We've seen this movie before: a frenzied buildup punctuated by constant speculation. And then Apple actually announces the object behind all the fuss — in this particular sequel the latest iPad, which goes on sale Friday. 
 
 Then the mood shifts. People bummed out by the features that Apple did not put into its freshly baked tablet computer weigh in. No extra storage or expansion options, no smaller-screen model to compete against the likes of Amazon's Kindle Fire. Still no Adobe Flash, and no camera flash, either. Not even Siri, the chatty personal assistant who, depending on where you are coming from, either charms owners of the iPhone 4S or bugs them. 
 
 No big deal. 
 
 Apple may have left a few things out. But Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimates Apple will sell up to 60 million iPads this year. And that's on top of the 55 million collectively Apple has sold since the original iPad was introduced in 2010, spawning imitators and redefining an entire category of computing. 
 
 And nearly everyone who lands the brand new iPad on Day 1 — or more likely sometime afterward, since preorders are sold out — will be delighted. 
 
 Apple's latest tablet strongly resembles the iPad 2. At 0.37-inches and 1.4-pounds, it's ever-so- slightly thicker and heavier (though Apple says most cases and accessories should fit). But the new iPad snatches the crown from its predecessor as the finest tablet you can buy. Period. Similar scenes played out last year with the iPad 2. 
 
 So it goes with the tablet born in 2012, which Apple for reasons not altogether clear did not name iPad 3 but simply the new iPad. On the surface, the leap from the second-generation iPad to the third-generation would appear to be relatively modest. But all Apple did was again distance itself from the competition: 
 
 •An overview. 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. Apple did all this without sacrificing much battery life or jacking up prices. The iPad 2 stays in the lineup and is cheaper. 
 
 An iPad 2 with 16 gigabytes of storage now fetches $399, $100 less than a week ago. An iPad 2 with 3G wireless capabilities from AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless goes for $529, plus a data plan if you choose to add one. 
 
 Meanwhile, new models with just Wi-Fi cost $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB. Same capacity models with Wi-Fi and 4G wireless capabilities command $629, $729 and $829. 
 
 •Fast wireless. The new iPads are the first iPads that access the 4G or 4th generation data networks being deployed nationally (but not everywhere) by AT&T and Verizon Wireless, each with variations on how wireless is delivered. 
 
 The test machine, a Verizon model that taps into the company's 4G LTE network, was really zippy in a week of testing in San Francisco and Austin. Downloading apps was quick, including previously purchased apps that had to be accessed through Apple's iCloud service. Web pages loaded much faster than on an older iPad running 3G. 
 
 The new iPad can work as a personal hotspot that lets you share your speedy wireless connection with up to five other devices, though for now only Verizon has turned on the feature. 
 
 Verizon's monthly data plans begin at $20 for 1 GB, go to $30 for 2 GB and climb to $80 for 10 GB. AT&T offers a 250 MB plan for $14.99; 3 GB for $30; and 5 GB for $50. Keep in mind that with 4G you might well consume more data. 
 
 To some degree, Apple is playing catch-up, because many of the tablets built around Google's Android mobile operating system have had 4G for some time. 
 
 Where Apple continues to claim a huge advantage over Android and other tablet rivals is in the apps ecosystem. The iPad runs almost all of the 585,000-plus apps sold or available free in the App Store, and more than 200,000 apps now are designed specifically for the iPad. Android still has comparatively few tablet-specific apps. 
 
 •A screen to die for. The display becomes your window into all those apps. And the brilliant screen on the new iPad is the thing that will have you salivating. 
 
 You're probably thinking the displays on the first iPad and the iPad 2 were pretty sweet, and you'd be right. Watching movies, reading books, surfing the Web, playing games and admiring photos on the older tablets is not an unpleasant experience. 
 
 But then you have a look at what Apple calls the "retina display" on the new iPad, technology first applied to recent iPhones, and you're blown away. 
 
 Examine the new screen side-by-side with one of its near-10-inch predecessors, and you'll swear you just had Lasik surgery. Text on Web pages or in books is so crisp and sharp that you don't want to go back to reading on an older iPad. Movies and photographs reveal rich detail. 
 
 Apple explains that with a resolution of 2048x 1536, and 3.1 million pixels (four times the number on the iPad 2) the screen on the new iPad is sharper than your high-definition television. The company's marketers are using the word "resolutionary." 
 
 Apple helps drive the spectacular display with a new version of one of its chips, the A5X, with quad-core graphics. Even Apple goes all geeky on you every now and then. 
 
