Provided you’ve settled on color and storage capacity, In the U.S., you’ve only got two choices if you’re hunting for an LTE-enabled new iPad. In Canada, things are a bit more complicated. During Apple’s event yesterday, Rogers, Bell, and TELUS, the big three service providers up here in Canada, featured prominently. Two LTE models would be launched to make sure every able carrier would be able to offer LTE, though there’s lots of 3G compatibility for elsewhere, too. The new iPad lands in Canada on March 16, and no doubt many are wondering which carrier they should go with for data service. We’ve chewed through the plans and coverage, and have a fairly definitive answer.

There are two caveats, mind you. For one, we don’t have a lot of data on speed comparisons. You’ll want to ask around to see who’s offering better speeds in your area. Secondly, we’re assuming that The Big Three won’t be switching up their iPad plans before launch day, which is entirely possible. The new iPad is big enough that there could be promotions across the board, so make sure to double-check before committing.

LTE availability

In Canada, those LTE centres are still fairly limited, which actually makes your pick of carriers for the new iPad a lot easier. Bell and TELUS share their LTE network, so coverage will be fairly interchangable between them. They’ve got LTE in Toronto and the surrounding area, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Yellowknife, Quebec City, and smaller regions like Belleville, Cambridge, Waterloo, Guelph, Hamilton, Dartmouth, and London. By comparison, Rogers only covers  Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa. Rogers did recently expand to St. John’s, Newfoundland, and they’re expecting to cover Halifax in the next couple of months, but on the whole, Bell and TELUS have a distinct edge on coverage. It’s also worth noting that Bell and TELUS are supporting dual-cell HSPA+, which means you might still be able to get up to 42 Mbps outside of LTE areas. What about pricing?

Pricing plans

This is where things diverage a little bit. Bell’s flex plan starts at $5/month for 10 MB, which gets bumped up to $15/month for 250 MB if you go over, which is in turn bumped to $35/month for 5 GB, and then charging $0.15/MB after that. TELUS has a similar structure, but has two additional tiers – $10 for 100 MB, and $20 for 500 MB. That’s way better, considering it’s a steep change from paying $15 and $35 on any given month. TELUS also has static plans available that aren’t on Bell. For $35/month, you can get 2 GB, and for $60/month, you can get 6 GB. Why would you get these instead of Flex plans? I have no idea. TELUS also lets you split your smartphone data bucket with your iPad for free if you’re already a customer, which is a pretty sweet deal, considering Bell charges $10/month for the privilege.

Rogers offers similar fixed and flex plans. For $15/month, you get 250 MB, and for $35/month, you get 5 GB, which is way better than TELUS’s stand-alone static tablet plans. The Flex plans for Rogers iPads are a little weird, since they’ve kindly bundled in all of the taxes in with the fees; I guess they’re worried about getting dinged by the CRTC for misleading prices like Bell did in June. For $6.93/month, you get 10 MB, which is bumped up to $16.93/month for up to 250 MB if you go over, $21.93/month for 500 MB after that, and $36.93 for 5 GB and $0.02/MB after that. So the flex pricing on Rogers is pretty much identical to TELUS, except for the different $10 tier has been bumped up to $25 for a bit more data. Rogers also offers shareable data add-ons for smartphones that are separate from their usual offerings (though no more expensive);  you get 1 GB across both devices for $30/month, 3 GB for $45/month, and $60/month for 6 GB. The sneaky part here is that it looks like you wouldn’t be able to access LTE if you opt for the bottom-tier plan, which is downright dirty. Bell and TELUS don’t mention anything about this, so I can only hope that they aren’t doing anything similar.

With all of that said, I would have to side with TELUS if I was buying one of the new iPads with LTE. They’ve got the broadest national coverage, the best spread in flex rates, and free sharing of data with smartphones. Obviously, if you’re in St. John’s, you’ll pretty much be forced to go with Rogers, but for everyone else in Canada, it should be a pretty clear decision.

Will you be able to jailbreak the new iPad and can you jailbreak the just-released iOS 5.1 software? If you’re a jailbreaker like me, that’s probably the first question you asked yourself following Apple’s big even yesterday. I know it’s the question a lot of you are asking us.

Here’s the deal.

The new iPad

As of now, we really don’t know much other than there probably won’t be a jailbreak ready for release. Considering the new iPad comes with an upgraded A5X processor, we can safely assume any existing tool would need to be heavily updated to support it. Given how long it took to jailbreak the iPhone 4S and iPad 2′s A5 processor we could be in for quite a wait. There’s just no way to tell until jailbreak developers get their hands on the new iPad and get to work.

Bottom line, don’t by the new iPad expecting to jailbreak it day one.

iOS 5.1 for iPhone 4S and iPad 2

If you have an iPhone 4S or iPad 2 (which both use the Apple A5 chipset) and want to keep your jailbreak, I highly recommend staying away from iOS 5.1. As soon as Apple stops signing iOS 5.0.1, you will not be able to downgrade even if you have your SHSH blobs saved.

The only exception to this is if you have an iPad 2 that has blobs saved for some version of iOS 4. You will be able to downgrade to those. iPhone 4S users will not be able to downgrade.

If you want to stay jailbroken, stay away from iOS 5 for now.

iOS 5.1 for iPhone 4 and original iPad

The Dev-Team has released a tethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1 via redsn0w 0.9.10b6 that works with the iPhone 4 and original iPad. If you are dying to upgrade to iOS 5.1 and you’re okay with being tethered, you can go right ahead.

I’d highly recommend staying untethered on iOS 5.0.1 until an untethered version for iOS 5.1 is released, however. For those not familiar with what tethering means, you’ll basically have to connect to your computer any time you want or need to reboot your iPhone or original iPad. That means any time your devices turns off or runs out of power, you have to go back to redsn0w and perform what is called a tethered boot.

The up side is that you will be able to downgrade back to iOS 5.0.1 or earlier iOS versions, unlike iPhone 4S and iPad 2 users, as long as you have your blobs saved.

Again, unless you really need iOS 5.1 now and don’t mind a tether, stay away.

iOS 5 for iPhone 3GS

If you’ve got an older boot rom, you can update to iOS 5.1 and enjoy an untethered jailbreak. Newer boot rom devices will be tethered just like the iPhone 4 and original iPad.

Unlockers

If you rely on using a program like ultrasn0w for a software unlock, I’d suggest holding off. If you really fancy having iOS 5.1, you can do so but you’ll need to create a custom IPSW in order to upgrade so your baseband will remain in tact. You can do this with the newly released version of redsn0w available in our downloads section via the link below.

