New iPad vs. iPad 2: Which is the Better Deal?

Should you go with the new model and its better screen and processor, or save some cash on the smaller, lighter iPad 2?

We've raved about the new Apple iPad's display. We've gauged its graphics prowess in benchmark testing. But it's not the only iPad in town: Apple continues to sell brand-new iPad 2 models, and at a very compelling price--$399 for a 16GB model. So if you're in the market for a tablet, which one should you buy?
The right answer to that question depends on who you are. See if you can find which camp (if either) you fall into in our two lists below.

Buy the New iPad If…

 
High-quality images are important to you. The foremost argument for the new iPad is its gorgeous, high-resolution display. It's sharper and brighter, and offers more compelling color and detail than the display on the iPad 2. If you appreciate the difference in image quality between standard-definition and high-definition content, you'll want a new iPad.
You love to play games. The new iPad blew its predecessor away on our PCWorld Labs graphics tests.
You need to use a fast connection everywhere. The new iPad is the first Apple tablet that can connect to 4G networks. (You can buy a new iPad that works on either AT&T's 4G network or Verizon's 4G network.) If you go with Verizon, you can also use the iPad as a hotspot, allowing other devices to piggyback on its wireless connection. And Apple now sells only the Wi-Fi version of the iPad 2, so if you need an anywhere connection, the new iPad is your only option among Apple tablets.
You like to keep lots of video and music on your tablet. The iPad 2 is available only with a 16GB capacity. If you need 32GB or 64GB, you're looking at a third-generation iPad.
You love to take pictures with your tablet. The new iPad's camera may not replace your point-and-shoot, but it is far superior to the camera that the iPad 2 carries.

Buy the iPad 2 If…

Weight and size are important to you. The iPad 2 is slightly lighter than new iPad: 1.33 pounds to 1.4 pounds. Though that difference may not sound like much, but it's noticeable when you hold the tablet in one hand.
You hate recharging. In PCWorld Labs tests, the iPad 2 lasted 7 hours, 37 minutes while playing a video continuously. That's nearly two hours longer than the new iPad, which held out for just 5 hours, 41 minutes on a charge.
You're, well, frugal. You'll save $100 by buying a $399 iPad 2 instead of the baseline new iPad. That Ben Franklin can buy apps, music, movies, and then some; or you can sock the extra bucks away for the next version of iPad, which is likely to arrive in 2013.

The App Conundrum

You might expect apps to look much better on the new iPad than they do on the iPad 2. But in most instances they don't. If you're viewing an app that hasn't been optimized for the new iPad's high-resolution Retina display, your experience may range from acceptable to unsatisfying.
So far, few of the 200,000-plus iPad apps have been optimized for the new iPad. And Apple doesn't make finding these apps easy; you just have to hunt for ones that brag about being redesigned for the new tablet. It may be months before most app developers catch up with the new iPad's hardware capabilities. So that's a reason to buy an iPad 2 and save some cash, right?
Not so fast. When developers do update their apps, the revised versions will have higher-resolution images and more-demanding code. The images will eat away at your iPad 2's limited storage, and the apps will feel more sluggish running on the iPad 2's older processor. Buying the new iPad today means you'll be less likely to feel that your year-old tablet is obsolete 12 months from now.

Bottom Line

I strongly believe in the value of the high-resolution Retina display. The visual improvement over iPad 2 is visceral and significant, and a great reason in itself to buy a new iPad. Overall, the new iPad is the best tablet on the market today.
Nevertheless, the iPad 2 is a strong lower-cost choice. In a few months it may start to feel underpowered, but by then the rumor mill will be talking up the even better 2013 iPad refresh. And with the $100 you saved, you might be in a better position to afford the new model.

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Australia's iPad problem exposes LTE roaming challenge

Well, here's a new one on me: An iPad app based on a concept from Microsoft, but developed by a pair of (non-Microsoft) Seattle programmers, with the help of Kickstarter funding. That, in a nutshell, is Zanther's Taposé.

The £1.99 app draws its inspiration from a Microsoft concept video that surfaced in 2009, which documented a proposed tablet device dubbed "Courier." Sadly, Courier was doomed never to become anything more than a prototype, as Microsoft canceled the project in spring 2010.

The controversy over Apple's third-generation iPad not working on Australian LTE networks may be just one signal of problems ahead for international LTE roaming.

Apple said Tuesday it would give refunds to Australian owners of the iPad 3 if they were disappointed that the tablet couldn't tap into LTE in that country. The company had come under fire from Australia's competition authority for promoting the iPad 3 as a 4G device even though it's not compatible with any Australian LTE networks. iPad owners there have no option but to rely on 3G.

That case involves consumers using a foreign-designed product in their home market, but it reflects a looming problem for travelers who want fast services in other countries, according to industry analysts: The scramble for spectrum to feed mobile-data appetites is fragmenting the frequencies used for LTE. This is likely to make international roaming harder and relegate some users to slower speeds than they are used to at home.
Growing diversity
In the age of 2G, four bands were enough to qualify a handset as a "world phone." The 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz bands were used by most carriers in Europe, Asia and the Americas, or at least those on the globally dominant GSM standard. With 3G, roaming remained fairly simple at least in Europe, where the European Union prescribed certain bands for the new mobile data technology. But elsewhere in the world, frequencies started to diverge as carriers deployed 3G.

Even now, some 3G subscribers have to fall back to slower standards such as EDGE when they leave their home countries. "It happens all the time," said analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. For example, a "world phone" equipped for both the CDMA and GSM standards may not leave you stranded without Internet access, but it's no guarantee of consistent speed, he said.

Now, individual European countries want to reuse some of their 2G and 3G spectrum for LTE, and many other bands are being adopted elsewhere in the world for the new technology. In the U.S., Verizon Wireless and AT&T bought 700MHz spectrum for their 4G networks, Clearwire plans to deploy LTE on 2.5GHz, and more new solutions are being explored all the time. The 3GPP (Third-Generation Partnership Project) standard for LTE specifies more than 30 different frequency bands in which the technology can be deployed, though not all of those will necessarily be used, according to the 4G Americas industry group.
Even discounting bands that are only used for a single, isolated network, that still leaves a long list of frequencies, said analyst Peter Jarich, also of Current Analysis.

"If we start with this assumption that operators need more spectrum, then you end up with fragmentation," Jarich said. "The one is just going to follow from the other."

Two forms of LTE
Adding to the complexity, LTE can be implemented in two different variants, which use either paired spectrum bands (FD or frequency-division) or a unified band (TD or time-division). Which one a carrier will use depends on what kind of frequencies it can get. On top of that, many of the LTE networks set to come on line aren't built yet, and some of those don't even have frequencies assigned.


