# You've got the new iPad (iPad 3), give us your review / impressions!



## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

Those of you who have picked up the new iPad, or iPad 3 as some are still calling it. Now that you've gotten a chance to play with it and run it through it's paces, give us your review? 

Really curious, has anyone connected theirs to an LTE network or Rogers or Bell etc..? What's the speeds like?

Is the Retina display impressive, or what? :heybaby:


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## jayman (Jan 4, 2008)

Mine just walked in the door. It'll be a little while before I can really use it. But looking forward to others feedback.


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## chrisburke (May 11, 2010)

Make you download tapatalk to have a great forum viewing experience! It's one of my top 5 apps!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

Me too!  Two things I'm most curious about:

1. Retina display. Is it jaw dropping, kind of cool, or just meh.. kind of nice. 

2. LTE. How fast is it? Anyone know of a site or app to test download speeds on iPad? Would be kind of nice to test speeds of LTE around Canada on various networks.


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## chrisburke (May 11, 2010)

ehMax said:


> Me too!  Two things I'm most curious about:
> 
> 1. Retina display. Is it jaw dropping, kind of cool, or just meh.. kind of nice.
> 
> 2. LTE. How fast is it? Anyone know of a site or app to test download speeds on iPad? Would be kind of nice to test speeds of LTE around Canada on various networks.


There is a speedtest.net app


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

chrisburke said:


> There is a speedtest.net app
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


A cool! That's the one I was thinking of. 

*Here's the link to the app.* (iTunes Link)

Let's see some screen shots.


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## jhuynh (Mar 21, 2011)

One thing I was curious about with other people that own it. Does anyone notice that the brightness settings are dimmer for the same settings vs iPad 2? I don't have my iPad 2 any more so i can't compare side by side but it seems like the new screen can dim a lot lower than the old iPad(which is a good thing for night time reading).

The retina display is amazing. Reading text seems to be a lot easier on my eyes like in iBooks. Other than that, there aren't that many optimized apps out there for this great display but what I've used so far makes the upgrade worth it to me since it is my most used device especially for reading books/webpages/RSS etc.


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## Sword Fish (Mar 12, 2012)

This is my first iPad and so far I'm finding it awesome! Retina is very clean and easy to read. Would like to compare to an iPad 2. Running some of my bigger apps is very smooth. I used to have an iPhone so I had a lot of apps in iTunes and I copied them onto the iPad. They run a lot faster than my iPhone ran them thats for sure. Works really well with my ZaGGfolio bluetooth case and keyboard! Surprised that my laptop (new Tecra M11) can't charge the battery on this thing.


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## bringonthenite (Aug 7, 2007)

The retina display is cool especially side by side with the old iPad2. For example, in the Apple iPad ad with the flower you can clearly see finger prints on the person pinching the screen. These are not visible on the iPad2. My own photos tend to look the same. New issues of SI and Time look sharper than older issues. They must have upped the resolution.

Clearly this iPad is easier to read from. Didn't check iBooks before I restored the iPad2.

The most obvious thing I've noted is the heat! I actually took it out of my cover to cool down. Not sure how it would do on a long flight.

Edit -

Downloaded an HD TV snaek peak (to save time) from the us iTunes store. Excellent quality and clarity. You can notice the difference from the SD iTunes material. Home 720p videos look great too.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

I'm in the processing of setting mine up so I can't tell you much yet, but I can say this: while I know the new iPad is a bit thicker and heavier than the iPad 2, I'm coming to it from the iPad 1 so for me it seems much lighter and thinner. 

The initial setup screen was MUCH dimmer out of the box, but this may be because I put it in my old original Apple cover (remember those) for the iPad 1 (it fits okay, not perfect), which may be messing with the light sensor. I'll adjust the brightness once I'm done restoring from my iPad 1 backup, and I'll post some thoughts (I'm keen to load a couple of short 720p video files I have lying around to test out that function as well, will download a 1080p sample too if I can find a good one).


