Apple has announced the third generation iPad today and simply named it iPad. The new iPad is faster, better and has the same good looks as its predecessor. One of the biggest and most anticipated upgrades that Apple has implemented is a 9.7-inch IPS retina display featuring 44% greater eye-popping saturated colors and a mind blowing 2048x1536 resolution at 264ppi. That's one million more pixels than your full 1080p HDTV. That's insanely sharp! The iPad 2's 1024x768 resolution at 132ppi looks pixelated up close by comparison. In order to power the new iPad's beautiful retina display, Apple's new dual-core A5X chip has a built-in quad-core GPU for better graphics and faster, more responsive user experience.

Other notable new features and improvements the new iPad sports is a 5-megapixel back facing camera capable of shooting full 1080p HD videos with a backside-illuminated sensor and a 5-element glass lens with an infrared filter. The new iPad's back facing camera is as good as the one found on the iPhone 4S minus a few megalpixels and has been given the iSight name. On the front, the iPad's FaceTime front facing camera hasn't been improved and is still of VGA quality. 

4G LTE is now available to serve you with fast internet speeds of up to 42Mbp on DC-HSDPA and up to 21.1Mbps with HSPA+ networks on the new iPad 4G LTE model available on AT&T and Verizon. Despite the upgrades in hardware, the new iPad still boasts incredible 10 hours battery life as past generations did.

Apple's third generation iPad still looks the same as the iPad 2, but it's 0.03 of an inch thicker at 0.37 inch (9.4mm). As a result, we'll be seeing new cases come out in order to fit the new iPad. iPad 2 sleeves, skins and screen protectors should still be compatible with the new iPad.

The new iPad comes in the same old familiar storage capacities, black and white colors and even the price remains unchanged starting at $499 for the WiFi only version and starting at $629 for the 4G LTE version. The new iPad will officially launch on March 16, and you can pre-orders yours starting today.