iOS 5.1 has been released, alongside the new iPad 3 and new Apple TV. The update brings a variety of new features and bug fixes to iOS including the ability to delete images from Photo Stream, camera shortcut visible by default on lock screen, improved camera face detection, Japanese language support for Siri, genius mixes for iTunes Match, updated AT&T network indicator, improved battery life, and more.

You can get the iOS 5.1 software update directly on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch by using OTA Update, otherwise you can update through iTunes or by downloading the IPSW and performing a manual upgrade.

We have included links to the firmware files below, they are hosted by Apple.
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The all new iPad (iPad 3?) has just been announced, and pre-orders start now March 7!

The actual release date is March 16, and you can expect the traditionally giant lines and sell-outs as usual. because of this, pre-ordering is highly recommended if you don’t want to wait in lines at Apple Stores, or deal with the inevitable supply deficits that have occurred with every major new iOS product launch.

You can now pre-order on Apple’s Online Store, either directly on the website or through the mobile app. If you’re having problems checking out through store.apple.com, download the free Apple Store app from iTunes and check out there instead.

It should be noted that the March 16 release date is for the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia.

International customers will get the new iPad on March 23, including the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Puertostan, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

Also available for order today is the new Apple TV 3 with 1080p, that device will also ship next week and has the same release date.

Thanks to Engadget live stream for the latter images

The new iPad has been announced by Apple! As expected, it has an amazing retina display, a big performance boost, and a new model with high-speed 4G LTE capabilities alongside the standard Wi-Fi fare. Here are some more details of the latest iPad:

iPad 3 Features & Specs

Here is what we know about the next iPad:

• Retina display, with a resolution of 2048×1536, 3.1 million pixels at 264ppi
• A5X Processor, quad-core graphics
• 1GB of RAM
• 5 megapixel iSight camera
• 1080p video recording
• Voice dictation, similar to Siri without the questions
• 3G & 4G LTE connectivity
• 10 hour battery life, 9 hour battery on 4G
• 9.4mm thick, weighs 1.4lbs
• Pre-orders start TODAY, available on March 16
• iOS 5.1

4G support comes to both Verizon and AT&T. Outside of the USA, 4G LTE will also be offered on Rogers, Bell, and Telus initially, presumably with more carriers to come down the road. The iPad can also be used as a personal hotspot with it’s 4G speeds, although the price of that varies per carrier.

New iPad 3 Prices

Both black & white models will be available, as usual:

New iPad with Wi-Fi Prices

• 16GB Wi-Fi – $499
• 32GB Wi-Fi – $599
• 64GB Wi-Fi – $699

New iPad with 4G LTE Prices

• 16GB 4G LTE – $629
• 32GB 4G LTE – $729
• 64GB 4G LTE – $829

(Officially, the new iPad is called “iPad” and referred to as the “3rd generation” model, but many people will call it iPad 3 anyway.)

The next iPad may be released to the public on Friday, March 16, just 9 days after the products launch. It remains unclear whether pre-orders will be possible before then.

This information comes to us from 9to5mac, who cites a reliable source within Apple Stores who noted that significant preparations are being made for an event on that date. Additionally, two new Apple Stores are expected to open ahead of schedule on the same Friday, providing further evidence of a meaningful Apple event occurring that day.

iPad 3 is anticipated to have a high resolution retina display, much faster processors, improved graphics capabilities, and 4G LTE connectivity. Pricing should be the same as existing iPad models, starting at $499 and going up incrementally from there.

There is some question regarding the actual name of the device, with some rumors surfacing yesterday that the next generation iPad may in fact be called “iPad HD” rather than “iPad 3″, though the naming convention is largely irrelevant beyond marketing of the device and is not expected to have any impact on the feature set.

Stay tuned, we’ll know more tomorrow.