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## jayman (Jan 4, 2008)

chas_m said:


> I'm in the processing of setting mine up so I can't tell you much yet, *but I can say this: while I know the new iPad is a bit thicker and heavier than the iPad 2, I'm coming to it from the iPad 1 so for me it seems much lighter and thinner. *
> 
> The initial setup screen was MUCH dimmer out of the box, but this may be because I put it in my old original Apple cover (remember those) for the iPad 1 (it fits okay, not perfect), which may be messing with the light sensor. I'll adjust the brightness once I'm done restoring from my iPad 1 backup, and I'll post some thoughts (I'm keen to load a couple of short 720p video files I have lying around to test out that function as well, will download a 1080p sample too if I can find a good one).


I agree with the size/weight. I'm also coming from an original iPad and the difference is significant. I'm sure it helps that I've moved from a Dodo case to a Smart cover as well. A lot less bulk!


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## Mckitrick (Dec 25, 2005)

I went to the Waterloo store and loaded up ehmac on an iPad 2 and iPad3 side-by-side and there's a huge difference in the text! SO much clearer, and the ipad 2 is very easy to read. That was the thing that made me actually pick one up. Plenty of stock at the Waterloo store around noon. 

I use my ipad2 primarily for surfing so the improved text rendering I'm sure is going to keep me happy. I seem to downgrade the memory each time though. My ipad is 64G, my ipad2 is 32G and this new one is only 16G...


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## Garry (Jan 27, 2002)

I haven't noticed the extra weight.
The screen is awesome.. I've loaded some pictures and I can say that I have a really crappy camera haha
The only minor beef I have is I have to re-enter all my passwords again after a restore. not major, but.. I can't remember half of them!


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

Someone posting screenshot for Telus LTE from downtown Toronto:


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## Svivie (Apr 1, 2011)

The new iPad is amazing. When I first powered up the display I was wowed at its clarity. It almost feels like I could reach my hand into the screen it's so vivid and life like. The text from sites is so crisp and easy to read. Photos have exceptional depth and detail. The Retina Display alone is worth upgrading from an iPad 2 in my opinion! 

Everything also runs very smooth. Not much different from the processing power of the iPad 2, but there is a slight increase in responsiveness. And the weight difference between this device and the previous gen is negligible. 

The camera is pretty solid, though I wish the front facing camera had gotten a spec bump. But I don't really use the iPad for that reason much anyway! And the dictation is pretty smooth and quite a nice feature. Overall I'm quite pleased with my newest iPad purchase


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## sedawk (Jun 26, 2007)

In Vancouver's West End. Just popped in a new Bell Sim Card into my new 4G iPad. WOW!


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## chrisburke (May 11, 2010)

Sword Fish said:


> This is my first iPad and so far I'm finding it awesome! Retina is very clean and easy to read. Would like to compare to an iPad 2. Running some of my bigger apps is very smooth. I used to have an iPhone so I had a lot of apps in iTunes and I copied them onto the iPad. They run a lot faster than my iPhone ran them thats for sure. Works really well with my ZaGGfolio bluetooth case and keyboard! Surprised that my laptop (new Tecra M11) can't charge the battery on this thing.


Most laptops don't charge them.. You need USB 3 if I recall correctly..I have a griffin powerdock dual which charges my iPad and iPhone at the same time



ehMax said:


> Someone posting screenshot for Telus LTE from downtown Toronto:


I gotta say, seeing the speedtest images is really making me mad.. 5-6 times faster than my HOME HIGHSPEED NETWORK... That just isn't right, and is making me consider calling my ISP to figure out why a home network is 5 times slower than a cellular data network

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

So far the screen really is fantastic. Definitely faster as well. 
The camera is better as well. Video quality seems to be pretty good.


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## mixedup (Jul 4, 2004)

My first iPad....couldn't be bothered with the earlier versions - wasn't interested in the first because of the limitation on flash (some of the websites I stream from didn't support it eg. Motogp.com). 2nd gen didn't tempt me because the screen was a step down from the iphone 4, which is gorgeous.