"It's going to be a problem for quite some time," said Tolaga Research analyst Phil Marshall. There are simply too many possible combinations of LTE variants and locally assigned frequencies to practically sell mobile devices that work with all of them, Marshall said.
While it's theoretically possible to build a phone, tablet or portable hotspot that could be used on all the LTE networks in the world, the task grows more difficult as bands are added, Greengart of Current Analysis said. In addition to including many radios, the universal device would have to have an antenna that could be tuned well to all those LTE frequencies. Plus, high-end handhelds today include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well. "That's an awful lot of frequency bands and antennas," Greengart said.

Qualcomm says its Gobi 4G/LTE modem chipset supports most of the frequencies being used for LTE, and it is up to manufacturers to decide which bands to support in a given device. The second generation of the chipset will support all the LTE bands, as well as 2G and 3G bands, in the 3GPP standard, Qualcomm said. The greater challenge in designing multi-frequency devices is fitting in the radio-frequency components for each band, according to Qualcomm.

Handset makers and carriers aren't focused on making devices to run on all the world's LTE networks, Greengart said. "They're interested in the least expensive device that works on their network and, in some cases, works on common networks that their customers demand compatibility with."
The way out

Over time, mobile operators may be able to settle on one or two frequency bands available in most countries to allow LTE roaming, Jarich said. Two possibilities might be TD-LTE in the 2.3GHz or 2.5GHz bands, he said. But a carrier in each country would have to build and operate a network to make that solution a reality.
The better answer for global high-speed roaming may come from Wi-Fi, Jarich said. Cellular carriers and Wi-Fi hotspot operators are working on making it easier for phones and tablets to roam between mobile and Wi-Fi networks worldwide. The GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) Association and the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) said earlier this year they expect to have a framework available within nine months to make roaming to Wi-Fi as smooth as it is between cellular networks.

Wi-Fi, which runs on unlicensed frequencies that are fairly consistent around the world, with a few exceptions, can offer even more speed than LTE. The new roaming techniques will also improve the security of hotspots, the GSMA and WBA said. But they cautioned that easy roaming may take a few years to be rolled out.

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New iPad battery life: Not as good as iPad 2

In spite of Apple's claims, PCWorld Labs tests show that the new iPad doesn't match the iPad 2 in battery life

 Apple has said that the third-generation iPad should equal the iPad 2 in battery life. However, PCWorld Labs battery-life tests show that, in a controlled environment, Apple's claims don't hold up: The new iPad lasted just 5 hours, 41 minutes, nearly 2 hours less than the iPad 2, which logged 7 hours, 37 minutes.

We conducted our tests while repeatedly playing a short video ("Big Buck Bunny" at 320 by 180 resolution, with a running time of 9 minutes, 56 seconds) on the iPad's built-in video player. We left Wi-Fi on and connected, and set the brightness to maximum; auto-brightness remained disabled.

The new iPad's score was better than what we've seen from many of the Android tablets we've tested, but it certainly wasn't comparable to the iPad 2's results. It was also a far cry from the all-day performance we had hoped to see. Apple estimates the battery life at up to 10 hours; the company says its estimates are based on mixed audio, video, and Web-browsing use, over Wi-Fi or cellular networks.

As you can see in the chart below, several noteworthy Android contenders surpass the new iPad in battery performance. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime survived for 7 hours, 7 minutes, the Motorola Droid Xyboard 10.1 ran for 6 hours, 19 minutes, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi lasted for an extraordinary 10 hours, 42 minutes.

The new iPad's result is intriguing. One possible factor: The high-resolution, 2048-by-1536-pixel display on the new iPad is brighter than the 1024-by-768-pixel screen of the iPad 2. On a Minolta Luminance Meter LS-100, the new iPad's display registered a luminance of 434 candelas per square meter, to the iPad 2's 400 cd/m2.

How much of the new iPad's battery drain is attributable to its beefier processor and how much is due to the brighter, higher-resolution display is unclear. Our colleagues at Macworld performed battery-life tests at full brightness and at 150 cd/m2, and the new iPad consistently ran for a shorter period than the iPad 2 did. In Macworld's tests, the new iPad at full brightness ran for one-third less time than its predecessor did, lasting 5 hours, 40 minutes to the iPad 2's 8 hours, 30 minutes. At 150 cd/m2, the difference was a bit smaller, but still significant--the new iPad's battery lasted 10 hours, 10 minutes, versus the iPad 2's running time of 13 hours, 20 minutes.

It's also unclear whether Apple may be having battery-management problems with the third-gen iPad that go deeper than the charging issues we've seen, including the tablet's failure to charge while in use, and its showing a full charge when it may still need additional juice (as some reports have indicated, but Macworld's testing didn't show).

What is unmistakable, however, is a 25 percent decline in battery performance in our tests from the iPad 2 to the new iPad--and this is something we hope Apple will investigate further and address through software updates.

 Original Source
ipad App Development

Resolution only revolution in Apple's latest iPad upgrade

IF you're buying Apple's new iPad for its better screen -- well and good. If you're upgrading to enjoy other improvements such as faster operation, there may not be much difference from the iPad 2.

Certainly, Apple is on a winner with the quality of its new screen. It's the first thing customers will notice in retail stores. It's clearer, colours are richer and deeper, and text looks razor sharp. You see the difference when you place the new and older iPad side-by-side.

Technically, the iPad has gone from having 786,000 pixels with iPad 2 to 3.1 million pixels on the same-sized 9.7-inch display, a fourfold increase. Its 2048 x 1536 pixel display with 264 ppi puts it ahead of pixel density on rival tablets such as Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 Tab, which has 1280 x 800 pixels over 10.1 inches.

The net effect is everything: photos, video and web pages rendered by Safari look better, and this lifts the overall user experience. The gadget's screen quality is rivalled only by the iPhone 4S, which has an even denser 326 pi, but on a much smaller screen.

Where the iPad 2 did video at near 720p resolution, the latest iPad displays full 1080p high-definition video.

To drive the higher resolution screen, the latest iPad has a faster A5X processor with quad core graphics, which Apple says offers a fourfold increase in graphics capability. This performance increase is exactly what's needed to drive four times the number of pixels to the screen in each frame of every second of video.

So, despite the fourfold resolution, video playback is still smooth. Using our graphics benchmark, the new iPad delivered 6767 frames at 60 frames a second, compared to 6078 frames at 59 frames a second for the iPad 2, which is comparable. But the new model returns four times the number of pixels per frame.

