iDay Minus One!

For tech fans, tomorrow is like Christmas, your birthday and the fourth of July all rolled into one: it's the day Apple releases its next iteration of the iPad. And this time round, I'm pretty excited about it too. Last year's release was very mediocre: a slightly faster processor and very basic cameras. This year I'm expecting more. As usual the rumours are swirling furiously, but in less than 24 hours all will miraculously be revealed. I've saved up in anticipation (and DH is quite looking forward to inheriting Pandora, my original iPad). I hope it will be worth it, though Apple does have a bit of a history of underwhelming me. No matter how amazing it is, there will probably be a little bit more I could want. Still, it is their first real post-Jobs product release, and I'm hoping they will make it a good one. Anyway, for better or worse, here's my wish list for the iPad 3 (or 2S, or HD depending on who you've been reading):

The rumoured high quality retina display. As someone who reads extensively on my iPad, any improvement to the graphics will be much appreciated.

A faster processor to run the aforementioned high quality retina display. Initially it was going to be the quad-core A6; now more people expect the less powerful (but still better than what is in the iPad 2) A5X. Faster is always better, but given Apple's propensity for incremental updates, I won't count on quad core this time around.

Better cameras. A real must - the iPad 2's were pretty lousy. Some people are expecting 8 megapixels which would be absolutely wonderful, but, again, I think incremental will win out. Unless they have a ton of cameras left over from the iPhone 4S, I won't expect it. Even 5 MP would be a pleasant surprise.

A better battery. Given the additional power requirements of a better display and faster processor, it will have to be better just to maintain the same 10-odd hours of life the current iPads have. If they've managed to make it last a few hours more, though, I certainly won't object.

And the wildcard that nobody really discusses much: more storage! For awhile there was a rumour that this year's models would cost about $80 more. I had hoped that was because they had jumped from the 16/32/64 GB units to 32/64/128 GB ones. But the price increase has been refuted and most people seem to think storage options will remain as is. That's kind of disappointing considering how big apps are getting - not to mention the ibooks they're promoting. And with a higher quality display, app sizes will only grow. I won't count on it either, but I would be more than happy to pay an extra $80 for double the storage size.

So that's what I want, Mr. Apple Claus. Hopefully I'll be very happy tomorrow afternoon when this year's presents are opened.