After months of rumor and speculation, Apple’s new iPad hit stores Friday.
Touting a “resolutionary” display, the tablet had a record weekend and sold 3 million units, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a news release.
AT&T said it also “set a new single-day record for its iPad sales and activations.”
Some University students added to that record weekend by nabbing their own iPads on launch day.
Chemistry junior Sean Hill chose to avoid long lines at the Apple store and got his iPad by mail. After moving files from his iPad 2 to the new iPad, he immediately began exploring the device.
“The weight difference made it feel more solid and less fragile than the iPad 2, like it was cut from solid aluminum,” Hill said.
At 0.11 pounds heavier and 0.03 inches thicker, the difference between the new iPad and its previous incarnation is notable.
Aside from the weight, another difference is the display. The new iPad packs Apple’s “Retina display,” so called because
it’s difficult to see individual pixels on the screen. The resolution is much higher than that of the iPad 2 and most HDTVs.
Hill said he truly noticed the detail when typing his notes in class.
“The amount of detail in the bullet points is insane,” Hill said.
Hill opened Flipboard, an app that presents news as pages that can be perused like a book. He flipped through a few articles in amazement of the display’s clarity.
Close to the screen, text looks just like a printed page.
“It feels like I’m reading a magazine,” Hill said.
He also flicked through several pictures from a trip to Europe and pointed out impressive-looking pictures of Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower.
Hill took a picture of a water bottle with the rear-facing camera, and he said the results were noticeably better than the iPad 2.
While Apple rates the new iPad with the same 10-hour battery life as the iPad 2, it didn’t match up when Bluetooth was turned on. Hill played a game with iPad 2 owner and fellow chemistry junior Julie Ngo over Bluetooth for 30 minutes, and battery life plummeted 20 percent.
Some drain could be attributed to the new iPad’s quad-core graphics processor, which improved graphics on games like “Infinity Blade II.” But Hill said there aren’t any drainage issues during normal use.
At $499 for the base model, some may not see the value in upgrading for minor spec bumps, but Hill had no regrets for ditching his iPad 2 for the new model.
“For me, as an Apple lover, it was worth it,” Hill said. “But it depends who you are. The screen really did it for me.” Ngo, on the other hand, said she didn’t feel like the screen was reason enough to upgrade.
“Personally, I wouldn’t spend any money on it,” she said. “My iPad 2 still works fine, so I see no reason to upgrade.”
Don’t expect the testing center to get any new iPads, either.
Proctors at the testing center in Himes Hall use the iPad 2 to check on students while they take exams, but they won’t upgrade in the near future, according to Frank Sipos, contingent worker at the Office of Assesment and Evaluation.
“We asked the lab manager, and his short answer was ‘no,'” Sipos said.
 
—- Contact Taylor Balkom at [email protected].