The hysterical crybabies over at Consumer Reports — who, ever since the iPhone 4 came out, never have been able to let a new iOS product pass without Chicken Littling it — have just released a report “supplementing” their earlier one, saying that while the new iPad gets “harmlessly hot” in testings (more on this below), well, so do other tablets… like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (which reached the same 121 degree temperature in their tests) as well as the Asus Transformer Prime (which was close, at 117 degrees).
If you’re interested, you can go read their report here. Here’s something to note, though: although in an email to Cult of Mac tipping us about their additional tests, Consumer Reports writer James McQueen said that the most they found was that the iPad could get alternatingly “harmlessly hot” or “harmlessly warm” (a direct quote), this phrase (or even just the word “harmless”) never appears in their public report, nor did it appear in their last report. Hard to get people all fired up — wokka — about harmless heat, isn’t it?
Well, here we go again. Despite the crowing of many “journalists” looking for a click, or so-called consumer agencies which have dumped objective reviews to chase page views, the public loves it some new iPads. According to a survey by ChangeWave, fully 82% of respondents said they were “very satisfied” with the new iPad. And adding in the numbers for “somewhat satisfied,” (16%) we get a 98% satisfaction rating. Not bad, right?
In the iPad 1, the Wi-Fi antenna hides behind the plastic Apple logo
Andy Patrizio of Tablet PC Review decided to get to the bottom of the sporadic reports of bad Wi-Fi reception in the iPad 3. Armed with the new iPad, a first-gen iPad, and a couple of iPhones (3GS and 4S), he fired up the SpeedTest app and pointed it at his Cisco WRT310N 802.11a/b/g/n router. The results? The iPad 3 came in dead last, but it’s not as bad as you might have heard.
How Much business data goes over iPad 3G and LTE connections without IT knowing?
LTE is one of the key features available on the new iPad. All that extra speed can be a great feature for consumers and business users alike, although the ability to burn through data that quickly means that all LTE iPad users need to be more conscious of their data use than with the previous 3G iPads (the same will no doubt be true for the next iPhone).
A new study claims that most iPad Internet access (94%) still takes place over Wi-Fi networks, however. That seems like bad news for carriers and it sounds like comforting news for CIOs and IT professionals worried about unknown iPads in their companies. After all, if only 6% of iPad connections occur over 3G/4G, then most iPads in the office are using a corporate network and can be tracked and monitored to ensure data and network security.
Unfortunately digging into the actual data from the study reveals iPad users with 3G and LTE models are actually spending a lot more than 6% of their time using their cellular connection.
Give most elderly people an iPad and even if they are not tech savvy, they suddenly just get it. Unfortunately, not so for this guy from a German comedy show, who puts his iPad’s Gorilla Glass coating and liquid damage indicators to the test by using his brand new tablet as a chopping board. His daughter’s expression at the end pretty much covers the same surge of horror I feel at the idea of using my new $829 iPad Wi-Fi + LTE for similar ends.
Showing off the ADT Pulse app is just one way the iPad delivers sales benefits for ADT
One of the immediate associations that most people have when they think about the iPad in business is the iPad as a sales tool. Not surprising given its form factor and the ease with which it can display presentations, offer up a portfolio, and generate quotes on the fly.
Do those abilities really add up to increased sales over binders of information, colorful brochures, and canned presentations on DVD? For home security giant ADT, the answer is an emphatic yes.
In the desktop and laptop world, computer chips tend to get smaller over time, but with the A5X, Apple has gone a different route: they’ve actually made the chip bigger than its predecessors.
How big is the A5X? Over 310 percent bigger than the A4 shipped in the iPhone 4 and original iPad.
Here at Cult of Mac, we’re interested in building a data set which we can use to determine which networks offer the fastest and most reliable 3G & LTE coverage to new iPad owners. We’ll then use this data to report on which new iPad carrier is the best in each country or territory where it’s available.
Will LTE networks be crushed by demand, or will the upgrade to true 4G be as dramatic as the likes of AT&T and Verizon would like us to be. Finally, will most people who buy an iPad Wi-Fi + 4G even live within an LTE coverage area?
If you’ve got a new iPad Wi-Fi + 4G, could you take a couple minutes out of playing with your new, shiny tablet and help us out?
Air Display for iPad will soon give you a small taste of future Retina Display Macs to come.
Do you use your iPad as a second monitor using Air Display to wirelessly extend your desktop? If so, bet you wish you could harness your new iPad’s retina display, don’t you? Unfortunately, the functionality currently isn’t baked into Air Display, but that’ll soon change… and for the first time let millions of OS X users experiment with the hidden HiDPI mode in Lion and Mountain Lion.
FreedomPop's plans include a 4G iPhone case hotspot
Earlier this week, NetZero launched a new freemium mobile broadband service using Clearwire’s WiMax 4G network. Although NetZero is the first U.S. company to launch a “free” 4G service, it isn’t going to be the last. Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom has begun work on a similar service called FreedomPop that will launch this summer.
FreedomPop plans to offer more monthly data for free than NetZero’s paltry 200MB. It will also target iPhone owners as a major part of its user base.
