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Today Apple Computer announced its new tablet, the oddly nameless iPad. Boasting an ultra-high resolution screen of 2047 x 1536 pixels in a fun-size package, Apple's new tablet has a retina display of 9.7 inches. For those of you at home that don't want to do the math, that's a DPI of 264, which is about 40 pixels less than double the resolution of the old iPad 2 (1024 x 768). Keep in mind, though, that most content is at best 1080p (1920 x 1080), so this resolution will not help your video content to look better. Apple also boasts that their new display will have "40% better color saturation", but we'll have to test that claim out in our labs.
While Apple has been caught in this lie before, its display improves picture quality, but falls just short of being a true retina display even at the most optimistic estimates of what that name should mean. Don't take this the wrong way, it is utterly astounding that Apple can make this sort of display technology to the masses, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
In addition to this super-high resolution for a tablet, the hardware of the new iPad is equally impressive. Sporting an A5X quad-core processor that Apple claims is twice as fast as the Tegra 3. In addition, the rear-facing camera is also interesting, as it can snap full 1080p photos and video with Apple's own version of image stabilization. Apple also claims 10+ hours of battery life, but we've yet to put it to the test. All this performance will set you back starting at $499 for the 16GB model. The claim that the battery can last 10 or more hours may be based in specialized tests, but we've got our own to throw at it to really give it a workout.
Along with the announcement came the news that iOS 5.1 will be available for download today, along with support for a Japanese-language Siri. On top of that, Apple has crossed the threshold of 200,000 apps in it's vaunted App Store. This is an interesting milestone for all you app fanatics out there.
Possibly one of the more interesting tidbits to come from the presser is the fact that Apple saw the vast majority of its profits from the 2011 year by selling post-PC products like smartphones and tablets. This coming from a market category that didn't exist a couple years ago is quite surprising, and serves to provide an insight as to where computer manufacturers might focus their resources.
As always, we'll give you the full scoop once we get a unit in our hands, and put Apple's lofty claims to the test. The iPad is slated for launch on March 16th.