 •Photos and video. Last time around, Apple added those two cameras to the iPad 2; this time Apple souped-up the optics. 
 
 There's an autofocus, 5-megapixel iSight camera, which unlike the camera on the iPad 2 can capture high-definition video up to the 1080p standard. (Movies also play back in full high-def.) The camera has face detection, a sensor that performs well in low light, a fixed f/4 aperture and other optical enhancements. 
 
 Taking a lot of pictures or videos with the iPad is a matter of preference. It's not exactly a point-and-shoot replacement and is a little awkward for shooting. Held a certain way, you can sometimes inadvertently cover the lens when pressing the onscreen shutter button. The alternative is to take pictures by pressing a volume button on the side. 
 
 But the still images and video shot are generally pleasing, despite the absence of a flash. You can do minor edits inside the built-in Photo app and easily tweet images you've shot from within the app. Apple is also pushing a custom $4.99 iPad version of the iPhoto software that is familiar to Mac owners 
 
 If you shoot video and are prone to shake, you'll appreciate the built-in video-stabilization feature that helps steady your footage. And even if you don't plan on shooting much, many apps take advantage of the cameras on the iPad. 
 
 •Dictation. Apple may have kept Siri off the iPad's roster for now, but it did add a dictation feature that lets you use your voice to create notes, e-mails or to write something in Apple's optional Pages word-processing app, or for that matter any Apple or third-party app in which you summon the virtual keyboard. 
 
 You tap a microphone icon and start speaking, then tap again when you're done. The iPad almost always spits out results right away, but doesn't always hear correctly. For example, the word "maybe" was heard as "baby." 
 
 But more often than not the accuracy was decent enough that it wouldn't take long to manually fix errors. Even the commas were typically put in the right places. 
 
 •The battery. Apple claims up to 10 hours for the Wi-Fi-only models, same as before, and nine hours for 4G and about an hour less for Wi-Fi + 4G. 
 
 The iPad got through an entire day of being worked hard with no battery problem. Inside the device is a larger capacity (and physically larger) sealed battery than the one in the iPad 2. 
 
 The third-generation iPad may not be the game-changer that Apple's original tablet was, but you know how this movie is going to end. Apple is going to rake it in on the heels of its latest matinee idol. 
 
 Should you buy the new iPad? 
 
 If you purchased the original iPad all of two years ago and have money to spare, I'd say go for it. Though a tad bigger than the iPad 2, the new iPad is smaller and lighter than the original iPad. You'll appreciate the increased speed, the lovely screen and the presence of cameras. 
 
 If you have an iPad 2, it's a little harder to justify springing for the latest model now, much as you might want to. Yes, the new screen is spectacular, and 4G and the improved cameras are welcome upgrades. But you would have purchased that iPad 2 much more recently and it may be difficult to plunk down extra cash this soon, unless you have a family member who can inherit your current model. 
 
 If you're a tablet newbie, there's no better choice on the market than an iPad, provided — and this is a pretty big if — price isn't an issue and you don't want a tablet that would fit in your pocket, such as the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire. 
 
 The bottom line 
 
 www.apple.com 
 
 $499 on up. 
 
 •Pro. Stunning screen, 4G speeds (on certain models), decent dictation and improved camera optics. Strong battery. Apps galore. 
 
 •Con. Shooting with camera can be awkward. No Adobe Flash. No camera flash. No expanded storage. 
 
 Follow @edbaig on Twitter; e-mail: ebaig@usatoday.com 
 
 Disclosure: Baig is co-author of iPad For Dummies, an independent work published by Wiley. ||||| 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 ||||| But apps that haven’t been rewritten don’t benefit as much. In most apps, text is automatically sharpened, but not in all of them. After enjoying the freakishly sharp text in Mail and Safari, you’ll be disappointed in the relatively crude type in, for example, the non-updated Amazon Kindle app. (Amazon says that a Retina-ready update is in the works.) 
 
 Similarly, high-definition videos look dazzling. This is the world’s first tablet that can actually show you hi-def movies in full 1080p high definition. But Netflix’s streaming movies don’t come to the iPad in high definition (yet, says Netflix), so they don’t look any better. 
 
 There’s another price you’ll pay for all this clarity, too: in storage. Tests performed by Macworld.com revealed that the graphics in Retina-ready apps consume two to three times as much of the iPad’s nonexpandable storage than pre-Retina apps. To update their apps for the new display, software companies must redo their graphics at much higher resolution, which means much larger files. 
 
