Live from the new Apple iPad 3/iPad HD launch
We're seated in the second row at Apple's launch event in London, being relayed live from San Francisco, at which the iPad 3 is expected to make its world debut.
There's been speculation galore, with suggestions that the new version of Apple's tablet will have a high-definition Retina display, and will go on sale from March 16th.
Will we also see an updated Apple TV? Or the introduction of high-resolution music on iTunes? All is about to be revealed.
19.20
Now we're talking about the quad-core A5X processor. "It makes everything you do feel real fast and smooth."
iPad 2 will continue: price drops by $100, so $399 for the 16GB wi-fi model (£299 in the UK?). $529 for 3G 16GB iPad 2.
New iPad UK prices confirmed: £399 for 16GB wi-fi, £479 for 32GB wi-fi, £559 for 64GB wi-fi.
Then £499 for 16GB 4G, £579 32GB 4G and £659 for 64GB 4G.
And iPad 2 UK prices drop to: £329 for 16GB wi-fi, £429 for 16GB 3G model.
And that's a wrap folks. Still confused about the name. Is it really just the "new iPad". Seems a bit lame.
19.10
Sitting through lengthy demonstration of iPhoto for iPad, costs $4.99, available today. Works with images up to 19 Megapixels. Will also be available on iPhone. Looks very clever.
18.55
Lots of gaming stuff being shown now to demonstrate how lovely the new Retina display looks. And everyone still calling it the "new iPad". Hardly original.
More interesting is that Apple claims it has more memory and screen resolution than either the Xbox 360 or the PS3.
Garage Band now has Smart Strings, a Note editor and you can push through iCloud too. There's new sharing, too.
More updates to iWork and iMovie, introducing iPhoto for iPad. The latter has new gestures, new effects, multi-touch editing, and you can beam photos directly between devices.
18.40
New iPad can also be a personal hotspot too, provided your carrier supports it.
10 hours of battery life, still nine hours on 4G. Weighs 1.4lbs, 9.4mm thin. $499 for 16GB version, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB. No 128GB one yet. Choice of wi-fi and/or 3G/4G.
If you want 4G, prices are $629, $729 and $829. Available as predicted on March 16th. On sale in US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan simultaneously. Apple's "biggest rollout ever".
Still no confirmation of the official name.
18.30
Comparing to a Tegra 3, Apple says the A5 is "twice as fast" and the A5X offers "four times the performance."
Next feature: iSight camera. Five-megapixel illuminated sensor on the back, five-element lens, IR filter, and ISP built into the A5X chip. Similar to iPhone 4S.
And 1080p HD video recording. Also has voice dictation: there's a new key on the bottom of the keyboard, a microphone. Supports US English, British, Australian, French, German and Japanese.
New iPad gets "next generation" 4G LTE wireless. Great if you live in America. Now if only we could get some of that speed in the UK... we're stuck with 3G for now.
18.20
Now talking about iPad: 15.4 million were sold in last quarter of 2011.
Yes, we know it's good Tim and people like it, let's cut to the chase.
"Everyone's been wondering... who will come out with a product that's more amazing than the iPad 2?"
"Yes: today we're announcing the new iPad, and it's amazing."
Here it comes... just referred to as "the new iPad" for now. Retina display confirmed: 2048 x 1536 resolution, 3.1 million pixels. Should be enough.
Apple claims new iPad has over one million more pixels on its 9.7in screen than a Full HD TV.
It also gets A5X processor and quad-core graphics.
18.15
From today movies and TV shows in iTunes will be available in 1080p. And there's a new Apple TV box supporting 1080p with "a new streamlined interface" (see above and below). iTunes in the Cloud now supports films.
New Apple TV also supports Photostream, costs $99 (so that will be £99 over here we assume). Available from next week.
18.10
Now Tim Cook is waxing lyrical about new Apple stores in Amsterdam and New York. Apparently 110 million people visited Apple stores in the final quarter of last year. That's quite a lot.
"iPhone, iPad, iPod touch are all based on iOS and we have now sold an astonishing 315 million devices through last year, 62 million in Q4 2011."
