Tech Talk: Does the new iPad live up to the hype

APPLE’S third-generation iPad hit the shelves yesterday, a mere 10 days after it was unveiled with the sort of ballyhoo more usually associated with a Hollywood movie, or the circus coming to town. Other companies can only look on and marvel at Apple’s marketing juggernaut. Could you imagine the same frenzy surrounding the launch of a breakfast cereal, or a new gearstick on the Ford Fiesta? Of course not.

Yet the enhancements to the iPad are no more significant, in the great scheme of things, than either of those.

So what’s different? Apple’s chief innovation has been the introduction of a higher-resolution screen, which it calls a retina display. On paper, it’s no match for the previous model: 2048x1536 pixels compared to a mere 1024x768, and it does indeed sparkle before the eye. But in practice, the display was already excellent, and the benefits of those extra numbers for most users will be marginal – especially since the screen is the same physical size as before.

The new model also boasts a higher resolution camera, faster connectivity over mobile networks (though not yet in the UK) and a faster processor. It comes with software that lets you dictate into it, rather than type, and it can record video in even higher definition than the iPad 2. While those features are all nice to have, they’re not the game-changers Apple would like you to believe. The iPad’s shape and size means you’re unlikely to carry it around as a camera, and the highest-definition pictures are lost on a screen that small.

However, the Apple proposition remains the most compelling on the market – not because of the new model but because of its decision to keep selling the old one at a reduced price. The iPad 2 can now be yours for as little as £330, depending on configuration – £70 less than the new version. That makes it the best bargain in tablet computing and it delivers what could prove to be a knockout blow to rival products from the likes of Samsung. Non-Apple tablets are mostly built on Google’s Android operating system, which is great for phones but, in my experience, too fiddly.

We’ll have to wait and see how the rivals will react to Apple’s price cut, and especially whether Amazon’s upcoming Kindle Fire tablet will compete. Those makers could soon discover they’re selling lemons, not apples.