[19.03][ROM][X Series] Virtuous S4V Alpha3 [Sense 4.0 Android 4.0.3] for hTC EVO 3D

Eclipse

Virtuous Eclipse is currently based on the leaked HTC One S RUU  1.53.401.2  Eclipse is the result of a collaborative, team effort by the following developers: Flemmard, Diamondback, chrisch1974, rmk, mdj, seo, eViL D, Cypis cjward and tablden.

Supported Devices

• HTC EVO 3D GSM (HTC Shooter_U)
• HTC Sensation (HTC Pyramid)

Virtuous X-Series

This series is for ROM's that are not feature complete, are test builds that may or may not receive any future updates. We generally would not recommend these builds for people that rely on there phone 100% of the time, they may, assuming you can live with bugs or missing features be suitable for daily use.

Features

• Based on the leaked One S ROM ( 1.53.401.2 ).
• Unsecured / Deodexed / Zipaligned / Rooted
• Heavily optimized for fluid performance and usability.
• Overclocked kernels with numerous additional kernel modules. 
• Bloatware and unnecessary applications removed.

Screenshots

	Gadgets powered by Google

Important Notes

You must complete a full wipe prior to installing this ROM the first time. We also recommend wiping between upgrades, but you are welcome to try upgrading without a wipe. However, no support will be provided if you file a bug without having wiped prior to submission.

Bugs and Feature Requests

The most useful way to report bugs is using our tracker.  If you find an issue you are fairly confident is a bug, head over to our development site.  Before creating a new bug, make sure one describing your problem does not already exist.  If it does, please add details to the existing bug.  Otherwise, feel free to go ahead and create a new one.

Downloads

We ask that you do not re-post direct links to our downloads and instead refer users to this webpage.  This ROM is released as a unified package, meaning there is a single updater zip for all supported devices.

Download ROM & Addons

The source is here! Click me!

New iPhone / iPhone 5 概念設計 你又喜不喜歡?

隨著3月份的即將結束，New iPad的熱潮也會在大多數蘋果迷心中漸漸淡化。因為他們已經將目光轉向傳說中將於今夏強勢登場的New iPhone。而在蘋果發布新產品之前，欣賞相關的概念設計已經成為人們的習慣。這一次，那些創意無限的設計師們又會給我們什麼樣的作品呢？

由國外設計工作室ADR Studio製作的New iPhone概念設計已經新鮮出爐，也許這將是你迄今為止見過最為詭異的iPhone，來看看它的相關參數吧。首先是Sim-less，也就是說這款手機無需插進運營商的SIM卡，它本身就有數據接收功能——Wi-Fi+4G LTE。

再者，New iPhone採用新式音頻區，在金屬一體機身的背部配備兩組揚聲器，所有的控制開關都鑲在手機的頂部以及其超薄機身的邊框處。第三，也是New iPhone“升級”力度最大的一項新特性：配備三個Retinaj顯示屏。手機頂部一個，為用戶展示所有的網絡信息，時鐘，通知中心等；手機底部的屏幕則可以顯示應用，多任務面板等；而正中間的大屏幕僅僅是為了讓桌面釋放更多的空間。

我們可以從這些概念圖當中看到，New iPhone的Home鍵已經變成虛擬形態，集成在手機的第三個Retina屏幕當中，可以通過旁邊的運動傳感器進行激活，這是第四項新特性。當然了，New iPhone也會自帶Siri，陀螺儀等原本在iPhone 4S身上擁有的功能。

我們再來到New iPhone的第五項有別於前輩們的設計——LED邊框，可以用來顯示iPhone的當前電量，或者是展示首選來電號碼。用戶還可以通過LED邊框的專屬應用來進行顏色的選擇，非常拉風。

最後，就是New iPhone的背部了，這也是我們會認為它是迄今為止最詭異設計的主要原因。由於ADR Studio並沒有對此發表任何官方言論，我們也就保留自己的意見吧。

Galaxy S II Android 4.0 更新開始

Samsung 在今天開始，正式為 Galaxy S II 提供 Android 4.0 的升級，只要將您的手機通過 USB 連接到 PC，在 Kies 軟體就會看到相關的更新通知，然後跟著提示步驟便可為 Galaxy S II 升級到 Android 4.0.3 版本，最後，進入設定介面，如版本號碼出現 IML74K.ZSLPE 的字樣，即代表更新完成，快點檢查吧！

