Apple iPad

Apple extends its lead in the tablet race with the iPad

The latest Apple iPad was released in March 2012, and reviews indicate that Apple has taken the best tablet computer and made it better. Experts say it's not a must-have upgrade for existing iPad 2 owners, but it does pack some fairly worthwhile upgrades -- a vastly upgraded high-resolution touchscreen, 4G support in selected models, a better rear camera and more -- without a price increase. "As the latest product in a lineage of devices that defined this category, the iPad continues to stand head and shoulders above the competition," writes Joshua Topolsky at TheVerge.com He joins a chorus of reviewers and review sites, including CNET, PCMag.com, Laptop Magazine, ComputerShopper.com and others, that sing the praises of the new iPad and award it top ratings and a score of Editors' Choice awards. That's impressive given the roster of competing tablets running the Android operating system -- and, indeed, reviews say that some of those at least give the current iPad a run for its money. See our report on tablet computers for more information.

The iPad, which comes in both black and white, lost a bit of heft in its last iteration, the still available iPad 2 (*Est. $400 and up), but the iPad has given the tiniest piece of that back -- so little that experts say few will notice. The reason for that is a pretty remarkable battery that, despite the upgraded graphics and the 4G radio, provides lots of run time. Tests say that the iPad can last up to 10 hours between charges and nine hours when 4G-capable models are connecting via 4G. Those familiar with the short battery life of 4G capable smartphones know the significance of that last achievement.

Reviewer after reviewer says that current owners of the iPad 2 might not see a compelling reason to upgrade, as long as they don't make the mistake of gazing at the current iPad's 2,048 by 1,536 pixel Retina display. It gets the Retina moniker because the pixel density is so tight that the human eye can't pick out individual ones at normal viewing distances. Pictures, video, 3D gaming and more all benefit immensely. "It's not easy to make an HDTV look bad," says Laptop Magazine's Mark Spoonauer. "But that's exactly what the third-generation iPad does, thanks to its breakthrough Retina display." Experts add that text renders exquisitely, with even tiny type looking crystal clear. That's a boon for those who want to use the new iPad as an e-book reader, though a long session of reading might be one of the few times you do notice the new iPad's extra grams of heft.

Other improvements are more evolutionary. The move from 3G to 4G makes sense, as long as you are one of the lucky few who are in an area covered by that mobile network. The cost and terms for the data plans is unchanged, and are outlined below. The improved rear camera (upped from 3 megapixels to 5 megapixels) is nice, though anything would have been an improvement over the widely-panned rear shooter in the iPad 2. The A5X processor packs quad-core graphics capabilities, but tests don't notice a marked performance boost -- not that the iPad 2 was a slowpoke among the tablet crowd. Most of the other aspects of the iPad remain unchanged -- and that's a good thing. The user interface remains one of the best in the business, according to reviews, and the selection of available apps is unsurpassed.

The third-generation iPad comes in two colors, black and white, and in two models, a Wi-Fi-only iPad (*Est. $500 and up) or a Wi-Fi + 4G iPad (*Est. $630 and up). Both iPads come in three configurations that vary only in their flash drive space, including 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB models. The Wi-Fi + 4G iPad owners can get 4G service from AT&T or Verizon. AT&T offers monthly data plans totaling 250 MB (*Est. $15 a month) or 2 GB (*Est. $25 a month). Verizon offers four data plans ranging from 1 GB (*Est. $20 a month) to 10 GB (*Est. $80 a month). Long-term contracts are not required, so users have the option to go month-to-month, though they also run the risk of incurring fresh activation charges should they go more than three months before reactivating an existing account.

As noted above, the iPad 2 remains available, but with a lower price -- presumably to protect Apple's flank from encroachment by less-expensive Android tablets. You can still have any color you'd like -- as long as it's black or white -- and you still have the choice of either a Wi-Fi only version (*Est. $400) or one with Wi-Fi + 3G (*Est. $530). However you do miss out on the third-generation iPad's enhancements, and only a version with 16 GB of flash storage is offered.

You can read more about the Apple iPad and iPad 2 in our companion report on tablet computers, including how they stack up against competitors like the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Asus Transformer Prime.