After being lucky enough to get my hands on a new iPad (aka the iPad 3) recently, I was equally as thrilled to get the chance to review one of the newly released limited edition Sonic the Hedgehog vinyl skins for the iPad 3, made by ZAGG.

Many people don’t ‘agree’ with using vinyls or any form of case on the back of the iPad. Even Apple themselves have said since the launch of the iPad 2 that only the front of the iPad needs to be covered/protected and that basically, the back of an iPad is too attractive to cover up. This is why Apple make their own ‘Smart Covers’ for the front of the iPad and for the front only. I have to concur that the iPad is a gadget of beauty however, I’m also of the mind that if something is to stay beautiful, something that costs quite a sum of cash to buy in the first place, it has to be protected in some way. Hence, as soon as I got the new iPad, I set off looking for a suitable case for it. There are a number of protective cases available to fit the back of the new iPad – hard cases, rubber cases, leather cases, portfolio cases and so on. Some are attractive and some just aren’t. Nothing really suited what I had in my mind. I wanted something protective but, not too bulky. Something that would cover the back of the iPad without actually feeling like it was covered. Something a bit like the screen protector that I’d already fitted. Then there was the ‘light-bulb moment’.

I’ve been covering my various consoles and gadgets with funky vinyl skins since the day I came across PlayStation 2 vinyls on eBay. How did it not occur to me that a vinyl skin could be absolutely what I needed for my new iPad? Usually I’ve fitted skins to simply change the appearance of a gadget, to funk it up a little but, of course good quality vinyls can be just as protective as they are attractive so off I went in search for one of these high quality vinyls that was made specifically for the iPad 3 and preferably something that also suited my ‘style’.

I searched for all of 20 minutes before I came across something rather special (to my geeky-gamer side) – iPad skins featuring Sonic the Hedgehog and other characters from the Sonic game series! Now, as an avid Sonic fan, this was like finding a pot of blue spiky gold at the end of a rainbow. My only problem now was that these skins were for the iPad 2. Unperturbed and determined to adorn my new iPad with Sonic, I contacted ZAGG International and found out that they would indeed be releasing the Sonic vinyl range for the iPad 3 and as soon as they had one made, I was getting one!

I chose the ‘Sonic Generations Running‘ skin. At first sight, I am extremely impressed with not only the vibrancy of the colours on the vinyl but, by the quality of the vinyl itself, it is clearly top grade vinyl. The ‘image’ itself is clear and as I said, vibrant – the colours are superb and the image is crisp. The packaging is pretty nice too for the record.

The new iPad hasn’t got off to a good start in the UK. First the UK Apple store came back online several hours after Apple announced the new iPad, with the first pre-orders being placed shortly before midnight as the store came online shortly after 11:30pm. Buyers who managed to place an order during the night appear to have had their orders fully processed, however those who placed orders after 8am Thursday morning are starting to receive emails from Apple saying that there will be a delay in receiving their shiny new iPad. Some users who placed orders after 8am are still on track for a March 16th delivery but, others are reporting a March 21st delivery date. Unfortunately we at Gizmodot have also been hit with one of these delay emails. The time users pre-ordered and who’s being delayed seems hit and miss though. There are some users who ordered after 8am, Thursday afternoon in fact who’s shipment still looks to be on time, where there are a couple of folks who did manage to order before 8am who have had their orders delayed. The majority of delay emails are affecting those in Scotland and Northern Ireland, while folks in London and the South haven’t been affected as much.

For those who haven’t managed to pre-order yet, the Apple UK website is now indicating a two to three week shipment date but, this is always subject to change as we’re already seeing from the guys who pre-ordered with a March 16th delay stated. For those in the US however, many are reporting to now be receiving emails to say their orders have been shipped for a March 16th delivery. Have you received a delay email, or is your pre-order still set to arrive on time? Let us know in the comments.

At their San Franciso press conference, Apple have officially unveiled the next generation iPad. Currently, it’s only known as the “new iPad”. We’re yet to learn if it will be the iPad 3, iPad 2S or iPad HD. Officially specifications have been announced though as well as availability and pricing. For selected countries, pre-orders start today.