Galaxy S II 的 Android 4.0 主要更新功能如下：

1. 新增臉容解鎖功能
2. 修改Screen Capture 方法
3. 新增話音輸入功能
4. Gmail功能提升
5. 新增用戶數據管理
6. 新增多項作業管理介面
7. 網頁一頁盡覽，快速切換桌面及手機版網頁

Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) review (2012)

Apple Source: http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/

Engadget Source review

Apple OS X Lion (10.7) review

Apple's OS X Lion USB sticks now available online for $69

Apple updates EFI firmware on 2010 Macs: offers Lion internet recovery, not much else

You can bid farewell to the days of Apple's theatrical OS reveals -- at least until OS 11 rears its head, anyway. In the meantime, the outfit has seemingly been content to strip away more and more pomp and circumstance with every subsequent big cat release. Lately, the company has settled into an evolutionary release schedule, eschewing full-fledged makeovers in favor of packing in lots of smaller changes, many of them quite granular indeed. It's a trend that can be traced as far back as 2009's OS X Snow Leopard (10.6), a name designed to drive home the point that the upgrade wasn't so much a reinvention of the wheel as a fine tuning of its predecessor, Leopard.

The arrival of Lion (10.7), though, marked a full upgrade. With features like Launchpad and Mission Control, it seemed like it might be the last version Cupertino dropped before finally pulling the trigger on operating system number 11, and perhaps transitioning to something with an even stronger iOS influence. Right now, at least, the company's not ready to close the book on chapter X, but it is giving the world a first peek at 10.8. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Mountain Lion.

Apple OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) in-depth preview

What can we say? It's more of the same: this release introduces a slew of feature enhancements, and of the ones Apple is highlighting, practically all were borrowed from iOS. And we do mean borrowed: the company has cloned some of the best features from its mobile platform. Until now, Mission Control has roughly approximated the iPhone's grid layout in a desktop setting -- but that feature always felt like a bit of an aside, something the user could safely ignore if he or she saw fit. This time out, the mobile influence is far more robust, baked in to the point that it will almost certainly force upgraders to adjust their workflow.

We got our hands on an early version of the OS -- so early, in fact, that it's something of a pre-developer build. (Heck, there isn't even an image of a mountain lion to choose from in the default wallpapers.) The version available to developers today should address some of the kinks we encountered during our testing, not that we suffered all that many hiccups. So what's new in this version?

iCloud

Mountain Lion marks the first major OS X release since since the public version of iCloud rose from the ashes of MobileMe last fall. Predictably, 10.8 sees a much deeper integration with Apple's revamped service. Early on in the installation process, you'll be asked to sign into or create an iCloud account, choosing your .Me address, which, as the system points out several times, cannot be changed later on. As annoying as it might be to create yet another account with yet another web-based service, we highly recommended it. If you don't launch yourself into the iCloud, you'll be missing out on some key features.

When you sign in, the system will merge information stored locally with what you've already uploaded to iCloud. Using iCloud's automatic setup, you can sync a slew of essential functions across your PC, iPhone and iPad, including mail, messages, contacts, reminders and calendars, among others, and you can opt into each thanks to a series of checkboxes. A quick click on the usage meter at the bottom of that screen lets you manage the content you're storing the in cloud. All in all, a quite painless process.

Messages

iChat, you've had a good run -- well, a decent one, at least. But Apple's desktop messaging system was never quite so user-friendly as the one offered up in iOS. So, rather than trying to make iChat more like iMessage, Apple is simply swapping one out for the other. That's a theme you'll see here across these updates -- where Apple found a shortcoming in OS X, it didn't rejigger the existing app or attempt to start from scratch; it simply ported functionality over from iOS.

As with iCloud, Apple does what it can to get you started with the feature as quickly as possible -- the system will prompt you to sign up when opening Mail, or an email message in Safari. (Of course, folks who want to breeze through the setup can always click the word bubble icon in the dock to launch the app later on.) Upon opening Messages for the first time, you'll be greeted by a quick-and-dirty overview of the beta service, which lets you send "unlimited messages to iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac, right from your Mac." In a nutshell, then, the app breaks down whatever divide previously separating the Mac from iOS, allowing you to jump into a conversation on any (Apple-made) device.