Despite this vastly increased graphics capability, there seems to be little grunt left over from the new A5X processor to improve general performance. So don't expect the loading of web pages or apps to be faster than before.

Our benchmark, which measures computational speed, returned 850-890 megaflops a second (millions of floating point operations a second) for iPad 2 and upward of 890 megaflops a second for its successor. That's not a big difference, so buyers moving up from the iPad 2 will see little improvement in responsiveness and application execution.

The back-facing camera on the iPad is now a respectable 5 megapixels instead of about 0.92 megapixels, and it can shoot full 1080p HD video. Image and video quality seemed fine. Of course, you can import your even higher resolution 8-megapixel iPhone 4S snaps to the iPad if you want to use iPhotos and iMovie on the bigger screen.

Despite the fourfold increase in screen resolution, battery life on the new iPad works out at about the same as the old one, thanks to a higher capacity battery in the new iPad. An hour of watching video on the iPad 2 consumed 7 per cent of its battery; on the new iPad it was 9 per cent. The new iPad delivers 10 hours of video in a single charge, but the iPad 2's battery lasts longer.

We noticed that the new iPad can get warm on the back with prolonged use. It's 8 per cent heavier than iPad 2 (652g to 601g for WiFi models) and thicker, 9.4 mm compared to 8.8 mm.

Despite this increased thickness I could still use many of the same accessories as iPad 2, such as Belkin's wireless keyboard. It fitted snugly in the sleeve.

The SIM-enabled version of the new iPad is branded as WiFi + 4G, but it does not connect to Australian 4G LTE networks, only 3G ones and faster HSPA and HSPA + variants.

The new iPad's ability to use dual channel HSPA+ on Telstra's 3G network should return up to 20Mbps download speed. We managed to get download speeds of 12-13 Mbps and upload speeds of 0.5-1 Mbps but this was inconsistent. In our first tests we were lucky to register more than 5Mbps download in several Sydney suburbs.

The inconsistency seems more a network issue. The iPad seems capable of higher 3G download speeds.

However Apple's decision to confine its 4G upgrade to mobile networks in the US and Canada that use the 700 Megahertz frequency has not helped. Otherwise download speeds could be up to 40 Mbps, based on HTC's Velocity 4G on the Telstra network.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said last month that with $91 billion to dip into, the company had more money than it needed. It's a pity it didn't use a fraction of this to roll out an 1800Mhz 4G regional model that could be used in Australia and parts of Asia, as Samsung has done for its 8.9-inch tablet.

Of course, the benefits of tablets go beyond hardware, and Apple has done a great job optimising some apps for the HD screen. These are available for the iPad 2, but not at full HD splendour.

At $5.49, the iPhoto iPad app is a steal. It's an extremely intuitive photo management and editing app and Apple has gone to considerable lengths to make editing photos with your fingers intuitive yet powerful.

My only criticism is that you need iPhoto on your Mac to make full use of it. For example, to add events from older photos you need to add them first to your Mac then sync to your iPad. This is cumbersome if you have a Windows PC. Full management functionality should be available independently of syncing these days.

I liked a new feature in iMovie that lets you create movie trailers from your clips. You chose a pre-defined template such as a Bollywood Movie or Expedition preview, add your clips, write some text and press the button. Garage Band has a function to compose melodies using a full string orchestra. You'll love this if you're a classical music buff. Connect your iPad to speakers to enjoy the full effect.

The upgrade of iOS includes a dictation key on the keyboard that you can use in all apps offering text input: email, Notes and word-processing apps included.

I found the dictation accuracy a bit flaky, but Apple says the text-to-speech engine improves as it learns the user's voice: we'll have to wait and see.

In the end, if you love a higher resolution screen on an iPad, you won't be disappointed. It is exceptionally good. But if you're looking for faster mobile network connectivity or a quicker iPad then, on our testing, the new iPad doesn't seem to perform much better than its predecessor, but that may be of little import.

In any case, the new iPad offers a high quality and well-designed user experience that is ahead of the competition.

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ipad App Development

Apple sells 3 million new iPads in launch weekend

 

Apple announced today that it has sold three million new iPads since its launch on Friday, March 16 — the most iPads sold in a launch weekend yet.

The figure comes after earlier reports of “record” sales from both Apple and AT&T. It’s particularly impressive given the remaining iPad stock that many stores had on Friday. For example, I was able to snap up a new iPad around 11 a.m. on Friday by just strolling into my local Radio Shack.

It’s not at all shocking that the new iPad has sold so well. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, and the only reason why you wouldn’t want to buy one is if you’re a satisfied iPad 2 owner, don’t have $500 (minimum) to shell out, or if you just don’t care for tablets. If you’ve been holding out for a tablet, however, this is definitely the one to get — especially as the Android competition continues to look slim.

Apple never revealed launch sales for the iPad 2, though analysts placed it somewhere near 1 million units. The company also notably sold over 4 million iPhone 4S units when it launched last October.

The big upgrade in the new iPad is its high-resolution Retina display, which blows away the screen of its predecessors, and pretty much every other computer display for that matter.

As I wrote in my initial hands-on with the tablet, the Retina display finally gives the iPad a feature that you can’t find anywhere else. Few consumer computer monitors reach near the new iPad’s 2048 by 1536 resolution (Apple’s 27-inch Thunderbolt display is one of the few, but it’s still not as dense as the iPad). The screen is also far beyond the 1920 by 1080 resolution of HDTVs.

 

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Ten Apps Every iPad User Should Own

 

There are many thousands of apps available. (As Apple's advertising campaign says, "There's an app for that.") But some apps are simply must-haves--whether for their functionality, interface brilliance, or sheer entertainment factor.

With the third-generation iPad now on retail shelves, chances are there are a lot of newly minted iPad owners out there wondering which apps to download first. Here are my ten must-haves. Note that I left out Apple's own iOS offerings, though many--including the newly updated GarageBand, iMovie, and iWork suite and the just-released mobile version of iPhoto--are tremendously impressive and worth a download. (And if you're looking for even more download ideas, a few months ago, my colleagues came up with a list of 50 essential iOS apps, which include more than a few dandy iPad-optimized offerings.)

Reeder

Reeder is a $5 RSS reader, and if you're not yet on the RSS bandwagon, you should be. The app, which syncs via Google Reader, presents a gloriously elegant interface for reading the latest articles from your favorite Websites.