 (Worse, each app is usually written in single, universal version for all iPad models. So those apps will eat up the same extra space, pointlessly, on older iPads, too — and even on iPhones, since many apps are written to run on both the tablet and the phone. In other words, iPhone owners, too, will wind up losing storage space because of this graphic-bloat ripple-down effect.) 
 
 The resolution revolution isn’t the only change in the iPad That Shall Not Be Numbered. Another big change is 4G LTE. 
 
 That is, the cellular iPad models can now hop onto the very fast 4G wireless networks for data that Verizon and AT&T have built in big American cities. 
 
 (Apple has not changed the prices and configurations for the new iPad. The base model still costs $500, has only Wi-Fi and holds 16 gigabytes. The top-of-the-line model still costs $830, has 64 gigabytes of storage and can also get online via a cell network. You have to choose either the AT&T or the Verizon model, in that case, and pay a monthly fee — $15 to $50 a month, no contract required. These iPads can also get online overseas, although only at 3G speeds; LTE uses different frequencies in other countries.) 
 
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 Being on LTE flavor of 4G is really, really nice. Apps download quickly. Web pages appear fast. You don’t have to wait for videos to load before they start playing. The Verizon iPads offer tethering — a feature that converts that cellular Internet connection into a Wi-Fi hot spot — so nearby laptops can now enjoy the same high Internet speeds. (AT&T says it’s working to get tethering.) 
 
 My Verizon test unit got download speeds ranging from 6 to 29 megabits a second in San Francisco, Boston and New York — in many cases, faster than home cable-modem service. According to tests by PC Magazine and others, AT&T’s 4G network is smaller, but often faster. No doubt about it: life begins at 4G. 
 
 Photo 
 
 Now, 4G is a notorious battery hog. It scarfs down electricity like a football team at a hot dog eating contest. 
 
 Apple, however, was determined to keep the iPad’s battery life unchanged from the last model: nine to 10 hours on a charge. In my all-day nonstop-usage test, it did manage nine hours. 
 
 To pull that off, Apple adopted a three-prong strategy. First, it developed or adopted components that use less power (Bluetooth 4.0, for example). Second, it came up with various software and circuitry tricks. 
 
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 Third, it incorporated a fatter, heavier battery. The new iPad is one millimeter thicker, and 1.8 ounces heavier, than the iPad 2. It’s a very slight difference, but fingers used to handling the old iPad will feel it, and that’s too bad. 
 
 Interestingly, you can turn off the LTE antenna in the Settings app. Without that power hog, you’ll probably get even better battery life. 
 
 So what else is new? A 5-megapixel back camera that takes far better photos than the iPad 2 did. (Which isn’t saying much.) You can capture 1080p hi-def videos now, and a stabilization feature lends a hand when yours is shaky or moving. 
 
 A tiny microphone now appears on the on-screen keyboard. Tapping it lets you speak to type, exactly as on the iPhone 4S. 
 
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 For most people, that’s a huge blessing; typing on glass has never been a joyous activity. The recognition is fast and accurate, at least when you have a strong Internet connection (the transcription is actually performed by faraway servers). 
 
 Weirdly, though, speech-to-text is the only piece of Siri, Apple’s smart voice-control software, that the new iPad inherits from the iPhone 4S. You don’t get the rest of Siri’s features: the ability to set alarms, send text messages, look up calendar appointments and snag facts from the Web just by asking out loud. That the full Siri isn’t available smacks more of a marketing department holdback than technical limitations. 
 
 The world has changed since the iPad 2 came out. Stripped-down, smaller and far less magical rivals like the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet cost only $200. (That, probably, is why Apple still sells the iPad 2 at $100 less than the new models.) 
 
 Dozens of would-be iPads have come — and, in many cases, gone. (Shall we have a moment of silence for the Hewlett-Packard TouchPad and the flailing BlackBerry PlayBook? Nah.) 
 
 But the surviving rivals still sell in minuscule numbers compared with the iPad, and that’s not likely to change now. 
 
 The new iPad doesn’t introduce anything that we haven’t seen before, either in the iPhone or in rival tablets. There’s no Steve Jobs “one more thing” moment here; Apple just took its white-hot iPad and added the latest screen, battery and cellular technologies. 
 
 If you’re in the market for a tablet, here’s the bright side: For the same price as before, you can now get an updated iPad that’s still better-looking, better integrated and more consistently designed than any of its rivals. 
 
 And if you already have the iPad 2, here’s an even brighter side: At least this time around, you don’t have to feel quite as obsolete as usual.
– 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.