Using the service, you can send messages, documents, HD videos and photos (up to 100MB apiece) to one person or several, using phone numbers or email addresses as points of contact. Do keep in mind that just because Apple has put iChat to bed here doesn't mean that all of the service's functionality is gone -- iMessage still incorporates chat services like AIM and GChat. Messages sent through the service are encrypted, and the app also uses a notification to let you know when messages have been delivered / read.

All in all, it's a cleanly designed and incredibly easy to use feature. The majority of the screen is devoted to the current conversation. In general, really, the layout should prove familiar to anyone who has used the mobile version of iMessage. Messages come through in the form of different colored word balloons. Your friends' avatars will appear here, with the word balloons aligned with their faces. As with the movie version, ellipses let you know when the person on the other end is typing. Images sent via the service will show up as previews. Clicking the camera icon along the top of the screen will turn the conversation into a FaceTime chat for when your carpal tunnel proves too intense.

Still, it's also obvious that Apple's tweaked the app to take advantage of the extra screen real estate you'll get on a Mac. All of your conversation live on the left side, with large icons for each person you're chatting with, along with their names and text previews. In the case of group conversations, you'll see multiple pictures laid over one another. Unread conversations are marked with a blue dot, located next to your buddy's avatar. At the top of the column is a search bar that lets you quickly find something buried in those threads -- curse your incredible popularity.

Reminders

Here's another iOS feature ported over to the desktop. For those keen on making reminders -- or simply not forgetting things -- the app helps make and track to-do lists. As newcomers might expect based on the name alone, these lists are styled after pieces of binder paper. Whenever you complete a task, simply tick the box next to it and it'll disappear from the list. Clicking the "i" icon next to an entry lets you set a reminder date, shuffle the priority rating or transfer it to a different list altogether. Lastly, that small calendar icon lets you sort tasks by date.

With us so far? Good. It is indeed easy to use, though it's hardly revolutionary. It's certainly handy that the app can sync with things like Google and Yahoo Calendar, but the real key here, as with other new features we'll tell you about, is how nicely its pairs with iOS, syncing your reminders and lists across your various iDevices. It's easy to see this feature becoming a handy part of some people's daily routines, but Reminders also isn't likely to turn you into a list-making type if you're not already.

Notes

If you got excited by the prospect of Reminders, boy are you going to like Notes. Another juiced-up iOS feature, Notes is a simple way to, well, you know, make notes about stuff. Like its mobile counterpart, the OS X version is designed to look like a legal pad, complete with ripped edges. Apple takes advantage of the additional screen space by adding a search function up top, along with a side column listing all of your notes.

Double click a note, and it'll pop up in its own window, which will live on top of the desktop even after you close the Notes window. The OS X app also allows for richer features like images, links and additional fonts. Again, not the most titillating feature in the world, but the big selling point is the fact that your various jottings can be synced via iCloud. Again, not a bad thing at all.

Notification Center

At last, one of the more prominent features in Mountain Lion. It's a small aesthetic change at first glance, but it will arguably go the furthest toward altering your workflow, if and when you first make that leap to 10.8. When you first fire up the operating system, you'll see a circle icon on the far right side of the top menu bar, where the Spotlight lives in Lion (that's since slid over to the left, ever so slightly). It's best described as a target with a black hole at its center. Get a message and the center of the target lights up blue, and an alert pops up in the new notification stream.

Click the icon once, and the desktop background will shift to the right (the dock on the bottom and the menu bar up top stay put). In keeping with Apple's previous attempts to make your trackpad more touchscreen-like, you can also pull this off with a two-fingered swipe. Click on the menu icon, swipe in the other direction or tap anywhere on the desktop, and everything will shift back to normal.

If you've ever wondered what Apple was saving for the area just to the right of the main desktop, here's your answer -- this is where your notifications live. That iOS 5 feature, which took a few cues from Android, lives here on the Mac. So, get used to pulling to the left, not from the top. It's a change that makes sense given the Mac family's screen orientation; there's just more real horizontal screen real estate to make use of. Though the placement is different, the notifications sidebar is nearly identical to the iOS version, right down to the lightly crosshatched gray background.

