The new iPad offers fast speed and one of the most spectacular displays ever seen in a mobile device, Walt Mossberg discusses on digits. Photo: Getty Images. 
 
 Apple's iPad could be described as a personal display through which you see and manipulate text, graphics, photos and videos often delivered via the Internet. So, how has the company chosen to improve its wildly popular tablet? By making that display dramatically better and making the delivery of content dramatically faster. 
 
 There are other changes in the new, third-generation iPad—called simply "iPad," with no number, which goes on sale on Friday at the same base price as its predecessor, $499. But the key upgrades are to those core features—the 9.7-inch screen and the data speed over cellular networks. These upgrades are massive. Using the new display is like getting a new eyeglasses prescription—you suddenly realize what you thought looked sharp before wasn't nearly as sharp as it could be. 
 
 Boosting those particular features—the screen and the cellular speed—usually has a negative impact on battery life in a digital device. But Apple has managed to crank them up them while maintaining the long battery life between charges that has helped give the iPad such an edge over other tablets. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Walter S. Mossberg/The Wall Street Journal Objects, like the trees in this photo of Glacier National Park in Montana that Walt made his screen wallpaper, look sharper on the new iPad. 
 
 That doesn't mean there aren't other trade-offs. Mostly to make room for a larger battery, the new iPad weighs about 8% more and is about 7% thicker than the prior model. That means the company can't claim to have the thinnest and lightest tablet, as it boasted last year with the iPad 2. (It's still thinner and lighter than the original iPad.) 
 
 I've been testing the new iPad, and despite these trade-offs, its key improvements strengthen its position as the best tablet on the market. Apple hasn't totally revamped the iPad or added loads of new features. But it has improved it significantly, at the same price. 
 
 It has the most spectacular display I have ever seen in a mobile device. The company squeezed four times the pixels into the same physical space as on the iPad 2 and claims the new iPad's screen has a million more pixels than an HDTV. All I know is that text is much sharper, and photos look richer. 
 
 If you already own an iPad 2, and like it, you shouldn't feel like you have to rush out to buy the new one. However, for those who use their iPads as their main e-readers, and those who use it frequently while away from Wi-Fi coverage, this new model could make a big difference. 
 
 The optional, extra-cost, 4G LTE cellular-data capability made it feel like I was always on a fast Wi-Fi connection. I loved the photos and videos I took with the greatly improved rear camera. And the battery life degraded by just 11 minutes, a figure that is still much better than on any tablet I've tested. 
 
 Along with the unmatched collection of 200,000 third-party programs designed for its large screen, and the large catalogs of music, books, periodicals and video content available for it, I can recommend the new iPad to consumers as their best choice in a general-purpose tablet. 
 
 The exceptions would be people who prefer a smaller size for one-handed use, or those who find the weight a burden. While the weight gain was noticeable, I didn't find it a problem even for long reading or video-watching sessions. The extra thickness was barely discernible. 
 
 For the weight conscious, and for those who can't swing the $499 entry cost, there is an out. Apple for the first time is making and selling the prior iPad model at a reduced price. The iPad 2 will now be available starting at $399, with just one choice of storage capacity—16 gigabytes. The new iPad can be bought in 16, 32 or 64 GB capacities, at prices up to $829. The optional cellular capability costs the same as the slower 3G capability, both up front and in monthly fees from Verizon and AT&T . 
 
 The Display 
 
 It's not as if people are complaining about the screens on their iPads, a device so attractive and useful that Apple sold about 55 million of them in two years. But this display is a big leap forward. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Apple Letters that seemed sharp on the iPad 2, far left, suddenly felt fuzzier when compared with the new iPad's 'retina' display, left. (It's hard to reproduce on a web page.) 
 
 It's hard to illustrate on a Web page or in print how brilliant this new display is. You have to see it. Apple calls it a "retina" display because, at normal viewing distance, there are so many pixels per inch, the human eye can't pick them out individually. This display packs 264 pixels into every inch, twice as many as on iPad 2. Overall, the resolution is 2048 x 1536, versus 1024 x 768 for the iPad 2. 
 