Conclusion

If you really love your jailbreak and all the apps, hacks, and utilities stick with iOS 5.0.1 or earlier an iPad 2 or earlier.

While tethered jailbreaks are tolerable, I really don’t think iOS 5.1 added enough features that would warrant moving to a tethered jailbreak or losing your jailbreak altogether. Unless you are dying to check out new software like iPhoto for iOS, most users will be perfectly fine on iOS 5.0.1 untethered for now. And if you really want a new iPad, get it and enjoy it stock for now.

Additional resources:

• iOS 5.1 tethered jailbreak via redsn0w
• iMore downloads section
• The new iPad – everything you need to know
• Jailbreak help and discussion forums

iPhoto is a fantastic photo editing tool, in some ways better than it is on the Mac, but suffers from an inexplicable lack of useful sync.

Apple has brought iPhoto to iOS. Announced alongside the new iPad, but available as a universal app for the iPhone as well, iPhoto completes Apple’s mobile iLife suite and once again challenges the misconception that multitouch is better geared for content consumption than creation. iPhoto took the longest to arrive on iOS, despite being the most popular of the iLife apps. So… was it worth the wait?

Photo Editing

I’m am very impressed with the editing power of iPhoto. It’s better then iPhoto for the Mac, that’s for sure. It’s jam packed with options, so it’s nice that Apple included an info button that pops up a bunch of helpful notes about what each button does and what each filter or brush is named. (Not as nice as if they’d made the user interface more intuitive, but nicer than having to poke around and get frustrated.) If you tap the arrow on one of these tabs, a help screen will pop up with more info on the specific feature.

Color adjustments

The basic editing tools include cropping, auto enhance, and exposure. Included in the color adjustments tab is options to adjust saturation, white balance, and skin tones as well as smarter adjustments for blue skies and greenery. Be careful with these two, though. If you don’t have greenery or blue skies in your photo, it produces horrific results.

This is the perfect time to mention that iPhoto does not support layers or masking, so you cannot exclude a portion of your photo from an effect or adjustment taking place. There is an option to preserve skin tones when making color adjustments, but it’s mediocre at best.

To make color adjustments, you can move sliders provided at the bottom of the editing screen, or you can just drag your finger directly on the parts of the photo that correspond wit the color type. For example, holding your finger on the sky will pop up the Blue Skies tool and sliding your finger left or right will adjust the slider. Doing the same thing anywhere on your photo, but vertically, will adjust the saturation.

You can also adjust white balance with the typical presets that come with most apps and cameras: sun, cloudy, flash, shade, incandescent, and fluorescent. There is also a Face Balance tool that lets you choose a person’s face and iPhoto will automatically choose a good white balance for the skin tone. Lastly, you can make select a white point on your photo with the custom white balance tool.

Brushes

The best editing feature of iPhoto is the brushes. There are 8 of them: Repair, Red Eye, Saturate, Desaturate, Lighten, Darken, Sharpen, and Soften. The Repair brush will removes things like blemishes, dust marks, and scratches. The other Brushes are self explanatory.

To use a brush, you simply use your finger to “paint” the areas of your photo you the affect applied to. My biggest complaint is that iPhoto doesn’t use a circle to show where you’re touching — the only visual cue is to see the results of the brush. But if you’re making subtle changes, it’s very hard to notice. However, the alternative that’s available is the option to show your strokes. Turning this on displays all your strokes in red. When your done applying the brush, just turn the strokes off to see the results.

My other gripe with brushes is that you cannot adjust the brush size – well, not directly anyway. The brush size is always the size of your fingertip, so to adjust it, you need to zoom in and out of the photo. This is just terrible. It’s hard to be precise.

Now, I started out by saying that the brushes are the best editing feature of iPhoto, but have done nothing but complain about it. That’s because, despite these two flaws, brushes are actually very powerful tools. The opacity of the brushes are fairly light, so you have control over how drastic you want the change to be — just paint multiple strokes over one spot to create a thicker layer, so to speak. Showing your strokes is very helpful in this regard.

Effects

iPhoto has a set of filters that Apple calls Effects. The categories are Artistic, Vintage, Aura, Black & White, Duotone, and Warm & Cool. Honestly, there isn’t really anything special about them in comparison to other apps, they’re filters that change the look of your photos. End of story. Well, I guess the fact that you can adjust the vignetting intensity makes it a little bit more interesting?

Example of final edit

Here’s the before and after comparison of a photo that I edited fairly quickly. I think it’s a great example of a nice edit job that isn’t overdone. I cropped and rotated, used the Face Balance tool, increased the Greenery slider, applied the repair, sharpen, and soften brushes, and added the Saturated Film filter from the Vintage category.

You can see a larger version here.

Sharing , Beaming, and syncing (or lack thereof)

You can share you photo from iPhoto directly to your Camera Roll, iTunes, email, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, and an AirPrint compatible printer. There is also a new feature called Beam that lets you share photos from one device running iPhoto to another device on the same Wifi network also running iPhoto. It’s really easy to use and a great way to share photos between devices. Unfortunately, it’s also the easiest way to share photos between even your own devices.

I was really hoping that with the introduction of iPhoto on the iPhone and iPad that my iPhoto libraries would stay in sync between iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but this is not the case. It’s not even the case within iOS. Each devices has their own library. Having photos and the non-destructive edits that go with them seamlessly sync between all devices would have been the single most useful feature a platform owner like Apple could implement. I expected more from the maker’s of iCloud. Maybe in a future update.

Journals

iPhoto has this fun new way to display your photos called Journals. It’s basically a collage of your photos with the ability of adding captions, blocks of text, notes, map, weather widgets to your collage. You can resize your photos and drag and drop them to place them exactly how you wish. Unfortunately, you cannot adjust the size of the widgets, so even if your sticky note only has one small phrase, it must still take up just as much space as four small photos.

Journals are pretty fun to play with and can be shared online through iCloud. This will give your Journal its own web address that can be shared with whoever you want. All your photos are also downloadable from your online journal – a “feature” that cannot be disabled.

I was very disappointed to learn that this was the only real way to share a Journal. I was really hoping for an export that would allow me to then share my Journal to my personal blog.

You can see an example of a journal that I shared through iCloud here.