This did the trick....wow....going back to my "old" Macbook (2006?) is like using an old vintage computer or something.....the screen is absolutely stunning. Tempted to try the LTE......but not sure I want to shell out the cash....yet!


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## Coriolis99 (Jun 20, 2011)

ehMax said:


> Is the Retina display impressive, or what? :heybaby:


No. it's like the iPhone display. if you're used to that it's nothing special. But then i never used a previous iPad

I think it's good but I'm struggling with the reason to have it....

Macbook air does 95% of what i do and the iphone fills in for the rest.... gotta play with it some more but I may end up returning it.


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## chrisburke (May 11, 2010)

Coriolis99 said:


> No. it's like the iPhone display. if you're used to that it's nothing special. But then i never used a previous iPad
> 
> I think it's good but I'm struggling with the reason to have it....
> 
> Macbook air does 95% of what i do and the iphone fills in for the rest.... gotta play with it some more but I may end up returning it.


This was my reasoning for not really thinking id get an iPad.. I got an iPad 2 back in August, best tech I've ever bought..I now do about 95% of my computing on my iPad. The rest is on my MacBook (2006)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Mrsam (Jan 14, 2006)

Didn't take a screenshot, but I mananged just under 69Mbps at work.


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## jhollington (Jan 29, 2007)

I'm on Bell and went and picked up an LTE micro-SIM this afternoon on a standard $10 data share plan with my existing Bell account, but can't seem to actually get my iPad to _do_ LTE, nor can I get any straight answers from Bell so far as to why not. Tech support answers range from "the iPad doesn't show the LTE indicator on Bell" to "20mbps is all you _should_ be getting" to "you're probably not in an LTE coverage area" (I'm at Yonge & the 401). I'm not buying any of this, so I'm going to call again tomorrow and see if I can get some additional answers.

Of course, the good news is that I'm getting 20mbps down and 6mpbs up simply on HSPA+ (with the "3G" indicator showing). I know that definitely can't be LTE because that's the same performance I"m getting with the older, non-LTE micro-SIM.

I'm curious if anybody on here _is_ getting the "LTE" indicator on Bell, and if so, what kind of speeds are you getting and what type of plan are you on? Bell techs keep telling me that LTE should "Just work" and there's nothing special they have to provision, but if that's the case it makes no sense that I'm stuck on "3G."


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## jhuynh (Mar 21, 2011)

The more I use the new iPad the more I love the display! Everyone needs to download the Metro newstand app for their city. In portrait mode when you view a page of the paper just look at how tiny the words are yet they are still so clear that you could read it like this if you really wanted to!


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## satchmo (May 26, 2005)

Can anyone report whether or not they get that checkerboard pattern when scrolling through large news sites i.e. NY Times?

Some have said they haven't even seen this on the iPad 2, but I know I have. With the added RAM, I would hope it's a thing of the past. Then again, I would think the retina display, it might be a challenge.


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## psxp (May 23, 2006)

chas_m said:


> The initial setup screen was MUCH dimmer out of the box, but this may be because I put it in my old original Apple cover (remember those) for the iPad 1 (it fits okay, not perfect), which may be messing with the light sensor. I'll adjust the brightness once I'm done restoring from my iPad 1 backup, and I'll post some thoughts (I'm keen to load a couple of short 720p video files I have lying around to test out that function as well, will download a 1080p sample too if I can find a good one).


I noticed the setup wizard to be dim and I wasn't initially impressed with the screen until I saw the home screen - wow! Just syncing the new iPad with my macbook.. will be on a flight tomorrow so I'll be spending some time with it. No case for it seems weird.. my iPad 1 was cased 100% of the time. 

Retina is awesome - it will be nice to get the speed jump too.


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

Downloading photos from a memory card is blistering fast. Scrolling photo libraries is also crazy quick. 

