The thing is going to be a good upgrade. people always just have such high (see: unrealistic) expectations for everything. The iPad is more like a computer than a phone. You shouldn't need to update every year. Can you imagine buying a new mbp every year? Or expecting each mbp update to have such a laundry list of new features?
Just buy an iPad, be happy, and buy an upgrade in like 3 years. 3 year product cycle is what I'm looking at, possibly 2 year if I am really impressed (considering they are relatively inexepensive)
I have never understood why everybody is so crazy about a retina display. I honestly couldn't care either way. Yeah I guess a retina display would be better, but certainly not at the price of other features, cost, build quality, etc. There is a lot more out there that I would like.