Meet The New Apple iPad Retina Display: Is it Worth the HD Upgrade?

The wait is finally over and Apple has finally unveiled its most anticipated feature on the new iPad: The Retina Display.

Its official, the new iPad comes with a 2048 x 1536, 3.1 million pixel display, the most ever in a mobile device.

Until you see it you can't understand how amazing it is, said Phil Schiller in his presentation. For the first time an iPad has a higher resolution than the display screen used for the iPad presentation.

Schiller compared the new iPad to a 1080p , at 1920 x 1080 display, saying the new Retina Display 264ppi comes with 40 percent better color saturation than before.

With the new display, the iPad will seamlessly be able to display crystal clean photos and movies. With the iCloud upgrade, iPad users will be able to re-download purchased movies that now supports 1080p HD.

The new display has been introduced in conjunction with the new major updates to iMovie, which now has storyboards and new editing chops.

Is it Worth the Upgrade?

A recent poll carried out by PCMag readers showed that a Retina Display was the most-wanted feature in the new iPad.

About 44 percent of participants said they wanted a sharper screen, much like the iPhone 4 and 4s. Critics of the iPad 2 have complained that the display is fuzzy and not as crisp as other Apple gadgets.

Putting the new features into perspective, the nearest competition to the 2048 x 1536 resolution is a 1920×1080 laptop display on a 15-17 inch screen, which is only 150 PPI compared to the 264 PPI of the new 9.7 inch iPad--no other device of a similar size has matched it.

New Apps

New apps such as the SketchBook Ink from Autodesk will work wonders on the new Retina Display. It's a new drawing app that focuses on line art. It allows you to create paintings, and import images to draw on them.The program can also export images greater than 100 megapixels, and will be available on iOS in April.

Retina display is luscious. It takes it to the next level and creates an immersive environment.? Professionals and everyday artists are going to love this device, said Chris Cheung from Autodesk.

Existing apps will be scaled up and text will automatically be rendered in higher-res.

Other features of the new iPad

Processor: A5X quad-core processor touted as twice as fast and four times better performance than Tegra 3 chip.

Camera: 5-megapixel backside illuminated sensor on the back, 5-element lens, IR filter, and ISP built into the A5X chip.

Video: 1080p video recording.

Voice Dictation: Supports US English, British, Australian, French, German and Japanese.

4G LTE: New iPad now has 21Mbps HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA at 42Mbps, with LTE taking the cake at 73Mbps. Verizon, Rogers, Bell, Telus and AT&T will be the LTE partners.

Battery Life: 10 hours of battery life still! 9 hours on 4G!

Size: 9.4mm thin, weighing 1.4lbs.

Price: $499 for 16GB! 32GB is $599 and 64GB for $699.

Release Date: March 16th.