Disclaimer: I have not yet purchased an iPad 4. I currently own an iPad 3 and have been reading on whether or not the iPad 4 is worth the upgrade. I am also frustrated at the amount of freemium apps being released on the App store.
With that being said...
Apple said that the iPad 4 is 2x as fast as the iPad 3. Reviews so far have argued that this number is theoretical and not really as likely in real world testing. One review indicated that a GL bench test was conducted showing a 53.9 fps score for iPad 3 and a 59.1 fps score for iPad 4 and goes on to state that the speed benefits will not be noticed.
I decided to look into the gl benchmark tests that were conducted and I found something out. The 53.9 fps and 59.1 fps scores were from the egypt classic test which is an outdated version of the 3d graphics test. To get a better indicator of true 3d performance you have to look at the newer Egypt 2.5 test.
On the Egypt 2.5 test the iPad 3 scored an average 22.1 fps and the iPad 4 scored a 41.9 fps. This is the onscreen test which is the most accurate of real world usage under graphics intensive gaming.
This is HUGE!
Though the current iPad games that are out won't seem to be much faster on the iPad 4, you will notice consistently higher frame rates and less frame dips compared to the iPad 3. Games like real racing 2, horn and infinity blade 2 will all be silky smooth and will not suffer from the frame dips that you occasionally see on the iPad 3.
That is the other thing that isn't mentioned in the reviews of the iPad 4. The biggest benefit of the increased graphics and cpu is that games will consistently run at higher fps and stay there compared to on the iPad 3 where they will run at around 30fps and drop down to the 20's or 10's depending on how graphically demanding the game is.
Sorry for the long post, I hope you get what I am saying. I think that the improvements on the Ipad 4 are BIG and definitely should be considered a full improvement rather than just an incremental upgrade.
Heres the link for the gl benchmark http://www.glbenchmark.com/phonedetails.jsp?D=Apple+iPad+4&benchmark=glpro25
With that being said...
Apple said that the iPad 4 is 2x as fast as the iPad 3. Reviews so far have argued that this number is theoretical and not really as likely in real world testing. One review indicated that a GL bench test was conducted showing a 53.9 fps score for iPad 3 and a 59.1 fps score for iPad 4 and goes on to state that the speed benefits will not be noticed.
I decided to look into the gl benchmark tests that were conducted and I found something out. The 53.9 fps and 59.1 fps scores were from the egypt classic test which is an outdated version of the 3d graphics test. To get a better indicator of true 3d performance you have to look at the newer Egypt 2.5 test.
On the Egypt 2.5 test the iPad 3 scored an average 22.1 fps and the iPad 4 scored a 41.9 fps. This is the onscreen test which is the most accurate of real world usage under graphics intensive gaming.
This is HUGE!
Though the current iPad games that are out won't seem to be much faster on the iPad 4, you will notice consistently higher frame rates and less frame dips compared to the iPad 3. Games like real racing 2, horn and infinity blade 2 will all be silky smooth and will not suffer from the frame dips that you occasionally see on the iPad 3.
That is the other thing that isn't mentioned in the reviews of the iPad 4. The biggest benefit of the increased graphics and cpu is that games will consistently run at higher fps and stay there compared to on the iPad 3 where they will run at around 30fps and drop down to the 20's or 10's depending on how graphically demanding the game is.
Sorry for the long post, I hope you get what I am saying. I think that the improvements on the Ipad 4 are BIG and definitely should be considered a full improvement rather than just an incremental upgrade.
Heres the link for the gl benchmark http://www.glbenchmark.com/phonedetails.jsp?D=Apple+iPad+4&benchmark=glpro25
