Reviewers confirm 4th-gen iPad is merely an incremental refresh - Page 2

If it has a better spell-checker then you should snap one up...

Ha, ha. Then, like Cable TV with 200 channels, there will STILL be noplace to go and not enough time to go there.

 

I think I'd rather stick a screwdriver in my eyesocker than subject myself to the abysmal tablet app situation on such a resolution. Its though enough using blown up cell apps on the Nexus 7, cant imagine how horrible it will be on that tablet, using apps optimized for a mere fraction of that resolution. The rest of that shit doesn't matter. Not a single person on the planet is gonna base their tablet busying decision on RAM or CPU. As if the 4th iPad is slow or something- it will probably be several months before anything even takes advantage of its power. 

Well, the "mere" incremental refresh is actually something that most other tablets have yet to even think of. So it's quite important for users.

I think the iPad is moving into the incremental upgrade phase of products. People have been trained to expect huge changes between models and this is simply unrealistic. I heard people completely whine about how they got their new iPad in March and now it's outdated. Well guess what? We're talking about technology. Apple's line of computers have for years had incremental updates periodically throughout the year, with new processors, new ports, etc., and a big change only occurring every few years. It simply looks like this is what's happening with the iPad now.

 

I'm thinking Apple is just going to start releasing new products when they can. They had the A6 and new Lightning port, so why not release a new iPad now?

 

I think as soon as they sell enough devices with the newer components (driving costs down), then they'll move the iPad mini to a 'Retina' display and A6X and sell the current model for $50 less. I'm guessing around March or April.

Making an iPad min Retina is not as simple as sticking in a retina display and faster processor.  There's the issue of putting in a batter slim and powerful enough to get that 10-hour batter life. I hope I'm wrong but I don't think you'll see that until a couple years. Next year I can see Apple putting in the A6 processor, 1GB  of RAM and the same 8-megapixel camera as the iPhone 5. But no more.

I hope Nexus is great. Extreme competition means extreme engineering and innovation. Which means we get significantly better products year after year. Not that Apple is standing still....

 

Regarding the Nexus and Surface, I really like the youtube videos that will undoubtedly pop up soon comparing the various tablets. I saw one featuring the Surface and even though the reviewer was a MS enthusiast, he couldn't contain his disappointment with the Surface and he took a video to show why. The launch times for Apps was incredibly slow. The interface with their Mail app was befuddling. The vaunted MS Office app wouldn't save his work and he found himself stuck in an endless loop of password prompts. The GUI in Office was difficult to use as the targets for finger presses were incredibly small. It doesn't appear Microsoft has learned how to optimize Office for tablets yet.

 

The videos show how smooth (or not) the interface is. It is then that you can see if the interface is responsive and silky smooth or not. After seeing that Surface video, my questions were answered very quickly. Apple has nothing to worry about.

 

I tend to like the parts of Apple's keynotes where direct comparisons are made. When Phil showed Android apps right next to iOS apps, who could argue against the superiority of the iOS version?

 

Sometimes reading a review just doesn't get at all the thousands of little details that make for a great experience on a tablet. One thing that pleases me most is that Apple focused heavily on making sure that retina display is responsive and babybutt smooth. The computer just disappears from under your fingers and gets out of the way.

 

Question about the new connector: Anyone try syncing up to iTunes? Is it noticeably faster? Why is this important detail often left out?

 

I think it was faster 10 years ago, when Firewire did the syncing (with iPods of course).

 

Even though the new connector is Lightning, it still connects to your computer via USB 2.0, and USB 2.0 is pretty much crap. 

 

I just sync via WIFI, as that's far more convenient than connecting any cables.

If it still won't be able to handle multiple universes, there is yet a lot of room for our dear trolls to whine.

 

I can't wait for USB 3.0 support. Hopefully it'll be in the iPhone 6/iPad 5!

how true, it's like, just buy what you can afford to buy and stop complaining about quality

 

So, have you got lots of pictures of Jony Ive then? 

The trolls just don't stop.....


Fastest CPU? On paper - maybe. In real life, the iPad blows the Nexus away.

Highest resolution? Not even close.

