It got to my house as promised on the release date of March 16 that Apple had been publicizing all over the place. Alas, I wasn’t there to sign for it, so it got delivered the next morning, a Saturday, by FedEx. The logistics involved in making all these new iPads appear in stores and on doorsteps all on the same day is mind-blowing. Color me impressed.

As has been said in many other reviews, countless times already, the screen is amazing. And it really is. It’s what you were hoping for all along.  A bright sharp screen where pixels don’t exist.  And where every word is sharp when you tap to edit with the magnifying glass. As much as I liked the “2,” the blurriness of the magnifying glass editor always bugged me. The lack of any textual blurriness also makes this new model of iPad possibly the penultimate e-reader on the market right now. I might actually read a whole book on this thing!  (and a month later I did! -me)

Another thing that surprised me, was how good the built in dictation is. It is really very good and I like that it’s just integrated in to the keyboard whenever possible (app dependent). The only downside is that it’s embarrassing to use the dictation in public and be seen talking to your iPad … Although I suspect it will seem less weird as time goes on and there are more phones with Siri-like voice activation, everyone will be talking to everything.

So I’m writing this post on said new iPad and gotta say, that yes, I’m very very, really, very glad I moved up from the “2.” I am starting to see the iPad as a possible replacement for a laptop. I’m doing all my presentations for workshops on this thing now, I luv the fact how easy it is to carry around (1.5 lbs. vs. 6+ lbs.), as well as the instant-on when hooking it up to a projector.

Upside:

• That beautiful screen, it is really gorgeous.
• Crystal clear magnifying glass for text edits.
• Snappier processor, apps start up/switch very smoothly.
• Improved multitouch, or at least due to the better screen and processor, using all the 3 & 4 finger swipes to navigate screens and apps is really becoming efficient (although you could chalk that up more to iOS 5 then the new iPad).
• The camera … It’s quite good, but I haven’t spent a lot of time using it yet, although eager to do so. What I need is a a tripod mount as basically it’s like holding an view-camera, really hoping someone makes something like this soon.
• Battery life still quite good, almost amazing. The new iPad does seem to burn down to 50% power much quicker, but does still seem to take a very long time to burn all the way down.
• And the white iPad seems even whiter? Putting my old iPad 2 next to my new iPad you could definitely see the difference, and my old iPad was only 5 months old and it wasn’t like I was leving out in the sun.

Downside:

• Longer time to a full re-charge, presumably due to a bigger battery to recharge and power that beautiful screen.
• Slightly thicker and heavier than the iPad 2, but it is very slight increase in both categories.

Regrets:

Sorta wish I had bought the 32GB model, because, as other reviewers had predicted and noticed, that new gorgeous screen resolution translates to apps that take up more precious disc space to make them look gorgeous, not to mention the high-res magazines and e-books and videos. I’m finding I need to keep an eye on space management more then I did on my iPad 2 or on my iPhone 4.

Also wish I had just bought this new iPad for myself and not have sold the old iPad 2…. Which i did use to finance the new ipad purchase, but none-the-less … I’d been meaning to post this for over a month, but other than when I use this for presentations for my work, I never see it, my girls always have it!

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