New iPad specifications:
9.7″ Retina Display
2048×1536 resolution
265ppi
iSight: 5 megapixel camera with illuminated sensor, 5-element lens, IR filter, ISP, autofocus, 1080p video recording
A5X processor and quad core graphics chip
9.4mm thin
1.4lbs
4G LTE with Verizon, Rogers, Bell, Telus and AT&T
21Mbps HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA at 42Mbps, with LTE taking the cake at 73Mbps compared to 3.1Mbps and 7.2Mbps respectfully on the iPad 2
3G world ready which ever 4G model you choose, as it has the “most bands ever”
Hotspot for carriers who support it
10 hour battery life, 9 hours on 4G
Microphone button on the keyboard for voice dictation

Pricing is $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB Wifi models, $629, $729 and $829 respectfully for 16GB, 32GB and 64GB 4G models, so no price change there. The new iPad will be available from March 16th in US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia and you’ll be able to place a pre-order today, while the rest of the world will see a March 23rd release.

iPhone 5 Live Stream Event:

With just few days left, Apple has sent tons and tons of invites to all the media people across the globe, which mainly includes considerable people from all walks of life, but journalists and media people are given top priority as they will be the catalyst to the branding of their iPhone 5 and 4s. Apple has put end to all the speculations and finally made an announcement earlier that they will be holding a press event at their Cupertino California campus about the release of most awaited iPhone 5, this will be beefed up with announcement of white 64 GB iPhone 4S, but in all honesty, this might just tint the hype of iPhone 5.

I personally believe they should have had released iPhone 4s some time ago and not just now and should have had made the event iPhone 5 exclusive. Any way, more power to Apple as we all wait eagerly to see what Apple has cooked in their lab, the media event will be executed on 4th October conference and iPhone 5 Conference Live Streaming will be available to those who want to see the first image shots or videos of phone. The event; which will be presided by none other than Tim Cook, who is current CEO of revolutionary company Apple, will describe the product in detail and list all features and specifications in detail.

Nokia Mobiles Prices in Pakistan and World 2011

Nokia has been an industry leader in mobile phones for over a decade but its recent financials for the 2nd quarter of 2011 have been very disappointing. Nokia’s overall performance has been poor but it hasn’t seen much devaluation in the Pakistani market. Also, the Prices of Nokia Mobiles in Pakistan 2011 has been pretty normal for low end mobiles, they finally started giving competition to other dual sim vendors by launching cheaper dual sim phones.

Is Nokia Losing the Legacy?

Nokia however is now looking a little week to compete with Samsung in the current market scenario. There are a number of reason as to why this has happened. The first and foremost is the late realization by Nokia of the importance of dual sim mobile phones. As other major brands followed Chinese mobiles to introduce the dual sim feature, Nokia remained ignorant of the fact until lately. Its huge fan base did boost the sales of these phones but many loyal customers also migrated to other brands. Secondly Nokia is still acting stubborn by not letting Symbian go. Symbian, as an OS is nearly dead and we can safely say that the killer is Android. With Samsung’s intelligent move of introducing low cost android phones in the market, many users are moving towards these phones.

Nokia in trouble on All Fronts!

Nokia is at battle on all fronts. Its fighting against Apple and Samsung in the high end phones and clearly loosing the battle. In budget or mid range phones, Nokia faces tough competition from Samsung and even some low cost HTC phones. In the low range phones, Nokia is fighting against Chinese phones.

According to Nokia’s CEO, Stephen Elop, Nokia will regain its market share after it launches N9 and Sea Ray but according to some analysts, Nokia is a bit late for that move too.

A Humble Recommendation!

As a personal remark for our readers, even though, according to Mobilephones.pk mobile prices in Pakistan for 2011 are very competitive, but still i will like to mention that if you are looking for good phones between Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000, better go for an Android phone rather than one having Java or Symbian OS.