Tap on a headline, and the article slides into view. If the feed in question shows only a summary, Reeder's built-in Readability support can help: Reverse-pinch on the text (or tap the Readability button), and Reeder quickly loads the rest of the article automatically. Tap and hold on links to bring up a sharing window; Reeder makes it easy to email links, save them to Instapaper (see below), post them to various social networks, and more. There's a separate iPhone version of Reeder, too, but the iPad incarnation is simply glorious. You'll never want to catch up on your feed subscriptions with anything else.

Instapaper

Once you start relying on Instapaper ($5), you'll wonder what took you so long. The idea is simple: Reading on your iPad is more pleasant than reading on your Mac's screen.

When you come across lengthier articles online, you tap the Instapaper button--whether in your browser, RSS reader, or Twitter client, or in any of the many other apps that integrate with the Instapaper service. The next time you launch Instapaper on your iPad, it will pull down the text of that article, and any inline images, too--but it'll leave all the navigation, social networking modules, and Flash advertisements by the wayside. You're left with just text and images, and you control the font and brightness and all that other good stuff. The app also makes it easy to discover other good Web content to read, based on your friends' suggestions.

Tweetbot

 

Tweetbot for iPad.

Tweetbot began life as an excellent Twitter client for the iPhone, and the iPad version is even better. The $3 app's unique interface and brilliantly implemented gesture support make it not just a powerful app for reading and posting tweets, but a fun one, too.

Swipe to the right on a tweet to see the full conversation surrounding it; swipe to the left to see replies sent to it. Tap and hold--on a tweet, a hashtag, a username, or a link--to expose contextual options related to that element. With support for services like Tweet Marker (for keeping you in sync with your device or desktop Twitter client), Instapaper, and more, it's a full-featured Twitter app that's a delight to use.

Netflix

It feels almost like science fiction when you first use the Netflix app to stream movies and television shows to your iPad.

You can browse your Watch Instantly queue, search for other titles, and begin playing any of them in seconds. Netflix isn't the iPad's most elegantly implemented app; it feels a bit like a website crammed into a program. But it does what it's supposed to do, which is to let you stream movies! Over the Internet! Wherever you have a reasonable Internet connection. And it's a free download, to boot.

Flipboard

Flipboard takes content you're interested in and presents it in an impressive magazine-inspired layout. The free app connects to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google Reader feeds, and also offers a variety of curated feeds in various categories like politics, technology, and entertainment.

Whether you're browsing stories from social networks or the curated feeds, Flipboard jettisons photos wherever it can, and makes it easy to swipe through story after story. Andof course,the app offers easy ways to share interesting articles via Twitter, Facebook, and email, and to save them to Instapaper.

 

PCalc Lite Calculator for iPad.

PCalc Lite Calculator

Though the iPhone's Calculator app works fine, such an app simply doesn't exist on the iPad. The free PCalc Lite works on all iOS devices, and it looks great on the iPad.

Beyond that, it adds tons of functionality beyond simple arithmetic: a scientific calculator, unit conversions, constants, Reverse Polish notation, multiple undo and redo, and themes. A $10 version comes packed with features, but if you start with the free Lite edition, you can add other options from the paid version with separate in-app purchases.

CNN

Other news apps exist, but no free news app offers quite the polish of CNN on the iPad. The app combines videos and cleanly displayed articles to keep you abreast of all the news that's fit to consume.

The CNN app is very visual, with lots of photographs, easily readable text, and high-quality video to keep you informed. Scrolling through headlines is simple, and the content is constantly updated to remain current.

Super Stickman Golf

Super Stickman Golf is a fun, fast-paced golfing game that has a lot in common with classic tank-shooter Scorched Earth: Pick the angle and power of your shot and let 'er rip.

As you progress, you'll unlock a variety of power-ups to enhance your game. But the real challenge in Noodlecake Studios's $3 app begins when you take on your friends in a fast-paced, frenetic free-for-all via Game Center or locally via Bluetooth: The goal here, unlike in real golf, is to be the first to sink your ball, no matter how many shots it takes. It's the most fun you can have on a golf course that doesn't have tiny windmills.

Dropbox

Dropbox for iPad.Dropbox, a free Web service, lets you create a folder on your Mac that syncs automatically with whatever other computers you tell it to.

The free iPad app isn't beautiful, but it does afford you access to all the files and folders you store in your computer's Dropbox folder. You can upload your saved photos and videos to your Dropbox folder, or open saved files in compatible apps on your iPad--including word processing documents, PDFs, images, and MP3s.

Toontastic

If you have kids, do them--and yourself--a favor by downloading a free copy of Toontastic. The app empowers kids to create their very own cartoons, walking them through the process of picking out scenery and characters (or drawing their own), adding built-in background music, and recording narration.

You can save and rewatch your kids' Spielberg-quality creations, and optionally share them online, too. The app is adorably designed, and simple enough for the typical four-year-old to master.

Lex Friedman is a staff writer for Macworld. Senior associate editor Dan Moren contributed to this story.

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ipad App Development

Apple's New iPad: 10 Things You Should Do After Breaking It Out of the Box

Apple's new iPad is launching March 16. But according to the latest reports, Apple’s tablet has already sold out of its preorders, and those hoping to get their hands on the device on launch day will have little to no chance of it. Demand is so high for Apple’s new iPad that the company doesn’t anticipate having a new supply available to customers for two to three weeks after its launch.

But for all those who will be lucky enough to get their hands on the new iPad at launch day, it might be a good time to provide a refresher on what they should do to ensure the device is ready to go as soon as it’s home. From the simple, like applying the Smart Cover, to the more complex, like setting up iTunes, there are a host of things that new iPad buyers must know before they break the device out of the box.

1. Get the Smart Cover on it

The new iPad’s Smart Cover is not just any old thing to protect its screen. The cover, which latches to the side of the device, can act as a stand, turns the device on when taken off and powers it off when placed on it. This might be the simplest piece of advice in this roundup, but be sure to place the Smart Cover on the new iPad. Protection and added functionality are worth having.

2. Set up your email

One of the first things to do after powering on the new iPad is set up email accounts. Since the new iPad is designed to be a replacement for the PC, getting all your email accounts onto the device is an important step. Thankfully, Apple’s tablet supports all kinds of email accounts, including those from Gmail, Microsoft and others. You can even get your Post Office Protocol (POP) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) accounts onto it.

3. Set an access password

One of the last things new iPad owners think about when booting up their tablet is password-protecting the device. Without a password, anyone can pick up the tablet, open the Smart Cover and see just about anything they want. Although a system-wide password isn’t the only security issue to take into account, it’s arguably the biggest one.

4. Consider turning off location settings

Yes, today’s tablets and smartphones come with location features that help you get more from location-based apps, but consider the privacy ramifications of that. Do you really want everyone to know where you are at every moment? And if you snap a picture with the new iPad and share it on Twitter, do you want your current location to be shared? At least consider turning off location settings in the new iPad to preserve your privacy.