I found recharging was slow though. About 10% an hour is my guess.


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## Mrsam (Jan 14, 2006)

gmark2000 said:


> Downloading photos from a memory card is blistering fast. Scrolling photo libraries is also crazy quick.
> 
> I found recharging was slow though. About 10% an hour is my guess.


Glad to hear about the photos, still have to pick up the camera connection kit!


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## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

Can anyone report on the battery life? I read where one said that the Retina screen is a battery hog. Is that right?


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## Oakbridge (Mar 8, 2005)

satchmo said:


> Can anyone report whether or not they get that checkerboard pattern when scrolling through large news sites i.e. NY Times?
> 
> Some have said they haven't even seen this on the iPad 2, but I know I have. With the added RAM, I would hope it's a thing of the past. Then again, I would think the retina display, it might be a challenge.


One of the first things I noticed when I went to the Mac Rumors site which right now has a pretty full front page with all the news that has gone on during the past few days.

Not a single checkerboard.


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## Oakbridge (Mar 8, 2005)

csonni said:


> Can anyone report on the battery life? I read where one said that the Retina screen is a battery hog. Is that right?


Ships with a bigger battery so from what I've read it is a wash.

The one thing that some people are noticing is that it is taking a bit longer to fully charge the device. I normally plug mine in overnight, so that is not usually a concern for me.


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## jayman (Jan 4, 2008)

Oakbridge said:


> Ships with a bigger battery so from what I've read it is a wash.
> 
> The one thing that some people are noticing is that it is taking a bit longer to fully charge the device. I normally plug mine in overnight, so that is not usually a concern for me.


This makes sense... A larger gas tank in a car takes longer to fill as well, not sure why people didn't expect this?

I also plug mine in over night. Usually every second night depending on usage.


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## iphoneottawa (Apr 21, 2010)

Takes MUCH longer to charge! (1/2 day) The battery seems to last as long.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

Now that I've had a full day to play with it, some further thoughts:

The thing that has tickled me most about the new iPad is how comfortable it is to read for long periods now (text ... so sharp!) and how much fun the Siri dictation is. I rarely use dictation but I've tried it with composing responses in this forum as well as dictating email and it works surprisingly well (though as with all dictation-product users, you really become aware of how many homonyms there are in the English language!). I have to do a little correcting on the dictation most of the time, but I'd say it's about 90 percent accurate, maybe even higher. Perfect for short posts, messages, emails, etc.

I was afraid that older apps (I have a couple on my iPad that aren't even iPad apps -- they're iphone-sized only!) would look terrible on the new display but the upscaling is EXCELLENT. Even old SD videos look just fine.

Speaking of which, I compared a 1024x768 (ish) video from an HD source I had converted before I had this new iPad to a new video I copied in at full 1080p. The difference is exactly as you'd expect it would be, WOW.

Did a FaceTime chat today, nothing new with the front camera so no surprises there. Haven't used the back camera for anything at all yet, it wasn't my motivation for buying the new iPad so it may be a while on that.

Again, the screen is just WAY more comfortable for reading for longer periods, and the text scales BEAUTIFULLY when you zoom in. Really wish you could do it that easily and beautifully on a Mac.

Oh, and photos!! Again, WOW. Also, iPhoto for iOS is absolutely REMARKABLE. I'm not going to throw out my notebook's copy of Photoshop, but frankly I can easily see iPhoto for iOS becoming my favourite editing tool routine jobs. It's not laser-precise but it really is pretty amazing.

As far as battery goes: I used it literally ALL DAY today and very often yesterday and it only just got down to one percent battery. I have the Wi-Fi only so I appear to be getting the benefits of the big battery without paying the 3G/LTE penalty. As for getting warm (as I've heard some people say, I stuck mine in my old Apple cover (for the original iPad) right away so I haven't noticed any heat at all.

Now to start thinking about what I want for a case ... gonna need one of those HDMI adapters too for presentations ... and maybe iMovie and iWork for iOS ... oh dear ...


