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Which Tablets Should You Get?
After months of rumors and speculation, the new Apple iPad is finally here. While the tablet market is growing more and more crowded by the day, for some people, Apple is the only tablet manufacturer worth considering. With that in mind, which is the better buy: Apple's brand-new iPad, or the newly discounted iPad 2? Which one should you get? First, let us see the comparison n between the two tablets. Or you can check out here What’s the change from ipad 2 to the new ipad to learn more difference between them.
Processor
The original iPad introduced the spoils of Apple's 2008 acquisition of semiconductor company P.A. Semi. The Apple A4 was an ARM Cortex-A8-based core clocked at 1GHz. The iPad 2 introduced the A5, a dual-core chip based on the new ARM Cortex-A9 design. The A5 is clocked at 1 GHz. We don't yet know what the new iPad's A5X is clocked at, but it remains a dual-core chip.
Graphics
What the A5X does have is better graphics capability - with Apple saying the new processor has quad-core graphics. Like the iPhone 4, the iPad and iPad 2 both had an Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX-based graphics chip and we expect the new iPad is the same.
Apple reckons the new graphics are "twice as fast" as Nvidia's Tegra 3, and offers four time the graphics performance of Nvidia's chip. We're not sure Nvidia will let Apple get away with that one - and we're not even sure it can be true - Tegra 3's performance is stunning and the Tegra 3 GPU has 12 GeForce graphics cores.
Memory
Like the original iPad and iPad 2, the new iPad comes loaded with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of what is presumably still Toshiba-manufactured flash storage. iPad 2 packed 512MB of memory, but we don't yet have details on the new iPad, though we reckon it has to be 1GB.
Display
The screen is where the big change has happened. The iPad 2 inherited the 1024 x 768 LED-backlit display from the original iPad. The new iPad ups this significantly, with a 2048 x 1536 resolution display that has 264 pixels per inch - the pixels themselves are indistinguishable, just as on the iPhone 4 and 4S. Both are 9.7-inch displays and have a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating.
Communications
The new iPad ups the ante on the iPad 2 by introducing 4G LTE connectivity alongside the Wi-Fi capability.
As you'd expect, both have Assisted GPS and digital compass alongside the accelerometer found in all iOS devices and the three-axis gyroscope.
The new iPad also has separate US models for both the AT&T and Verizon networks, while there's also 21Mbps HSPA+, DC-HSDPA offering 42Mbps. LTE clocks in at 73Mbps. You can also use the new iPad as a Personal Hotspot via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB.
You also get Bluetooth 4.0 on the new iPad instead of Bluetooth 2.1.
Processor
The original iPad introduced the spoils of Apple's 2008 acquisition of semiconductor company P.A. Semi. The Apple A4 was an ARM Cortex-A8-based core clocked at 1GHz. The iPad 2 introduced the A5, a dual-core chip based on the new ARM Cortex-A9 design. The A5 is clocked at 1 GHz. We don't yet know what the new iPad's A5X is clocked at, but it remains a dual-core chip.
Graphics
What the A5X does have is better graphics capability - with Apple saying the new processor has quad-core graphics. Like the iPhone 4, the iPad and iPad 2 both had an Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX-based graphics chip and we expect the new iPad is the same.
Apple reckons the new graphics are "twice as fast" as Nvidia's Tegra 3, and offers four time the graphics performance of Nvidia's chip. We're not sure Nvidia will let Apple get away with that one - and we're not even sure it can be true - Tegra 3's performance is stunning and the Tegra 3 GPU has 12 GeForce graphics cores.
Memory
Like the original iPad and iPad 2, the new iPad comes loaded with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of what is presumably still Toshiba-manufactured flash storage. iPad 2 packed 512MB of memory, but we don't yet have details on the new iPad, though we reckon it has to be 1GB.
Display
The screen is where the big change has happened. The iPad 2 inherited the 1024 x 768 LED-backlit display from the original iPad. The new iPad ups this significantly, with a 2048 x 1536 resolution display that has 264 pixels per inch - the pixels themselves are indistinguishable, just as on the iPhone 4 and 4S. Both are 9.7-inch displays and have a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating.
Communications
The new iPad ups the ante on the iPad 2 by introducing 4G LTE connectivity alongside the Wi-Fi capability.
As you'd expect, both have Assisted GPS and digital compass alongside the accelerometer found in all iOS devices and the three-axis gyroscope.
The new iPad also has separate US models for both the AT&T and Verizon networks, while there's also 21Mbps HSPA+, DC-HSDPA offering 42Mbps. LTE clocks in at 73Mbps. You can also use the new iPad as a Personal Hotspot via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB.
You also get Bluetooth 4.0 on the new iPad instead of Bluetooth 2.1.
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