The New iPad

First there was the iPad, then came iPad 2 and now The New iPad, literary.  There is always so much hype about Apple products that with every inception of one, Apple never fails to attracts millions of Apple fans to throng at their stores to be one of the first to grab the new gadget.  


It was hardly a year ago that the iPad 2 was launched in April that The New iPad is out in the market all over the world right now, with Apple promising as usual that the device is again revolutionary, banging on a better screen, faster processor and better camera.  But wait.  Should an upgrade from the iPad 2 be a necessity or just another craze for a new Apple product that one should not miss?  Lets find out.


Hardware:

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The main upgrades of The New iPad, are the A5X CPU and it's higher resolution screen, which they claim pack more pixels than a HD television into a 9.7 inch screen.  Apart from this, it also boasts a faster wireless connectivity hardware and a 5MP camera.


The external chassis of The New iPad is similar to that of the iPad 2 but it is 0.6mm thicker and about 50g of weight more for the wifi version and 62g more for the 4G version.  In total, the wifi version is 650g while the 4G version is 662g.  It has the same 9.7 inch glass and a chic aluminium back with a luxurious feel to it.


Some might get turned off by the thicker dimension but in real fact, if you pick one up without comparing it directly with an iPad 2, you would feel the difference, either in thickness or in weight.  It's almost negligible.  


It has the usual home button on the front screen to easily wake the screen and and a similar rocker switch that you can toggle between controlling the mute or screen rotation button.  Below the rocker switch, is the volume rocker.  All these are similar to the iPad 2.  


As predictor, Apple has retained the only physical socket on the iPad.  The 30-pin connector is placed at the bottom of the device.  The 3.5mm headphone jack is still placed at the top of the device.  This means an adaptor is needed to connect a USB stick or camera's SD card.  This is the hardware specs that is here to stay for the iPad.  An android variation is no where to be found.  


The Display


The display has a total of 2,048 x 1,536 PPI which is lower than the iphone 4S.  However, Apple still calls it a Retina display as the pixel is not noticeable from a 15inches away from the eye.  


The screen is a tablet's most important hardware.  This time around, Apple has hit all the right notes in this regard.  The screen is absolutely stunning - clearer, crisper and sharper without being too bright or loud.  It shows a surprising colour saturation that is natural looking, which is pleasing to the eyes and a pleasure to use.  


The New iPad wins hands down on this section of display compared to iPad 2.  The iPad 2 have a great screen however, as it has the same display as the original iPad, it just doesn't live up to the stunning graphic of The New iPad.  
The great resolution makes browsing photos such an enticing activity and reading on the web becomes much easier without needing to zoom as much.
The colour saturation is very beautiful and bright but nothing that shouts into you face like the AMOLED equivalent.  This makes it very pleasing to the eyes.
However, there will be an annoying period where the apps in the App Store will have to be re-tweaked to fit the rich resolution that The New iPad has.  For now, we will have to make do with the current apps in the market but the resolution and graphics are still great. 


Interface, Media and Gaming    

In terms of processor power, the iPad 2 and The New iPad doesn't have much of a difference in terms of speed.  The iOS 5.1 doesn't show much of a difference with the iOS 5.0.  The A5 CPU in the iPad 2 is unchanged this time around in terms of processing power due to the higher resolution on The New iPad.  The change that we can see is mainly on the graphics processor (Apple claims it as quad core) as games went through without a glitch.  Launching apps after apps were smooth accept occasionally, after having too many apps being launched, some apps would start up relatively slower than others.  This doesn't waver the user experience that much though.


The only thing to note about The New iPad is that it can get quite hot for no apparent reason.  This shouldn't be the case because a tablet should not be doing too much work to get it heated up that much.  Apart from this issue, watching movies, streaming YouTube videos went on superbly and beautifully due to it's high resolution screen.

In terms of gaming, iPad still have not reached the same levels as PS3 or Xbox 360.  However, with the higher resolution, it won't disappoint gamers too much.  
The camera is a huge upgrade from a 1MB to a 5MB sensor.  The built in image stabilisation sensor is very impressive however, the the f2.4 in the camera makes bright lighted pictures look washed out.  Nevertheless, this shouldn't be too much of a an issue as the iPad isn't exactly a camera friendly gadget to begin with.  We'd still need proper cameras to take high quality photos.  Lets just keep the iPad's camera as something to take quick snaps for social media uploads.  Nevertheless, the speed between snapshots are impressively fast compared to the older Apple products. 


The camera on the iPad has never been its selling point.  Apple has made the camera as good as it should be to give enough functionality when you need it on the go.  


Storage and Wifi Functionality


Sad to say that in Malaysia, the functionality of The New iPad 4G LTE wireless, isn't something to look forward to as we do not have the broadband technology to support it.  The UK doesn't have this technology variant as yet as well and even when it comes, the 4G LTE on the New iPad will not work with the UK 4G broadband.  Whether or not the 4G LTE broadband will ever arrive our Malaysian shores, it is yet to be seen.  Big downloads still require the use of wifi as how it has always been with the former iPads.  


