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Apple’s new iPad, which Apple doesn’t want you to call the iPad 3, has launched in over 30 countries in the space of two weeks post its initial launch, in what appears to be the most co ordinated multi country launch ever, bringing Apple’s best technologies to as many consumers as it possibly can, as quickly as possible.
That’s because, for now, Apple maintains a fantastic technological lead over competitors, be they in the world of Android, Windows 8, webOS, QNX 2.0, MeeGo, Ubuntu tablet Linux or anything else.
It has a vastly superior screen to the competition, delivering on the “Retina Display” promise achieved first with the iPhone 4, while blowing away the new “Full HD” Android tablets with 1920×1080 resolution compared to the new iPad’s 2048×1536.
We can instantly tell when we’m looking at an iPad 2, and even our MacBook’s screen is looking a bit fuzzier these days now that our eyes have been spoiled by the Retina class display of the new iPad.
Indeed, it makes us hope that all those rumours of Retina class MacBook Airs and Pros to come later this year are true, for it would not only yet again propel Apple far in front of its Computer competitors, but would bring the sharpest laptop displays yet to the market in what would surely be a sight for sore eyes – at least for some.
There are times when double the resolution and four times the pixels has a downside, and that’s with non Retina class apps, websites with razor sharp text but as yet non upgraded low res images that look fuzzier on the new iPad than they do on older iPads.
There’s also low res video not looking as good on the new iPad’s super sharp display – much like standard definition (SD) TV shows and movies didn’t look so hot on high def HDTVs a few years ago – especially on sets that had no upscaling capabilities, although the race to upgrade graphics on sites has certainly begun now that the Retina class iPad display is here.
Future MacBooks notwithstanding, the new iPad has a new processor, too – the A5X.
It combines a dual core (CPU) with a quad core graphics processor (GPU) that delivers better graphics while maintaining the same CPU performance as the iPad 2 – ensuring that iPad 2 owners aren’t left with apps that would have struggled had the new iPad been equipped with a much faster processor, and without making life even more difficult for iPad 1 owners.
There’s double the RAM for smoother operations and for fewer page refreshes in apps like Safari when switching between tabbed pages, alongside the welcome update to the iPad’s rear camera.
It has gone from less than one megapixel in the iPad 2 to five megapixels in the new iPad, while getting a lens boost too – and while the camera app has improved, along with stability enhanced 1080P video recording, there’s still no LED flash as seen on the iPhone 4 or 4S, or on many competing camera equipped Android tablets.
System wide voice dictation is also now possible, and even though we didn’t see the arrival of Siri on the new iPad (or at least, as yet), this will be useful to those who prefer to speak, rather than type.
It’s worth noting, however, that everything you dictate by voice is being recorded, stored and transcribed by Apple on its servers (which is the same way Siri works on the iPhone 4S), rather than being processed directly on the iPad itself, bringing the whole issue of “privacy” to light yet again.
Tech companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and others are still grappling with how to deliver and ensure privacy in an online world, and it looks like it’ll still be a while before they figure it out, although we should never lose vigilance on this front lest the predictions of 1984, SkyNet or other dystopian visions of the future end up our future reality.
What about the apps, app sizes, problems with the new iPad, iPad 2 vs iPad 3, final thoughts and more.
Molly Hulme is a business journalist based in Adelaide, Australia. Molly has a passion for financial markets and breaking news stories and loves writing about business news, stock market, and economic opinions that matters most to its audience. Molly spends a lot of time discovering and researching latest financial markets and industry news stories in order to make sure the latest and greatest stories are brought to you first on BigBoardNews.com.

