on 3G downloads.
The problem being: if the iPad really goes Retina, then developers of apps using custom graphics will have to use new images, which will likely be heavy and bump the download size of an app. For universal apps, already carrying Retina and non-Retina images (the latter both for iPhone and iPad), this can become a serious issue if we assume that most users who will see the “Over 20 MB” alert will be scared away or simply forget to buy an app. And developers (and Apple) want to make the process of buying apps as frictionless and immediate as possible.
I see two solutions. Either Apple gets the carriers to agree to larger download sizes, establishing a new “average” that should work for most apps (let’s say 60 MB as Panzarino suggests), or they rebuild the download mechanism completely by allowing devices to “ignore” resources they don’t need. The second solution would be a “cleaner” approach, in that it would address the root of this likely scenario — that is, devices downloading apps containing all kinds of images and resources for Retina and non-Retina displays.
By “localizing” images in a way languages are localized on the OS, Apple could find a way to know if an image is destined to an iPad or not. And if so, if it’s also destined to a Retina iPad, or old-generation iPad. Furthermore, in theory, this would also allow Apple to differentiate between images used by an iPhone and iPad which, right now, are always downloaded within the same, single .app package. Paul Haddad, who tweeted about the issue today, confirms my suspicion that this method would require a fundamental change to apps — I can only assume it would require different naming conventions or new APIs to let devices be “smarter” in understanding the resources they need to look for when downloading a new app. But the issue is real — always assuming the iPad 3 will feature a Retina Display, which seems like a pretty good bet at this point — and I think this is something Apple has surely considered.
The other way, of course, is to get carriers on board with larger downloads while on 3G — but the issue of universal apps bumping downloads (and thus 3G usage) would still remain for the users, and Apple would still need to somehow address the core of the issue, which is the existence of Retina and non-Retina devices downloading universal apps containing multiple custom graphics at the same time. I agree with Matthew, this issue will be an interesting one to watch.
According to The Loop, Apple has just sent out invitations for a media event in San Francisco on Wednesday, March 7th. The event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, starting at 10 AM PDT (1 PM EST).
Earlier this month, it was reported Apple would hold an event in the first week of March to formally introduce the next-generation iPad, so far unofficially dubbed iPad 3, to a selected press audience in San Francisco. The new iPad, reportedly set to launch later this month, has been rumored to carry a high-resolution Retina Display; MacRumors even posted photos of what they claimed to be a production unit of the display, showing an increased number of pixels when put under a microscope. The device has also been widely rumored to share the same design aesthetics of the iPad 2, with tapered edges and a flat aluminum back. Back in January, Bloomberg reported the iPad 3 would come with a faster processor, presumably quad-core, and LTE connectivity, which was also confirmed in a separate article by The Wall Street Journal. Similarly, Rene Ritchie at iMore claimed Apple would hold an event on March 7th to announce an A6-powered, LTE-enabled iPad 3.
We have collected a series of iPad 3 rumors and theories here.
We’ll cover Apple’s media event on March 7th on MacStories’ homepage.
With the (rumored) next-generation iPad approaching its (rumored) announcement on March 7th, I thought it would be interesting to collect some of the predictions we’ve made thus far based on the rumors and oft-quoted “inside reports” we have heard until today.
Unlike most Apple product launches, like, say, the iPhone 4S in October, there seems to be a certain degree of certainty in what the device is going to look like and the hardware changes it’ll feature when compared to the existing iPad. Thanks to various parts that have surfaced from China, several mentions by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, and a general assumption that “it’s about time”, it appears the iPad 3 is going to feature a high-resolution, 2048 x 1536 Retina Display. Just like the jump from iPhone 3G-era displays to the iPhone 4, a Retina iPad (which John Gruber has been predicting since 2011) would allow for crisper graphics on screen and a better reading experience thanks to the increased number of pixels per inch.
Reported in just about any recent rumor on the iPad 3, the Retina Display has become the marquee addition those who follow Apple rumors expect to see in the next-gen device. As we’ve seen with our previous coverage, however, there are other hardware changes that Apple could bring to the iPad 3, namely better cameras, faster processor, and LTE connectivity.
In the past months, I have seen reactions from people who have followed the iPad 3 rumors typically split in two categories:
Theory #1: iPad 3 has Retina Display, new cameras, LTE, new A6 processor.
Theory #2: iPad 3 has Retina Display, slightly improved cameras, faster A5 processor.
The two theories imply that the new iPad is going to be a major revision with dramatically faster CPU and graphics to power the Retina Display plus LTE connectivity, or a speed-bump of the existing iPad with the addition of a Retina Display, but no LTE, dramatically faster processor, or iPhone-class cameras. Both are based on a series of rumors, patterns, and facts to be considered. (more…)
Following a report about a possible iPad 3 announcement on March 7 posted earlier today, The Wall Street Journal is claiming the next-generation iPad will feature 4G LTE connectivity for AT&T and Verizon in the United States.
Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. will sell a version of the coming iPad that runs on their newest fourth-generation wireless networks, according to people familiar with the matter, as the battle to cash in on big investments in mobile broadband heats up.