Unlike Launchpad and other Lion features you could easily avoid in daily use, Notifications are tough to ignore. When installing 10.8, you'll be prompted to tie in all of your accounts, and once you do, messages become a part of your desktop, with a steady stream of banners lining the right side of the screen. Mail, messages, reminders and the like will pop up, stick around for five seconds and then migrate over to the notification center. Alerts like system upgrades and calendar events will stay put until you manually shoo them away.

Notifications might be our favorite addition in Mountain Lion.

Of course, all of this is quite customizable -- you can toggle between banners and alerts, add and remove sounds or even take notifications out of the equation entirely if you're easily distracted. Still, we'd recommend sticking with them for a bit -- Notifications might well be our favorite addition in Mountain Lion. Apple will also be opening the feature up to developers via an API, which will let them build notifications to go with their Mac apps.

Share Sheets

What's that? You say you want more mobile functionality built into Mountain Lion? Great news, everyone! Apple is baking its sharing button into a good deal of native Mac apps, allowing you to instantly share content from your desktop via email, message, AirDrop and third-party services like Twitter, Flickr and Vimeo. Frankly, it's a somewhat surprising addition. After all, while the functionality makes sense on iOS, where it can be difficult to toggle between apps, you don't tend to hear all that many people complaining about the difficulty of switching between programs on PCs. In fact, that's one of the key things that to this day separates the Mac experience from its iPad counterpart.

That said, the addition of small arrow icons for sharing content from Safari, Preview, Photo Booth, QuickTime and the like (iPhoto is still in the coming soon stages) is a nice feature. Click one of those arrows and you'll see an animated window with a thumbnail for the shared item and a list of local computers with AirDrop enabled. Choosing, say, Message, will black out the rest app, save for a small pop-up window, where you'll enter the recipients name and some text.

As Mountain Lion moves toward a wide release, Apple will likely partner with services beyond Twitter and the others we mentioned. We're really curious to see if the company opts to embrace services by Google (YouTube, please) and Microsoft -- not that we're getting our hopes up.

Twitter

Yep, Twitter gets its own section. Why? Apple loves Twitter, that's why. Not enough for Tim Cook to get his own account or anything, but enough to sprinkle the microblogging service throughout the operating system. For starters, there's the aforementioned integration with Share Sheets (or Tweet Sheets, as Apple has cutely branded them), which let you tweet directly from various apps. Twitter usernames and profile pics have been added to Contacts cards, and tweets will soon be integrated into Mountain Lion's notification stream. The feature is set to be built into the Mac App Store as well, at some later date.

Game Center

Here's one that's not quite ready for prime time. Game Center will be coming soon to a Mountain Lion developer preview near you, but as of this writing it's not quite there. Given the success of the app, which boasts some 100 million registered users, it's probably no shocker that Apple's imported the feature along with various other iOS offerings. As you'd expect, if you've used iOS recently, this brings social gaming to the desktop, letting you play against friends, keep track of high scores and carry on voice chats with opponents.

AirPlay Mirroring

Unfortunately, we had no luck getting this feature to work. Whether it was an issue with our network or just the fact that this was an early build, we can't really say. This is all pretty straightforward, though -- the AirPlay Mirroring you've come to know and love on your iPad is coming to your desktop. If you've got a Mac, high-def television and also an Apple TV, you're good to go. Set up those last two, and you'll see a triangle-in-a box icon pop up on the top toolbar, letting you stream 720p video to your HD display. Apple is also working to let users stream full-screen content directly from iTunes. Interestingly, due to rights concerns, some content will be blacked out on your desktop while playing back on the HDTV.

Gatekeeper

And what of security? Apple's here to reassure us that just because OS X has a reputation for being relatively malware-free, that doesn't mean the company isn't actively working to gird the OS against various threats. In a sense, Gatekeeper is an attempt to extend the company's infamous (but secure) App Store vetting process to the entire web, creating a way to identify and block unsafe applications regardless of where they came from.

The company is basically offering registered developers, with Developer IDs, the opportunity to create a secure certificate. Those developers will use that certificate to digitally sign any applications they create. Apps that are thusly signed can be safely downloaded and installed to Mountain Lion but, if Apple discovers any cause for concern with apps created by said developer, all apps signed by that certificate can be blocked.

There's more flexibility here than in the App Store, thankfully. Users can opt into three security settings, with the most strict allowing only software from the Mac App Store to be installed. The next step down allows software to be installed from anywhere, but all software must be signed as described above. The final option is to open the gates and allow anything to be installed from anywhere.

