The new iPad 3 picks up the iOS story where the iPad 2 left off - with an incremental upgrade to iOS 5.1 the main talking point.
However,
before we go through what's new, we'll take a quick tour across the
operating system to show just how simple it is to operate a new iPad.
The
home screen is laid out in a very similar way to the iPhone, except
we're seeing some much larger icons for the apps you've downloaded.
TechRadar rating
4.5/5
For
Superb screen
Fast processor
Slick gaming
Simple interface
Against
Can overheat
Apps take up too much space
No expandable storage
Thicker than iPad 2
New iPad 3 review: Interface
Sharper screen, faster innards - but is it worth the update?
The new iPad 3 picks up the iOS story where the iPad 2 left off - with an incremental upgrade to iOS 5.1 the main talking point.
However,
before we go through what's new, we'll take a quick tour across the
operating system to show just how simple it is to operate a new iPad.
The
home screen is laid out in a very similar way to the iPhone, except
we're seeing some much larger icons for the apps you've downloaded.
You
can fill as many home screens as you like with apps as you download
more from the App Store, and swiping from screen to screen on the iPad 3
is silky smooth even with loads of programs downloaded.
There's
also the dock at the bottom of the display which can hold up to six
regularly-used apps that are present on all home screens, which is more
than the four on offer with the iPhone thanks to the extra screen
real estate.
Neat
freaks need not despair either: it's easy to create folders of the
apps you want to lump together simply by dragging an icon and plopping
it on top of another – the iPad will create a name for the group based
on the content, but it's easy to rename these.
iOS 5.1 doesn't
offer too much in the way of new features for the users interface, but
a trick that Apple has learned from Google's Android is the
notifications bar, which can be accessed simply by swiping down from
the top of the screen.
This
contains information on everything from unread mail messages to
notifications of new moves in games you're playing with friends. It's a
simple system and one that's prevalent throughout the system, even in
most apps, meaning you can easily jump in and out of applications
where necessary.
Speaking of which, it's worth taking a look at
the multi-tasking gestures on offer, as they're pretty sensational.
Using a full set of fingers on the screen allows three functions:
pinching in will take you to the home screen, flicking up will enable
the multi-tasking window and swiping left will let you bounce between
open apps
Messaging
The
iPad 3 is a device that's really about consuming media than creating
it (at least when it comes to prose) and as such, you wouldn't label
it a message-centric device.
However, that doesn't mean it's not
one of the best out there, as when it comes to the likes of emailing
it's simply brilliant if you can get past the slightly odd keyboard. We'll
start with Apple's keyboard on the iPad, as it's consistent
throughout the OS. It's a great option in our eyes if you're one of
those that's invested in a SmartCover to help bring some elevation to
the screen, as you can use it as a desktop keyboard pretty easily -
although you'll need to get over the lack of feedback under the finger
and the dull 'thunk' as your digits bash the screen.
However,
it's not as good for holding the new iPad 3 and trying to get a
missive out to the world; cradling it in landscape mode means you can't
hit the middle keys as easily, and when in portrait you've got the
issue of the device being quite top-heavy so it's again an
uncomfortable experience.
You can open up a split keyboard to
make it a little easier to type in the hands, but be warned this is at
the expense of accuracy.
So in summary: accuracy of keys good, holding iPad to type bad.
Email
The
email client on the iPad 3 is pretty goshdarn good in our opinion -
the iOS email app is second only to Windows Phone in our opinion, and
that's not got a tablet category, so Apple's way out in front here.
From
the range of mail portals you can use (many) to the ease of getting
notified of an email (unobtrusive - a little pop down from the top and
it will sit in your notifications bar), it's a simple way of using the
iPad as a decent background emailing device. The
email interface itself is also good - a unified inbox allows you to
combine both work and personal life, but in truth many will prefer to
bounce between to two. A list pane can be called up whenever you like,
meaning it's easy to read an email and then jump back into the inbox
with a flick of the finger.
It's elements like this that make the
iPad 3 a different beast to the iPhone, and Apple has recognised
this. Text is also much more legible on the Retina Display - we're not
saying it was terrible before, but we definitely felt it was a more
comfortable reading experience.
The other key feature the iPad 3
has is the ability to wander through mail folders - many people are
dealing with email overload these days by sticking them in separate
folders for later, and it's key to be able to get access to these
without having to mess about with thousands of taps.
Searching
for email is similarly easy - you pull down from the top of the
screen to get access to the search bar, and from there you can easily
ask for any word in an email that might have been put somewhere - be
it the sender's name, subject or general message text - plus the
server searches are very speedy as well.
If you've got an iPhone
or iPad already, the above will be of no surprise to you - the new
iPad 3 doesn't really take this story on any further, except to make
text more legible - but it's worth mentioning as it will be a key
feature to many prospective buyers.
Dictation
Dictation
is also included in the place of Siri on the new iPad, and while there
are some editors out there that think this is going to be the end of
the Dictaphone when it comes to transcription: think again.
We've
no idea why Siri isn't included on the new iPad, but the dictation
service is only 90% accurate in our tests, which just isn't enough to
consider switching from the normal keypad when writing an email.
In
truth, the accuracy is better on a Samsung Galaxy S2 when it comes to
voice recognition – not by much, but for this service to work it
really needs to be bullet proof. And after the song and dance Apple
has made over Siri, why is it not included in this more powerful
machine?
Twitter
It's not really
messaging as such, but it's worth mentioning Apple's deep integration
with Twitter. Well, deep as in you can Tweet a photo directly from the
Gallery app, as there's no on board client or anything to mess around
with, nor can you assign Twitter names to contacts. However,
when you take a picture there's an option to post it straight to
Twitter providing you've linked up the account in Settings – plus you
get a pleasant little chirping sound when it sends. Nice.
.
The third-generation iPad
.The
iPad has been a remarkable success story. Apple sold 15 million of the
original model in the first nine months of the product’s existence, a
number that blew away even the most optimistic prognostications. With
last year’s introduction of the iPad 2, things kept accelerating. In a
little less than two years, Apple has sold roughly 60 million iPads,
dominating the market it created.
Maintaining Apple’s lead in
tablet devices is the job of the third-generation iPad, a product that
doesn’t mess with success. Like the iPad 2 before it, this new iPad is
not a re-thinking of the original concept. Instead, Apple has chosen to
focus on a few areas of improvement while keeping the overall package
the same. Though it’s an approach that can frustrate people who are
disappointed by anything that’s not a quantum leap, Apple executes it to
perfection and reaps the rewards.
In my review of the iPad 2, I
suggested a rule of Apple product evolution I called “Jobs’s Law”—that
the latest version of any Apple product is likely to be thinner and
lighter than its predecessor. The third-generation iPad breaks that law.
It’s actually slightly thicker and slightly heavier than the iPad 2,
and in many cases users won’t perceive it to be faster.
But the
changes Apple has wrought with this iPad aren’t about making it thinner
or lighter or faster, but about making it better. And on nearly every
front, the third-generation iPad is markedly better than its
predecessor.
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