Reports are indicating that the next generation iPad, likely to be called the iPad 3, will be announced early in March and will be launched about a week after that to follow on from the mid-March release date of the iPad 2 last year.
With just a week expected between the announcement and launch a number of developers are beginning to prepare Retina resolution graphics just in case the new model does have a Retina display. Remember that when the iPhone 4 launched there were a few weeks in which developers could recreate graphics to match the higher resolution screen. This thought also follows along with an email sent out by this week to Apple developers which requested that all images for the iTunes store were sent in a Retina resolution which hints that the 3GS is coming to the end of its life soon. Also, it could be a hint that we will soon see the same email about submitting higher res iPad screenshots to the store.
Rumours about what the iPad 3 will do include a quad-core processor although this was ruled out recently with a commenter saying that he thinks Apple will make it a lot faster, but it wont necessarily be a quad-core chip that does it. Apple will also focus on battery life of the device we expect so that it can at least retain the 10 hours of previous generation devices.
The display will probably be another big upgrade on the iPad 3 and will likely be Retina which means a resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 at the same 9.7 inches.
Other smaller upgrades will probably include a HD camera on the front for HD FaceTime calls. Bluetooth will probably be updated to version 4 to cut down on power usage a little. We are unsure at the moment if Apple will redesign the iPad 3 or if they will keep it the same as the iPad 2. Some reports hinted that it will be slightly thicker although we suspect it will stay the same as the iPad 2, if not be ever so slightly thinner. Some pictures leaked around the web yesterday showing some other changes to the casing, but these tended to be camera location and a few other smaller parts which might be modified to work around fitting a new screen in the device and perhaps making more use of the space for batteries.
Overall it looks like the iPad 3 will be something well worth looking out for when it launches and a welcomed update. We might also get a glimpse of iOS 6 ready for launch late this year when the iPhone 5 arrives.
A thought I recently had was about iOS 5.1. It has taken quite a while to be launched and has been on Beta 3 for a while now. I suspect that the iOS 5.1 that developers have wont be too close to the final version perhaps as Siri could be included for the iPad 2 and iPad 3. Also, I expect to see a few other unannounced enhancements that relate to the iPad 3 launch which also might be added to the iPad 2 thanks to the A5 chip that’s inside the iPad 2. It should be capable of what the 4S can do. I also expect to see iOS 5.1 expand Siri further adding a lot more functions. Siri has simply got boring to use now as it’s too restrictive. Opening it up and adding more features will keep me interested, but for now I generally don’t use it as I want it to read emails and not just text messages. I also want directions and business searches here in the UK.
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