There are currently 585,000 apps in the App Store. And as we previously reported, 15 billion apps have been downloaded. Oh, and there are now 100 million iCloud users.
18.00
And we're off. Apple CEO Tim Cook is on stage talking about the success of the iPad in a post-PC age.
"Apple has its feet firmly planted in the post-PC market... it plays to our strengths, it's what we love to do."
172 million post-PC devices were sold last year, representing 76% of Apple's revenue.
Comments
iPad is the fastest growing games platform:
http://www.slashgear.com/ipad-fastest-growing-games-platform-as-consoles...
AnotherJoe, I don't hold my computer monitor in my hand, nor do I hold it in "portrait mode" like I normally hold books. It is clear in the device’s orientation (check where the start button & front camera position is) and in the orientation of the Apple logo on the back, that the iPad is meant primarily to be used in portrait mode. Its function as a video device is really secondary to its function as a reading device. And 9:16 is skinny for a screen.
"If you have information to the contary post a link - Dont just make stuff up"
That's a little rich coming from yourself! Would like to see your links that show "Most websites are designed for widescreen now as well" and that "downloading video/films from Itunes is often touted as the main use of an Ipad"
Anyway, I didn't say it was coming imminently to the UK, I said it was coming - this is hardly making stuff up. It only takes a quick google to show that all the mobile operators have been conducting trials for several years now and are waiting for Ofcom to auction the spectrum off, something currently planned for Q2 2012. Once completed, this should mean a proper rollout sometime in 2013. Of course, this may be delayed but it will happen. So no, it's not imminent, but it is coming. As I actually said.
There are no imminent plans for LTE (what is being called incorrectly 4G) on any network in the UK.
If you have information to the contary post a link - Dont just make stuff up.
"Most websites are designed for widescreen now as well."
Really? Which ones?
"just be aware there is no 4G for the UK and Europe."
Not yet for the UK, but it is coming. Some areas of Europe already have it though e.g. Norway.
just be aware there is no 4G for the UK and Europe.
"It will feel very awkward to have a 16:10 screen to read a book or surf the Internet."
Really? What aspect is your computer monitor?
It feels strange to have a 4x3 aspect. Most websites are designed for widescreen now as well.
People often forget that the iPad does a lot more things than just playing movies. It will feel very awkward to have a 16:10 screen to read a book or surf the Internet.
Just to put the conspiracy theories to rest... If you look at the iPad's display and pick up the majority of American magazines (National Geographic being a notable exception) you will see the proportion and the size is the same as the text area, originally the device was meant for reading.
Possibly video / films is often touted as the main use of an iPad, but I personally don't think it's true. I suspect the main use of an iPad for virtually everyone that has one is for internet browsing. But we've already got our conspiracy theory as to why that resolution was chosen, so no need to discuss any further - it's simply because Apple are evil.
On the other hand, could it just be because it's the same screen ratio as all other iPads that came before it i.e. maintaining backward compatability for all the existing apps? Tricky one there.
"And games like AngryBirds or InfinityBlade on tablets/phones pale in comparison to games like Zelda/Mario on 3DS or Fifa/Uncharted on Vita. For serious gamplaying you need controls, ie joystick and buttons."
Ah, I didn't know you meant serious gaming (e.g. Zelda or football games). I thought you meant normal gaming - you know, like the thousands of games available which lots of people play on their iPhone / iPad / Android phone.
Was totally gonna step in and defend your honour there, but you beat me to it...
I concur - for the vast majority of users, a 16:10 ratio screen would've made better use of screen size and graphical grunt (ergo battery life) than a 16:12 ratio.
However, and more importantly for me, opting for a screen width of 2048 pixels means that, when streaming 1080p video, you will either have:
- a ~6mm vertical black bar on either side of the screen (along with the more acceptable horizontal bars), which will look needlessly terrible.
- a very tricky pixel scale from 1920 to 2048 pixels, which will look needlessly terrible. And suggesting that's ok because you can't "see" the pixels on a retina display is akin to arguing that you can't "hear" anything better than CD-quality sound, which we know to be false.