The good

• Very powerful editing tools
• Journals are pretty cool
• Easy to use
• Integrated user manual is awesome
• Beam is a great and easy way to share to other iOS devices

The bad

• iPhoto libraries don’t sync
• Brushes don’t have visual indication of brush size
• Must zoom in and out of photo to adjust brush size, which isn’t very precise
• No support for layers
• Can’t adjust size of inserted widgets in a Journal
• Can only share Journals online through iCloud

The conclusion

iPhoto is a fantastic addition to the iLife family on iOS with very powerful editing tools. Sure, there are some things that could be changed to make it better, but at just $4.99, it’s quite a steal. Minus the creation of books, cards, and calendars, it’s better than iPhoto on the Mac.

$4.99 – Download Now

The social networking app Path recieved a significant update, today, that allows users to journal their Nike+ runs, identify music that’s playing around them, and when taking a photo, they can adjust the focus and exposure separately.

To journal your runs, you must connect Path to your Nike+ account directly within the Nike+ GPS app. When you start your run, Path will post on your behalf, letting your friends know so that they can cheer you on. Once you’ve completed your run, Path will display a map that shows where friends cheered you on and where you hit your best pace.

In addition to the welcomed upgrade to the camera that lets you choose separate focus and exposure points, Path has also debuted a new filter called Pow! that created a comic book effect. The Pro, Ansel, Instant, Diana, and Lomo lenses have also been greatly improved.

Music Match is an unexpected addition to the Path. It’s like Shazam — just let your iPhone listen to the music that’s playing around you and it will identify the song for you.

There’s a lot of significant feature additions in this update to Path that make the app more desirable. I’m still not entirely sold on the service, however. It does have a lot of potential, so I look forward to the continued development and growth of Path. Personally, I’m gonna give it another shot.

Free – Download Now

A tethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1 is now currently available for the original iPad and the iPhone 4, and earlier model iPhones. (If you have an iPhone 4S or iPad 2, don’t attempt to update to iOS 5.1 and jailbreak, it won’t work.)

As always, unlockers that rely on ultrasn0w are going to want to stay away unless you use a custom IPSW to install iOS 5.1 in order to preserve your baseband.

If you are an iPhone 3GS user with an old boot room, congratulations. You can have an untethered jailbreak now on iOS 5.1. All other devices will be tethered.

I typically recommend staying away from tethered jailbreaks unless you absolutely have to. Given the fact that iOS 5.1 didn’t bring too many features to the table, I’d probably stay on iOS 5.0.1 until an untethered version is released and upgrading at that time.

And I can’t say this enough times: if you have an iPhone 4S or iPad 2, this does NOT apply to you.

You’ve been warned. If you’re still convinced you need your iOS 5.1 jailbreak now, you can pick up redsn0w 0.9.10b6 via our download links below. It’s available for both Mac and Windows users.

Source: iPhone Dev-Team

Additional resources:

• Download redsn0w 0.9.10b6
• iMore jailbreak help and discussion forums

Have you pre-ordered your new iPad yet? If not, you could be in for a bit of a wait. It seems that Apple have pushed back the shipping date in most counties. The Apple Store now displays ‘Delivers between the 16th and the 20th March’. In the UK, it’s even worse with ’2-3 weeks’.

People in the US, have a little while longer to go yet; however Apple are warning that the new iPad is in ‘limited supplies’, so they could be seeing a delay very soon.

Did you manage to get your order in? If so, when are you expecting delivery?

If you don’t have an iPad, is the new iPad worth making it your first? If you already have an original iPad or iPad 2, is the new iPad worth upgrading to? How about if you’re using a BlackBery, webOS, or Android tablet, or a Windows netbook? To buy, to upgrade, or to skip and wait for the next one (or something else) is the bottom line for all of us. Is the new iPad just an iterative update or a must have, and for whom?

Here’s what to consider.

Should you buy the new iPad as your first tablet?

Yes.

That’s not being facetious. If you’re in the market for a tablet, there are smaller options, cheaper options, and option that even do one or two very specific things better, but as a total package, no one else is giving away this much technology in this easy-to-use a package, at this good a price. Not even close.

• If price is an issue, consider the $399 iPad 2. You’ll miss out on some fantastic specs, but it’s ease of use and supporting ecosystem are second to only one.
• If price and size are an issue, consider a $299 BlackBerry PlayBook or Amazon Kindle Fire. You’ll miss out on the ecosystem but get a lot of bang for your buck.
• If you really need a certain feature the iPad lacks, like a more desktop-style interface, consider one of the many Android tablets or wait for Windows 8 slates. Less ease of use, smaller ecosystem, but typically more flexible and configurable.

But seriously, if you’re considering your first tablet, get the new iPad.

Should you upgrade from the original iPad?

If you’re currently using the original, 2010 iPad and have absolutely no problems with it — you’re not annoyed by Safari reloading pages when it runs out of memory, you’re not annoyed by the latest graphically-intensive games and video or photo editing apps crashing or just plain refusing to run, if you don’t need to ever take photos with it, then you’re fine. Keeping rocking the O.i. until it gives out.

If you’re original iPad is starting to feel a little long in the tooth, however, you may want to consider an upgrade.

There’s 4x the amount of RAM in the new iPad, which makes everything last longer and go smoother. The optional HSPA+ 42mbps and LTE 72mbps radio literally runs rings around the old GSM radio. It has a good rear facing camera as opposed to none at all. And that Retina display will be like taking your smudged up old glasses off and cleaning them for the first time in years.

You’ll also have access to all the latest, greatest, most cutting edge apps with nary a compatibility issue to frustrate or stymie you.

Unless you’re an incredibly low-maintenance user, the new iPad is a no-brainer update from the original.

Should you upgrade from the iPad 2?

If the iPad 2 is currently your weapon of choice, you have the biggest dilemma on your hands, and the hardest decision to make.

Physically the new iPad looks almost exactly the same as the iPad 2. If you’re an average user who simply has an iPad for some light reading, browsing, emailing, gaming, video watching, etc. and you enjoyed it enough on the iPad 2 yesterday, you’ll likely keep enjoying it the same on the iPad 2 tomorrow.

If you had any pain points, however, especially any big ones, it’s worthwhile to consider the new iPad.

• If you’re a hardcore gamer or productivity maven whose tolerance for lag is less than zero, the 2x RAM boost and quad-core graphics boost likely make it a done deal
• If you’re a photo and video enthusiast who really wants a real camera, that 5mp, F2.4, 1080p lens might tempt you to upgrade.
• If you’ve gotten used to dictation on the iPhone 4S and want it on your iPad, you’ll find it on the new iPad.
• If you live on mobile data and need the fastest 4G LTE speed possible, you’ll be screaming on the new iPad (at least in Canada or the U.S.)
• If you do nothing but read and wish the iPad screen looked as good as the iPhone 4S, you’ve got a Retina-equipped upgrade coming your way.

