Camera

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:

WiFi Performance - iPerf

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  • whodakat - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    Whats a Nexus 10?
  • coder543 - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    http://google.com/nexus/10
  • kmmatney - 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.

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