Modern looking OS? By whose standards? And if Android is so much more modern than iOS, why are all the people making Android devices falling all over themselves to copy iOS?

More RAM? Perhaps (I haven't checked the specs). Or is it like the SIII where some versions have different amounts of RAM than others - causing confusion? In the end, though, what matters is what you can do with it and the iPad leads the pack. Nothing else comes close in performance.

Jeesh...

Arguing over which tablet has the fastest processor and best display, and making believe it's factual, when neither are in users hands yet and one (the Nexus10) not even available for detailed review for another few days. Someone's not sharing their time machine with the rest of us.

Everything purchased six months ago is now six months old…

 

Other than it not beating the iPad in any category, sure.

 

And Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, and Scott Forstall. 

 

Already have the iPad to judge the display… 

 

Moments?  Plural?  No way, that's way too long, they'll whine for sure about that.

The Mini is in people's hands. Read the reviews.

The specs of the Nexus 10 are available - and they don't come close to the claims made by the troll I was responding to.

 

I believe that constitutes "illustrating the point"...

So now you're OK with paper specs to do comparisons? On paper they certainly do with browser and processor speeds as well as screen resolution on the Nexus10 exceeding Apple's flagship product...

 

and none of the paper specs proves it really has a better (or worse) overall display or performance difference. Give it a couple more weeks and you and the others can start trading barbs based on "facts and specs" from <pick your favorite supporting blog> proving one clearly better than the other for everyone and every purpose. Personally I think it's a bit silly considering how good some of these products are becoming and how little real world difference there may be for most users whether it's the OS, the ecosystem, or the hardware performance.

Edited by Gatorguy - 10/31/12 at 6:28am

Not really...

 

The iPad has a faster UI, so it's the fastest tablet ever made.

it also does have tablet apps, great color accuracy and stuff like that (you don't know about it, obviously), so it's the best screen ever made (it actually has an use.. it wasn't made for phone apps.)

The port.. it's also the most versatile.

These reviews are just another example of the grading on a curve that is rampant in tech "journalism". Android devices just have to show up at class and the reviewers bend over backwards to give them an A for effort: "After they fix all the hardware issues and a new version of Android is released, this will be one smokin' tablet, assuming owners are able to upgrade."

 

For Apple, they insist that the entire industry be revolutionized with each product release or it's, "Ho, hum, another new iPad from Apple with a processor twice as fast and a number of other hardware improvements that make everything else in the product category look like a bad joke. Too bad it's just an incremental upgrade."

 

So much for maintaining even a facade of integrity and credibility.

Actually the cost is the same for those who bought the new iPad as it is for those who didnt.

Apple is probably moving its iPad refresh to fall, so this was a good time to do it. Good for the Christmas seasons. Seems like a lot of the Apple refreshes are moving to later in the year.
 

Unfortunately it isn't. Samsung does not make true (and the irrational troll becomes clueless) High PPI displays for their products (surprise).

 

is this one the first? I don't know... But if it is, you can bet that it will lose for the iPad in every other screen related duel. (not to mention phone apps on it)

Right no cellular option (and only 3G on smaller models).

LOL

This also dropped the price of the 3rd generation ("refurb") by $130 .

I just picked a new/refurb (shipped directly from China, so not sure how "used" it could have been) iPad3 up for $379, which IMO is a great deal and a fantastic upgrade from the the original iPad (in my case).

Because they have to buy camera kits etc all over again and it's not a major update. I tell folks this isn't for them cause they got the 3rd gen. It's for the folks still rocking original or even an iPad 2, same as the phone game.

He's not talking about the reviews, he's talking about the commenter yelling about how they 'just' bought their iPad 3 and now the new one is out. whaaaaa whaaaaa, get over it I say to them. No one is forcing you to buy every release and no one promised you would have the latest and greatest for any period before something better came out.

It is APPLEinsider and frankly some folks wish they would stop with all the talk about the competition completely. After all, the argument goes, if they wanted to know about that stuff they would go find a site about it.

GUYR is right. Apple clearly wants to have the iPads as a Christmas product. I assume that means they believe they can mass produce them, but if you look at the Kindle Fire, Surface and other competitors, they're all refreshing well before January to hit the holidays.