5. Set up iCloud

Apple’s iCloud service is arguably one of the more important launches it has made in years. And not having it running on all of the iOS-based devices you have would be a mistake. So don’t waste time trying to do everything else you can do with the new iPad, and set up iCloud. You’ll be happy you did once your music and apps start syncing.

6. Set up iTunes, too

If you’re new to the Apple world or you simply want to be able to download music and videos, be sure to set up iTunes on the new iPad. Apple, of course, won’t let you get much functionality out of the new iPad without inputting iTunes credentials, so it’ll become a near-necessity when you get the device up and running. But that’s just fine; iTunes is a key component in getting the most out of the new purchase.

7. Download your favorite apps

Applications are central to the experience of using an iOS-based device. So if you’re not currently using iCloud or you’re new to the Apple world, digging into the Apple Store to find out what sort of apps are worth downloading should be one of your first tasks. Tip: download iWork if you plan on making the iPad a work device.

8. Hook it up to 4G LTE

Although not all of Apple's new iPads are shipping with 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) capability, those who buy the versions with it shouldn’t waste any time setting it up. Unfortunately, Apple won’t let users switch between AT&T and Verizon at will. So depending on which version you purchased, sign up for the respective carrier’s service and head out to the mobile Web from your new iPad.

9. Pick up some accessories

Apple has been criticized for not offering a USB or Thunderbolt port in its iPads. That said, the device does support a host of accessories that connect via the Dock connector. So if you need a physical keyboard, consider buying one. And if you want a camera hook-up, you can get an accessory to help you with that. The new iPad isn’t necessarily incapable of allowing you to extend its functionality with third-party hardware.

10. Get acquainted with the basics

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, be sure to get acquainted with the basics of iOS 5.1. If you’re new to iOS, as many new iPad customers will be, try out the many touch gestures available. Also, consider opening different applications, trying out the voice dictation, and seeing how multitasking works. Doing all that should help you learn quite quickly what it takes to be an efficient iPad owner.

Original Source

iPad Application Development

New iPad Will Have Enough Retina Display Screens: Analyst

Apple's new iPad may already face lengthy ship times, but at least one analyst sees no supply issues for the tablet's future manufacture.

Despite lengthening shipment times for a new iPad with a high-resolution Retina Display—which now stand at two to three weeks—some analysts believe Apple will have relatively little trouble fulfilling orders for the new tablet in the months ahead.

"Despite widespread concerns, we believe there will be enough screens for the new iPads," Peter Misek, an analyst with Jefferies & Co., wrote in a co-authored March 13 research note. "We believe that builds of 12 [million] to 15 [million] for iPads in [the first calendar quarter] look reasonable, and our checks indicate that Apple is attempting to boost builds for [the second calendar quarter] from 15-18 [million] to 18-20 [million]."

Meanwhile, that prodigious manufacturing pace will drive the worldwide demand for NAND flash memory in media tablets, according to another research note by IHS. The firm predicts that Apple will account for 58 percent of tablet NAND purchasing by 2015.

"Apple's continued domination of the sales of NAND flash for media tablets reflects not only the iPad's commanding market share lead, but its extensive memory usage," Dee Nguyen, memory analyst at IHS, wrote in the March 13 note. "The iPad employs a larger density of NAND than its competitors. Because of this, Apple's iPad will continue to drive the growth of NAND sales in the tablet market for the next several years."

Apple's new iPad includes the aforementioned Retina Display, backed by a new A5X processor with quad-core graphics, and a 5-megapixel rear camera capable of shooting 1080p video. It weighs slightly more than the iPad 2, at 1.4 pounds, and offers comparable battery life. Those in the United States will have the option of purchasing the new iPad with 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) connectivity on either Verizon or AT&T.

In a move that maintains pressure on its competitors, the new iPad will keep the same prices as the previous model, starting at $499 for WiFi-only versions, and $629 for those with 4G capability. Prices top out at $699 for the WiFi-only, 64GB model and $829 for the 64GB model with WiFi and 4G.  

Whatever the new iPad's longer-term prospects, analysts have predicted the device will sell as many as 1 million units on March 16, its first day of release.

"We expect Apple to sell more than [1 million] iPads on 3/16, the day the new iPad hits retail stores," Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, wrote in a March 12 research note. "While the sell-through number is impossible to predict given uncertain iPad supply levels, sales of over [1 million] iPads on launch day would be a slight positive relative to the Street consensus at 10.1 [million] iPads in the Mar-12 quarter."

Original Source

iPad Application Developement

 

New iPad means 3x bigger, high-res publications

The world of iPad publishing has just got bigger, with publishers considering how they are going to design their iPad editions to take advantage of the New iPad's 2,056 x 1,546 pixel screen. But will the current range of iPad publishing suites be able to accommodate the high-resolution screen of the New iPad, and will these high-definition pages mean bigger downloads for customers?

We asked Aquafadas, the company behind the Digital Publishing System (on which App Studio for QuarkXPress is built) for their insights. Aquafadas Digital Publishing System is a plug-in that allows publishers to design apps for the iPad in both QuarkXPress and InDesign.

To summarise the exchange with Aquafadas General Manager Rainer Heckmann (in full below), Apps created using the Aquafadas Digital Publishing System will look "exactly the same" on the New iPad as they do on the previous generations. However, Aquafadas does intend to release an update "within the next few weeks" what will support the Retina display of the New iPad.

It will be possible for customers to "re-generate their apps and publications" using the new release of AVE AppFactory. AVE AppFactory is Aquafadas' solution that lets publishers generate Newsstand-compatible apps including full subscription support.

In order to update their current apps, according to Aquafadas, publishers can add high-res versions of the graphical elements to the app, and generate it again using AVE AppFactory. The new version will replace the old app in the App Store.

However, it will be necessary that two versions of the app are contained inside the app, Aquafadas's Heckmann explained: "In order to provide high-resolution graphical elements for the new iPad, and at the same time ensuring apps run perfectly well on iPad 1 and 2, new apps and updated apps created with Aquafadas' Digital Publishing System will contain both resources, small renditions for older iPads, and high-resolution renditions for the new iPad."

It is not strictly necessary to create a high-res version of the app for the New iPad, according to Heckmann: "Publications created with Aquafadas' InDesign plugins consist of both pixel-based and vector-based content. Text, unless it was converted into an image, is always vector-based in Aquafadas' Digital Publishing System. That means that text in existing publications looks perfectly sharp on iPad 1 and 2, and it does not need to be modified at all to look even sharper on the new iPad, and even at high zoom levels."

