iPad 4 (Late 2012) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on December 6, 2012 4:40 PM ESTCamera
The iPad 4 features a 5MP rear facing iSight camera and a 1.2MP front facing FaceTime HD camera. The rear camera shoots photos at 2592 x 1936, while the front facing camera shoots photos at 1280 x 960. The aperture and focal length of the rear facing camera haven't changed compared to the 3rd generation iPad.
| Rear Facing Camera Comparison | |||||||
| Sensor | Resolution | Compressed JPEG Size | Aperture | Focal Length | |||
| Apple iPad 4 | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | 3.4MB | f/2.4 | 4.3mm | ||
| Apple iPad 3 | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | 3.1MB | f/2.4 | 4.3mm | ||
| Apple iPad 2,4 | 0.7MP | 960 x 720 | 344KB | f/2.4 | 2.0mm | ||
| Apple iPad mini | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | 3.1MB | f/2.4 | 3.3mm | ||
| Apple iPhone 5 | 8MP | 3264 x 2448 | 3.1MB | f/2.4 | 4.1mm | ||
| Apple iPod Touch 5 | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | 3.1MB | f/2.4 | 3.3mm | ||
Still image quality out of the rear camera is comparable to the 3rd generation iPad, and clearly better than the iPad mini.
The front facing camera sees the biggest improvement over the iPad 3. The difference is like night and day thanks to the increase in sensor quality and resolution.
| Front Facing Camera Comparison | |||||||
| Sensor | Resolution | Compressed JPEG Size | Aperture | Focal Length | |||
| Apple iPad 4 | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | 426KB | f/2.4 | 2.2mm | ||
| Apple iPad 3 | 0.3MP | 640 x 480 | 117KB | f/2.4 | 1.8mm | ||
| Apple iPad 2,4 | 0.3MP | 640 x 480 | 105KB | f/2.4 | 1.8mm | ||
| Apple iPad mini | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | 372KB | f/2.4 | 2.2mm | ||
| Apple iPhone 5 | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | 400KB | f/2.4 | 2.2mm | ||
| Apple iPod Touch 5 | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | 406KB | f/2.4 | 2.2mm | ||
Video
The iPad 4 shoots 1080p video from its rear camera and 720p on the front. Video shot with the rear camera is encoded using H.264 (High Profile) at an average bitrate north of 17Mbps. This puts the encode parameters similar to those of the iPhone 5 and iPad mini. The same is true for the front facing camera.
The front facing camera shoots baseline video at roughly 10.5Mbps:
Video quality is pretty good as well:
WiFi Performance
Like the iPad mini and iPhone 5, the iPad 4 uses Broadcom's BCM4334 WiFi controller. The 4334 supports dual-band 802.11n as well as fallback to 802.11b/g. On 5GHz Apple continues to support 40MHz channels for a maximum PHY rate of 150Mbps. Performance and reception both remain solid:
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whodakat - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
Whats a Nexus 10?coder543 - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
http://google.com/nexus/10kmmatney - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
The screen is too small on the Nexus 10.KoolAidMan1 - Friday, December 7, 2012 - link
A device with barely enough horsepower to drive its display and a nearly non-existent tablet optimized app library.coder543 - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
agreed! well, kind of. I did enjoy this review. But I do want to see Anandtech's impressions on the Nexus 10, for whatever they're worth.Notice that Engadget published their iPad 4 review on October 30th. It is now December 6th. At this rate, expect the Nexus 10 review around Christmas. I'm not complaining though -- they take their time and do a good job of it.
jeffkibuule - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
Fast, in-depth, accurate. Pick two of three (i should note that fast and in-depth only happens if you have full access to Apple's data AND get pre-release units).hughlle - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
Heres a review. Its fantastic :-)Zink - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
Fast and accurate. Well that's two out of three, nice review.Alucard291 - Sunday, December 9, 2012 - link
Fast inaccurate and pointless. Just like engadget then?Pazz - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
Very impressed that the review is so detailed given the relative small improvements Apple have made on the iPad 3 (Early 2012).I also agree with the phrase "augment what you already have." That really summaries my use of my personal iPad.