If it seems like yesterday that you saw those queues for the iPad 2, you’re not too far wrong; the late Steve Jobs unveiled that particular version on March 2nd, 2011 so if you’re still paying that off but want to keep up with the Jones’s, get your credit cards out. Release dates for Apple products are fairly reliably adhered to, so the incredible rush to buy the iPad 2 at Christmas, a matter of months before the release of the iPad 3, seems a little strange.

iPad 3?

So what can we expect from the next product.  At first glance there doesn’t appear to be any major game-changers, but there are a few small improvements that may yet prove to be a a type of tablet road map for other manufacturers.

LTE connectivity is something we’re going to hear about more and more in the next few years; it stands for Long Term Evolution and it will eventually bring very high speed wireless to mobile devices and tablets which are equipped with the right hardware.  If the iPad 3 does indeed include this capability, it may well point the way for the rest of the market.

The display will be improved and upgraded to a ‘retina’ display and this is something that is already used in the newer iPad Touch and iPhone 4s.  Look at the 9.7 inch display as closely as you like and you won’t be able to see the pixels.

The new iPad 3 will almost certainly be the same size as it’s predecessor but will probably be about an inch thicker; a necessity for the extra pieces of hardware which are going to be wedged inside.  Anyway, enough guessing – not long to wait now.

The Qooq tablet may be a good start, it’s designed with the culinary art in mind and comes with ingredients lists, recipes and videos of meal preparation all pre-installed.  You may note that there are plenty of recipe apps out there already for the iPad and Android devices and that may be true, but the Qooq integrates them into the GUI with much more style for want of a better word.  There are hundreds of recipes, a comprehensive guide to which wine you should be serving with your chosen dish and scaled ingredient amounts which can be adjusted depending on the size of your guest list.

The French-made Qooq

The Qooq is also heat and water resistant to a certain extent which makes using it in the kitchen a less nerve-wracking experience.  A kickstand on the back means you can stand it up for a good view. Of course it’s also a tablet with most of the features you expect from its rivals but the Qooq is unashamedly for cooks – don’t buy this if you live on takeouts and fast food.  It’s a 10.1 inch screen with a dual-core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor and runs on a very customised version of Linux designed for the cooking experience.

It’s manufactured in what some may consider the spiritual home of the chef – France – and has been unavailable there for a while now.  You won’t have to battle the French-language website or user interface for long though – it will be available in the United States before long for around $400.  Do note though that you’ll need to subscribe to take advantage of the new recipes which are added to the Qooq each month.