Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I like your comment about IOS 5.1 it was a bit boring this year also the new apps too. I enjoyed Garage band and yes it got the update but Iphoto is boring. I was hoping for Real Racing 3 HD.
 
the ipad 3 did not make me weep for joy, but it is a solid improvement and hands-down the best tablet out there, probably the best one we will see again this year. the second best might be the asus transformer prime, but it is pretty close in performance to the ipad 2, so i think it is fair to say apple has the number 1 and number 2 models on the market.

so, while it may not strike some people as impressive that the ipad 3 has managed to bring us a retina display in a unit that weighs about the same as the ipad 2, i think it says something that no one else in the world can even come close to producing a competitor. we need to take a step back and consider what we have: easily one of the best displays in the world, on one of the fastest tablets in the world, at a cost about the same or less than competing models. wow. just amazing.
 
If the retina display doesn't do it for you, then chances are you may never been WOWed by a new iPad... at least not many years to come.

These exact same arguments have been made with every release of the IPhone and, so far, with every new iPad. Apple will never satisfy the entire collective. The first iPads hardware got a lot of flack for its lack of cameras. Apple responded with a thinner, lighter, faster iPad with cameras -- but it got a lot of "who cares? I want retina" type reviews. Apple then turbo charges the 3rd iPad and manages a retina display with virtually no loss of performance. -- and now people cry that they want beta Siri and hd FaceTime.
 
I do agree that the iPad iWork apps should be made free. I'd compare them to windows live web apps rather than ms office. In fact, the windows live web apps could be more capable if I remember correctly.
 
If the retina display doesn't do it for you, then chances are you may never been WOWed by a new iPad... at least not many years to come.

These exact same arguments have been made with every release of the IPhone and, so far, with every new iPad. Apple will never satisfy the entire collective. The first iPads hardware got a lot of flack for its lack of cameras. Apple responded with a thinner, lighter, faster iPad with cameras -- but it got a lot of "who cares? I want retina" type reviews. Apple then turbo charges the 3rd iPad and manages a retina display with virtually no loss of performance. -- and now people cry that they want beta Siri and hd FaceTime.

It's not a negative thing when people complain about things. You are basically telling me that I shouldn't desire something even better, something more. If everybody was like you, than little progress would ever be made - because why would you add new things to products, when the current product is already good?

----------

I like your comment about IOS 5.1 it was a bit boring this year also the new apps too. I enjoyed Garage band and yes it got the update but Iphoto is boring. I was hoping for Real Racing 3 HD.
Yeah, I was just expecting a little bit more. The iPad 3 could have been so much bigger with some new functionality (software).


the ipad 3 did not make me weep for joy, but it is a solid improvement and hands-down the best tablet out there, probably the best one we will see again this year. the second best might be the asus transformer prime, but it is pretty close in performance to the ipad 2, so i think it is fair to say apple has the number 1 and number 2 models on the market.

so, while it may not strike some people as impressive that the ipad 3 has managed to bring us a retina display in a unit that weighs about the same as the ipad 2, i think it says something that no one else in the world can even come close to producing a competitor. we need to take a step back and consider what we have: easily one of the best displays in the world, on one of the fastest tablets in the world, at a cost about the same or less than competing models. wow. just amazing.
I agree with you that it is great that they have managed to give the iPad 3 such a great display, improve the GPU, improve the rear-facing camera and add LTE support while adding minimum weight and thickness for the same price.

That does not mean that we should just stop here. There's always space for improvement.
 
GOod post op, the die shrink is the only thing you missed, that's what's missing from this gen of the iPad, that and better storage options, 16gb is a joke, anyone will fill it up with a couple of textbooks apps and games, and have no space left. iOS 5.1 is also very dated as well, it's stable, it's pretty fast (not on iPad 1 of course) but that's about it.
 
