Honey, I have shrunk - the new iPad 3

It was a meeting of Educationists and the Head of the University spoke of his survey findings – on a survey conducted on his teaching staff, people who teach others to keep updated with latest technology – a high percentage have not used computers and another high % did not have e-mail IDs.  The World is changing rapidly and technology sky-rockets – a couple of decades ago, we had 128 MB memory and commands like mkdir to create a directory – then came the GUI – from computers with great memory of xx MB – we have moved a very long way.  When laptops came on, they were for the technocrats and priced a fortune.

Things have changed totally, it is all about smaller size, high capacity, better applications and all at a reduced price – is what technology delivers !!

The World is raving about the new product – its manufacturer says it has new 'Retina' display - so called,  because when held at a normal distance, the individual pixels are invisible to the naked eye - looks astonishing.  Everything on the screen is sharper and clearer, whether it is the text on a webpage or a picture in its photo application.  The product promo describes it as ‘Pick up the new …… and suddenly, it’s clear. You’re actually touching your photos, reading a book, playing the piano. Nothing comes between you and what you love.’  - it is Apple’s  third-generation iPad capable of so much more than you ever imagined.  There are reports that Shippers in China are  struggling to find freight capacity for their shipments, particularly by air, as computer giant Apple has been buying up available space to ship stocks of its new iPad 3 to stores in the US.

From the monstrous Desktops, to laptops, slim versions came the tablet PCs – tablets were  larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen rather than using a physical keyboard.   Ipad became an instantaneous hit ! – it was a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, apps and web content. Its size and weight fall between those of contemporary smartphones and laptop computers. The iPad runs on iOS, the same operating system used on Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone, and can run its own applications as well as iPhone applications.   iPad is sold in Wi-Fi and cellular models. The Wi-Fi connection is used to access local area networks and the Internet. Cellular models have a 3G or 4G wireless network interface.

Recently, Apple unveiled new version of iPad that enable user to access content available through 4G technology - latest standard of high speed wireless broadband. This third generation device in its category will enable its user to access, record and edit high definition video.  There are two models of iPad namely iPad WiFi and iPad WiFi with 4G. While iPad WiFi has been priced between $499 to $699, buyers will have to pay between $629 to $829 for iPad with 4G.  With launch of iPad 3, Apple also slashed starting price of its iPad 2 by $100 to $399.   The new iPad models will be available on Apple retails from March 16 in US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands.  A little later, it will be available in more countries.  Not sure when it will be officially on sale in India.

iPad 3 has 10 hours of battery and will last for 9 hours if used for accessing 4G technologies.  Reportedly, it is third update since its debut in Apr 2010.  As per estimates, Apple's iPad has a share of over 60 per cent in the fast-growing and highly-competitive global tablet market.  Some features of the  iPad 3 is stated to be :

* Screen size: 9.7 inches diagonally

* Thickness: 0.37 inches

* Weight: 1.44 pounds (1.46 pounds for 4G model)

* Screen resolution: "Retina display," 2048 by 1536 pixels

* Cameras: 5-megapixel camera on back and a low-resolution camera on front, for videoconferencing

* Video recording: high-definition (1080p, comparable to the resolution of a 40-inch flat-panel TV), up to 30 frames per second with audio

* Battery life: 10 hours

* Dual-core A5X processor (quad-core graphics subsystem)

* US wireless carriers: AT&T, Verizon Wireless

Analysts state that iPad 3 looks technologically superior to its challengers like Blackberry Playbook, Asus Transformer Prime, Motorola Xoom 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1  etc.,

Whether one would really utilize all that the equipment offers or whether all application that is boats of, is required – may never be answered – but to keep abreast with the technology is always a challenge and it is always the early trying bird that gets to know much more than others imagine what it could be

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.