 My epiphany came when I placed my iPad 2 next to the new model, with the same text on the screen. Letters and words that had seemed sharp on the older model five minutes earlier suddenly looked fuzzier. 
 
 As I tested the new model over five days, I found I was able to use smaller font sizes to read books and email. The same photos I had enjoyed on the older model looked much better on the new one, not only because of the increased resolution, but because Apple claims it increased color saturation by 44%. One thing Apple hasn't fixed: like all glossy, LCD color displays, this one still does poorly in direct sunlight. 
 
 The Speed 
 
 Walter S. Mossberg/The Wall Street Journal The new iPad's 4G LTE cellular speeds are faster than many home Internet connections, as seen in this speed test showing how fast it would take to download data. 
 
 The new iPad is hardly the first device to use 4G LTE cellular technology, but it marks a huge difference from the iPad 2. On Verizon's network in Washington and Austin, Texas, I averaged LTE download speeds of over 17 megabits per second, faster than most home wired networks. A colleague using a new iPad on AT&T's LTE network averaged over 12 mbps. My iPad 2 running Verizon's 3G network averaged just over 1 mbps. Of course, you can get a Wi-Fi only model, at $130 less. The base $499 model is Wi-Fi only. 
 
 There is another dimension to speed: the overall responsiveness of the device. The new iPad is just as buttery smooth to use as the iPad 2. Apple beefed up the processor, especially its graphics capabilities. 
 
 The Battery 
 
 Apple claims up to 10 hours of battery life between charges, and up to nine hours if you are relying strictly on cellular connectivity. In my standard battery test, where I play videos back to back with both cellular and Wi-Fi on, and the screen at 75% brightness, the new iPad logged 9 hours and 58 minutes, compared with 10 hours and 9 minutes for the iPad 2. Other tablets died hours sooner in the same test. In more normal use, the new iPad lasted more than a full day, though not as long as the iPad 2 did. 
 
 The Rear Camera 
 
 Like the iPad 2, the third-generation iPad has front and rear cameras. The front camera, meant mainly for video chats, hasn't changed. But the rear camera, which was awful for photos on the iPad 2, and was estimated at less than a single megapixel of resolution, has greatly improved. It's now a 5-megapixel shooter with improved optics. I loved the photos and videos it took, indoors and out. 
 
 Other features 
 
 The new iPad is the first that can be used, like many smartphones, as a personal hot spot—a base station to connect laptops and other devices to the Internet. In my tests, this worked fine. 
 
 It also allows you to dictate, rather than type, emails and other text. I found this surprisingly accurate. And Apple now has a brilliant new version of its iPhoto software that has been rewritten for the iPad. 
 
 Bottom Line 
 
 Since it launched in 2010, the iPad has been the best tablet on the planet. With the new, third-generation model, it still holds that crown. 
 
 — Find all of Walt Mossberg's columns and videos at walt.allthingsd.com. The Personal Technology column will return to Wednesdays next week. 
 
 Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com ||||| “An utter disappointment and abysmal failure” ( Orange County Web Design Blog ). “Consumers seem genuinely baffled by why they might need it” ( Businessweek ). “Insanely great it is not” ( MarketWatch ). “My god, am I underwhelmed” ( Gizmodo ). 
 
 Good heavens! What a critical drubbing! Whatever it is must be a real turkey. What could it be? 
 
 Only the fastest-selling gadget in the history of electronics: the Apple iPad. 
 
 All right, let’s not pile onto the tech critics. The thing is, they were right, at least from a rational standpoint. The iPad was superfluous. It filled no obvious need. If you already had a touch-screen phone and a laptop, why on earth would you need an iPad? It did seem like just a big iPod Touch. 
 
 But as it turns out, the iPad’s appeal is more emotional than rational. Once you get it in your hands, you get caught up in the fascination of manipulating on-screen objects by touching them. Apple sold 15 million iPads in nine months, created a mammoth new product category and started an industry of copycats. Apparently, it doesn’t pay to bet against Steve Jobs’s gut instinct. 
 