GOod post op, the die shrink is the only thing you missed, that's what's missing from this gen of the iPad, that and better storage options, 16gb is a joke, anyone will fill it up with a couple of textbooks apps and games, and have no space left. iOS 5.1 is also very dated as well, it's stable, it's pretty fast (not on iPad 1 of course) but that's about it.
Yeah, I feel like the $499-model should be 32 GB next year, but I think they didn't want to do that this year because of the higher costs of the new battery, LEDs (backlight) and the display itself.
 
Agree with the storage.
I wish we could get 128GB in the iPad. I know, I know, the cloud...
For lots of stuff though, I prefer local storage.

m&c
 
As an owner of both iPads I feel the op is correct about the A5X chip. The new iPad stutters and slows down at times when the iPad 2 does not. Not all the time, but it is noticeable at times. The experience is not as smooth, for sure. It does seem that the X in A5X is only there to run the display....but it is not enough to be truly smooth. For example, Safari scrolling is much smoother and less blurred on the iPad 2. For these reasons I am selling my new iPad and will wait until next year where there should be a CPU bump in the new one to speed up the entire experience above iPad 2 levels. So far, iOS 6 has not helped to eliminate the laggy issues on the new iPad.
 
I sold my iPad because it ended up collecting dust. I felt as if Apple just "added" on features to the last model. Once you get past the retina display it became boring to me and it's size became a burden. I did not have any performance issues but iOS is old, the App store is too "rich" and the OS/hardware is locked down.
So instead I bought a Nexus 7. It's exactly opposite what the iPad was. I can hold it with one hand, game play feels comfortable, you can customize the crap out of it, overclock the cpu/gpu, built in gps, cheaper apps, add usb memory sticks, keyboards, mice, gamepads; everything that the iPad couldn't do for over half the cost.
And funny as this may sound I might end up getting a new iPhone only because it's something different and I will not need anything larger than 4 inches since the Nexus 7 does a good job of filling that roll. For the last 9 months I really pushed my Samsung Nexus hard but after getting the Nexus 7 my usage dropped over 50%. The iPhone should be good for basic use, have excellent choices for battery cases and because it will be a Verizon upgrade it will have included tethering. But then again HTC my release a 1920x1080p 5 inch pen based beast that will put both the iPhone and the Nexus 7 to shame.
 
I skipped the iPad 2, so all I know is the iPad 3 is a major improvement over the iPad 1, and is easily the best tab on the market.
 
I sold my iPad because it ended up collecting dust. I felt as if Apple just "added" on features to the last model. Once you get past the retina display it became boring to me and it's size became a burden. I did not have any performance issues but iOS is old, the App store is too "rich" and the OS/hardware is locked down.
So instead I bought a Nexus 7. It's exactly opposite what the iPad was. I can hold it with one hand, game play feels comfortable, you can customize the crap out of it, overclock the cpu/gpu, built in gps, cheaper apps, add usb memory sticks, keyboards, mice, gamepads; everything that the iPad couldn't do for over half the cost.
And funny as this may sound I might end up getting a new iPhone only because it's something different and I will not need anything larger than 4 inches since the Nexus 7 does a good job of filling that roll. For the last 9 months I really pushed my Samsung Nexus hard but after getting the Nexus 7 my usage dropped over 50%. The iPhone should be good for basic use, have excellent choices for battery cases and because it will be a Verizon upgrade it will have included tethering. But then again HTC my release a 1920x1080p 5 inch pen based beast that will put both the iPhone and the Nexus 7 to shame.
I completely understand what you mean, but Apple simply doesn't focus on the group you belong to. They focus on people who like new technology (so with the third-gen iPad, for example, that was a 2048 x 1536 display which 'wow-ed' "techies"), and they focus on people who have little knowledge of how technology works. Especially that second group is considered important.

I actually believe they'll make some (Graphical) User Interface changes next year with iOS 7. Nothing too drastic (because else people, as described above, will get confused), but something to give it a newer, fresher look.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.