The New Apple iPad: Retina Display, 4G LTE, A5X processor, $499 on March 16th

Apple announced the new iPad at this morning's iPad event, and it looks like a stellar upgrade. What can you expect to find in the updated Apple tablet? Well, pretty much everything that we thought we'd see. The new iPad sports a 2048x1536 Retina Display, the highest resolution display that Apple has ever shipped, and that's ever shipped on any portable device. It's also packing in 4G LTE, compatible with both Verizon's 4G LTE network and AT&T's newer (and smaller) 4G LTE network as well. It's got a FaceTime camera on front like before, but this time the rear camera is 5 megapixels and can record in 1080p. Running the show under the hood is the new Apple A5X processor, which has a quad-core graphics chip. In an interesting note from the event, Mike Capps from Epic Games mentioned that the new iPad has a higher screen resolution and more memory than the Xbox 360 and PS3. The iPad also supports dictation with the press of the microphone key on the soft keyboard, similar to what you find on the iPhone 4S. Unfortunately, no mention was made of Siri integration.

The new iPad goes on sale on March 16th (next Friday!) and will sell for $499 for 16 GB, $599 for 32 GB, and $699 for 64 GB Wi-Fi models. If you want the 4G versions, the prices are $629, $729, and $829 respectively. You can pre-order one today from Apple.