The iPad 3 will be priced the same as existing iPad 2 models, even though it is expected to have a significantly improved Retina display, a more powerful processor and graphics capabilities, and 4G LTE connectivity. This unsurprising report comes from 9to5mac, who cites a traditionally reliable source who even provided model numbers of the next-generation iPad. This means pricing for iPad 3 will be as follows:

Wi-Fi Models

• 16GB – $499
• 32GB – $599
• 64GB – $699

Cellular 3G / 4G LTE (?) Models

• 16GB – $629
• 32GB – $729
• 64GB – $829

9to5mac also mentions that some countries with a stronger currency will actually see prices for the iPad 3 go down slightly, though those countries and the final sale prices are not yet known.

While Apple rarely increases the price of products, there was a brief rumor passed around that pricing for the next gen iPad would be slightly higher to accommodate for increased production costs. That sounded unlikely to begin with, and now it appears even less likely.

The model numbers for iPad 3 are alleged to be as follows:

MC705LL/A – J1 GOOD A-USA
MC706LL/A – J1 BETTER A-USA
MC707LL/A – J1 BEST A-USA

MD328LL/A – J1 GOOD B- USA
MD329LL/A – J1 BETTER B-USA
MD330LL/A – J1 BEST-B-USA

MD366LL/A – J2A GOOD A-USA
MD367LL/A – J2A BETTER A-USA
MD368LL/A – J2A BEST A-USA

MD369LL/A – J2A GOOD B-USA
MD370LL/A – J2A BETTER B-USA
MD371LL/A – J2A BEST B-USA

J1 is said to be Wi-Fi and J2 are said to be cellular connected models. Presumably there are two of each to account for the iPad being available in both black and white colors.

iPad 3 will be launched on March 7 and is expected to ship soon after.

It’s official: Apple will be unveiling the next iPad on March 7 in San Francisco at 10:00 AM PST. The confirmation of the previously rumored date came in the form of press invites sent out this morning, with an image showing what looks to be a high definition iPad screen and the words “We have something you really have to see. And touch.”

Since the invitation was sent out, Bloomberg has chimed in to confirm that iPad 3 will feature the much expected high-resolution display which is “capable of greater resolution than the current iPad, with more pixels on its screen than some high- definition televisions… the pixels are small enough to make the images look like printed material,” a quad core CPU and greater graphics processing capabilities, and be compatible with significantly faster 4G LTE wireless networks, noting that iPad will receive LTE support prior to the iPhone because of it’s larger battery capacity. The latter hinting that iPhone 5 will feature 4G LTE too.

Additionally, MacRumors posted some photos of a digital caliper measuring the thickness of what claims to be the rear shell of an iPad 3. The shell itself looks identical to the iPad 2 rear aluminium enclosure, but it measures in at 9.5mm, or about 0.8mm thicker than the current iPad 2. For some comparison to a tangible object, the iPhone 4 is also 9.5mm thick.

There is no information on iPad 3 availability after the initial launch, but typically Apple releases new iOS products within a week or two after announcement. Considering the immense interest in a retina screened quad core iPad, we can only hope that pre-orders will offered through Apple’s Online Store, otherwise expect long lines, daily sell outs, and weeks to months before the supply catches up to demand.

The next iPad will feature high speed 4G LTE wireless capabilities and be available on the AT&T and Verizon networks, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. Citing several sources, WSJ says the following:

Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. will sell a version of the coming iPad that runs on their newest fourth-generation wireless networks, according to people familiar with the matter, as the battle to cash in on big investments in mobile broadband heats up.

Apple Inc. appears to be planning to announce the latest version of its tablet computer in the first week of March, according to another person briefed on the matter.

Whether other carriers will also sell the device couldn’t be learned. Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile USA and Apple declined to comment.

The iPad 3 is said to drop down to 3G and possibly even EDGE connectivity if 4G access points are not available. The remainder of the report is behind the WSJ paywall, but the important takeaway is the next generation iPad supporting 4G LTE. This is contrary to what many have believed (including us) given the existing battery issues with 4G connectivity, but this suggests that Apple has found a way to overcome the notorious battery drain issues of current generation 4G LTE cell phones.

While it’s unclear if the 4G iPad will also be offered on Sprint or T-Mobile, we have only a few short weeks until the expected announcement date of March 7 to find out.