Most people will be fine sticking with the iPad 2 most of the time. If any one of the new features, or a combination of the new features, solve a significant problem you’ve been having, however, it’s a worthwhile upgrade.

Should you upgrade from webOS, Android, or BlackBerry?

If your current tablet of choice runs Android, webOS or is a BlackBerry PlayBook, here’s where it gets tricky.

• The iPad isn’t as customizable as Android unless you Jailbreak it (think root), and that’s not always possible at first when a new device comes out.
• The iPad won’t play Flash videos, only H.264 HTML5 videos. So if you absolutely have to have Flash, you’re out of luck.
• The iPad has a slick interface and excellent user experience, but in terms of multitasking and notifications, it’s still not as elegant as webOS on the TouchPad. (Then again, they aren’t making TouchPads any more.)
• The iPad only comes in one style and screen size. 9.7-inches slab. No minis, no maxis, no clamshells, nothing fancy.
• No Sprint support, no LTE support outside North America. (Though it does support HSPA+ 42mbps)

But the iPad has a lot going for it as well.

• The iPad has multiple layers to it, but the first layer is so incredibly easy to use that the most non-tech savvy of people, people who find computes too complex or intimidating, can pick it up and get going with it immediately. At the same time it’s highly appealing to expert and veteran users users who want to spend their time getting things done, not getting their tablets to do things.
• Apple was the first to put a usable web browser on a tablet and absent Adobe Flash, Safari is still the most powerful HTML5 browser in the business. Likewise the built in Mail app shows rich content with pictures. VPN, ActiveSync, and other enterprise-friendly features are also built right in.
• It’s become a cliché but there really is an app for almost everything on the iPad. While other platforms are struggling to field tablet-optimized apps, the iPad App Store is drowning in them. Pretty much every major app and currently all the best games are easily available in the App Store and are so functional people actually use them more than the great web browser these days.
• iTunes and now iCloud, which does a lot of what iTunes used to but without the cable, lets you easily sync your existing content and also gives you access not only to the App Store but iTunes music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, iTunes U (University) and overall more content in more parts of the world than any other service.
• Google services, Microsoft services, Dropbox, and other services are also well supported by Apple and/or apps.
• If you live near an Apple Store, and you have a problem with your iPad, there’s no passing the buck between retailer and manufacturer, there’s no sending your tablet away for lengthy repairs. You make a Genius Bar appointment, you show up, they fix your iPad or swap it for a new one (if you’re still under warranty or Apple Care). They’ll also help you set it up and teach you how to use it. If you’re new to tablets, this is the single best reason to go Apple.
• Apple also creates a ton of other products to supplement the iPad, including Mac computers, software for Mac and Windows, and together with their partners provide more cases, chargers, docks, car kits, and accessories of every kind. No other smartphone has the quantity or quality of extras, from fashionable to functional, that iPad has.

If you’ve only been using another platform because you were waiting for the 2012 iPad to make the jump… jump!

If there’s something your current platform does that you know for sure the iPad doesn’t do, then stick with your current platform, you’ll only frustrate yourself.

Should you upgrade from a netbook?

This is more difficult to answer and a lot will depend on your personal use case. Flippantly, I’d say “yes, in a heartbeat”. Netbooks have failed as a product category because aside from being small and cheap they were simply really bad computers.

For specific things like surfing the web (sans Flash), email, watching hi-def video, playing games, reading eBooks, etc., the new iPad simply smokes a netbook. Add a Bluetooth keyboard and you can even pound out significant amounts of content just as well as netbook.

About all you can’t do is run Windows or Office. If those two things are vital to you (and they are to a lot of users), you’ll be happier with a netbook.

If you don’t depend on Microsoft and apps that run on Microsoft, get the new iPad.

Any questions?

If you’ve already decided to get the new iPad, let us know which one you got and why. If you need more advice or want some other opinions, just ask!

• New iPad forum

During Apple’s new iPad event yesterday, I (among others) were waiting for the other shoe to drop: what are they going to name the new iPad? From the get-go, it was being only being referred to as “the new iPad“. It was easy to sit through the various demos hanging my hat on the idea that Apple was being coy and would close things off with some flashy video with a big reveal punctuated by a snappy one-liner. “iPad 3 – we just revolutionized magic. Again.” “iPad HD – your TV won’t know what hit it.” But one by one, we watched the new iPad apps come and go, until the event wrapped up with a colourful remix of Apple’s classic logo and no further mention of the name was made.

Huh. I guess they’re just calling it “the new iPad.”

Scouring through the updated content posted on Apple’s site, we have at best a mention to the “3rd.-generation iPad,” but nothing so official as to imagine another name on the box. Once the reality started setting in, the scenarios for confusion rushed in a flood: would we still be calling it “the new iPad” in eight months? Would we have to qualify the name on our own terms, outside the blessing of Apple’s marketing department, and if so, how consistent could that naming be? Will Apple drop “the new” from the website branding soon and leave us with just “iPad”? There are too many questions that are being raised just by a name; Apple has a reputation for being simple, but going this far is just obtuse.

I’m still having trouble understanding why Apple would even bother going this route. Sure, it streamlines things so consumers aren’t overloaded with options. In theory, a mainstream shopper could walk into an Apple store, hold out their hand, and say “I want an iPad” and there wouldn’t need to be any additional discussion because for all intents and purposes, there’s only one iPad. Unfortunately, it won’t work out that way because Apple will be selling the last generation for at least awhile. And the old generation is called “iPad 2“.

The one with the number 2 on it is older, cheaper, and not as good as the one without the number 2 on it. That’s more confusing than a Star Wars prequel.

After the iPad 2 is phased out, “the new iPad” will have a successor. If “the new iPad” is also kept around at a lower price, how then will Apple differentiate? How will customers tell them apart on the shelves? Unless Apple brings down the hammer and wipes out all of the old stock and replaces it with the newest models, nameless iPads are bound to cause a lot of confusion.

Sure, Apple has done this for years with Macs. The latest MacBook Air isn’t MacBook Air 4, it’s just MacBook Air. And Apple didn’t keep the backlight-free MacBook Air 3, or the old design MacBook Air 2 on the shelves at a reduced price along with it.