 On Friday the iPad 2 goes on sale, for the same price as the old one (from $500 for the Wi-Fi-only model with 16 gigabytes of storage, to $830 with 64 gigabytes and both Wi-Fi and cellular Internet connections). And if you thought there was an intellectual/emotional disconnect before, wait till you see this thing. 
 
 On paper, Apple didn’t do much. It just made the iPad one-third thinner, 15 percent lighter and twice as fast. There are no new features except two cameras and a gyroscope. I mean, yawn, right? 
 
 And then you start playing with it. 
 
 My friends, I’m telling you: just that much improvement in thinness, weight and speed transforms the experience. We’re not talking about a laptop or a TV, where you don’t notice its thickness while in use. This is a tablet. You are almost always holding it. Thin and light are unbelievably important for comfort and the overall delight. So are rounded edges, which the first iPad didn’t have. 
 
 The iPad 2 is now 0.34 inches thick. Next to it, the brand-new Motorola Xoom — the best Android competitor so far — looks obese. Yet somehow, the new iPad still gets 10 hours of battery life on a charge. 
 
 Some of the iPad’s new features play industry catch-up. There’s a camera on the back (no flash) that can record hi-definition video. If you’ve never used a tablet as a camera, you’re in for a treat; the entire screen is your viewfinder. It’s like using an 8-by-10 enlargement to compose the scene. Bafflingly, though, the stills are only 0.7 megapixels. 
 
 There’s also a low-resolution front camera that’s useful for video calls, like clear, sharp Wi-Fi calls to iPhone 4, Touch, iPad 2 and Mac owners using Apple’s FaceTime software. 
 
 You can now connect the iPad to a hi-def TV, thanks to a single H.D.M.I. adapter ($40) that carries both audio and hi-def video. What you see on the TV mirrors whatever is on the iPad, which makes it a great setup for teaching, slide shows, presentations, YouTube and movies. It works automatically and effortlessly. 
 
 The more expensive iPad 2 models can also go online using either AT&T;’s or Verizon’s cellular networks, but figuring out the right pricing plan requires a graduate degree in forensic accounting. With AT&T;, for example, you can pay $15 a month for 250 megabytes of data, or $25 for two gigabytes. Verizon’s plans are 1 gigabyte for $20, 3 for $35, 5 for $50 or 10 for $80. O.K., but how are you supposed to know how many megabytes a bunch of Web pages and YouTube videos are going to consume? 
 
 On the bright side, both AT&T; and Verizon let you sign up for cell service right from the iPad, only when you need it — no two-year contract. You can turn on service only when you’ll be traveling, for example. 
 
 Now, about Apple’s new iPad screen cover. Ordinarily, devoting time to a technology review of a screen cover would indicate that the columnist was a few sandwiches shy of a picnic. But Apple’s new cover is a perfect symbol of its fondness for high-tech magic tricks. 
 
 You attach this single sheet by drawing it across the iPad’s face as though you’re making a bed. With a satisfying clicking sound, hidden magnets anchor the thing solidly to the iPad’s face. 
 
 “But Dad,” my 6-year-old son pointed out, “you’re supposed to keep magnets away from electronics!” 
 
 “I know,” I replied sagely. “But this is Apple.” And then I showed him how opening the cover turns the iPad on automatically, and closing it again puts the thing back to sleep. 
 
 This cover ($40 for polyurethane in five colors, or $70 for leather in five other colors) is not for protecting the screen, whose hardened glass doesn’t need much help. It’s for fashion, for cleaning (Apple says that the cover’s microfibers mop away dust) and for propping up the iPad. Clever hinges in the cover’s rigid panels prop up the iPad at two different angles, so you can watch movies or freely use the on-screen keyboard with both hands. 
 
 There’s a gyroscope in the iPad, too, just as in the iPhone 4. You notice it only when you play games that have been written to exploit it. For example, you can look behind you in the Nova 2 shoot-’em-up environment by moving the iPad around you, or “walk around” the tower of wood blocks in Jenga. 
 
 Now, the coming months will bring a blizzard of tablets that are meant to compete with the iPad. And they’ll offer some juicy features that the iPad still lacks. On an Android tablet, you can speak to enter text into any box that accepts typing. You also get an outstanding turn-by-turn navigation app — and GPS maps are a different experience on a 10-inch screen. It’s like being guided to your destination by an Imax movie. 
 
