Don't Buy An iPad 2 Wait For The iPad 3

When it comes to Apple you either love them or hate them. Some love them for their simplicity, elegance and ease of use while others hate them for their secrecy, software restrictions and pricing. However what I say is each to their own. The reason Apple is back on the rumour cards again (some say the rumours never end) is due to the iPad. It's done a full circle, that's 12 months to normal folks, and come round again for an update. An update shall I dare say isn't really needed but is expected. Most iPad 2 owners would say that they are perfectly happy with their current version of iPads and cannot see any ways to improve them apart from the obvious i.e. speed, storage, battery life, etc. Therefore if it were up to them there would be no new iPad but as with any technology, improve or get left behind and that's something Apple cannot afford to do.

Well according to numerous sites we are due for a new iteration of the iPad which will have an original name of iPad 3. Can you imagine the number of meetings it took to decide that? As with the previous generations, we are expecting an announcement around March 2012. This tallies with previous launches with the original iPad launching on 3rd April 2010 and iPad 2 reaching consumers on 11 March 2011. Even accessory manufacturers are predicting March 2012 as the launch month. However no one will truly know until Apple say so.

So what can we expect with this new iPad 3?

1. A6 Processor

This one is more predictable than most others as it would be a logical step in speed increases. It would also keep in line with Apple's competitors who rightly so will be launching quad core based products, possibly using chips such as Nvidia's Tegra 3. Having a quad core will allow the iPad 3 to run the expected higher resolution screen as well as other multiple apps all at the same time.

2. Retina Display Screen

What better use to put all that processing power than a display which runs at a phenomenal 2048x1536. This could be subject to change but double the current iPad 2 resolution would make it easier for developers to recode their apps in the same way developers recoded for the change in resolution from iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4. Some may say this resolution is an overkill but others might argue that this would be one of the unique selling points amongst the many others which Apple will use to their advantage in their marketing material.

3. Better Graphics

At CES 2012 Imagination Technologies unveiled its new PowerVR Series6 GPU which will power a number of mobile devices. Now we don't have anything concrete but as previous generations have used graphics chips from Imagination Technologies and Apple are shareholders, it would almost be predictable that Apple would upgrade the GPU and integrate it in the A6 processing chip. For all we know they could already have been testing this with Imagination Technologies deciding on CES 2012 to reveal this.

4. Better Camera

This one is almost guaranteed that it probably doesn't even require mentioning. My predictions are that they would launch it with a rear 8 mega-pixel camera capable of shooting HD video. The front camera is also likely to see improvements possibly being able to record HD so that they can use one of the most overused two letter acronyms today which is HD.

5. Siri
As Siri has already been launched and is being used on iPhone 4S, it would be a rather simple task to implement it on the new iPad. Even regular folks with a little know how have got it working on older iPhone models therefore this is likely to be a feature. However it can be argued that it may not be much use to a tablet user.




6. Other features?
Well I highly doubt we will see NFC on the iPad 3 as there would be no practical use other than payments and I don't see people whipping out their tablet to make a payment. Even banks are struggling to get this method of payment right.

4G? Not yet. This will need far more deployment worldwide before Apple decide to implement it. There is a world outside of the USA and countries such as the UK have not even auctioned that spectrum yet.

What about thunderbolt? If you haven't heard of these, they are a new type of connection being deployed by Apple across its product range. However as Apple is moving more to cloud based computing, it would have limited use and possibly not be worth the extra cost incurred. Even as an option I don't see much consumers taking this up.

If you heard other rumours about their being new models which have different size screens then think again. This is very unlikely as it would fragment the product range far too much. Apple usually do very similar things with their iPhone range and if they haven't launched an iPhone with a smaller or larger screen size yet, its unlikely to happen this time round for the iPad. Furthermore the 10" screen has hit the sweet spot for a tablet. Anything smaller and your approaching phone screen size and risk canabalising iPhone sales. Any larger and you risk MacBook sales. So you can put that to rest.

Finally what about what it will look like? Well here's a sneak preview.

What? Looks the same as an iPad 2? Well there are some rumours that this update will be an internal specs update but as I've said before, this is Apple and they may just surprise you. Then again they just may surprise you by keeping it the same or not announcing anything at all. Only Apple will tell.

Summary
Well I hope I've answer your questions on whether you should buy an iPad 2 or wait for an iPad 3. I would say wait no matter which you decide to buy. There isn't that long to go and once iPad 3 is launched, if you still feel that there isn't a huge improvement to justify buying an iPad 3 then you are sure to find some bargains for an iPad 2.