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## Coriolis99 (Jun 20, 2011)

DO i need to do something to turn on the Siri dictation?

I don't seed a little microphone icon like on my iPhone


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## bringonthenite (Aug 7, 2007)

Go to settings. General keyboard and then enable dictation.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

I am in Love!!!!

:love2::love2::love2::love2::love2::love2::love2::love2::love2::love2::love2::love2::love2::love2:


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## mikemchugh (Feb 21, 2001)

Coming from a first-generation iPad I can only echo what has been said here - the screen is amazing, I actually couldn't believe the difference! Reading is SO much more comfortable. The speed and weight differences are also very noticeable to me. I can't believe I've hauled around the "clunky" iPad1 for almost 2 years ;-)

Mike McHugh


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## jhollington (Jan 29, 2007)

jhollington said:


> Bell techs keep telling me that LTE should "Just work" and there's nothing special they have to provision, but if that's the case it makes no sense that I'm stuck on "3G."


Just to follow-up on this previous post, I did speak with a Bell tech yesterday who seemed to be a bit more on the ball and informed me that the $10 "tablet share" plans are in fact _not_ LTE compatible. He moved me over to the $5/15/35 tablet flex plan, and although it took a while for LTE to actually start showing up -- perhaps due to provisioning delays and/or weak LTE coverage in my area, that seemed to do the trick. There were a number of things he had to specifically confirm were provisioned, so there's definitely stuff to be done on Bell's end -- in the very least making sure you're on an LTE-compatible plan and don't have LTE blocked for some reason.

I'm at Yonge & York Mills and at this point I'm getting only a single bar of LTE in my apartment with HSPA+ like speeds. I get a solid 5 bars of 3G/HSPA+ coverage, so the weaker signal is specific to LTE. Outside walking along Yonge street I get about three bars and 45mbps down and 27mbps up, so considerably more respectable.


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## Rounder (Aug 9, 2008)

Man, I caved... I was at the mall in Richmond, and walked into the Apple Store and finally saw one for myself. Couldn't resist. What a beauty. Plus with our strong dollar and low taxes here, actually was quite a steal!


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## rpalace (Sep 17, 2007)

I walked into Yorkdale on Saturday at around noon. There were approximately 2 people in line so getting a 32GB Wi-Fi model was a piece of cake. This is my first iPad and I love the experience so far.

Setup was the simplest I've ever encountered on an Apple product.

The screen is quite incredible as everyone has already pointed out. I'm finding that I'm fairly comfortable typing in landscape - might be practice from the iPhone. There are a few little keyboard quirks that I'll have to get over but I doubt that will take long.

The camera is very good with decent lighting. A few low light pictures I took were grainy. I was actually more impressed with video in low light. Seemed to stabilize very well. Will I use the iPad as a video camera? Not often but it is nice to have just in case.

As far as apps go, iPhoto is definitely worth the $5. I'm excited to use the iCloud Journal feature to send photos to my family. It looks very slick. I've also downloaded Pages - I'll never need a laptop again. I'm a video guy and I've always preferred editing in one place. I also write on the side and I'm glad I'll never need a physical keyboard for that again. I'm surprised to see all the free content from cable provider apps. No need for cable as I can just pair it with the new AppleTV.

What would I like to see in the next iPad or update?

Tactile feedback
Siri - I find The dictation very good but would love more options for voice
Revamped Mail app - just not a big fan of the layout
Better front-facing camera - impossible to get a good Facebook profile pic 

Overall, I love my new iPad. My wife has an iPad 2 but I rarely had the chance to use it. I was always relegated to my own folder with a handful of sub-par apps. If you've been on the fence about getting a tablet, now would be the time.


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## (( p g )) (Aug 17, 2002)

Had a look at the new iPad today. There's no denying that the retina display and the rear-facing camera are major improvements. But frankly I don't see enough advantages to justify the expense of upgrading from my iPad2. My two big concerns are the longer recharge time and the noticeable difference in the amount of heat the device generates even after just a few minutes of use. I think I will sit this one out and wait for the next round of refinements.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

I love it. 