 Furthermore, new Android tablets will be able to play Flash videos and animations on the Web, something that both Apple and Adobe (maker of Flash) assure us will never come to the iPad (or iPhone). Flash on a tablet or phone can be balky and battery-hungry, but it’s often better than nothing. Thousands of news and entertainment Web sites still rely on Flash, and the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch simply can’t display them. 
 
 But you know what? The iPad will still dominate the market, because it dominates in all the most important criteria: thinness, weight, integration, beauty — and apps. 
 
 Oh, yes, the apps: there are 65,000 apps already available for the iPad (not including the 290,000 iPhone apps that run at lower resolution on the iPad’s screen). But Google’s programming kit for tablets just came out, so there are very few apps written for larger Android screens. 
 
 The kicker, though, may be the price. Apple is at the top of its game these days — and at the top of the industry. The rap, of course, is that you often pay extra for Apple elegance. 
 
 But the shocker here, though, is that the iPad 2 actually costs less than its comparably equipped Android rivals, like the Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. That twist must have something to do with Apple’s huge buying clout — when you order five million of some component at a time, you can usually persuade the vendor to cut you a deal. 
 
 But that price detail may turn a lot of heads. It means that for the first time, your heart can succumb to the iPad mystique — without having to ignore the practical input from your brain. 
 
 E-mail: pogue@nytimes.com ||||| IPad 2’s Tweaks Mean Apple Laps Tablet Field: Rich Jaroslovsky 
 
 By Rich Jaroslovsky 
 
 March 10 (Bloomberg) -- The iPad wasn’t slow before. Now it’s faster. It wasn’t bulky before. Now it’s thinner. It wasn’t heavy before. Now it’s lighter. 
 
 That, plus a couple of new cameras, sums up the difference between Apple Inc.’s first tablet and the iPad 2, which goes on sale in the U.S. tomorrow. Taken together, the changes are unremarkable. What’s remarkable is that Apple didn’t really need to do more to maintain its position as the class of the field. 
 
 Here’s something even more remarkable: The iPad is the value-price leader in the market. Trust me, it isn’t often you can say that about an Apple product. 
 
 The new version, which is available in black or white, maintains the same 9.7-inch diagonal touchscreen display, and 1024-by-768-pixels resolution, as its predecessor. It’s when you pick it up that you notice the changes. The iPad 2 is almost startlingly thinner than the first model: .34 of an inch (8.8 millimeters), which is a third less -- and even thinner than Apple’s iPhone 4. 
 
 The weight has been shaved as well, to 1.33 pounds (601 grams) from 1.5 for the Wi-Fi-only editions, and 1.35 pounds from 1.6 for models that add 3G service from either AT&T Inc. or Verizon Wireless. If you go the 3G route, by the way, you’ll have to select your carrier at the outset; as with the iPhone 4, you can’t switch from one to the other on the same device. On the other hand, both Verizon and AT&T will offer service on a no-contract, month-to-month basis. 
 
 Under the Hood 
 
 Under the hood, the principal change is a new, custom Apple-designed processor, called the A5, and graphics that the company says are up to nine times faster. That seems like a lot, and it is, but the differences only become evident upon a direct comparison with the older model. Yes, the new one renders Web pages faster and launches apps more smoothly, but the previous edition was good enough that the improvements feel more incremental than transformative. 
 
 If you’re looking to do something on the iPad you couldn’t do before, you’ll gravitate toward the two cameras, front and rear, which make it possible to send and receive video calls over Wi-Fi with other iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Macintosh computer users with Apple’s FaceTime service. You can also use the cameras to shoot still photos, and video that you can edit using a new, $4.99 iPad version of iMovie, the editing software that comes pre-loaded on Macs. 
 
 No Great Shakes 
 
 Making video calls is fun, and the iMovie app is flexible and easy to use. At the same time, the cameras are no great shakes. Apple won’t discuss their specifications except to say that the rear one will shoot 720p high-definition video, while the front one offers VGA quality. While I found the video to be acceptable, still photos were grainy and barely adequate; if you’ve got an iPhone, you’ll be much better off using it for snapshots. 
 
