Retina iPad - Largely Unchanged From The ‘new iPad’ (Part 2)

It’s gaming where the difference should really be felt. iOS is already the world’s most popular gaming platform, and the iPad 4 offers this audience a true powerhouse. The monstrous graphics processors make light work of even the most taxing games currently available. We tried Gameloft’s Wild Blood, currently one of the few titles opti­mized for the iPad 4, and the graphics were breathtaking. Modern Combat 3, from the same developer, is Retina-ready but hadn’t been specifically enhanced for the iPad 4 at the time of writing; it also ran beautifully, and would amaze anyone with preconcep­tions about gaming on a general purpose mobile device. Of course, we can expect to see an increasing number of games take advantage of the 4. Like the 3, this iPad does get quite warm under heavy graphics load, but never uncomfortably so, we found.

We tried Gameloft’s Wild Blood, currently one of the few titles opti­mized for the iPad 4, and the graphics were breathtaking.

If you have an iPad 1 or 2, the difference in speed and responsiveness you’ll find with the 4 is like night and day. Combined with the gorgeous Retina display, that’s more than enough reason to look at the new model. iPad 3 owners are more likely to wait for the next one, especially if they have a lot of Dock accessories to replace; the performance boost isn’t a must-have. But for anyone simply thinking of buying an iPad, this update keeps it way ahead of the competition at the same reasonable price.

Smart Cover

While Apple redesigned its cover for the iPad mini, the same version remains available for the iPad 4 as was introduced with the iPad 2. At $53 for polyurethane or $89 for leather, it’s not something to buy in haste before you consider the alternatives, but the magnetic hinge and folding mechanism (the latter enabling the case to prop the iPad in a typing or viewing position, albeit in landscape only and with no adjustment) work very neatly. If you want to protect the back as well, the Smart Case covers it in matt plastic with the all­important Apple logo for $59, in polyurethane only

The same camera as the iPad 3 gives you a very usable 5 megapixels, now with less noise in low light, while FaceTime is clearer at 720p

Graphics processing

It’s pretty much taken for granted on iOS that movement in games will be seamless, with no lag or stutter, and that’s still the case. Wild Blood, one of the first games optimised for the iPad 4, shows this iPad can maintain this even while rendering very complex scenes with advanced effects at the enormous 2048 * 1536 resolution - 50% more pixels than an Xbox or PlayStation will ever push. The whole 3D environment looked and felt incredibly slick. With titles such as Lili broadening the range and appeal of ‘proper’ games on iOS, a golden age surely looms - but iPad 1 owners will find more content beyond their reach

The four GPUs in the A6X ‘system on a chip’ make, er, light work of lighting scenes like this, from Wild Blood. The very sharp Retina screen adds further to the sense of realism

Speaker

The iPad 4 still has just one not-very-loud speaker, behind this grille. While we’re not convinced the iPad mini’s stereo speakers add much in the way of stereo, they do provide a bigger, richer sound that the full-size iPad really should be able to beat. Maybe next time. No earphones are included either, so if you want the rather good new EarPods supplied with the iPhone 5, that’s another $38 extra - but it makes more sense to shop around. No Lightning speaker docks had been released at the time of going to press, with third party manufacturers struggling to meet Apple’s increasingly stringent ‘Made for’ licensing requirements. As always, the ideal choice is an AirPlay speaker to which you can send the sound from your iPad over your wifi net­work with a couple of taps. Bluetooth 4.0 is also supported, but not apt-X audio

A6X processor

 ‘This is not just an A6 with a couple of minor tweaks,’ concluded Chipworks after stripping down the iPad 4’s new processor. Compared to the ‘system on a chip’ in the iPhone 5, the iPad 4’s is 30% bigger. That’s entirely because Apple has massively increased its graphics processing power, with four GPU cores, each larger than the previous three. Each core has nine sub-cores, probably to enable more parallel processing

No space saver

Comparing the bottom edges of the iPads 3 and 4 shows that the case design is identical except for the smaller aperture for the Lightning connector, which is neatly lined and feels more naturally positioned than its predecessor. This is even true inside, where Apple hasn’t yet found a use for the extra bit of room left

The iPad with Retina display is 9.4mm thick and weighs 652 grams, or 662g for the Cellular version. It’s compatible with all iPad 3 accessories that don’t use the Dock

Lightning connector

Since the return of Steve Jobs, Apple has never been afraid of ditching old technol­ogies, and once again it’s made the right decision: the grumbling about incompat­ibility will eventually subside, and the iOS range now has an immeasurably better accessory interface.

The official Lightning to 30-pin Adapter is, at last, available in Apple Stores and to order online; although it’s annoyingly expensive, at $38 in a rigid unit or $45 as a cable, it contains a sur­prising amount of electronic gubbins to make the conversion work, which in turn means it would be unwise to hold your breath for significantly cheaper clones, especially if you want reliability.

Even pricier is the Lightning equiva­lent of the old iPad Camera Connection Kit, which provided USB and SD memory card adapters; these are now sold sep­arately, as the Camera Adapter and SD Card Camera Reader respectively, each at $38. Like its 30-pin predecessor, the Camera Adapter isn’t designed to con­nect general USB peripherals but does support Core MIDI, and we’ve confirmed that it works fine with existing generic MIDI USB adapters. Keep in mind, though, that it still supports only iPads, not Lightning iPhones or iPods.

When it comes to importing photos, Lightning still runs at USB 2 bandwidth, so it’s practical but not speedy to copy large numbers of high-res images.

Other Lightning converters have also emerged to replace Apple’s Dock acces­sories, including VGA and ‘Digital AV’ (HDMI) adapters at $59 apiece. An extra 12W power supply costs $23.

One accessory that’s been available from the start, since the EU requires it, is the minuscule Lightning to Micro USB Adapter, which for $23 allows you to charge or sync using a Micro USB cable, such as those supplied with generic mains chargers

Speak and you shall find

iOS brings Siri, Apple’s voice-driven ‘assistant’, to recent iPad models, including the 4. It’s gradually getting less clueless about the UK

To boldly go

Apple’s Maps app works best on the Cellular iPad 4, which has GPS, but the Wi-Fi model can also find you by tracking hotspots

Ceci n’est pas un téléphone

An iPad can’t make network voice calls or use SMS, but FaceTime and Messages can help out

Prices ·         16GB Wi-Fi: $599 ·         32GB Wi-Fi: $719 ·         64GB Wi-Fi: $939 ·         16GB Cellular: $749 ·         32GB Cellular: $869 ·         64GB Cellular: $989 Cellular data plans ·         For all Cellular iPad models; no contract O2 ·         200MB/day: $3 ·         1GB/month: $15 ·         2GB/month: $23 Orange ·         200MB/day: $3 ·         250MB/30 days: $8 ·         1GB/30 days: $15 Three ·         1GB/month: $12 ·         2GB/month: $23 ·