Even if you use the second security option there is a manual override, which could be useful if you really want to install that older version of TweetDeck you found online.

Chinese

Mountain Lion also brings a litany of improvements for Chinese speakers, including better word and phrase suggestions, autocorrect, enhanced handwriting recognition and the ability to type in English without changing keyboard settings. The popular Chinese search engine Baidu will be built into Safari, and services like Sina Weibo, Youku and Tudou will fill out the Share Sheet options.

Outlook

It was with Lion that we really started to see a blurring of the lines between mobile and desktop, and in a lot of ways, Mountain Lion delivers on that promise. Really, it's not unlike what we're seeing in the still-evolving Windows 8 and, to a lesser extent, Ice Cream Sandwich, which is determined to create some unity between Android phones and tablets.

Of course, 10.8 is more than simply a mobile operating system ported to the desktop -- what we're seeing are ongoing revisions to a robust desktop OS. There's still plenty that OS X can do that the iPhone and iPad can only dream of. After all, features like Mission Control and Launch Pad are ultimately built on top of a rich desktop experience, and much like the Mac App Store, users can largely ignore them (though you'll be missing out if you do).

Mountain Lion feels like yet another step on a longer-term journey for Apple.

Like its predecessor, Mountain Lion feels transitional. It seems like yet another step on a longer-term journey for the company -- a strategy Apple has hinted, at but never fully mapped out in public. For the most part, these moves are promising -- given the number of gadgets we carry around at any one time, a push toward integrating the mobile and desktop bits can't be a bad thing. What's slightly troubling, however, is the company's apparent attempt to exert as tight a control on its desktop operating system as it currently wields over iOS. Look at Apple's fight against jail-breaking: the outfit will go to great lengths to maintain quality control. Apple is simply taking pains to block bogus apps, but even that can be a slippery slope. In the company's defense, it is offering users the ability to opt out -- a courtesy not offered in the iOS App Store. As long as Apple sticks to that kind of relative openness on the desktop, we should be in good shape.

As always, we're going to reserve final judgement until we can test a final version of the OS. For now, though, we like what we see. This may not be the jump to OS 11 we were expecting after Lion, but it certainly marks a promising step forward for the OS -- and one that's arriving a mere year (give or take) after its predecessor. And as for price? Apple isn't talking, but it seems a safe bet that it'll run around the same price as Lion.

The New iPad review (2012)

The Source

What's in a name? Or, more importantly, what's in a digit? Would that which we call an iPad by any number less than 2 be less sweet? That's the question Apple posed for us indirectly when it unveiled the new iPad and relegated its future slates (and, presumably, phones) to a numeral-free future. And that new slate? It's much the same as the old one, with a slightly more chipper processor at its (quad) core and support for both Verizon and AT&T's fancy new LTE networks.

But there's one bigger change here, one that will ripple across the industry as each manufacturer struggles to keep up in this ever-accelerating market. That feature is the iPad's new 2048 x 1536 Retina display. It's the best display ever featured on a tablet, probably the best display ever on a mobile device, but is that enough to keep this tablet ahead of the pack? Believe it or not, the answer is yes.

iPad (2012) review

Hardware

Ever held an iPad 2? If so, suffice to say this new iPad is a wee bit thicker and a teensy bit heavier. You now have our full blessing to skip down to the display section below, which is what you're probably truly interested in reading about.

If you didn't know any better you'd think it were completely solid.

For those looking for the full-on review effect, the new iPad is still a slinky thing. Sure, its 9.4mm thickness won't win it any awards (especially since that's .6mm thicker than the iPad 2), nor will its 652g (1.4-pound) heft (51g / .11 pounds more than before), but it feels neither big nor heavy. It instead feels substantial. Dense. It's carved from a hunk of aluminum and there's a cavity in there where the (now bigger) battery and other internals reside, but if you didn't know any better you'd think it were completely solid.

There's none of the flex or the give found in cheaper slates. That solidity certainly helps explain the premium feel, but buyers will have to decide whether that feel is worth the extra space in their messenger bags, or the extra strain placed on shoulder straps.

The chassis is hewn from the same matte aluminum as most of Apple's other devices, with a gentle curve on the edges tapering down to a flat back punctuated by a glossy black Apple logo. The shape of that taper is slightly different than before, a bit more rounded on account of that extra girth, but you'll be hard-pressed to notice without a side-by-side comparison.