As for other content, such as images and videos, this is pixel-based, and therefore: "Images and videos in existing apps will look exactly the same as they look on iPad 1 and 2 on the new iPad, because each pixel of an image or video will be displayed by four pixels of the retina display, and show the same sharpness as on the 1,024 by 768 displays," claims Heckmann.

Should publishers decide to design a version for the New iPad, the app size will increase due to larger image and video sizes. Heckmann explained: "Images can now be four times larger, and videos are larger as well. For example, if the images used in an existing publication would add up to 50 megabytes, and if all images would be replaced by images optimized for the new iPad, the publication's size would increase by 150 megabytes - 50 megabytes of images would be replaced by 200 megabytes."

According to Heckmann, in order to ensure that content if of high enough quality to support the Retina display publishers need to "use higher resolution images, up to 2,048 by 1,536," and videos that are intended to be viewed full-screen, "should be used in 1080p HD format".

Despite this, "we expect to see increases of 1.5 to 3 times the size of current apps and publications," claimed Heckmann.

The complete interview follows below:

Macworld: "Can you produce New iPad-resolution magazine apps using Aquafadas's Digital Publishing solution?"

Aquafadas: "Apps created with the current version of Aquafadas' Digital Publishing System will run fine on the new iPad, and will look exactly the same as they look on iPad 1 and 2. So there is no immediate need to change or update existing apps and content for the new iPad.

Macworld: "Will you be issuing an update to the Digital Publishing System to take advantage of the new iPad?"

Aquafadas: "We plan to release an update to our Digital Publishing System within the next few weeks that will support the new iPad's retina display. In order to make use of the retina display we recommend our customers re-generate their apps and publications as soon as the next release of Aquafadas' AVE AppFactory and InDesign plugins are available."

Macworld: "How will Aquafadas deliver New iPad and iPad/iPad 2 versions of the same title to different devices?"

Aquafadas: "There are two parts to consider, the actual app, and the publication, such as a book or a magazine issue.

"An app uses graphical elements, such as background images and buttons, in its user interface. These graphical elements need to be optimized for the iPad's screen resolution. Graphical elements optimized for iPad 1 and 2 work on the new iPad, and look the same as they look on the current iPads. But the Retina display is all about a better and sharper representation, not only of content, but also of the user interface. In order to provide high-resolution graphical elements for the new iPad, and at the same time ensuring apps run perfectly well on iPad 1 and 2, new apps and updated apps created with Aquafadas' Digital Publishing System will contain both resources, small renditions for older iPads, and high-resolution renditions for the new iPad.

"The next release of AVE AppFactory supports both iPad 1 and 2 as well as the new iPad. Users can just update their current apps by adding the high-res versions of the graphical elements to the app, generate it again in AVE AppFactory, and replace the old app in the App Store. In the process of resubmitting the app, they can supply higher resolution versions of their app's screenshots on the App Store.

"Publications created with Aquafadas' InDesign plugins consist of both pixel-based and vector-based content. Text, unless it was converted into an image, is always vector-based in Aquafadas' Digital Publishing System. That means that text in existing publications looks perfectly sharp on iPad 1 and 2, and it does not need to be modified at all to look even sharper on the new iPad, and even at high zoom levels. Other content, images and videos in particular, is pixel-based. Images and videos of existing apps will look exactly the same as they look on iPad 1 and 2 on the new iPad, because each pixel of an image or video will be displayed by four pixels of the Retina display, and show the same sharpness as on the 1,024 by 768 displays.

"Our users just continue to use Aquafadas' InDesign plugins for content creation as they always did, with one difference: Images with higher resolutions (up to 2,048 by 1,536, if they should be viewable full-screen) should be used in order to provide tack-sharp images. Videos should have a higher resolution as well, and if videos are intended to be viewed full-screen, they actually should be used in the highest available resolution, in 1080p HD.

"Existing content can be easily republished by opening it again and then replacing images and videos.

"The next release of Aquafadas' InDesign plugins will take care of the rest. To ensure optimal quality on all iPads, our InDesign plugins will export two content files instead of one. One file will be optimized for iPad 1 and 2, the other for the new iPad.

"We will also update AVEPublishing.com to ensure the right content file will be delivered to an iPad. If a content file will be requested for download from an iPad 1 or 2, the lower-res version will be loaded onto the iPad, and a high-res version will be delivered to new iPads."

Macworld: "On average, how much extra space will a publication take up when working at the new resolution?"

Aquafadas: "That mainly depends on how many images and videos are used in a publication. Generally publication size will go up, because images can now be four times larger, and videos are larger as well. For example, if the images used in an existing publication would add up to 50 megabytes, and if all images would be replaced by images optimized for the new iPad, the publication's size would increase by 150 megabytes - 50 megabytes of images would be replaced by 200 megabytes.

"The size of an app itself will also increase slightly, because graphical elements in an app's user interface will increase in size by four times.

"For example, books with a lot of text and few images and videos will only increase in size a bit, while magazines with many images and videos may become significantly larger.

"Since not all content is pixel-based, and vector based content will stay at the same size, we expect the average increase of app and publication sizes to be less than factor 4, and expect to see increases of 1.5 to 3 times the size of current apps and publications."

Macworld: "What are the considerations designers need to be aware of when producing digital magazines for the new iPad?"

Aquafadas: "Not much changes for designers in the use of Aquafadas' Digital Publishing System.

"They need to make sure the content is of high enough quality to support the retina display, which means the use of higher resolution images, up to 2,048 by 1,536.

"Videos should have a higher resolution as well, and if videos are intended to be viewed full-screen, they should be used in 1080p HD format.

"Nothing changes in a designer's typographic work, because text, unless it was converted into an image, is always vector-based in Aquafadas' Digital Publishing System, and will look perfectly sharp on all iPads, even at high zoom levels."

Original Source

iPad Application Development

Google+ updates mobile UI, still no iPad app

Google rolled out a new design for its Google+ mobile site Monday morning, which now looks more like the Google+ apps for Android and iOS. That’s especially good news for Google+ iPad users, who have been waiting for a native app for the social network for some time.

The new UI not only features a visual refresh, but also comes with some new features that should make it easier to use Google+ with a mobile browser. One major improvement: Individual posts can now be reshared with the click of a button.

These changes come a few days after Google+ rolled out some major localization, making the service available in more than 60 languages including Zulu and Icelandic. Still missing is a native iPad app for Google+. The service is available via an iPhone app, but iPad users have to upscale the app, which is a pretty horrific experience. A Google spokesperson told me that there is “no update” on the availability of an iPad app.

