So its been a week since I stood in line at the Apple Store on Walnut and handed over $599 for the 32GB new iPad, and I figure its time to actually write about it instead of just tweeting screenshots at people who didnt ask.
First thing: the screen really is as big a jump as everyone said. I know, I know, every gadget review this month has used the word "dramatic" about the Retina display and Im about to do it too because theres genuinely no better word for it. I opened up a PDF of an old design doc I made two years ago and could suddenly see every jagged edge on text I swore was clean when I made it. Photos from my old point-and-shoot look like they were taken on something twice as expensive. Reading is just... easier? My eyes dont feel like theyre working as hard by page three of a Kindle book, which sounds like nothing until you notice it happening.
The heat thing is real, by the way, not a bunch of forum paranoia. Playing Infinity Blade for maybe twenty minutes with the brightness cranked and it gets warm enough on the lower left corner that I had to switch hands. Not burning-hot, dont let anyone tell you its dangerous, but noticeably warmer than my iPad 2 ever got doing the same thing. Some of that is probably the bigger battery, some of it the A5X pushing four times the pixels. Im not going to pretend this ruins the thing for me, it doesnt, but if youre the type who reads in bed under the blanket like a goblin (me, most nights) youll notice it.
Also: its heavier than the iPad 2. Not a lot. About 50 grams if I remember the spec sheet right. But I hold my tablet one-handed on the train most mornings and my wrist absolutely clocked the difference by day three. Small complaint, doesnt change my opinion of the thing overall, just wanted to say it because nobody else seems to be mentioning it and I feel a little insane reading review after review that only talks about the screen.
Battery life has been fine. Apple claimed ten hours and Ive been getting something close to that with wifi on and brightness around 60%, though obviously that number craters if youre gaming the whole time because, again, all those extra pixels have to get pushed somewhere.
Anyway. Today Rovio finally let Angry Birds Space out into the world and I will be honest, I had zero intention of buying it and then bought it about four minutes after it showed up in the App Store. Ninety-nine cents, which still feels like the correct price for a game that's going to eat two hours of my Thursday. The zero-gravity slingshot mechanic where your trajectory bends around little planets is a genuinely clever twist on a formula thats three years old at this point, and Im saying that as someone who was fully burned out on the original Angry Birds by the fall of 2010. NASA apparently helped with some of the "science" bits in the loading screens which is either a nice bit of outreach or the most 2012 sentence Ive ever typed, Im honestly not sure which.
One more thing while Im complaining about small stuff: my Lightning-shaped hope that the connector might finally change with this generation was, obviously, wrong, its still the 30-pin dock connector, and I have a drawer full of old cables that are apparently going to stay relevant a while longer whether I like it or not. Fine by me I guess, less e-waste, but I was kind of hoping to consolidate.
If youre on the fence about upgrading from an iPad 2 purely for the screen, my honest take is: only do it if you read a lot or look at photos a lot on the thing. If you mostly use your iPad for email and Netflix in bed, the difference wont justify the money, and the extra weight and heat might actually annoy you more than the sharper text delights you. Ill probably have more thoughts once Ive lived with it a full month, but for now Im just going to go lose another hour to flinging birds at little green pigs orbiting a moon.