Apple hasn’t numbered iPods historically either. Then again, when Steve Jobs introduced the new iPod touch back in September 2010, he called it “the new iPod touch” but it wasn’t branded that way on the keynote slides behind him like “the new iPad” was for Tim Cook.

Beyond sheer logistics, there’s a nice continuity and narrative that sequential naming provides. The iPhone lineup has struck a nice rhythm with S-level iterative updates interspersing the big launches. You can put each and every iPhone on a timeline, and it makes sense. The iPad is now only three generations in and the ongoing story is getting muddled. In two years, having “the new iPad” in the middle of the timeline is going to look weird, especially if the next one returns to naming convention, even one as simple as “iPad 4″. Even OS X has had solid delineation between between updates, even though it stopped numerical changes in branding years ago.

Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing was quoted yesterday as saying Apple chose to go with “the new iPad” so as to not be predictable. That’s not a typical Apple answer, so it’s possible Schiller was being coy. Their marketing is usually as incredibly focused and on point as their products. “Not being something” is different and less powerful than “being something”.

Luckily, this naming mess is the only sour point in Apple’s new product; the new iPad has LTE, a quad-core graphics processor, and a Retina display, which is all anyone really wanted. Yeah, NFC might have been nice, but it’s far from a dealbreaker, and most of the other rumoured features, like electro-static feedback, were pretty far-fetched anyway. And who knows? Maybe Apple’s marketing department couldn’t settle on a name for the event, and are postponing the official branding for the launch next week. Then again, that’s probably just wishful thinking on my part.

[Leanna disagrees with Simon completely and will be presenting a counter-editorial shortly - Ed.]

So you’ve decided to take the plunge and get the new iPad and you’ve chosen both the carrier and the color you want, but you aren’t sure which storage capacity size to go with? The difference between 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB isn’t just how much stuff you can put on it, but $100-$200 in up front costs, so it’s worth thinking about.

Here’s the breakdown.

Price for storage

The current US prices for the new iPad are (not counting the $130 surcharge for 3G + 4G models):

• 16GB: $499 or $31.19/GB
• 32GB: $599 or $18.72/GB
• 64GB: $699 or $10.92/GB

It looks like you can pay $200 more (20% more) the price for 4x the storage, which makes the price per GB fall really fast. Still, Apple is getting you to pay $100 for an extra 16GB of storage and $200 for an extra 48GB of storage. That’s not a great deal, given what SD cards go for these days. That’s probably where Apple helps increase their margins.

So if giving Apple an extra dime irks you, the 16GB baseline model could be the way to go. But there are other things to consider first.

iCloud and other online storage options

iCloud gives us unlimited online storage for iTunes purchased content — iBooks, music, movies, TV shows, and apps, and 5GB of additional storage for backups, data, etc. If that’s not enough, you can pay for more.

• 10GB: $20/year
• 20GB: $40/year
• 50GB: $100/year

This might make it tempting to save some $$$ up front on onboard storage and make up for it with the free 5GB iCloud, with the option to buy more storage as a safety blanket.

It’s not a crazy idea but it’s important to remember that online storage isn’t always as available, fast, and convenient as onboard storage. For example, you can’t just play a movie from iCloud, you have to download it at the same time you watch it, which means you have to have enough space available on your iPad to handle the download. If you want to watch a lot of movies, you may have to watch, delete, watch, delete, over and over again.

iCloud also doesn’t give you a file system like Dropbox or Box.net, so you can only really store what Apple lets you. If your movies and videos don’t come from iTunes, iCloud is no help to you. Also, in our tests iCloud’s free 5GB could get filled up pretty quickly by photos and especially videos.

So iCloud means you can get away with storing less content on your device, but you still want to have enough local storage for what you need, when you need it.

5 megapixel photos and 1080p video

The new iPad actually has a god camera on it, and that means it takes good 5 megapixel photos and 1080p video. That also means you need room to store 5 megapixel photos and 1080p video.

For example, I take a ton of photos and videos on my iPhone 4S and with 16GB I’d quickly run out of space. Since it’s a pain in the butt to have to go through and figure out what to delete if I’m not near my computer, I opted for more storage.

Unlike an iPhone, however, an iPad probably isn’t your go-to camera, and isn’t the camera you always have with you. In other words, I don’t think most people will take and store as many photos or as much video with their iPads as they would their iPhones (or other smartphones).

That being said, I store a ton of photos and video on my iPad. It’s just a great way to show and share those special moments with friends and family. If you want to keep a lot of home movies and photos available, you’ll need space for them.

Content

The other thing that can fill up our iPad quickly is content.

• Games can be big, and with the new iPad’s 2048×1536 Retina display and Apple A5X processor, we might see even bigger ones with more textures and richer environments. Some games were already getting close to 1GB, how big will the Retina iPad games be?

• iTunes movies can be 1-3GB in size for SD depending on the length. If you prefer watching HD, they can be 3-5GB. If you want to take advantage of the Retina display to watch 1080p movies… Watch out.

• iTunes TV shows can be a quarter to half the size of movies, but more than make up for it by the number of episodes typically available.

• If you get your movies and TV shows from somewhere other than iTunes, you’re still looking at about 400MB an hour for SD and over 1GB (sometimes way over) an hour for HD.

• Music files are generally quite small but can add up as well, especially if you have lots and lots of albums you want to keep with you everywhere.

Who should get 16GB

If you don’t use a lot of apps, if you don’t want to have a lot of movies and TV shows, or a huge amount of music, if you don’t intend to shoot and keep very much 5 megapixel photos or 1080p video on your iPad, you’ll probably be okay with 16GB.

Some people like to keep their iPads light and either stream or surf the web for content, and some people manage their photos and videos very well, transferring them to their computers regularly and reliably.

If you keep your iPad lean, you can probably save yourself some cash and get by on 16GB.

Who should get 32GB

If the iPad is your primary device, if you play games on it and watch movies and TV shows on it, if you have a decent sized music collection you want to keep with you, and if you shoot an average amount of photos and videos, 32GB is probably your sweet spot.

Some people like to have one device that, while it doesn’t do everything all the time, is capable enough to do most things most of the time. As long as there’s some extra space to give extra time to managing apps and content, it’s a great compromise.

If you do a fair but not overwhelming amount of stuff on your iPad, your probably better off going for 32GB.

Who should get 64GB

If you’re a power user who wants to keep as much as possible for as long as possible, if you have a large amount of apps and games, TV and movies, and a huge music collection you simply have to have with you all the time, or you shoot photos and video almost non stop and don’t want to have to bother transferring it all the time… we’ll, you’ve probably already ordered a 64GB iPad and cursed Apple for not giving you a 128GB option!