Check out a few screenshots of the mobile web app as displayed on the iPad below:

1. 
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3. 

 

Original Source

iPad Application Development

 

4 things the iPad 4 should have

 

by Brad Reed

Even though Apple has just unveiled its new iPad, it’s never too soon to start thinking about the future: namely the iPad 4.

And that’s why, as impressive as new iPad was in its introduction Wednesday, we’re still left wanting more. Needless to say, while the newest iPad has a lot of great things going for it such as a Retina Display and LTE support, it doesn’t have absolutely, positively anything we could want out of a top-tier tablet. Here, then, is a simple list of features that we want to see in the next version of the iPad that will likely hit sometime in early 2013.

1). Siri. The new iPad does have voice commands, which is nice. But does it really compare to having a voice-enabled personal assistant that’s capable of learning your speech patterns and crafting responses based on how you naturally talk? Or put another way, it’s nice that the new iPad can take voice dictation, but we’d also like to see it give dictation of driving directions, meeting times and other key aspects of our daily lives directly to us.

2). A laptop dock. Even if the iPad really does succeed in ushering in the “post-PC era,” it could still use some more PC capabilities. That’s why we’d like to see Apple follow the lead of companies such as Asus and Novera in giving the iPad its own optional laptop dock that can let us hook the tablet up to a keyboard and use it more like our own desktop computer. While Apple is unlikely to do this, especially since such tablet-PC hybrids haven’t really caught on yet, it would certainly be a bonus.

3). A lower-priced, seven-inch version. Yes, we know. The iPad’s size clearly isn’t broke, so Apple shouldn’t try to fix it. At the same time, we can’t deny that seven-inch tablets have some distinct advantages, most notably their ability to easily fit into coat pockets and purses. And although Apple clearly hasn’t suffered financially from maintaining the highest prices of any big-name tablet vendor, the thrifty shopper in us can’t help but think a $300, seven-inch iPad would sell like gangbusters and thoroughly undercut any headway Amazon has made with its Kindle Fire tablet.

4). 802.11u connectivity with Wi-Fi Certified Passpoint capabilities. This is obviously a really big long shot since PassPoint has just been announced by the Wi-Fi Alliance and there’s no telling whether it will really catch on with mobile device manufacturers. But we can dream, right?

For the uninitiated, PassPoint technology essentially creates a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and allows you to access any in your area that take part in the program. What’s more, any hotspots that take part in Passpoint will allow you to connect without entering in any login or billing information since the program supports Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)-based authentication that cellular networks currently use to grant users seamless handoffs between cell sites.

This also means that carriers can forge Wi-Fi roaming agreements with one another that could, for instance, give AT&T subscribers access to Verizon hotspots without having to enter in any information or manually connect to different networks. If this technology can be successfully integrated into the iPad, it will make Apple’s famed tablet even more mobile than ever.

Original Source
iPad Application Development

New 4G iPad Features Retina Display, A5X Processor, Revamped Apps

Apple's new iPad features a high-resolution Retina Display, a new A5X processor, 4G LTE support and a 5-megapixel rear camera.

Apple's new iPad includes a high-resolution Retina Display, a new A5X processor with quad-core graphics and a 5-megapixel rear camera capable of shooting 1080p video. In an interesting twist, company executives didn't affix an official name to the tablet during its March 7 unveiling, instead referring to it only as the "new iPad." Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center at 10 a.m. PST to introduce the device. "We have our feet firmly planted in the post-PC future," he said, according to a live transcript published by The Verge. The iPad plays a key role in that, having sold 15.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. Apple's App Store now offers around 200,000 apps custom-built for the iPad's larger screen. Cook took a swipe at Apple's competitors as lacking design sense, particularly when it comes to rendering apps on a tablet's larger screen. "It kind of looks like a blown-up smartphone app," he told the audience, referring to Twitter for Android. The new iPad is clearly designed to present apps in the best possible light, so to speak, with the screen's 2,048-by-1,536 resolution. It weighs slightly more than the iPad 2, at 1.4 pounds, and offers comparable battery life. Those in the United States will have the option of purchasing the new iPad with 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) connectivity on either Verizon or AT&T. The new iPad will keep the same prices as the previous model, starting at $499 for WiFi-only versions and $629 for those with 4G capability. Prices top out at $699 for the WiFi-only, 64GB model and $829 for the 64GB model with WiFi and 4G.  Apple also dropped the price of the iPad 2, with the 16GB, WiFi-only version starting at $399. In doing so, it replicates the strategy it started with the iPhone, where the prices of the previous version fall with the introduction of a new unit. Apple executives spent much of the presentation detailing revamped versions of iWork, iMovie, iPhoto and GarageBand, all of which take advantage of the iPad's graphical power. The next iPad wasn't Apple's only upcoming product on display. The newly unveiled Apple TV will stream video at 1080p, with an interface that clearly draws its design cues from iOS. The device will retail for $99, and also go on sale March 16. It remains to be seen whether, as that date approaches, Apple gives "the new iPad" a more official-sounding name. Original Source ipad App Development

Retina display-ready apps and the coming iPad storage crunch

Adding Retina display support will boost app file sizes, potentially filling up your iOS device

The new iPad’s Retina display is its flagship feature; by all accounts from reporters who attended the third-generation iPad’s unveiling this week, its 2048-by-1536 pixel display looks exquisite in person, with crisp text and vivid color saturation. But the much improved screen may severely limit how you use the tablet. 

That’s because in order to take advantage of that display, apps need to generate new versions of their graphical assets. The new iPad sports four times as many pixels as its predecessors, so for Retina display support, apps need new images that are twice as wide and twice as tall as before. The physically larger images, of course, wind up as larger files in terms of megabytes, too. And that’s going to become a problem pretty quickly given that you can’t upgrade your iPad’s hard drive. It’s unfortunate that Apple didn’t double the new iPad’s storage space options to 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB to better accomodate the larger app sizes endemic to Retina-ready apps.

How big is big?

Let’s look at some of Apple’s own iPad apps to see whether fretting about how Retina iPad graphics affect file size is a waste of energy. It’s not a perfect comparison, since Apple also added some features to the apps it updated with Retina compatibility, but it’s still informative:

Keynote went from 115MB to 327MB; Numbers increased from 109MB to 283MB, and Pages went from 95MB to 269MB. With the exception of iMovie (which also added in new support for iMovie Trailers as it ballooned from 70MB to 404MB), these apps increased their file sizes by a factor between 2.5 and 3. (iMovie is nearly six times larger than before.)

