The anticipated release of the new iPad 3 by Apple is here

Courtesy of Blake Patterson

The iPad 3 is the latest must-have product from Apple. After the success of the iPad 2, just one year later the third instalment is being released. The new tablet will be released on Friday 16th March, however, for some people that date can't come soon enough. The Daily Mail have reported that two men have started queuing outside the Apple store in London's Regent Street five days before the release date, in the hope of being the first people in the UK to own the new iPad.

The iPad 3 looks and feels exactly the same as the iPad 2. If you saw them both in a shop you wouldn't notice the difference.

So what's new about the ipad 3 you ask? Well there are four main new features.

Screen display

The new 'retina display' is apparently the best ever display on a mobile device. It is a 9.7-inch screen that supports a 2048 x 1536-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch. Images are more crisp with richer colours; Apple claims that 'everything looks and feels incredibly lifelike and perfectly detailed.' It has four times more pixels than the iPad 2 and an astounding million more pixels than an HDTV.

The iSight camera

The New iPad features Apple's 5 mega pixel camera known as the iSight camera (the same camera featured in the iPhone 4S). It captures light efficiently to produce a sharper overall image but also keeps out harmful IR light for more accurate, uniform colours. These are features you can only usually expect in expensive SLR cameras.

New Apps

There are several new apps to satisfy your creative needs. They include iMovie and GarageBand which are perfect for creating your own video advertisements and even producing your own music to suit the advert!

Fast Wireless

Users can now browse the web at ultra speeds with the new device's 4G network connection. It’s designed with mobile antennas that access a larger frequency spectrum which access downlink speeds up to 42 Mbps.

Apple claims that the battery lasts up to 10 hours in normal use and 9 hours when using 4G.


For all you music lovers out there who like to blast your music. Although the new iPad only has one small built-in speaker it is still extremely powerful and has a user controlled volume. It also supports Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.

These new features sound great but according to the Daily Mail British 'British iPad fans could be missing out on one of the best features.' 4G network connections are not yet available in the UK. They claim that there are projections for 4G networks to become available in the UK at the end of the year, only a few months before the iPad 4 will be released. For more information you can read the article here.

At just 9.4mm thick the device is priced from 399 - £659, the same as the iPad 2. Despite the expense and lack of 4G connection in the UK, reviews are rating the iPad 3 very highly. They all rave about the new 'retina' screen display. The majority of them claim that the third generation iPad is a great improvement on the iPad 2. PC Advisor says, 'If the iPad 2 had had any serious competition from even the big-name Android pretenders (referring to Samsung), iPad 2012 has just buried it.' Here is a video review by the The Telegraph:

However, there are a minority that are left feeling disappointed. Michael Liedtke from nzherald states that 'an old video on YouTube looked even grainer on the iPad's higher-resolution screen.' He continues to say that like him, people may be left pining for more; 'Just consider how much more appealing the new iPad would be if Apple had added Siri, the automated personal assistant that has become one of the most popular features on the latest iPhone.'

What are your views on the new iPad? Are you going to buy one?

Leave your comments below.