According to The WSJ, the iPad 3 will fall back to 3G where LTE isn’t available, and “it couldn’t be learned” whether other carriers would launch LTE plans for the iPad 3 besides AT&T and Verizon, the two largest carriers by number of subscribers in the US. Back in January, Bloomberg reported that the new iPad would come with a higher-res display, a quad-core processor, and 4G LTE connectivity.
For an overview of the current LTE scenario around the globe, check out our previous story ”2012, The Next iPhone, And LTE” — it’s interesting to notice how The Wall Street Journal says the LTE iPad 3 will provide a good testing opportunity for carriers, whereas most carriers worldwide are still far behind in the LTE rollout for consumers.
Citing ”sources who have been reliable in the past”, Rene Ritchie at iMore claims that Apple will announce its next-generation iPad at a media event on Wednesday, March 7.
According to sources who have been reliable in the past, Apple currently plans to hold their iPad 3 announcement on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. Along with the 2048×1536 Retina display, the iPad 3 will feature a quad-core Apple 6 system-on-a-chip, and possibly 4G LTE networking.
Whilst we have refrained from reporting every single iPad 3 rumor to date, Ritchie’s report seems to make sense for a couple of reasons. First, well-connected John Paczkowski at All Things D is claiming that Apple will be holding an iPad 3 event in the first week of March. The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple has chimed in confirming AllThingsD’s report with a “Yep”. iMore, previously known as TiPB, doesn’t cover rumors much, but when they did last year, they were only off by a week, and correctly pinpointed the nature of the iPhone 4S (which became available for pre-order on October 7th, went on sale a week later).
The iPad 3 was previously rumored to be feature a high-res Retina Display, faster “A6″ processor, and LTE connectivity. Back in August, The Wall Street Journal wrote the iPad 3 would launch in “early 2012″ with a high-resolution display.
The typically reliable John Paczkowski at All Things D is claiming this morning that Apple’s next iPad, so far unofficially dubbed the iPad 3, will be announced by Apple at a media event in San Francisco in the first week of March. This rumor, if true, will follow last year’s announcement timeframe — the iPad 2 was unveiled on March 2, and went on sale on March 11 in the United States.
Sources say the company has chosen the first week in March to debut the successor to the iPad 2 and will do so at one of its trademark special events. The event will be held in San Francisco, presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements like these. No word yet on a street date for the iPad 3 (assuming that’s what it’s called), though my guess is retail availability will follow roughly the same schedule as that of the iPad 2: available for purchase a week or so after the event.
In his story, Paczkowski reiterates previous rumors of a device sharing roughly the same form factor of the iPad 2, only carrying a higher resolution display, possibly a “Retina” one with 2048 x 1536 pixels of resolution. This is not the first time a major publication has weighed in to speculate on the features and release date of the next-generation iPad: back in January, a Bloomberg report claimed that the iPad 3 would feature LTE, a Retina Display, and a quad-core Apple-branded processor to power the device’s higher resolution screen. As for other rumors surrounding the device, it’s been speculated that the iPad 3 would be slightly thicker than the iPad 2 to accomodate a bigger battery and different display, with parts floating around China suggesting that the increase in thickness should be around 1 millimiter. Other parts have surfaced as well among Chinese retailers, albeit they simply don’t offer any insight into the possible functionalities of the new iPad.
All Things D has been a very reliable source of Apple information in the past, correctly predicting the iPhone 4S’ October launch and Apple education event of January 2012.
According to a rumor posted by Bloomberg this afternoon, production for Apple’s next generation iPad, unofficially dubbed ‘iPad 3′, has ramped up and will reach full volumes in February. Several rumors in the past months have tried to pinpoint the exact hardware features of the iPad 3; Bloomberg claims the device will sport a quad-core processor, LTE compatibility and a sharper screen with ‘greater resolution’.
Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s next iPad, expected to go sale in March, will sport a high-definition screen, run a faster processor and work with next-generation wireless networks, according to three people familiar with the product.
Since the introduction of the iPad 2 last year, many industry observers in the Apple community have noted the iPad 2 hardware wouldn’t have been able to manage an increased number of pixels on screen, which require faster processing power. A quad-core CPU, however, would enable Apple to support a ‘Retina’ 2048×1536 screen resolution (thus doubling pixels on screen as the with the transition from iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4), faster app switching and smoother video playback. Support for LTE would allow for faster data connections in regions where 4G is available, and it’ll likely be added through new chips by Qualcomm. According to Bloomberg, LTE will be introduced on the iPad first as the device has got a bigger battery than the iPhone, and LTE is widely known to require a larger amount of power than GSM and CDMA chips.
Bloomberg adds the iPad 3 is ‘expected’ to become available in March, a timeframe that would resemble last year’s iPad 2 launch with a press conference in early March and product rollout in the following weeks. From a design standpoint, recent rumors have suggested the iPad 3 will be either thicker or thinner than the iPad 2 due to the addition of the Retina display, so we’d take this speculation with a grain of salt. Bloomberg’s report seems to fall in line with several separate rumors from the past months, suggesting that the iPad 3 will be a not so minor upgrade with new screen, LTE and quad-core CPU (like A6 processor from Apple).
Copyright 2012 MacStories