Some people really do want their iPad to do everything, all of the time, and never (or rarely) have to worry about running out of space. If you really feel like you need it, you probably didn’t need me to tell you so, and you’ve already decided you’re getting 64GB. Enjoy!

What if you choose the wrong size?

Remember, in most places you have time to try out your new iPad and return it if you don’t like it. Make sure, as soon as possible, you put your new iPad to realistic use. Load up all the apps and games you want with you, load up your movies and TV shows, go out and take some photos and shoot some video. Give it a complete and thorough workout and see.

If it feels like you got too much storage, say 64GB and you haven’t even gone past 2GB, or if you got too little, say you’re already at 15GB of 16GB, then take your iPad back and exchange it for one that better suits your needs.

If you come to this realization too late, after the exchange period is over, remember you can buy additional iCloud storage, or look at other options like Dropbox which will let you keep your stuff available online and potentially free up some much needed space on your iPad.

Any questions?

If you’ve already decided which storage capacity is perfect for you, 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB, leave a comment and let me know!

If you’re still not sure, if you want advice or more opinions, just ask!

• New iPad forum

Picking between one of two color options, black or white, for the new iPad might seem trivial or simply a matter of personal taste, but it’s a question we get asked a lot. Once you’ve decided to get a new iPad, settled on your storage capacity, and chosen between AT&T and Verizon if you’re going 4G LTE, color is what’s left. While the black and white iPads are otherwise identical in terms of size and weight, storage capacities, carriers, there are a few points to consider.

Note: Unlike the black and white iPhones, iPads all have the same aluminum back plate so it’s really only the front bezel border that changes.

Is white more distracting?

Imagine if your TV set had a white bezel instead of black, would that distract you from the show or movie you were watching? The game you were playing? If the goal of the device is to get out of your way so you can become totally immersed in the content, black has traditionally been a much safer color choice for manufacturers to go with.

Many people feel the same way about the iPad. Black disappears. Even if the content is white (like an ebook or web page), the environment around us usually isn’t. So black melts out of the way and once the screen lights up it’s all but forgotten.

The same can happen with a white bezel, but it depends more on the individual. White is definitely more noticeable than black. For some that means it’s a lot more distracting and actually takes away from the viewing experience. For others, it’s enjoyable, frames the viewing, and provides a two-tone look that’s more fashionable than black.

I’ve had both a black and a white iPads and have never been distracted nor irked by either one. If white catches your eye a little too much, however, you might want to stick with black.

Will white discolor?

Rumor has it Apple delayed the launch of the white iPhone 4 in order to improve the UV protection and prevent discoloration. That’s just a rumor, however, and white iPads have shipped day and date with black iPads since they were introduced in March 2011. That also means white iPads have been on the market for almost a year now, and there haven’t been any widespread accounts of discoloration. My own white iPad 2, bought in March 2011, still looks as crisp and clean as the day I unboxed it.

In 5 years time some more obvious aging issues may present themselves, but 5 years is an eternity in consumer electronics. If it concerns you, stick with black.

On the other hand, black shows fingerprints and smudges more dramatically and don’t disappear when the screen is lit up, so if those annoy you, white is a better choice.

Does white look better?

Some people just love the look of a white device, whether it’s an iPad, an iPhone, a BlackBerry, an Android, or whatever. They sometimes get shipped later or come in more limited quantities so there’s an air of exclusivity about them.

That’s not the case with iPads.

White tends to stand out more and can be more obvious with brightly colored cases. Is that something that appeals to you? Or do you want the content and the accessories to be the star?

If you like the idea of a blank canvas, stick to black.

So which color should you get?

At the end of the day, the only real answer is get the color you like better. Everything else is manufactured anxiety at this point. Just close your eyes, picture your iPad in your hand, and carefully look at what color you’re picturing.

Then buy that.

Any questions?

If you’ve already chosen, let us know which one you went with and why. If you need extra help or want extra opinions deciding whether you should get, black or white, don’t hesitate to ask.

• New iPad forum
• iPad 2 forum

Gaming played a huge role in the new iPad announcement. For one, Apple’s upcoming tablet will be hosting a dedicated quad-core graphics chip, and while every app that runs on the new iPad will see some improved quality as a result, only rich 3D games will be taking full advantage of what’s available. On top of sheer processing power, the iPad’s 9.7-inch display has been upgraded to Retina-quality. At 2048 x 1536, the resolution makes it sharper than anything you could see on most high-def TVs – or at least that was Apple’s angle. To demonstrate the new hardware, Namco and Epic Games both had some slick-looking demoes for titles coming exclusively to the new iPad. One of those developers even hoisted the new iPad above the Xbox when it comes to performance.

Let’s face it – the iPhone has pretty much single-handedly dislodged the portable gaming industry. Like a sulking child, Nintendo has sworn off doing any work with smartphones, while others, like Sony, are adapting by making game-savvy Android smartphones and adding 3G connectivity to their PlayStation Portable line. To think that the iPad will follow up by eating the Xbox’s lunch may be  a little bold, but not entirely unfounded. The horsepower and the display are certainly raising the bar. Game publishers are already plenty comfortable with the iOS ecosystem, and smart ones like EA are heavily tying their mobile products to their Xbox and PS3 counterparts, as with the recently-launched Mass Effect: Infiltrator. Is there any reason consumers wouldn’t be interested in something that’s just as fast, sharp, connected and stocked with games as a console, but is infinitely more portable?

Well, there are a few roadblocks. For one, there’s price. The new iPad starts at $499, while the Xbox 360 (which still supports excellent titles despite its age) is going for $199. (That doesn’t include the price of the TV, of course, but almost anyone who buys an Xbox will have a TV already.) Given, you’ll be using your iPad for a lot more than gaming, but these days, you’ll be using your Xbox for plenty of home media stuff too. Secondly, there’s the controls. Even when optimized for a gesture-based interface, iPad and tablet games necessarily block parts of your view throughout gameplay, while a traditional console affords a full viewing area thanks to dedicated hardware controls. Whatever advantage the new iPad has gained in displays is cut proportionally to the size of your thumbs. Thirdly, the top-tier titles will never make the leap from console to iPad with the current pricing standards. Right now, game developers regularly charge $50 for console titles; if you even tried to charge the console bargain bin price of $20 in the App Store, you’d be laughed out of business. That said, the games that have the most work put into them will always go to consoles and PC first.

