Info about the new iPad + Apple TV

This time round, I am of course going to focus on the latest announcements made by Apple on 7 March, which is the iPad and the Apple TV. The new iPad is finally coming out on 16 March! Sadly due to some things I had to settle, I managed to get my iPad to be delivered only on 23 March, which is 1 week late! Abit sad that I will get my 1 week later but at least I managed to get it free lol.

For anybody who are interested in getting the new iPad but not very sure what to expect, here are some of the specs available from one of my favorite website here. The biggest killer feature in my opinion is the new 2048 x 1536 retina display together with the A5X dual core processor with quad core graphics processor chip. I am pretty much a sucker for picture quality so this is a winning factor for me.

If you haven't ordered the new iPad, it may be abit too late to order it by now, especially for Singaporeans which gives a delivery date of 2-3 weeks. If you are planning to order a 4G model (Though Singapore we only have up to a 3.5G network), I would recommend you go to 1 of the telcos (Namely Singtel, Starhub or M1) to queue and buy it. It releases as of 16 March so you can head down and buy it directly from them. Assuming their plans are similar to the iPad2, you will be able to choose between the following.

1: iPad subsidy of approximately $450, signup for a $40/mth data plan
2: iPad subsidy of approximately $30, clone your current smartphone's sim card's plan for $10/mth
3: No subsidy for your iPad with no plan

I recommend that if you have a smartphone plan with the standard amt of 12gb data, clone your sim card. Unless you intend to download a movies on a regular basis, 12gb should be sufficient for your monthly usage. Though of course you will have to wait until the price plans are released by the telcos. I will try to update it here once the info goes up. For now, all you have is the FAQ from Starhub here.

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The other part of the announcement made on 7 March is the Apple TV, with it updated to support 1080p. The Apple TV will not be sold in Singapore, due to a restriction which I believe is set by MDA. Even without the restriction, Apple TV will not be very popular as well since we cannot sign up to the various content providers US users will have such as Netflix. However, I will still be getting it for AirPlay.

For those new to AirPlay, it refers to being able to "shoot" your image, videos and even games from your various iOS devices to your TV. This makes it extremely useful for you to play games on the big screen, have movie streaming sessions on the tv even if you do not have a smart TV, show off your family photos to house visitors and much more.

If you are interested, you can find out more about the Apple TV from here. However, interested Singaporean readers will have to purchase it from the US online apple store and arrange for shipping to Singapore.