After weeks of drooling over pictures and averts of the new Apple iPad, I decided that enough was enough and I did it, I pressed the 'Buy' button on the Network 3 website. It was a hard decision due to the high monthly costs but I knew from that moment that I would not regret the decision. Initially I could not decide whether to order the WiFi model or the 3G model (Or 4G as the new version is known), I fly light aircraft as a hobby and I already knew of many pilots using their iPads up in the sky as a GPS and for this to work a mobile network connection is required, so it was the new iPad 3 with WiFi and cellular connectivity for me! Network 3 were offering the new iPad with their 15GB usage plan for a rather reasonable price of £25 a month with an initial payment of £229 for the 32GB iPad itself, I thought this was a good deal after scouting around the internet looking for a better deal - of which I did not find!


*** Information on the Apple iPad 3 ***

Anyone who's used an iPhone to its full potential will know just how handy the device can be and the iPad is basically a larger version of it with a faster processor and some generally enhanced features. The iPad is a tablet computer that almost does everything needed from a computer. You can browse the internet; use the millions of apps available or even write reviews on Ciao! The iPad 3 is the latest version that boasts a retina display, speedier internet browsing and a few other benefits over the older model. The iPad is a nice size measuring 9.5 x 7.3" and it's very thin measuring 0.37" making it easy to hold and use with its 9.7" display making browsing and navigating easy. The iPad that I chose has a rather large 32GB memory for storing music, pictures, applications etc.

*** Setting the iPad up ***

This job was very easy and the hardest bit was actually getting into the box, the iPad was well packaged and perfectly protected from the battering of Royal Mails postal service. Once the box was opened I was greeted by the lovely looking device, a sim card and a wall charger.... Unfortunately I did not find any earphones inside my package and it seems that Apple do not include them with their iPads, unless Network 3 sneaked them out on entering my SIM card? Nevertheless, I carried on after the earphone issue and all that was required to get the iPad working was to hold the on/off button for a few seconds, answer a few questions that popped up on the screen and I was good to go, wow!


*** Using the iPad ***

The iPad is an absolute joy to use with its responsive touch screen. The new retina display is absolutely gorgeous making websites and images look much better than when viewed on most other devices. The screen responds perfectly to my fingers and it can be controlled with flicks, slides, taps, whacks or whatever I'm in the mood for. I did think that typing would be a challenge while using the on screen keyboard and it sure was at first, but after a few hours of typing away I knew the iPads keyboard perfectly well and it responds perfectly to any input, who needs buttons? Nearly all of the iPads controls are on screen apart from the main button on the bottom of the device that cancels everything on the screen, it's basically an escape all button to take you back to the main menu. The only other buttons on the device are the volume up/down on the side, a silent button to stop the iPad waking you in the night and the on/off button on the top, all of the other commands are done through the touch screen and they all work perfectly.

The iPad has many features as standard such as two built in cameras, a built in speaker and even GPS receivers. The camera is rated at 5MP and it certainly takes some good quality photos showing great detail on the retina display. Photos are easily taken by opening the camera app and tapping the take button, there are plenty of apps available to edit and enhance photos with ease making it a fun yet useful device. I used my iPad to take my holiday photos while we were in Greece this summer, the beauty of the iPad is that a picture can be taken and uploaded to any social website or picture sharing website with ease allowing easy sharing without the usual plugging in of cameras to download pictures. The camera also takes videos of the same high quality and there is no length restriction that I have come across yet, with 32GB of internal memory there's a lot of recording to do. The inbuilt speaker is great for playing videos and music and although the sound is not perfect, it's certainly of a good quality and better than most I have heard in the past.

This new iPad 3 has a built in dual core A5X chip that ensure speedy and reliable performance while preserving battery life. This iPad is super fast in every application and it has yet to crash on me, the web browsing is exceptionally fast and in all honesty, everything works perfectly! This device is faster than my laptop that cost over twice the price of this little iPad.

*** App's etc. ***

There are plenty of apps available for the iPad to keep the user entertained, I've used mine daily for almost 2 months and I'm still finding new apps and games that bring me joy! The most common are Facebook, Twitter, eBay, PayPal, Lloyds TSB, Tesco, Various Cinema's, BBC I player, Sky Go.... There are so many available that offer plenty of great features. The apps allow you to contact friends, watch TV, play any radio station, order food etc. I love the apps for pilots such as navigating, flight planning and general aviation information, not only is this device fun but it can also greatly help in day to day life for many people.

My pilot navigation apps all work perfectly and the iPad can tell the altitude the aircraft is flying at, the groundspeed, the heading by using it's built in electronic compass and many other flight planning readings. My iPad has helped me find airfields that I didn't know existed making my flying more enjoyable and even less stressful. I have also bought a few apps for navigating on the roads, for 69p I have downloaded a full SatNav for use all around the UK and it works perfectly - just as good as any Garmin, TomTom or any other satnav around.

*** Durability, battery life etc. ***

The ipad's front screen area is all made of glass and this did worry me at first resulting in me running to the shops to buy a case for my new baby in case of an accident. The glass is obviously very strong as it's been bashed a few times with various objects due to my clumsy hands, I actually dropped my iPhone straight onto the iPad screen last week while texting someone while not concentrating, the banging noise was quite horrific to hear but my phone bounced straight off the screen without even leaving a mark so this glass must be toughened / strengthened in some way. The back of the iPad appears to be made from aluminum or some other kind of tough but thin metal, this has scratched very slightly on my device but it doesn't affect the use of the iPad in anyway. My screen is still 100% scratch free and it looks as good as new so I'm happy to say that the iPad is rather strong however I doubt that it would survive a fall onto a hard floor without some kind of protection, this would be pushing luck!

Apple claim that the iPad will last around 10 hours of internet browsing on one full charge, obviously this is in perfect conditions, probably with the screen on the lowest brightness setting. I have never had 10 hours of browsing out of my device but I've got close, I generally find that the battery gives me 7 - 8 hours of browsing on low screen settings and I think this is a fabulous battery life for such a large screened device. A full charge generally takes about 4 - 5 hours and I do one of these about twice a week with daily use, the battery lasts longer than any laptop I've owned in the past. I use mine for watching TV, browsing the internet and various other battery draining tasks but it holds up very well.

*** Is it easy to use? ***

The iPad can be a bit daunting at first with all of the fancy buttons to press on screen. Anyone that can use an iPhone will be able to use an iPad with ease as they are very similar. The iPad is very much bigger than an iPhone which makes it much easier to use without the accidental pressing of the wrong buttons every now and then as I find with my iPhone. The menus are easy to navigate and they are nicely set out making the iPad a pleasure to use. The only slight complaint I have is that the device is quite hard to hold without a case fitted, I just can't figure out where to hold the device and I never felt comfortable using the device until I fitted a leather case. It would be nice if they made a slightly smaller iPad but I've heard rumours that a 7" version may be coming out in the next year or so? Time will tell!


*** Overall opinion ***

As you can probably tell, I love my iPad and I don't plan on parting with the beast anytime soon. It has almost replaced my laptop entirely and it's fantastic for reading and rating on Ciao. The web browsing never crashes, never gets slow and it has not let me down in any way yet. I highly recommend the iPad 3 and it's a device that I will continue to upgrade throughout the rest of my life as I simply could not live without it! It has replaced all of my music players, cameras and other media devices; it really is an all in one package. Thank you to Apple for designing such a stunning device.