With stuff like wireless device mirroring to the TV through AirPlay, I can definitely see how the new iPad might start horning in on the territory of established gaming, but I think at most it will offer a taste of high-quality fun to those that normally wouldn’t shell out the cash for a dedicated gaming console. I know I’ve certainly been surprised by how often I’ve been lured away from proper gaming rigs with stupid little casual iPhone games, but I don’t know if I would eschew having an Xbox, PS3 or gaming PC altogether. What about you guys? Could the new iPad get you to spend less time and money on traditional gaming? Is the new iPad a legitimate threat to the console gaming industry?

For today only, the iMore Store has the OtterBox Impact Series Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 on sale for only $8.95! That’s a whopping 55% off! Get them before they’re gone!

Get the OtterBox Impact Series Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 now!

Wrap your iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 in this OtterBox protective silicone case and head around the world. More than just a simple silicone skin, the Impact Series case offers added protection from bump and shock by adding inner coring to dissipate impact away from the device.

All buttons, functions, and ports are fully accessible through this case, and it looks great wrapped around your iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4. It includes a self-adhering screen protector to help protect your screen from scratches and smudges.

The OtterBox Impact Series Case does not include a belt clip.

• All buttons are fully functional through the case
• Coring on inside corners and inside back of skin adds extra strength and protection
• Drop and shock protection
• Self-adhering clear protective film, cleaning cloth and installation card included

Works with: iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, Verizon iPhone 4

Bad news if you are planning on pre-ordering the new Apple TV for delivery on March 16. The shipping estimate has slipped to a rather vague 1-2 week instead of the original guaranteed delivery on March 16.

Apple announced the new Apple TV at its media event yesterday along with the new iPad. The new Apple TV now offers 1080p video playback, iTunes Movies in the cloud and also comes with a revamped user interface. It looks like it is going to be a very popular upgrade!

Source: Apple Store

Apple has made the complete new iPad event keynote video available through iTunes. You can find the video under Podcasts > Technology > Tech news > Apple Inc > Apple Keynotes. You can then download just the event video or subscribe to all future events when they become available.

The free download is 980.9 MB; so if you are on a slow connection it may take a while to download. You can always see the event as a stream on Apple’s site if you can’t wait for the download.

Source: iTunes

I’ve watched the new iPad event twice now. They hit most of the notes most of us expected — including the Retina display, LTE 4G networking, and iPhoto for iOS. The way in which they hit those notes, however, and some of the notes they didn’t hit, were just as interesting and revealed as much about the new iPad as they did the new Apple.

This is a subset of a much longer, more involved, more interesting discussion I had with Georgia and AppCubby‘s David Barnard earlier tonight on iPhone & iPad Live. We’ll post that show tomorrow, but here’s the gist:

Tim Cook remains solid as an event anchor. He’s measured, methodical, and supremely knowledgeable about Apple and their products. That sounds obvious, but many CEOs don’t come off that way. He’s an operations guy, not a product guy, but he’s better than 99% of the keynote speakers out there, and if anyone knocks him it’s only be he’s taken over from the best keynote speaker in the history of the industry, the late Steve Jobs. That stage was owned by Jobs. He was infectiously engaging yet, at the same time, looked as though, at any moment, he could spin around and end you with a glare. That’s an impossible act to follow. That Cook turned in a solid performance, that Phil Schiller remained affable and informative, that Eddy Cue brought a little bass, was not only commendable, but given the circumstances, phenomenal.

That Scott Forstall wasn’t on stage was as notable as iOS not really being on stage. After the longest beta cycle that I can remember, iOS 5.1 was announced by Tim Cook as being available immediately. There was no GM (Gold Master) build for developers to test out, and apparently none needed since there were very few new, customer facing features. The original iPad release in 2010 had Forstall on stage showing off iOS 3.2 and the new iPad interface itself — how the built in apps had been re-built to take advantage of a 1024×768 9.7-inch display. With the iPad 2 in 2011 Forstall showed how iOS 4.2 unified the platform and brought everything from multitasking to folders to the iPad. With the new iPad this year, nothing. iOS was less keynote and more footnote. (No doubt iOS 6 will be the star of Apple’s WWDC this summer.)

Same with the new Apple TV. It did get a new interface (which I’m not wild about — more on that in the review), and a new model that is software-identical in every way with the exception of 1080p video support. However, the new Apple TV wasn’t even announced as peripheral to the iPad, but as peripheral to the 1080p video. The original Apple TV got the full Steve Jobs treatment during the original iPhone keynote no less. The 2nd generation Apple TV got similar treatment during the 2010 iTunes and iPod event. This one got an “if you also want.” That’s going from “hobby” to “aside”. Whether that’s a sign the living room is still in a holding pattern for Apple, or it’s the calm before an Apple television storm is hard to say.

Either way, it’s more than the iPod touch got. The iPod touch now the only iOS device that hasn’t received an update to the latest generation hardware specs, and the iOS device that’s gone the longest ever without receiving an update — since fall of 2010. Once positioned as a gaming platform, it briefly enjoyed a processor that out-clocked even the iPhone. Now two generations behind when it comes to internal architecture, stuck on the A4 to the iPhone 4S’ A5 and the new iPad’s A5X, it’s hard to see where it fits in Apple’s plans beyond “cheapest gateway to the App Store”. Starting at $199, it’s competitive with budget tablets, even if half the size, so maybe that’s enough for now.

And yeah, Apple went with the A5X system-on-a-chip, which we heard would be quad-core but turned out to be dual core for the CPU and quad-core for the GPU. Apple stressed the quad-core and the GPU, and touted the graphics performance far more than the raw processing power, but the proc itself is dual. (At least that may explain the divergent rumors.)

Maintaining 10 hours of battery life with the denser, Retina display screen is impressive. Maintaining 9 hours of battery life with a 4G LTE radio is flabbergasting. Speaking of which, one 4G LTE model to support AT&T, Rogers, Bell, and Telus, and another to support Verizon, and no word on Asian, Australian, or European 4G LTE is likely to frustrate people outside North America. It’s a hell of a radio, though, with HSPA+ 42mbps support as well, and the most bands ever according to Apple. That will no doubt make it tough for some to decide which network to go with.

Tethering is a huge plus as well.

