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New iPad is bad news for Android tablets

This hardware refresh is more than enough to keep the iPad ahead of the Android competition for the foreseeable future.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

Well, we now know a lot more about the new iPad than we did a few hours ago. ZDNet's Jason D. O'Grady has a quick rundown in case you've not been keeping up.

RelatedThe new iPad's great but what's wrong with a good, inexpensive Android tablet?

Is this an evolutionary upgrade or is it revolutionary? Personally, I think that it's evolutionary. There's nothing here that stands out as particularly revolutionary, but Apple tends to use the iPhone as the platform for revolutionary updates. Think Siri. Possibly the most revolutionary aspect of this device is not the technology, but how it will be put to use, especially that high-resolution display.

The biggest disappointment? No Siri. Strange and somewhat surprising. I wonder if this is because Siri is still in beta?

This iPad refresh is bad news for Android tablets on a number of fronts:

  • The iPad has a tremendous graphics advantage over Android tablets, even ones powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 3 processor. Apple claims theA5 chip in the iPad 2 had twice as much graphics power as the Tegra 3. The new A5X has four times the graphics power.
  • Screen density will blow away the competition.
  • Price is exactly what consumers expected it to be. No nasty surprises.
  • Awesome battery life for a high-end device.
  • Availability is a little over a week away, not weeks or months like many tablets.
  • The 16GB iPad 2 will continue to be sold at a reduced price of $399 for the WiFi model and $529 for the WiFi+3G ... that's a clever ploy that helps stitch up the mid-range market.

Bottom line, this hardware refresh is more than enough to keep the iPad ahead of the Android competition for the foreseeable future.

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