Suppose a new 16GB iPad owner wants to load up the tablet with Apple’s Retina-display ready apps: the iWork suite, the iLife suite, iBooks, Find My Friends, Find my iPhone, iTunes U, and Remote. That’s 2.24GB of apps before you’ve downloaded a single third-party app, or synced a single song, photograph, or video. Remember too that a 16GB iPad really only offers the user around 14GB of storage space; the other two gigabytes go towards the operating system and stock apps. So now your 16GB iPad offers you fewer than 12GB of storage space.

My colleague Serenity Caldwell already wrote about the impact of Retina-ready apps on Apple’s freshly-raised limit (to 50MB) for downloading apps over 3G or LTE. In that story, she provides examples of other apps that swell in size with Retina-ready graphics. A smaller app like Tweetbot, for example, will reportedly grow from 8.8MB to 24.6MB. Larger, graphically intense games that weigh in between 300MB and 500MB today will likely require 750MB to 1.5GB once they update their art assets.

This doesn’t just affect new iPad owners

And perhaps the most worrying effect of the new iPad’s Retina display is its impact on older owners of both iPads and iPhones: Universal apps—that is, single apps that run on both devices—will become much larger even if you don’t own a Retina-display iPad. When Apple pushed out its Retina-ready upgrades earlier this week, I couldn’t successfully update my iPhone until I deleted my music and a few large apps. My iPhone can’t take advantage of the massive graphics that those apps need to embrace the iPad’s Retina display, but it gets no choice in the matter.

It’s a bit like Mac apps that could run on both Intel and PowerPC processors. If your Mac has tons of free storage space available, it doesn’t matter. But if your drive is close to full, you can use various third-party apps to remove any PowerPC-only code within your apps—since that code is useless on your Intel-based computer—to free up space.

Apple hasn’t coded a means by which your iPhone could ignore iPad-only assets when it installs universal apps. In fact, most developers also will choose to keep art assets specifically for the first two iPads, in addition to new art exclusively for the third-generation iPad; trying to force the older iPads to show downscaled versions of Retina iPad artwork would slow things down too much, developers tell me.
So we end up with a situation where iPhones contain iPad graphics they can’t use, iPads contain graphics for other iPads they don’t want, and iPads hold onto iPhone-specific graphics they don’t need.

Memory isn’t free

The problem is that flash storage isn’t free—hence the $100 difference in price between the current 16GB and 32GB iPad, and the 32GB and 64GB iPad. More storage costs Apple more money, and Apple surely doesn’t want to raise the iPad’s price tag.

At the same time, Apple is the only company around that could possibly drive down flash storage prices even further—by buying up millions of drives from suppliers to use in the new iPad. It seems, however, that Apple can’t yet find a way to keep the iPad’s current price point while increasing its storage, and considered the current state of affairs the best compromise.

If Apple’s right that it can’t yet drive down the price of flash storage further, that makes the software solution of letting iOS devices avoid storing in-app assets that they can't use even more imperative.

Two fixes

Really, then, I’m pushing for two separate but equally important fixes. Apple needs to bump the storage capacities on its iPads (and, frankly, iPhones). And it needs to devise a means by which in-app data that your iOS device can’t use won’t clog up your available storage space.

Coupling more storage with less per-app cruft will solve this storage crunch problem, and it’s one that I suspect more and more iPad buyers will encounter in the months ahead.

My advice to people asking me which iPad to get today is to focus in on the pricier 32GB model, because once developers update their apps for the new iPad’s Retina display, 16GB simply won’t be enough.

 Original Source 

ipad App Development

The 6 Pricing Models for iPad 3

It’s early Sunday morning, and as I scan through my news feeds it’s clear that the iPad 3 is at the forefront of everyone’s mind.  As it should be I suppose, since Apple’s media event is scheduled for Wednesday.  And the even though I’m not one of the elite media outlets (far from it in fact), I do have the luxury to write about the iPad 3 and keep the latest rumors alive and active on the web – next best thing I suppose.

This morning was actually the first time I saw a layout of the pricing models onthe iPad 3.   And by looks of things, you have the same six pricing models we see with the current iPad 2.  Those six models consist of the three different data capacities (16GB, 32GB, and 64GB) along with the matching WiFi only or ‘WiFi & data enabled’ versions.  With the flavor of data on the new iPad 3 expected to be 4G LTE on both AT&T and Verizon.

Ok, let’s get to the rumored pricing breakdown for the iPad 3 (or the iPad HD, or the iPad 2s, or whatever it’s going to be called…):

iPad 3 WiFi Only:

• 16GB:  $499
• 32GB:  $599
• 64GB:  $699

iPad 3 with WiFi & 4G LTE:

• 16GB:  $629
• 32GB:  $729
• 64GB:  $829

Do these prices look familiar?  They should because they are the exact some pricing models for the iPad 2.  So basically, nothing changing with the iPad 3 pricing, according to the latest reports anyway.

Now the data plans coming from AT&T and Verizon can get a bit confusing, and they are definitely not common knowledge to the average iPad owner.  So here’s a quick breakdown for those you looking to chose what data plan fits your budget:

AT&T iPad 3 data plan pricing:

• 250 megabytes for $14.99 per month
• 3GB for $30 per month
• 5GB for $50 per month
• Overage on the 250 megabyte plan:  $14.99 for an additional 250 megs
• Overage on GB plans:  $10 per additional 1GB

Verizon iPad 3 data plan pricing:

• 2GB for $30 per month
• 5GB for $50 per month
• 10GB for $80 per month
• Overage on any GB plan:  $10 per additional 1GB

** Disclaimer – this is all speculation at this point since nothing official has been released from Apple, AT&T, or Verizon.  These pricing models are what you’d get currently if you purchased the iPad 2 from one of these carriers.

At first glance of the pricing models for the iPad 3, my thought is that Verizon has an easier structure to understand.  However, if I’m looking for the most economical plan, then AT&T is the obvious choice because I’m spending only $14.99 for 250mb of data.  However, it’s a costly mistake to exceed the allotted 250mb of data because I’m going to be paying another $14.99 for only an additional 250mb – definitely not something I want to be doing.

If it looks even remotely possible that I may go over the 250mb plan on AT&T, then the 3GB model is the most economical choice.  And what’s interesting as well is that Verizon is charging the same amount ($30 per month) for 1GB of data less than AT&T’s $30 per month plan.

Regardless of what the data packages cost at AT&T and Verizon, I don’t foresee it slowing down the feeding frenzy that’s about to take place on Apple’s new iPad.

Original Source 

ipad App Development