As the new iPad’s features are being analyzed, it is also time to go over some of the much expected features and rumors that were missing.

Look

First things first! The new iPad doesn’t differ much from the iPad 2 looks wise. Though the casing is slightly tapered, it is not a radical change. But the lack of a design and look change is more than compensated with many under the hood configuration changes.

Smaller option?

Amazon Kindle Fire’s success raked up lot of debate on the 8-inch iPad Mini and about giving choice to the customers in choosing the form factor. We couldn’t even find a trace about this in the iPad event, but still rumors are strong that a tablet with different size will be released by Apple later in this year only. If they do release, at least we have a name for it – ‘the small iPad’.

Quad Core Processor

Many analysts expected debut of A6 quad-core processor .This made more sense as the quad-core market is heating up with Nvidia’s Tegra 3 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors. The new iPad comes with A5X and Apple claims it is four times faster than Tegra 3. But it is still not an A6 and there’s a lot in the name! Siri’s integration with iPad was taken for granted by everyone, but there’s no mention of whether Siri and the new iPad will allow only dictation.

Only 64gb

Other features that were expected but missing includes a 128 GB version and reduction of weight. The new retina display and 4G antenna did not help much on the weight. But it would have been good to have 128GB option. Apple has increased the 4G file download limit to 50 MB and with all those HD pictures and videos 64GB limit can fill up quite quickly.

iO6 please???

No iO6, well it was a bit of a long shot but there were some rumors of it popping up in logs.  I guess we will have to wait till June 2012 for the Apple’s World Wide Developers conference.

The ‘New iPad’ is ready and will be available in the stores from March 16th 2012. As the rumor mill takes a breather, it is time to take stock of the new features that will be available. The big surprise is the name of this third-generation iPad. It is neither called iPad 3 nor iPad HD. Apple stumped everyone by calling it ‘the new iPad’. It features the touted retina display with a resolution of 2048 X 1536. This translates into 3.1 million pixels, a million more than an HDTV. Now imagine the visual treat on offer! Apple aptly calls it ‘the best mobile display ever’.

Till a few days back the web was buzzing if the new iPad features an A5X processor or an A6 processor? Now we know that it’s an A5X processor. It is a dual-core processor with quad-core graphics. According to Apple, A5X GPU is twice powerful than iPad2 and four times more powerful that Nvidia’s Tegra 3. Thus the A5X quad-core graphics deliver all those 3.1 million pixels with the same smoothness and makes swiping, scrolling etc incredibly responsive.

‘The new iPad’ doesn’t feature an 8 mega-pixel camera. But it comes with an ‘iSight’ camera which has a 5-mega pixel sensor, auto focus, five-element lens, exposure functions and face recognition. Add to these the amazing software that helps in editing your pictures. The ‘iSight’ camera can capture HD videos in 1080p. It is no coincidence that Apple also introduced an updated Apple TV which can now display full HD content.

‘The new iPad’ supports 4G LTE for faster web experience. All those extra pixels, quad-core graphics and LTE battery are not going to affect the batter life and the new iPad can last up to 10 hours in standard and 9 hours with 4G enabled. Now coming to the big question – price. Apple keeps the pricing of the ‘new iPad’ unchanged. Wi-Fi enabled 16GB base model starts at $499 and the high-end 64GB 4G enabled model costs $829. And as expected Apple is giving 16GB Wi-Fi iPad2 at $399, a discount of $100. The new iPad features a smart cover. Not only does it protect from dust and scratches it is smart enough to wake and sleep with a simple open and close. It just sums up Apple’s attention to detail. So are you ready to pre-order ‘the new iPad’?  Was it as good as you were expecting, if not what do you think is missing?

Check out new pics of the iPad 3 here.

According to the latest rumor mill, iPad 3 might be boasting an 8-megapixel camera. Taiwanese website Apple Daily showed pictures of the backside of the iPad3, consisting of the Apple logo, antenna and camera. As per the report, iPad 3’s camera will make a significant jump in specs, offering eight times the existing 1-megapixel camera which comes with the iPad 2. The original iPad didn’t even feature a camera. In the images shown, the camera lens of the supposed iPad3 device looks larger than the one on the iPad 2.

Also from the images we can notice that the iPad 3’s rear panel appears to taper to its edges more gradually and its camera almost sits on the taper itself. This taper can make the iPad3 slightly thicker and analyst view this thickness is to accommodate the high-resolution retina display. If this 8-mega pixel rumor is true, iPad 3’s camera matches that of the iPhone 4S. Utility of a high-end camera’s like this on a tablet is being debated as tablet owners are not comfortable in using these devices for photography. In many cases it is cumbersome and even embarrassing too.

An obvious advantage for Apple in going with 8-mega pixel camera on iPad3 is component sharing. It can use the same CMOS sensor assembly and thus reduce the number of parts to order. It might very well bargain a better deal with suppliers by taking advantage of volumes. Another argument doing the rounds is that if Apple is thinking to position this 8-megapixel camera in the context of high-resolution pictures of documents? If indeed iPad3 comes with this camera, we need to wait for the apps Apple use to showcase this feature to understand its true context.