Should You be Excited about the new iPad?

Most of you probably already know by now that despite the fact that the iPad 2 hasn’t even reached the end of its life cycle, Apple’s planning on adding another iteration to their product line. Due on March 16, the product which Apple’s dubbed “the new iPad.” Some journalists feel that the name’s something of a misnomer because to them, there’s not all that much that’s ‘new’ about it.

Let’s have a look at what Apple’s claimed about their new device and you folks can decide for yourselves whether or not you’re excited.

First up, Apple’s boasting that the new iPad features a screen that’s far superior to that of the iPad 2, capable of displaying four times the pixels of its predecessor for an effective resolution of 2,048×1,536 as opposed to the 1,024×768 sported by the original iPad. The screen size hasn’t changed either – it’s still the same 9.7 inch screen as before. Now don’t misunderstand this – the new screen is actually a good thing. The effective resolution won’t actually change the amount of pixels on the screen, but rather will allow the new iPad to display images, apps, websites, and videos at a resolution that puts its parent product to shame.

Oh, it’ll also sport a 5 MP rear camera, but that’s more or less standard fare on tablets nowadays.

Second, in order to support its shiny, sexy new screen Apple’s packed the Apple A5X CPU into the device. With a quad-core graphics engine, Apple boasts that their new processor’s actually mightier than Tegra 3 – four times mightier to be exact. That remains to be seen from where I’m standing. The beefier processor means, unfortunately, that the new iPad’s actually a little bulkier than its cousins, with a weight of 1.5 pounds and a thickness of 0.34 inches to the iPad 2′s 1.4 and 0.31.  You’ll have to decide for yourself if that’ll make or break your decision to purchase it.

Finally, apple’s equipped the new iPad with 4G LTE radio technology, claiming that the new iPad will still sport the same battery life (9-11 hours) as its predecessors, in spite of the new tech’s increased power draw. Color me a little impressed. 4G’s not exactly a lightweight when it comes to power consumption in mobile devices, after all. Oh, and it can also act as an internet/mobile hot spot for other smartphones/tablets.

There’ll also be an updated iWork platform in order to support the new display, as well as updated versions of both Garage Band and iMovie. And a new application known as iPhoto, ported over from the Mac. Nothing too exciting and more or less to be expected with a new system. It’ll be running iOS 5.1, which went live on the 8th, with Siri present to aid users in navigating through the iPad’s operating system.

Price-wise, the new iPad will start at $499.99 for the Wifi-only model (same as the iPad 2′s launch prices), with the iPad 2 now on sale with a $100.00 discount.

Apple has historically been known for exciting announcements involving innovative new technology and awesome new developments with their products. With that in mind, the announcement of “The New iPad,” seems to be falling oddly flat much like the iPhone 4S. All we’ve got is a natural progression of technology. It’s a little more powerful, it runs a little better, and it’s a little prettier than the iPad 2. Other than that, there’s not really anything special about it.

While I’m certain there are those who are considerably excited about Apple’s new product, I’m not one of them. It’s certainly nice to see some updated tech on the market…but it’s nothing to throw a party over.

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