Keeping the price point identical the iPad 2, given the sheer amount of new technology in the new iPad was most impressive. Those panels and those radios can’t have lowered the bill of goods. Keeping the iPad 2 around at a $100 discount was just as impressive. It lowers the price differential between the cheapest iPad and the $299 budget tablets, and it makes the platform more accessible than ever to schools and Enterprise that don’t need or don’t want all the bells and whistles. For cash-strapped consumers, deciding between the $399 iPad 2 and $499 new iPad might be just as tough.

Glass shelves in iPhoto for iOS show skeumorphism is alive and well, perhaps more so than ever with all the faux brushes and other effects. It wasn’t the more graceful Aperture-like experience I hoped for, and the user interface isn’t as elegant as Apple achieved with GarageBand for iOS. It does complete the iLife package (iWeb and iDVD are dead, thank you very much), however, and pushes the iPad further into the content creation space.

It does Sherlock photo editing apps, but as Avid Studio showed against iMovie, there’s still a lot of room for 3rd parties to show off. (Too bad Photoshop Touch didn’t stick their landing.)

Siri didn’t get any iPad user interface love at all. The idea of moving Siri over to the bigger iPad screen was a challenge to begin with. As Alex Heath postulated, they went with a subset — voice dictation rather than something more ambitious or nothing at all. That eases one of my text entry pain point, but it means Reminders will remain an app I populate solely via Siri on the iPhone 4S.

Now the name. “The new iPad”. The logic is sound — it’s not MacBook Air 3, after all, it’s just MacBook Air. In theory it’s cleaner and stronger branding. At least it would be if “The new” didn’t squeak every time it turned around too fast. It’s also a little awkward if a first time customer walks into a store and sees an “iPad 2″ on the shelf next to an “iPad” and the “iPad 2″ is the older, less-good-but-cheaper option. In a couple of generations, when the iPad 2 is a memory and it’s been just “iPad” for years, it won’t matter. But it does feel out of place right now. (And yes, Leanna predicted the next iPhone would be simply the “iPhone” so kudos to her for the concept, even if Apple beat her to the timeline.)

(Technically, like iPods and Macs, Apple refers to “the new iPad” as iPad (3rd generation) on product order and support pages, and it has an internal model number of iPad 3,x, so you can still be precise if you ever need to be.)

Phil Schiller was quoted rather broadly as saying the new name was a sign Apple didn’t want to be predictable. That sounds like when the brilliant head chef has left the restaurant and the apprentices finally have direct access to the spice rack. It’s no longer all saffron all the time, exactly the way they’re told. There’s more variety, more individuality, more nuance. Sometimes refreshingly so, sometimes head-scratchingly so. It may not always be as perfect, but it’s even more exciting.

That rather neatly sums up both “the new iPad” and the new Apple.

eBay will be offering up some pretty good trade-in deals for your used iPad 2 via their Instant Sale trade-in program. Regardless whether your iPad is in working condition or not, eBay has something for you. These values are only valid for a limited time and you’ll need to lock in by Saturday, March 10.

While iPads aren’t the only tablets eBay is taking, this may be of particular interest to users who want to upgrade to the new iPad but need to get rid of their existing tablet before shelling out the cash.

Values vary greatly depending on whether your iPad is in working condition or not. A good condition 64GB AT&T iPad 2 with wifi and 3G will get you $475. As long as you lock in a trade-in by March 10th, you’ll get that amount as long as you have it postmarked by March 20th.

After securing their guaranteed eBay Instant Sale trade-in value anytime between today and Midnight PT on Saturday, March 10, customers have until Tuesday, March 20 to postmark their tablet for trade-in using the free shipping label provided. Customers will receive payment in the amount of the trade-in value they initially secured once the tablet is received and its condition is verified, even if values decline from the time the customer locks-in their offer to when they ship the item. 

If you’re looking for a quick way to off your old tablet, this may be it. If you’re a bit more patient, you can probably get quite a bit more selling it on your own on eBay or Craigslist.

Hit the link below for a list of values.

Source: eBay Instant Sale

iPhone & iPad Live is back tonight with our post-game show and wrap up for the new iPad and everything that happened from today’s event. Join us!

Want to go full screen? Head to iMore.com/live. Want to watch via iPhone or iPad? Grab the Ustream app and search for “mobilenations”!

You’ve decided to get an iPad, but you’re not sure if you need to spring for the $499+  new 2012 iPad, or if you’d be okay with the older, $399+ 2011 iPad 2.  First, yes, those names are wicked confusing,  but the names aren’t the only confusing thing. There are a lot of factors to consider. Let’s go over them one by one, and help you decide.

2012 iPad product line

While Apple has left older iPhone and iPod touch models on the market several times, this is the first year they’ve left an older iPad model on the line. It may be a year old, but it’s still a respectable device and it’s $100 cheaper than the cheapest new model.

iPad 2 (2011) 16GB – $399 Wi-Fi, $529 Wi-Fi + 3G

The 2011 iPad 2 with 16GB of storage is the first “budget” iPad designed to ease the barrier of entry for price-concious first-time buyers and for bulk buyers like schools and businesses. It doesn’t have the crystal clear, high density Retina display or 4G LTE data, or the new, super-fast Apple A5X processor, and the cameras are terrible, but it runs the same iOS 5 operating system, and has access to the App Store and Safari, and can do most everything the new iPad can do. And it looks almost identical.

If price is more of a concern to you than getting the latest and the greatest, and $100 makes a big difference in your budget, the iPad 2 is still a great choice.

• Full iPad 2 review

New iPad (2012) – $499 and up Wi-Fi, $629 and up Wi-Fi + 3G + LTE

The new iPad (no number) is the new king of the tablets, and Apple’s latest iOS device. It has everything last year’s iPad 2 had, and a lot more. Notably, the screen is a double-resolution Retina display at 2048×1536, which is more pixels than a 1080p TV scrunched down into a 9.7-inch size. In other words, you can’t see the pixels. Speaking of 1080p, it supports both 1080p video playback, and has a 5mp camera on the back that can shoot 1080p video. (It looks like the iPhone 4 camera with the iPhone 4S photo processing software)

Apple offers the new iPad Wi-Fi at three price points depending on the amount of storage:

• 16GB – $499
• 32GB – $599
• 64GB – $699

If you want it with 3G GSM/CDMA, and 4G LTE in the U.S. and Canada, the prices go up $120:

• 16GB – $629
• 32GB – $729
• 64GB – $829

If you know you want a top of the line iPad, with the latest and greatest features and every bit of cool technology Apple has to offer, then get the new iPad.

Any questions?

If you’re still not sure, hit up our iPhone Forums to get the help you need to make up your mind.

• New iPad forum
• iPad 2 forum