Looking at the back you'll still find the speaker in its same lower-left position, still a rather unfortunate placement. Most of the sound is therefore directed away from where you want it, namely in your ears, and we can't say as we noticed any improvement in the overall aural quality compared to this tablet's predecessor. Next to that is the dock port, still the full-sized 40-pin variety and not the slinky, next-gen connector that we've been hearing is in the works, so your accessories live on for at least one more generation of tablets.

Move up to the side and you'll find the same volume rocker and mute / rotation lock as before, situated in the same place, too. Kitty-corner to that is the wide and flat power button, separated from the 3.5mm headphone jack over on the other side by the same expanse of black plastic seen on the iPad 2, making room in the metal chassis for the antennas to do their thing. WiFi-only models get by without this polycarbonate indiscretion.

Swing around to the other top corner and you'll find the door behind which rests the SIM. LTE does need a SIM, even on Verizon, and the new iPad supports LTE on both AT&T and Verizon. (Rogers, Bell and Telus in Canada, too, though Telestra LTE in Australia is sadly not compatible.) There are different devices here, one for AT&T / Rogers and another for Verizon, but either offer comprehensive non-LTE wireless connectivity options, including MTS / HSPA / HSPA+ / DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz) and GSM / EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz). That means even if you aren't in LTE-land you can expect up to 42Mbps download speeds, which is much faster than the iPad 2.

The WiFi-only models naturally lose all that, but all varieties offer 802.11a/b/g/n connectivity along with Bluetooth 4.0. Even the WiFi-only model can make use of the new voice dictation feature here, which adds a microphone button down next to the keyboard. In our testing it's impressively accurate, capturing even odd words like "Schenectady" without pause. It only works when you have an active network connection and, sadly, its no Siri, which is still not available. The new iPad will not find you directions to body hiding spots nor tell you the weather.

The one final detail on the back is the slightly enlarged portal behind which the new five megapixel camera assembly peers through. It's rimmed by a bit of polished metal as on the iPad 2, so things don't look noticeably different from the outside, but as ever it's what's on the inside that counts -- and indeed you'll have to look a little deeper in this review to see how that new sensor.

The biggest change of all, however, is right there on the front, though tragically for those who like to make appearances the black (or white) glass facade looks exactly the same as it did before. Turn it on, though, and everything changes.

Display

If you're disappointed Apple didn't do more with the new iPad, that's probably because you haven't seen the new Retina display yet.

If you're disappointed Apple didn't do more with the new iPad, that's probably because you haven't seen the new Retina display for yourself yet. Take more than a passing glance and you'll be a believer. Of course, a cynic would say that it's really Samsung who's been doing all the hard work here, as this is (for now, at least) a panel sourced from that company, which should be a strong indicator that Apple's strongest competition on the Android side won't be far behind in launching its own high-res wunderslate.

The biggest talking point is, of course, the truly bonkers resolution. 2048 x 1536 means four times the pixels of the previous iPads and, indeed, a full million more than your average 1080p TV. On the 9.7-inch display this works out to a pixel density of 264ppi. That's considerably lower than the 326ppi the iPhone 4S manages and, indeed, below the magic 300ppi barrier Apple had earlier specified for the "Retina" moniker. But, as you're expected to hold the new iPad further from your face than your phone, the perceived pixel density is said to be comparable.

Really, though, the numbers will be quickly forgotten once you get a look at this thing. If you've previously made the leap from a lower-resolution iPhone to one packing a Retina display you have some idea of what to expect here, but the increased scale really makes the difference shine.

The new iPad's LCD under the microscope

For example, viewing photos on an iPhone was never particularly pleasant to begin with. It always felt too cramped -- okay for a quick "hey, check this out" kind of experience, but not something you'd want to do for long stretches. Looking at photos on the iPad, however, has always been a very satisfying thing, and with the new iPad it's even more so. Not only are things rendered to a higher definition, they're also presented with greater accuracy.

No, the reds and greens won't beat you over the head like they do on one of Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus displays, but everything here just looks right.