The simple truth is that Apple's choice of screen resolution is is purely a political decision, in order to make it harder for app developers to create multi-platform apps.
As downloading video/films from Itunes is often touted as the main use of an Ipad in my view it would be better if the Ipad had a 16:10 aspect. When watching a film on Ipad the actual size of the video will only be 9.1' not 9.7', because of the bars top/bottom. To me it just seems a strange design decision.
And games like AngryBirds or InfinityBlade on tablets/phones pale in comparison to games like Zelda/Mario on 3DS or Fifa/Uncharted on Vita. For serious gamplaying you need controls, ie joystick(
and buttons.
The problem with naming it "The new iPad" is all the confusion it's going to create, especially in the 2nd hand market, & by dealers on Amazon & eBay who will undoubtedly shift iPad 2 as just "iPad".
I think in the 2nd hand market they will have their model year tagged on the end like a MacBook Pro (early 2011) etc. does. In the long run it will be a much cleaner naming system as iPad 3 may not look very odd but iPad 15 or iPhone 24s would a bit.
Baffling comments AnotherJoe (though then again, perhaps not...)
"But I dont see the point in quad-core graphics and 2048x1536 resolution on a tablet. This gives it a 4x3 aspect - I'd prefer to see a more widescreen aspect to play videos/fims on."
The Retina display (i.e. 2048x1536 resolution) is there to make pixels indistinguishable from each other during normal use. This makes text incredibly clear. Anyone who's used an iPhone 3GS, then an iPhone 4 / 4S can testify as to how important this is for units with small displays - you can properly read webpages etc. without having to zoom in constantly. If you read the blurb and watch the video, this is made quite clear.
And the unit itself does not have a widescreen display, so naturally the standard resolution is not going to be a widescreen format. If it was, everything would just look odd. Films will play in wide screen, just with the standard black bars top and bottom - same as you get with any device which doesn't have a widescreen display.
"you cant really play games on a tablet as it has no controllers/buttons"
People seem to have been managing to play games on the iPhone / iPad for a number of years now. They're actually quite popular (understatement of the year so far?).
AnotherJoe Apple are planning to sell 1080P films and TV on iTunes
landzw - I think the confusion is down to the fact that there was an iPad 2. So the product range goes
iPad
iPad 2
iPad
Very odd if you ask me. The other products which don't have a number have never had a number after them, so people have generally just added the G1, G2 moniker after them to allow differentiation.
I can see why Apple have done it (perhaps the next iPhone will just be "the new iPhone"). But it's just a bit odd when you look at the history of the product that you suddenly see one with the same name as the first one!
The problem with naming it "The new iPad" is all the confusion it's going to create, especially in the 2nd hand market, & by dealers on Amazon & eBay who will undoubtedly shift iPad 2 as just "iPad".
Its a nice bump over the previous one.
But I dont see the point in quad-core graphics and 2048x1536 resolution on a tablet. This gives it a 4x3 aspect - I'd prefer to see a more widescreen aspect to play videos/fims on.
Theres also no video content to play above 1080p, and you cant really play games on a tablet as it has no controllers/buttons
Seems strange to go for such a powerful GPU, yet still have the same (relatively) underpowered CPU.
We wait to see how it compares to the Asus Infinity Pad. Tablets are much better than they were 2 years ago - but still not for me.
People seem to be struggling to understand or they just choose to pretend to have an IQ under 50 that the new iPad is just called iPad just like the iPods and iMac etc, there are no longer 1, 2, 3 after the products name. It's amazing the negativity on the web to do with the latest announcements.
Professorhat: Obviously, yes, one of the perils of covering a live event
Price is $599, corrected.
Just "the new iPad" - odd.
Now cue the barrage of "yawns" etc. as people wax about the uninspiring updates (mostly because everything was leaked before the press event).
$599 for 32 GB I would think
Who's going to buy a 16gb version when they can have 32gb for a dollar more?! A mistake, me thinks...
$399 perhaps?