They still sell computers so refreshing them can be spread out through the other 3 quarters. The big question is will they continue to have the new phones and tablets released very close to one another.

And the other big question is will they really, really, really upgrade the Mac tower. They don't sell many units of those beasts, but they have a loyal following and in some important fields (entertainment: magazines, film, tv, etc). Gotta stay hip.

 

I believe Lightning was one of the reasons, but the other was to not make the mini leave the larger iPad appear "in any way" outdated. Reaffirming it as the king of the hill and totally new, so all consumers could see the up-sell of the device. Not that there is anything wrong with the 3rd gen (I know, I own one), but giving it an HD FaceTime cam, a Lightning connector and an even faster proc make it all the more appealing beside the other new iPad, the mini.

 

This is my view.

 

And not to mention, we're now officially on an end-of-year iPad cycle, which Apple has been trying to get on for a while, and which makes the most sense.

are you one of those astroturf people Google pays to post this PR babble?

Edited by Alfiejr - 10/31/12 at 8:59am

 

Battery is said to be the same, unsure if it runs cooler, or not. It weighs the same.

Alright, by no means am I disappointed in the iPad Mini or the iPad, but I think this is a pretty uncharacteristic refresh for the company.

 

Lightning is definitely part of the reason for this refresh, but I think that the main one is to differentiate the iPad mini from the iPad, keeping the iPad as the main device. Without the refresh, the iPad Mini would be as fast as the iPad, and probably a bit quicker too, due to its lower resolution screen. I haven't played with the iPad 4 yet, but I do notice the occasional stutter on my iPad 3 that I didn't see on the 2 or the 1 - presumably due to the resolution. It sounds like the A6X in the 4 fixes this though. With the Retina MacBook Pro and the iPad 3, I'm not sure that I can go back to a regular screen.

 

With the iPad Mini being a (relatively) slower, smaller iPad, I feel like Apple is perpetuating this notion that what you're paying for in a device is screen size. Selfishly, what I would have preferred to see would have been the iPad mini having the Retina display and an A6X processor - even if it sold at the same price as the iPad, or maybe $100 less. I have no idea if this would have been viable from a market perspective, but this would have put the Mini as a first class device along with the iPad. Again, not disappointed, but I thought that it was a strange move. I wonder if this is just a first generation thing, so that they can have the iPad 2 - new iPad divide with the minis as well in the future.

Really?  Do you gave benchmarks to show that the system really is faster?  Or are you just looking at the "specs"?  Android has to cram specced-higher CPUs in their devices to just equal the iOS devices performance.  Android is a piss-poor performer on a given level of hardware where iOS shines and they have to brute force it to manage.  Compare the Galaxy S3 to the iPhone 5.  iPhone 5 runs rings around the US version and in many benchmarks also the quad core international version.  Yet it is clocked lower than the US version and has half the cores of the international version.

 

Yes, it has more PPI.  

 

Modern looking OS?  No more modern looking than iOS.  And Android, Inc., who developed Android before Google took it over, was founded in 2003.  Android seems to be the older OS.

 

And if you look at the pure Android screen found at wikipedia under Android, showing Jelly Bean 4.1.2 on a Nexus, you think that is a modern looking OS?  It looks like a 1st grader designed it.

 

More RAM?  Sure, they have to put more RAM in to make their machines perform as well as iOS.  More RAM means more energy to refresh it means you need bigger batteries.

 

Once the Nexus 10 is shipping and we can do independent tests, we can say nothing of the performance, screen quality, etc.   Any claims now are just made by spec-whores.

 

-

 

No, I believe the iPad has moved to the iPod (fall) schedule.

No, it's not. You're comparing the Nexus' fake resolution to Apple's real resolution. Their resolution figures are significantly overstated because of the way they calculate them. Try putting the iPad 4 next to a Nexus 10 if you want to compare screens. Oh, wait. you can't - the Nexus 10 is vapor.

Ah, you finally get it despite your odd unsubstatiated claim that resolution on the Nexus10, which isn't shipping to consumers yet rather than vaporware, is overstated. Perhaps you could take a moment to explain how the calculation of reported resolution on the Nexus10 is flawed.

Edited by Gatorguy - 10/31/12 at 9:34am