The storage for The New iPad still comes in the same variants of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB.  This will not be enough for The New iPad due to the large resolution that requires apps to support that and this would increase their size.  Also, 1080p movies and videos are not easily accessible and this would fill the iPad up relatively fast.  


Verdict
If you have yet to have an iPad, The New iPad should be the one that you should be getting.  But if you already have iPad 2, it should be sufficient for now if you are not to fussy about clarity of display and graphics.  


      
      


  

Samsung Tab 7 plus and the Samsung Tab 7.7: Which is better?

In recent months, Samsung has been churning a plethora of mobile devices to suit almost every segment of the market.  The most recent one are the likes of Samsung Galaxy SII, Samsung Tabs 10.1 and 8.9 and now, the 7 inch series known as the 7 Plus. 


We all would agree that the Tab 10.1 and 8.9 were fantastic tabs in its class but would the 7 Plus be a greater unit based on its form factor which is in between the Galaxy Note and Tab 8.9?  Lets find out here.

Lets first look at its hardware.  Basically, the 7 plus tab comes in two main colours; the black and the white version.  The set back of this compared to the 10.1 is that the battery cover does not come off and you'll be stuck with an in-built battery.  Thus, not allowing you to replace the battery should it wear off.  Nevertheless, both white and black version spot a solid plastic cover that is both robust and well built.  The white is a glossy surface while the black is matted. The black has the same faux-brushed metal backing that Samsung calls Metallic Gray and still being plastic. Nevertheless, it looks much cooler and more classy and far more pleasing to the touch compared to what they put on the 10.1.  There is a hole on the back cover to fit the 3.0 megapixel camera and flash which looked similar to the ones we find in 8.9 and 10.1.


The Samsung 7 pus has a screen size of 7 inch which sits in between the Samsung Tab 8.9 and the Samsung Note that has a 5.3inch screen.  It is extremely portable without compromising on the tablet factor but also works good as an oversized mobile phone (that is if you don't mind putting it by your ear while answering a call, but I don't recommend doing this).


This is a device to be used in portrait style as Samsung has put it's logo on the shorter side as opposed to the longer side.  


Just recently, Samsung launched another the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7.  It has a bigger screen, better processor and the crystal clear AMOLED screen.  WIth 0.7 inch of extra screen real estate, is it better to grab the smaller 7 plus or the beefier 7.7 brother.  


Lets start the comparison between both tabs with the 7.0 plus.  The 7.0 plus spots a 7-inch display with 600 x 1024 resolution pixels. Unlike the AMOLED display in other Samsung tablets, the 7.0 plus is equipped with a PLS LCD display.  As for the processor, the 7 plus is packed with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. Similar to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, it is using the latest Android version 3.2 (Honeycomb) OS with Samsung TouchWiz UX user interface. Connectivity-wise, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is a quad-band tablet that supports normal telephony, HSDPA 21Mbps, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, WiFi direct, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS. The tablet is also bundled with a 3-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 2-megapixel front facing camera, 4000 mAh battery and microSD card slot that accepts cards up to 32GB. It comes with either 16GB or 32GB internal storage. 

On the other hand, the 7.7 has a 7.7-inch Super AMOLED plus display with WXGA resolution of 1280 x 800, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone. It retains the trim and sleep design by measuring at 196.7 x 133 x 7.89mm and weighs 335g, 10g lighter than the 7.0 plus.  The 7.7-inch tablet has a more powerful processor running at 1.4GHz dual-core processor, similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note. However, the tablet runs on an Android version 3.2 (Honeycomb) with Samsung TouchWiz UX skinning. Both 7.0 plus and 7.7 have the same back and front facing camera specs, 3 megapixel at the back and 2 megapixel at the front. Connectivity-wise, it supports LTE and HSPA+, WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS. It is packed with a 5100mAh battery. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 comes with 16/32/ 64GB internal storage. It supports microSD card up to 32GB.

Verdict: 

Those of you who are looking for a tablet that is easy to carry around in your pocket or handbag, the 7.7 tab is a must buy.  However, those who have jumped and bought the 7.0 plus 2 months back, should just continue using it as it's not a worthwhile upgrade for the time being, looking at the fact that most of the hardware is quite similar, that is if you're not a resolution freak.  As for the extra .2 Ghz in the processor, it doesn't make much of a difference.

       

Gadget Crazy!

Gadgets, gadgets and more gadgets!  How could anyone ever get bored with the plethora of gadgets being churned out by giants like Samsung, Apple, Motorala and Acer, just to name a few.  Keep ourselves up to date with these gadgets seem like an endless and infinite journey, that only seems to stay ahead of us by each step we take to learn about them. 

In this blog, I would like to pursue the pursuit of following gadgets as closely as I can as it's my ultimate passion to get to understand them.  Feel free to give me your feedback and ideas on everything that you read here to better inform others before they invest on the next cool device.