 It’s also worth noting that the iPad 2’s new, tapered case makes it harder to hook up its docking and other cables, including the one that now connects it to a high-definition port on your big-screen TV. And pay attention if you spend the extra $39 or $69 for Apple’s new “smart cover,” which attaches to the iPad magnetically and automatically puts it to sleep when closed. Tossing the iPad into my computer bag, or even onto the seat of my car, jostled the cover enough to wake it back up by accident. 
 
 Battery Life 
 
 The most important things about the iPad 2 may be what haven’t changed much. Battery life, for instance, remains very good. As part of my testing, I wanted to run the battery down to zero through routine use; I finally gave up the effort because it wasn’t draining quickly enough. Instead, I ran back-to-back videos -- with both Wi-Fi and 3G turned on and the screen brightness and audio cranked up -- until it finally conked out after almost nine hours of continuous use. 
 
 That isn’t quite as good as what I achieved on the original iPad, but it suggests that the new version should be able to attain Apple’s promised 10 hours of playback time when it’s used under normal conditions. 
 
 The most important thing that hasn’t changed with the iPad 2 is the price. Like its predecessor, it starts at $499 for a Wi-Fi-only model with 16 gigabytes of storage, with 32 gigabytes for $599 and $699 for 64 gigabytes; the Wi-Fi-equipped versions each cost $130 more. 
 
 By way of comparison, the best iPad competitor out there, the new Xoom from Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and Verizon, is heavier, thicker and costs $799 for 32 gigabytes of storage, making it $70 more expensive than the comparable Apple model. 
 
 65,000 Apps 
 
 In addition, only a handful of applications so far take advantage of the Xoom’s operating system, a new tablet-optimized version of Google Inc.’s Android software; Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs claims more than 65,000 apps specifically for the iPad. Other Android tablets, such as the Galaxy S Tab from Samsung Electronics Co. and Dell Inc.’s Streak, trail even further behind on price, performance and capabilities. 
 
 So for anyone in the market for their first tablet, the discussion begins -- and for the moment probably ends -- with the iPad. For existing iPad users, the question is whether to upgrade. Unless you truly need the video capabilities, the answer is: Not really. 
 
 But let’s face it: Many of you are going to anyway. So go ahead, and pass your first-generation model to a family member. There’ll soon be a lot more happy spouses, siblings and kids in the Apple orbit. 
 
 (Rich Jaroslovsky is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.) 
 
 --Editors: Steven Gittelson, James Greiff 
 
 Click on “Send Comment” in the sidebar display to send a letter to the editor. 
 
 To contact the writer of this column: Rich Jaroslovsky in San Francisco at rjaroslovsky@bloomberg.net. 
 
 To contact the editor responsible for this column: James Greiff at jgreiff@bloomberg.net.
– Tech reviewers are seeing the light when they check out the eye-popping high-definition display of the new iPad. Lucky columnists with preview models of the iPad's third version are gushing about the screen's brilliant display—with a million more pixels than HDTV—and its processing speed. "These upgrades are massive," writes Walter Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal. "Using the new display is like getting a new eyeglass prescription—you suddenly realize what you thought looked sharp before wasn't nearly as sharp as it could be. It has the most spectacular display I have ever seen in a mobile device." The new iPad even manages to keep its long battery life despite the upgrades. Some of the tradeoffs? The new iPad weighs about 8% more, and is about 7% thicker than the last version. And the high-def displays eat up lots of storage. But it hardly seems to matter. "The display is spectacular. Apple also improved the camera, added dictation and, on some models, the ability to tap into the speediest available cellular networks," notes Edward Baig for USA Today. If you still don't get the picture, here's what the New York Times' David Pogue says: "It's a very, very sharp screen, four times as sharp as the iPad 2," making maps, photos, videos, and text in apps rewritten for the new device look "jaw-droppingly good." The public was sold even before the reviews: Apple expects to sell at least a million new iPads the first day.