I pulled the trigger the day it was announced. I needed to.
Let me take a few steps back first. When the original iPad came out I picked it up the first day it was out. It was a game changer.
Having a mini computer that was ambiently connected to the internet with a 10-hour battery life is an amazing breath of fresh air. As a test we took the new iPad with us on our Blue Ridge Parkway trip as our only computer. It worked astonishingly well.
The one flaw that I really could see with it was the lack of resolution. The moment the iPhone 4 came out with the retina display I was completely spoiled.
When the iPad 2 came out with the same screen I passed.
When the rumor-mill started to churn about the updated display… well that’s when I started to get excited.
Last week when it was announced I jumped on the web site with it only slightly working and ordered one up.
It arrived today.
I went home for lunch, synced it up, and away we go!
The screen is truly stunning. Looking at it from a normal distance — let’s say 12-18 inches — the pixels are completely invisible. Up at 6″ if I look really closely and there’s a line at just the right angle then I can almost make out pixels.
I’m looking at this the same as I would look at the Kindle E-ink display. It’s just natural.
I wound up getting the Verizon version of it so if my iPhone that’s on AT&T doesn’t have a signal then I might be able to get a message out on the Verizon-based iPad. Between the two of them I have just about the most extensive coverage that I can imagine.
An added bonus is that I can use this on GSM as well in case I’m overseas.
I tried out the LTE wireless as well. I have to say that it’s great. It feels like I’m downloading web pages on my network at home on WiFi. I’ll have to monitor my usage, but I’m happy with it so far.
I was going to post unboxing pictures… But the net is rife with them now. Mine is no different than anyone else’s.