The new iPad screen offers a considerably increased contrast and gamut, meaning colors are not only brighter and more striking but more accurate. No, the reds and greens won't beat you over the head like they do on one of Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus displays, but everything here just looks right. That said, stack it next to an iPad 2 and you'll notice the new display is far more cool, and you're unfortunately given no control over that. A few pictures, like of a bright red Ferrari, actually look slightly more accurate on the old display, but by and large the new panel blows the old one away.

This is truly a spectacular display, and in typical IPS fashion it doesn't disappoint at odd angles. It maintains its splendor at broad enough perspectives to ensure your friend on the other side of the couch can also enjoy your latest YouTube fave.

iPad (2012) vs. iPad 2

Yes, there are a lot of hyperbolic adjectives up there in the preceding paragraphs, but that's simply because this is a genuinely nice display. It raises the bar, and that's a good thing. We can't wait to see how the competition responds.

Of course, to make the best use of this new display you'll need new apps that have been up-sampled to take full advantage, and thankfully there are plenty. All of the stock iOS apps have been retooled already, while many big third-party players like Amazon's Kindle app and Evernote have already been upped as well, and the difference is noticeable.

1080p content looks considerably better than on the iPad 2, as you would expect, but even 720p content shows a noticeable improvement. That shouldn't necessarily be a surprise, though, since the old tablet couldn't even manage that resolution.

Performance and battery life

Adding four times the pixels means a lot more work for the CPU and GPU, and the trusty 'ol A5 processor just wasn't up to the task. So, Apple did a little... augmentation, creating the A5X. This processor keeps the same dual-core CPU as the iPad 2 but pairs it with a new quad-core graphics component. The result? Predictably the same when it comes to the CPU-taxing Geekbench, which gave us exactly (nearly) the same score. The web-based SunSpider benchmark was the same. We averaged a low 2,100ms score on the iPad 2 and the new iPad averaged at 2,111ms.

Geekbench	Results (higher is better)
Apple iPad (2012)	720
Apple iPad 2	721
Apple iPad	442
Apple iPhone 4S	623
Apple iPhone 4	375

So, don't be expecting a revolutionary change when it comes to day-to-day usage, but really we still find the iPad 2 to be far more snappy and responsive than just about anything else on the market. So too, then, is the new iPad.

This is the first iPad to offer 4G LTE wireless, and so we were naturally quite eager to load up Speed Test and see what it could do. We received a Verizon model to test and it did not fail to impress, delivering download speeds consistently in the 22 - 25Mbps down range. Uploads, meanwhile, hovered between 16 and 19Mbps with 50 - 70ms pings. That is, needless to say, quite healthy.

We also had the opportunity to test an Orange non-LTE model in the UK and saw speeds averaging 3.5Mbps down and just north of .5Mbps up. That too is respectable but will likely leave you pining for the day the cooling rays of LTE to show up in your hood, especially since the iPad can be used as a wireless hotspot for no extra cost.

Battery life is simply one area where we haven't had enough time to properly judge, but that isn't stopping us from having very high expectations. The new pack inside the iPad is rated at a massive 42.5 watt-hours. That's nearly double the size of the 25 watt-hour pack found in the iPad 2. The reason for the boost is to make sure there are plenty of electrons to shovel into the LTE antenna and the new A5X processor, both of which are presumably quite hungry.

Apple rates the new iPad at 10 hours of casual surfing on WiFi or nine hours if you're doing it using cellular data. We'll be throwing our test unit on our battery rundown test as soon as possible and will update this review as soon as we can.

Cameras

We called the cameras on the iPad 2 "pretty bad" and, well, they are. Thankfully Apple has finally raised the game on the rear shooter for the new iPad, but it's unfortunately left the front-facing VGA FaceTime camera alone. If you're sick of looking murky when FaceTiming with loved ones from a dimly lit room, we're sorry to say it might be time to finally invest in that extra lamp.

iPad (2012) review sample shots (rear-facing camera)

iPad (2012) review sample shots at night (rear-facing camera)

Obviously, the company's time and effort was spent focusing on the lens poking out the back, but in some ways that, too, is a bit of a let-down. It's a five megapixel unit consisting of the same five-element, f/2.4 lens and stabilization processing wizardry found in the iPhone 4S. But, curiously, the bigger iPad takes a step down to a more lowly five megapixel sensor.

