Apple Announces New iPad

Today, Apple unveiled a new iPad, the third edition of the majorly successful multitouch tablet. The new tablet includes a Retina display, a better camera, a new A5X quad-core processor, a high-speed mobile broadband technology LTE, and voice dictation support. Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, declared that this iPad, "redefines the category that Apple created with the original iPad." Here are descriptions from PCWorld explaining what each of the new features will include:

Retina Display 

Although the iPad’s display measures the same 9.7-inches (diagonal) as the first two iPads, it doubles the number of pixels in play; that means the screen now contains a whopping 2048-by-1536 pixels—264 pixels per inch—for a total of over 3.1 million pixels, which Schiller called “the most ever in a mobile device.” Apple coined the term Retina display when it unveiled the iPhone 4. It describes a screen with pixel density so high that, at normal viewing distances, the average human eye can’t discern the individual pixels.

A5X quad-core processor 

The iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 both leverage Apple’s custom-designed A5 system-on-a-chip. The iPad is instead powered by the new A5X chip. It offers four times the performance of the Tegra 3 processor that powers many Android tablets, Schiller said.

New Cameras  

The iPad now sports a 5-megapixel iSight camera with a 5-element lens, IR filter, and in-plane switching built into the iPad’s new chip. Schiller said the new iSight camera has automatic exposure and auto-focus, and now records HD video at 1080p resolution. Like the iPhone 4S’s camera, the iPad’s camera features automatic face detection, automatic exposure lock, and automatic focus lock. Also thanks to the new A5X chip, Schiller said, you also get image stabilization.

Voice Dictation 

New to the iPad is a microphone button on the virtual keyboard, one that looks just like the corresponding icon on the iPhone 4S’s keyboard. You can use that microphone for dictation anywhere the keyboard appears.

4G LTE 

LTE is a high-speed wireless broadband technology—which is as much as ten times faster as 3G Internet access. Like its predecessors, the iPad will come in both Wi-Fi-only and in mobile-broadband equipped models; the iPad will be the first iPad to offer support for high-speed LTE networks. In fact, the iPad will support HSPA+ with a maximum downlink of 21 Mbps, dual-carrier HSDPA with a maximum of 42 Mbps, and LTE with a maximum of 73 Mbps download. Schiller described the performance of the upgraded broadband technology as “amazing.” The new iPad will work with Verizon, Rogers, Bell, Telus, and AT&T for LTE support, Schiller said. All iPads will offer 3G support. The iPad can also now serve as a personal hotspot, if your carrier supports it. Because of different technologies at play, there will be different iPads for Verizon and AT&T’s networks.