Just a few days ago The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported that iPad 3 will be released the first week of March, and now new claims have surfaced suggesting that the next iPad will be announced on Wednesday, March 7. Specifically, iMore says:

According to sources who have been reliable in the past, Apple currently plans to hold their iPad 3 announcement on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. Along with the 2048×1536 Retina display, the iPad 3 will feature a quad-core Apple 6 system-on-a-chip, and possibly 4G LTE networking.

The date wouldn’t be too surprising considering March 7 is the only date vacant during the first week of March that is open on the Yerba Buena Center event calendar, and Apple has traditionally announced prior iPads at the YBCA in San Francisco. The rumored specs seem to add up to past expectations, although the 4G LTE capability is reasonably unlikely given Apple’s reluctance to adopt the battery hungry technology.

Earlier today, pictures claiming to be a partially assembled next-gen iPad showed up online at 9to5mac, and other than a few very minor differences they look practically identical to iPad 2.

Keeping the same enclosure could indicate that the next iPad may be labeled as an iPad 2S or iPad 2HD, similar to the recent iPhone 4 to iPhone 4S update, rather than calling the device “iPad 3″. Ultimately the naming of any Apple device is largely insignificant beyond speculation and Apple’s marketing efforts though, and whatever the next iPad is called it will surely be popular.

Update: The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that the next iPad will have 4G LTE connectivity.

Assuming iPad 3 (or whatever the next iPad is called) gets the much rumored and highly anticipated ‘retina’ treatment, the screens resolution would come in at a whopping 2048×1536 pixels. That’s an enormous amount of pixels for a screen that isn’t even 10″, and to help convey just how large that is comes an image from clkoerner that compares the rumored iPad 3 resolution to other common resolutions, including the original iPhones, retina iPhones, prior iPads, and a Blu-ray full HD 1080p movie.

Click here to see the full version, be prepared to do a lot of horizontal and vertical scrolling.

As we’ve mentioned before, there is currently no Mac screen capable of displaying a resolution of that size natively, which will pose an interesting challenge for developers and designers to prepare artwork and apps for the next iPad. That fact combined with recent evidence and rumors have led many to believe that Macs with high DPI displays may arrive soon after iPad 3 is announced, although this could be just wishful thinking. A refreshed Apple lineup complete with ultra high resolutions? Let’s hope so, we’ll be finding out soon enough.

The iPad 3 will be announced in the first week of March and likely go on sale soon after, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal’s AllThingsD. Typically well connected and the source of most accurate leaks from Apple, AllThingsD says the event will probably be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

As for the device itself, AllThingsD reiterates existing rumors that iPad 3 will have a much faster processor and a high resolution “retina” display. Here is a roundup of the current rumors to paint a better picture of the device we’ll see in March:

• Quad-Core CPU
• Improved graphics chip
• 2048×1536 resolution retina display
• Dual Mode CDMA-GSM Support for 3G devices
• Improved rear and front cameras
• Enclosure, size, and appearance practically identical to iPad 2
• Siri integration
• Likely to ship with iOS 5.1

Most of these rumors have been around a while in some form or another. There is also some speculation that the next iPad won’t be called iPad 3 at all, but possibly iPad 2S, iPad HD, or something else entirely.

Regarding the physical appearance of the device, AllThingsD says the next iPad will be “similar in form factor to the iPad 2″. This is familiar wording to the final rumors leading up to the iPhone 4S’s release last year, which ended up looking almost identical to the prior generation iPhone 4. The idea of having a similar appearance is also backed up by recently leaked images from Apple.pro that are said to be of the third generation iPad rear shell:

These pictures show what appears to be a rear enclosure for an iPad with a 3G antenna, and although it looks nearly the same as iPad 2 there are some minor differences in how the interior is laid out.

Update: The New York Times is also chiming in with their own sources, confirming the early March timeframe and also reaffirming some of the hardware rumors:

An Apple employee said that the version of the new iPad that is being tested inside the company is “essentially the same size and shape as the iPad 2,” with an improved and “truly amazing” screen. The tablet will include a faster processor, said the employee, who did not want to be identified because Apple is not fond of leaks.

The NYT report also raises some questions on naming the next iPad, which may or may not be called iPad 3.