New iPad: A polishing of the old
On Friday, the new iPad goes on sale. Be sure to ask for it by name: the iPad.
Because if you ask for the iPad 3, the Apple representatives will look at you funny. Last year's model was called the iPad 2, but this third-generation model is just called the iPad. (Why not continue the numbering pattern? “That would have been too predictable,” says Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president for marketing.)
Really, the new iPad should have been called the iPad 2S. In the past, Apple added the letter S to iPhone models that weren't exactly new but had been tastefully enhanced (iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4S). That's exactly what's going on with the new iPad. Its technical improvements keep it at the forefront of desirability – just ahead of the snapping jaws of its Android competition – but don't take it in any new directions.
The biggest new feature is what Apple calls the Retina display: like the one on the iPhone 4S, it's a very, very sharp screen. It's f..