The heat not really an issue my iPhone 4 heats up with using some apps, nothing to be concerned about. I don't have heat issues while using Numbers for a couple of hours. The battery is awesome, how long this thing runs on a single charge is great.

This is my first iPad and I did not know the following:

No weather app. Huh? No problem can use the Weather Network app.
No Stocks app. Huh? No problem I use Bloomberg
No Calculator app. OK what is going on here? Why the difference between iPhone and iPad. No problem I can use free one I guess.
No Voice Memo app. Hey why not for those who want it.
Why is the Apple Store app not ported for iPad, why do I have to use the zoom feature on one of Apple's own apps.
Why such a difference between App Stores for the iPhone and iPad. iPhone has Top Paid, Top Free, Release Date where iPad only has Featured and Release Date which you then can sort by Most popular, but where is the Free category?
Why does the App Store for iPad not show my credit balance like it does for the iPhone?

And why no dictation for those who have the iPad 2? Makes no sense and is silly to not include it for those who have it.


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## smellybook (Aug 31, 2006)

*Picked one up tonight,*

The new iPad is what I have wished for since the 1st iPad.

It's perfect.


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

smellybook said:


> The new iPad is what I have wished for since the 1st iPad.
> 
> It's perfect.


Exactly how I feel.


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

same. so happy with mine so far


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## MacDaddy68 (Dec 1, 2009)

I fell in love with my original iPad for many reasons, but I used it most frequently for reading books. On it's own, it's a superb little machine - but in contrast to the new iPad...  no comparison.

Text is so crisp, so sharp, so clear - and the colors seem to "pop", it's a real joy to use. And going back to the original iPad, it now looks blurry!?! Weird. But totally awesome. Best Apple upgrade I've made in quite a while.


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

*HD video - WOW!*

I finally managed to spend some time editing my own home movies.
I edited a moose hunt from 2010 - added voice narration to some condensed clips, little bit of music to fill in the quiet as I didn't have an external microphone for my headcam at the time.

Edited in FCX , output a h.264 using Compressor and my CompressHD card. The file was set for the AppleTV 3, but it can be used on the new iPad. It looks fantastic on both. Very happy! Used a bitrate between 5 and 9.9 (I'm still not sure what the max bitrate is). The file size is 3.76 GBs for a 45 min movie. I might play with reducing the bitrate slightly, but I'm very happy with the quality and being able to use 1 file for both devices!!!! 

The sound on this iPad is great too. Much improved over the 1st gen I was using.

Can't wait to finish our home videos as my Panny HD camcorder is better than the HD headcam (a Drift Innovations model).

Cheers,
Keebler


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## _wb_ (Oct 5, 2007)

I couldn't be happier with this new device. I have all previous models, and I did use iPad 2 extensively for reading (+10 hours/week). I find the new iPad does not strain my eyes as quickly because the sharpness of the screen (text) is beyond what I have ever seen on a tablet. Also, LTE is pretty fast but carriers are not doing a good job with those expensive data plans. Hopefully they will have better plans that you can share with the new iPhone coming in the next few months (hopefully). Battery life is ok so far. I don't have anything to complain about. Lastly, the weight is not noticeable even though I had a WI-FI only and now I got a LTE. Either way, solid device.


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## Mocha (Oct 10, 2007)

I love it!!

This is my first iPad, and after becoming aware of the increased storage demands of updated graphics, I opted for the 64Gb wifi model. Although it has a tiny bit more heft than I would like, I know the the huge battery is needed to drive the Retina display, beefed up backlight & (available) power hungry LTE radio. 

The new display is gorgeous and exactly what I need to take my reading on the go. My iPhone 4s, which was my go to mobile device, looks highly cramped & puny by comparison. My only possible regret is not having a GPS chip for mobile maps & nav that the LTE version has.p


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