On March 7, 2012, Apple introduced the new iPad, the third generation of its category defining mobile device, featuring a new Retina display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video. iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G connects to fast networks worldwide, including AT&T’s and Verizon’s 4G LTE networks.
The new iPad’s Retina display delivers four times the number of pixels of iPad 2, making web pages, text, images and video look sharper. Movies are now capable of playing at full 1080p HD-resolution, delivering an improvement viewing experience on a mobile device than its predecessor.
The 5 megapixel iSight camera features advanced optics for taking pictures and recording full HD video. Backside illumination allows you to take photos in low-light conditions and a new video image stabilization feature removes the bumps and shakes typically seen when filming with a hand-held device. Images can be enjoyed on the large Retina display, then edited, enhanced and easily shared using the built-in Photos app on iPad.
iPad Wi-Fi + 4G with built-in next generation 4G LTE has the support for fast networks worldwide including HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA, and now both CDMA and GSM iPad users have the ability to easily roam internationally.
With the latest iOS 5.1, the new iPad has a number of new features and enhancements including:
- A redesigned Camera app with video stabilization technology.
- Ability to delete photos from Photo Stream.
- Support for dictation in English, French, German and Japanese.
- Personal Hotspot. iOS 5.1 also works seamlessly with iCloud.
The new iPad supports dictation to convert words to text. Dictation can be used to write messages, take notes, search the web and more. Dictation also works with third-party apps, so updates on Facebook status, Twitter tweets and Instagram captions can be done easily.
The newly features Retina display is four times better than its predecessor making it the sharpest display on mobile devices. The new Retina display consume two to three times as much of the iPad’s nonexpandable storage than pre-Retina apps. To update their apps for the new display, software companies must redo their graphics at much higher resolution, which means much larger files. Apps that haven’t been rewritten don’t benefit as much. In most apps, text is automatically sharpened, but not in all of them.
With 4G LTE connectivity, a Retina display, a better camera and a powerful Apple A5X system-on-a-chip under the hood, the new iPad needs a lot of power. According ZDNet, the source of all that energy is a massive 11,666 mAh battery - 70 percent greater capacity than the battery in the iPad 2. This requires Apple to increase the size of the battery that also increases the thickness and overall weight of the new iPad comparing to its predecessor.
The new iPad does not support Siri, but have a voice-to-text supports dictation. Siri isn't supported because Apple thinks that it is not ready yet for the new iPad. iPad runs almost all of the over 585,000 apps available on the App Store, including more than 200,000 native iPad apps, from a wide range of categories, including books, games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The iTunes Store puts the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store at your fingertips with a catalog of over 20 million songs, over 90,000 TV episodes and over 15,000 movies. It also introduced the newly enhanced iPad apps — iMovie, GarageBand, the Numbers spreadsheet and the Pages word processor.
Apple named the new iPad "new iPad" because it is just a polish of its predecessor. Just like when Apple added the letter "S" to its generations of iPhones. This describes the new iPad as not exactly a new gadget, but a tastefully enhanced generation of the older one. Its technical improvements keep it at the forefront of desirability - just ahead of the snapping jaws of its Android competition - but don’t take it in any new directions.
The third generation was discontinued following the announcement and release of the fourth generation on October 23, 2012.