Why I'm Upgrading.
First off, it has nothing to do with watching movies! I don't find watching any movie I really care about on a 10-inch screen enjoyable, unless I am on travel and I need a way to kill time, but then I watch stuff that isn't known for great visuals and sound. I still save those for viewing on my home theater. It amazes me that some in this thread actually think this is a benefit of the high-res screen. It ain't.
Also, if this refresh didn't have the retina display I would definitely not be upgrading, even though I do find some of the other additions to be worthwhile (4G is clearly a benefit, but I plan to use my iPad on Wifi, so it's not impacting me one way or the other).
I have used my iPad 2 everyday since March 11, 2011. I'm an engineering prof. I use the iPad for reviewing my lectures, studying, reading journal papers, magazines (both professional trade and just general interest) and for delivering lectures. The first thing you will notice when using either a first or 2nd gen iPad is that the characters in words and equations when viewing any content that was creating for an 8.5-inch by 11-inch page are mal-formed. This makes reading really hard and creates the need to always zoom the screen, even if the PDFs you are viewing are fonted. 1024 by 768 on a 10-inch screen just isn't enough to read any material that was designed for the printed page, be it magazine, journal article, work manual, reports with fine detail, etc. This applies to a lot of fields were technical material is used, whether the person doing the viewing is a prof, a student, an engineer, an architect, a computer scientist, etc. This screen will be a major bump in the usability of the device, whether people in this thread have the the vision to realize this or not, without having the device in front of them. Discounting this screen is a major flaw in understanding how the screen itself impacts the user experience. Frankly, I can't wait to get my hands on my new iPad. The only thing that worries me is that it won't be the same retina display that is on the iPhone 4/4S. The claim that iPads are held at greater distance hasn't held up for me, but maybe that was because I was trying to compensate for the need to read text with fine detail included that was originally designed for the 8.5-inch by 11-inch sheet of paper.
Depending on what I see when I get mine will determine if I will start working up ideas to develop a digital archive of technical papers delivered to users via the new iPad. While I have wanted to suggest to my professional society prior to now, I held back because the 1024 by 768 screen on the Apple 9.7-inch screen was insufficient for the task. The Android tablets were slightly better but since they hold almost no market share I didn't feel comfortable without the proper experience being present on the Apple screen. Hopefully, this will prove feasible now.
I also think that the improved camera on the new iPad will create some new uses for it. With image stabilization, one can actually make nice home videos on this new device. This is definitely not something that could be done well at all in the iPad 2. Apple obviously realized the benefits which is why they have beefed up their apps in this regard. The same thing is obviously true of photos. Apple has also beefed up iBooks and all of the iWorks and iLife apps in anticipate of this new screen technology. I point out that SJ has his hand in this development and knew what the potential impacts would be.
It's too bad that people here seem to be listening to the hype of the Android crowd in saying that Apple fans just buy whatever Apple releases without regard for features. So now some of you can't see how having an enhanced screen on a device which is nothing but a screen is of any advantage. Amazing. Maybe the Droids are correct about Apple fans not thinking for themselves....at least for some.
I will say finally that this is probably the last major feature bump we will see from Apple for the iPad. The device is mature now. This is why it is not called the iPad 3. They don't want users to expect major feature bumps in future versions. You will only see refreshes that bring current tech into the device as it can be delivered at price points that people can afford. So you can either get it now or you can wait...the reason I want it now rather than later is because I only have one set of eyes and I'm not getting any younger. I want to be able to see well-formed characters on the iPad display when I view my own content and that of others.
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