February 29, 2012, 10:41 AM —
You can tell Leap Day is weird, because the rumors are mostly Apple-related! Wait, what? That’s almost every other day in the tech new game? Oh, fine, be that way.
I would have had a nice Android tablet rumor for you, about a competitively-priced Sony model, but that was confirmed before I could write it up. The “P,” with its funky clamshell design, is going for $400 with a two-year AT&T contract, or $549 on its own. And while it’s running on Android 3.2 at the moment, it’s slated to receive a 4.0 upgrade this “spring” (which can be a very long season when it’s defined by waiting for a firmware update, believe me).
On to what people are really blabbing about: iPads, Apple TV, and, to a lesser extent, iTunes Match. With an Apple event scheduled for next week, the rumor trade is centered on Cupertino.
Thicker iPad 3 arriving next week with Retina display, no button, 4G LTE, and better camera
Source: Quite a few places, but, hey, TechCrunch didn’t do too bad aggregating them.
Details: The Retina display is double that of today’s iPad, the no-button rumor seems like the logical conclusion of Jobs’ aversion to buttons, the 4G LTE is just keeping with the times (and Verizon and AT&T’s recent upgrades), and a better camera is simply available.
Likelihood: When we write “thicker,” we mean “measurably thicker, but only if you have serious calipers, and hardly noticeable by human hands.” The Retina display is all but confirmed. As for the no-button thing, probably not likely, as it would be more of an adaptation of existing Android technology. 4G seems about 50/50, and the better camera hardly matters--taking photos with an iPad is still goofy.
Get excited?: As with last week, and the week before that--sure, if you’re in the market for a new $500 iPad. If not, at least the iPad 2 will soon be flooding the refurbished market.
New Apple TV coming along with iPad Wednesday
Source: 9to5Mac
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