Fresh to the core
Apple's new iPad lives up to the hype and with TrueMove H's new app, you can junk the TV
After months of hype, the third generation of the iPad dropped from Apple’s boughs into Thailand three weeks ago. What’s fresh about “the New iPad”, is the 9.7-inch Retina display that makes watching videos, viewing photos and reading web pages and e-books an eye-opening pleasure.
The LED-backlit glossy wide-screen Multi-Touch display features 2048 x 1536-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch. That’s higher res than a full HD TV, which has 1920 x 1080-pixels.
The pin-sharp screen delivers beautifully clear HD movies, dazzling photos and crisp text.
Especially enjoyable during our test was reading web pages. National Geographic, CNN.com and ABC.com snapped up on the screen with jet-black text and bright, colourful photos.
Shift your focus from the screen and you find the body is just as gorgeous, with white frame at the front and silver back cover.
The tablet packs in power and performance too thanks to its 1 GHz dual-core Apple A5X engine, custom-designed with quad-core graphics.
The touch screen was very responsive with menus, scrolling options and pages snapping to attention.
There were no quibbles with its main camera, either. The 5-megapixel snapper has an impressive f/2.4 aperture and is capable of recording full HD 1080p video of up to 30 frames per second. The camera took beautiful photos for a mobile device.
The new iPad supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connection as well as 3G and 4G. It uses the 4G LTE of 700 and 2100 MHz. For 3G connection, it supports UMTS/HSPA and HSPA+ of 850, 900, 1900 and 2100 MHz.
We tested it on TrueMove H’s HSPA+ 3G connection, with a maximum download speed of 42 Mbps. We found we could update and check our Facebook page status very quickly. Web pages with extensive photos came up very fast and HD YouTube clips also downloaded briskly.
Meanwhile, the high connection speed allowed the new iPad to make the most of two special applications TrueMove H has developed for iPhones and iPads.
The H TV application allows you to watch True Visions TV programmes wirelessly while H Music is for listening to tunes online, watching music videos and interacting with other H Music users.
The H TV app will stream more than 90 True Visions and free-TV channels, including three HD stations.
The app was developed for the smaller screen of the iPhone so you have to 2x zoom to use it on the iPad, making the picture less sharp. But TrueMove H tell us that a special iPad version will be released soon.
Despite the sharpness issue, we enjoyed watching the three HD channels – TrueSports HD 2, KMTV and iConcerts HD – which ran smoothly via the app. But we found that non-HD channels suffered because the new iPad has such a high-resolution screen.
To download and install the H TV app on an iPhone or iPad, you need a TrueMove H Sim card.
The H TV app will first check the strength of 3G signal in your current location and then adjust the streaming speed accordingly. You can also use the H TV with Wi-Fi connection.
H TV allows iPhone or iPad users to watch 59 free-TV channels, including Nation Channel, Mango TV and Spring News.
A TrueVisions Platinum package customer can also watch another 29 channels, while Gold customers get one less.
The Platinum package’s 29 channels include TrueSports 1, TrueSports 3 and TrueSports 5. The app’s project chief told us that many iPhone and iPad users tuned in while travelling home from work and watched the big matches that ended the English Premier League season.
More of a music fan myself, I enjoyed watching videos and listening online on the new iPad using the H Music application.
The app does not allow you to use a Wi-Fi connection, though. Instead, you need to use the TrueMove H number and leave the data carrier on.
TrueMove H has joined hands with Universal Music to provide the H Music service. It lets you browse for popular videos and music by artist name or song title. You also get cloud room to store your favourite songs and share them with online friends.
There are special activities available via the app too. For example, TrueMove H recently gave away free tickets for Lady Gaga’s Bangkok concert and offered fans of singer-songwriter Greyson Chance the opportunity to meet their idol.
The new iPad is available from TrueMove H for Bt20,500 (16 GB), Bt23,500 (32 GB) and Bt26,500 (64 GB). True Card holders get a Bt2,000 discount and Net (i) subscribers get their Bt899 monthly subscription cut by 50 per cent for four months.
Key specs:
Platform: iOS 5
CPU: 1 GHz dual-core Apple A5X custom-designed with quad-core graphics
Cellular networks: 4G LTE (700, 2100 MHz)3; UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Camera: 5-megapixel iSight camera; 1080p video recording
Display: 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Retina display with 2048-by-1536-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi)
Battery: Built-in 42.5-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery
Storage: 16/23/64 GB
Size: 241.2 (H) x 185.7 (W) x 9.4 (D) mm
Weight: 662g
