Apple's New IPad: Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News?

The_Stir
New Apple iPad
New Apple iPad

EVERYONE, listen up! Apple just unveiled their new big shiny long-awaited new iPad! HOOOORAYYYY! Before you get uber excited and start digging into your savings -- I have to be honest: there's some good news, and some bad news. The good news? It's available starting March 16, you can pre-order it today, and it's the exact same exact price as the iPad 2, $499 for the 16GB ($629 if you want it with 4G, and who doesn't?) and $699 for the 64 GB ($729 with 4G).

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The bad news? Erm. The entire device? OK, that's a bit harsh. Maybe it's just me -- but I was hoping for a whole lot of new cool functions with this. If you're not much of a tech wiz, then all 1.4 pounds of the new iPad will look and feel JUST like the iPad 2.

Check out the new specifics (in layman's terms), here:

- New Retina display: The new retina display is going to be 2048 x 1536 with 3.1 million total pixels. Essentially, that means things are about to be a whole lot better looking on the iPad screen. Personally, this isn't a huge sell for me. Things are clear enough for me on my good 'ol iPad 2.

- New iSight Camera: Do you have an iPhone 4S? Well, now the new iPad has the same camera. Meh again.

- 1080p video recording: This is sort of cool. You can literally use your iPad as a fantastic HD video camcorder. However, who wants to carry around a tablet to record life's biggest moments? Can you imagine holding up your tablet at your best friend's daughter's dance recital? Talk about a massive line-of-view roadblock!

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- Voice dictation: Seems to me that this is like Siri for the iPad. The new device supports English, British, Australian, French, German, and Japanese. The new touch-screen keyboard also features a microphone button similar to that of the iPhone 4S to "communicate" with your device. Cool, but not a must-have.

- 4G LTE: LTE is the standard technology for all things mobile. In short, this new 4G LTE for the new iPad means the device is going to function a whole lot faster. Quicker buffering for all those hilarious baby videos, quicker download speeds for those pictures your mother-in-law sends over -- that sort of stuff. Apparently, this super fast technology will be available on all sorts of carriers, including the two biggest Apple partners -- Verizon and AT&T. I like things that happen fast. This is a plus for me.

- Battery life: Nothing new here. The new model will get the same 10 hours of battery life as the iPad 2.

See what I mean? I get it. It's like the iPad 2 got a face lift. But I'm just a little sad over it. Maybe it's the fact that there's no new fancy schmancy name to go along with this fun new Apple toy. If I worked there, I'd totally wanna name the coolest new hip thing to hit shelves that everyone and their friend's cousin's brother will have.

... but I don't. As an Apple enthusiast, I guess I'm going to have to look at this new, unfancily named iPad the best way I know. This may not be the hippest revolutionary product from Apple, but it's an evolutionary product for sure.

Will you be buying the new iPad?

Image via Apple


Written by Emily Abbate for CafeMom's blog, The Stir.

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