#iPad 3 what you didn't get (right)

Last month I made some predictions about the new iPad 3, and I promised to revisit them after its launch so you could judge if I was correct, or way off mark. Here's what I predicted back in February (in italics) with what the iPad 3 actually has delivered today.

• the iPad 3 it will have basically the same form factor, but may be slightly slimmer and have a smaller bevel around the screen - the iPad 3 case is slightly more tapered but basically it's the same form factor. The 7" iPad that some were predicting is no where to be seen. So I was correct (notice I said "may be slightly slimmer").
• Front and rear facing cameras will be beefed up and there may be a flash - the  rear camera is now at 5MP, so I got that right and it shoots HD video. No flash and I don't have any information on the front facing camera. So I was correct (mostly).
• Faster processor and longer battery life, but no more RAM we're supposed to be using iCloud now - well I'm certainly right here, the iPad 3 now packs the A5X chip! 64GB is still the max RAM, however the battery life remains the same. I'm sure the batteries have been improved, but they've now got to power that new chip, the new connectivity and the new screen. So I was correct here.
• the display will be higher resolution but not the retina display of the iPhone - now, despite what Apple are saying the new iPad 3 does not have a retina display. Apple and Wikipedia define a retina display as: "a display of approximately 300 ppi at a distance of 12 inches (305 mm) from one's eye, or 57 arcseconds per pixel is the maximum amount of detail that the human retina can perceive." The iPad 3  has 264 ppi, which is certainly very HD but not as good as the retina display of the iPhone 4. So I was correct there.
• Siri will be available on the iPad 3 and it will support 4G - the iPad 3 supports dictation but it's not clear if Siri will be built in (which is a puzzle) and of course it has 4G connectivity. So mostly correct here as we're still not sure about Siri.

So, to conclude I'm not at all embarrassed, in fact I wonder what these tech pundits get paid for since all their wilder speculation about 7" iPads, haptic feedback, 3D displays, were all way off mark. As I said back in February the iPad and the iPhone are now like the Porsche 911, the design remains basically the same whilst the internals improve. In contrast here is a typical article today exclaiming "The iPad 3 what we didn't get."