Physical Features
Just like the second- and third-generation iPads, this
tablet has a 9.7-inch screen surrounded by a black (or white) bezel, with a
curved metal back, and a single Home button. Apple's magnetic
Smart Cover,
which was released with the
iPad 2, clips
on just fine. The tablet still has a sealed-in battery, and no ports other than
a standard headphone jack. There's a 1.2-megapixel camera right above the
display on the middle of the top bezel, and a 5-megapixel camera in its
traditional location on the back upper left corner.
On the bottom is Apple's new, compact
Lightning
connector, which isn't compatible with earlier accessories, but Lightning
accessories are starting to appear, and I'm confident the ecosystem will
develop quickly with more than 8 million Lightning-compatible phones, PMPs, and
tablets already in people's hands.
At 7.3 by 9.5 by 0.37 inches (HWD) and 23 ounces, the new
iPad is the same size and weight as the third-generation model. It's a little
heavier than the 21-ounce
Samsung Galaxy Note
10.1, and the Google Nexus 10 (21.2 ounces), but I didn't really notice
during testing.
The 2,048-by-1,536-pixel Retina display is sharp, clear, and
bright. At 263 pixels per inch, it beats every other tablet on the market right
now except Google's Nexus 10, which offers a 300ppi, 2,560-by-1,600 10-inch
screen. But both Web browsing and gaming look better on the iPad's screen
because of superior software choices. In the browser, Apple picked
better-looking, better-kerned fonts, and cross-platform games showed generally
superior graphics and coding on the iPad.
The Retina display takes its toll on battery life just as it
did on the third-gen iPad. I got 5 hours, 36 minutes of video playback at full
brightness, almost the same figure as the previous model. (That's still longer
than the Nexus 10, which clocked in at just over 5 hours on the same test.)
I'll retest at half brightness as well; with the third-gen iPad, halving the
brightness bumped video playback time up to 11 hours. And the big battery still
takes a long time to charge: Six hours on our first try, even with the new,
more powerful 12-watt charger.
Apps and Performance
The new iPad, like the old iPad, runs Apple's iOS 6. See our
full review for
a look at the ins and outs of the iPad's operating system. We've also reviewed
and profiled
hundreds of iPad apps if you want to get an idea of
the richness of the software for this device.
In the eight months since the third-generation iPad was
released, most of the apps I have been using for testing have been upgraded to
Retina versions. The OS smoothes and improves standard elements within many
non-Retina-enhanced apps, too, including text and embedded maps.
Speaking of those maps, Apple's troubles with mapping don't
affect this iPad as much as other iOS devices because the Wi-Fi-only model lacks
GPS. Still, though, if it can find Wi-Fi the tablet can find its location, and
you can download a third-party mapping app if you like; here are
10 solid Apple Maps
alternatives.
The latest iPad packs an Apple A6X processor which Geekbench
reports to be running at 1.4GHz (Apple won't confirm or deny). The
custom-designed A6, as seen in the
iPhone 5, was
already one of the fastest CPUs available; the A6X enhances the A6 with even
better graphics.
The results are stunning. The fourth-gen iPad outmatched all
other Apple products on the Geekbench and GLBenchmark benchmarks, scoring 1,768
on Geekbench to the iPad 3's 749. Similarly, the heavy game "Need for
Speed: Most Wanted" launched in 18 seconds on the new iPad as compared to
37 seconds on the iPad 3. Yes, it's more than twice as fast. With the iPad 3, I
found apps that stressed the older A5 processor. That just isn't the case any
more.
Apple's efficient software comes into play when comparing
against the Google Nexus 10 too. While the Nexus 10 notched a faster Geekbench
score at 2,480, the iPad creamed it on all of our actual Web-browsing tests,
Sunspider, Browsermark, and GUIMark, as well as in the speed of loading pages.
I saw delays and stutters in the Nexus 10's interface that I never saw on the
iPad. Updating a large number of apps went more slowly on the Nexus than on the
iPad. And under heavy strain, the iPad got a bit warm, but the Nexus 10 became
even hotter.
Part of this is thanks to the iPad's excellent Wi-Fi
performance; on PCMag's 5GHz 802.11n network, I got 37Mbps down on the iPad and
23Mbps down on the Nexus 10. Both speeds are fast, but it's the iPad's processor
and software that seem to be making the difference here.
Gaming performance is significantly better on the new iPad,
too. Intense games like Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Asphalt 7 run at a
smooth 60 frames per second on the new iPad and render landscapes in advance of
viewing; the Nexus 10 had frame-rate trouble in both games and would render
buildings as I came up to them, which was distracting. Scores on the
GLBenchmark graphics benchmark tell the tale. On GLBenchmark's "Egypt HD
On-Screen," which renders a complex game-like scene, the iPad 3 scored 22
frames per second, the Nexus 10 hit 27, and the iPad 4 marked 42. That's a
noticeable difference.
The new iPad upgrades both cameras. The 1.2-megapixel front
camera records 720p video; the rear camera takes 5-megapixel stills and 1080p
video. The cameras offer the same excellent performance as on the
Apple iPad mini.
The front camera takes sharp 1.2-megapixel shots, even in low light. In very
low light, images get quite noisy, but that's preferable to blurry. Its 720p HD
videos record at a noisy 24fps in very low light, and 30fps outdoors. The main
camera captures sharp, clear, and well-balanced 5-megapixel images and 1080p
video at 30 fps indoors and out. I think people look ridiculous taking photos
with the main camera of a 10-inch tablet, but many people do it.
The single speaker on the bottom of the iPad is tinny and of
medium volume like most tablet speakers, but the headphone amp is impressive; I
got rich, powerful sound through a pair of Monster earphones. The iPad also
works just fine with Bluetooth headphones and speakers.
The iPad has always been an excellent media player, and
there's no change here. The hi-resolution screen lets you watch 1080p HD videos
without downscaling, and they look spectacular. You can also output HD video to
a TV either through Apple's $49 HDMI adapter, or via Wi-Fi using
Apple TV's AirPlay
feature.
The combination of the new processor and faster Wi-Fi fix
the AirPlay problems I saw on the previous iPad, too. Using a 5GHz network, I
streamed a 1080p version of "The Hunger Games" purchased from iTunes
on an Apple TV, and watched a high-quality stream of "Arrested
Development" on Netflix with no skipping. High-quality racing games showed
good frame rates over AirPlay, but there was a bit of lag in the controls
because of Wi-Fi latency.
By Sascha Segan
http://www.buyetail.com