Day time video test

Night time video test (done alongside an iPad 2)

But, move past megapixels (as we encourage most digital shooters to do) and you'll find the image quality to be very high here. We found it very easy to take pleasing photos with the new iPad but we didn't see the drastic increase in shot-to-shot speed that we did on the 4S. That phone wowed us with its rapid-fire prowess, and indeed the iPad 2 is quite snappy moving from picture to picture. The new iPad is much slower. It's still plenty quick, on the order of two shots per second, but we'd estimate the iPad 2 is roughly twice that fast.

Still, we'll take quality over quantity, and the new iPad shots are far more pleasing to the eye.

Video has stepped up a good bit to, to 1080p from the previous 720, and again we saw a nice increase in quality over the former iPad. While we still hate the idea of taking pictures or videos with something packing a 9.7-inch display, if you must you will at least have great results now.

Accessories

Thankfully, most cases aren't made to exacting specifications, so there's a very good chance your old sleeve will do just fine.

So width and height are the same as the iPad 2, but as we mentioned above thickness is now .6mm greater than before. That's but a sliver of a difference and difficult to notice unless you stack the two next to each other, but if you're dealing with a finely-crafted case made to exacting specifications that increase is more than enough to cause issues. Thankfully, most cases aren't made to such high standards, so there's a very good chance your old sleeve will do just fine.

We tried a few different sleeves and loose cases and there was no issue with the majority of them. Some plastic-backed cases that clip on refused to hold on very securely, but for the most part this new iPad is backwards compatible. Indeed, Apple's own Smart Cover clips on to the side magnetically just like on the iPad 2. In fact all the other first-party iPad accessories should be perfectly compatible, thanks in large part to the continuation of the 40-pin dock connector. And, thanks to the hugely useful iOS version of iPhoto, the SD Card Reader and Camera Connector are of particular value now.

But, the best accessory for the iPad will likely prove to be the new Apple TV. This guy features a friendlier UI and, finally, 1080p support. It isn't the iOS-having, app-running update that we've been hoping for, but beaming 1080p content straight to your TV over AirPlay is about as easy as it gets and, for many, worth the $99 price of admission.

Price, options and data plans

The new iPad is priced exactly the same as the old iPad used to be. That is to say, a 16GB model starts at $499. 32GB costs $100 more and 64GB is another $100 on top of that, for a range-topping price of $699. Rather unfortunately there's still no 128GB option, a particular shame given the size of the textbooks Apple is now hawking. More storage is a must for whatever the next new iPad turns out to be.

The 3G / LTE models, whether you choose AT&T or Verizon, will cost you $130 more. So that's $629, $729 or $829. Cheap? No, but those are at last off-contract prices. As before, data plans are all month-to-month, so no worries about signing away the next two years of your wireless freedom. You'll simply buy your data at the beginning of the month and next month, if you want more, you'll have to pay again.

On AT&T you're looking at 250MB for $14.99 monthly, but on LTE we could see blowing through that in a day. A more realistic 3GB will cost you $30 while 5GB is $50. AT&T does not offer tethering yet (though it intends to in the future), so if you want your slate to also be a portable hotspot today you'll need to go to Verizon. There you'll be paying $20 for 1GB, $30 for 2GB, $50 for 5GB and $80 for 10GB on the top end. If you opt to buy your iPad pre-activated through Verizon they'll also give you the option of paying $10 for every GB over your allowance.

Wrap-up

Original iPad review

iPad 2 review

New iPad first hands-on

With the new iPad, Apple has chosen to take small steps in many areas, making a logical upgrade on the camera, a modest improvement in graphics performance and the perfectly natural addition of LTE wireless. Other things have been left the same, like the overall size and form-factor, speed, the selection of capacities and, most importantly, the pricing. It's only with the display that Apple made a truly big step forward here over the iPad 2, and for many that's enough to make an upgrade worthwhile.

The new iPad doesn't do anything substantially better or particularly different than the iPad 2, offering the same rich world of content as before. But, it's the amazingly high quality window into that world the new iPad offers that is completely unmatched -- for the moment. We have no doubt that others will be bringing similarly high-res offerings to market soon, but for now the new iPad takes the cake. Is it worth a purchase if you still have the original iPad? Yes, absolutely. The iPad 2? That, dear readers, largely depends on how much disposable income you're swinging around, but if you have the means...

Mat Smith, Richard Lai and Zach Honig contributed to this review.