The announcement of Apple’s next generation iPad tablet is but 12 hours away.  Let’s take a final look at the rumors swirling around the fanboy blogosphere:

iPad HD: Almost every major tech news source is reporting that it will called iPad HD, not iPad 3.  I think this is a safe bet to make considering the photo leaks of the new enclosure we have seen over the past weeks - they show minimal design changes to the exterior (and actually appear to be slightly thicker than iPad 2). Apple will not make the jump from iPad 2 to iPad 3 without redesigning the exterior.

Retina Display: This has been the strongest rumor for months now.  The image at the top of this article is the one Apple sent out as their invitation to the event.  I took a similar picture of my iPad 1 and you could clearly see how much better the resolution of the iPad is on this picture.  I will go as far as to say this is a sure thing.

4G LTE: I initially reported that Apple would not go with 4G LTE because the technology was not ready; power consumption is still too high and the network is still not quite there.  Looks like I was wrong on this one, as multiple news outlets are reporting this upgrade.  Personally, I think it is unnecessary.  But it sure will help with downloading 1080p movies and games from the iTunes store.

A5X Processor: Reports are that Apple has been working on both an A6 Quad Core processor and an A5X Dual Core processor.  Most are reporting that Apple will go with the A5X processor.  I would agree with this given that it appears Apple will go 4G LTE.  Battery life is a strong selling point for Apple, and 4G LTE plus a Quad Core processor would lead to significantly decreased battery life.  I’ll also add to this that there is a lot of chatter about upgraded RAM, seems to make sense to me.

HD Camera: No surprise here.  There are already smartphones on the market with HD front-facing cameras.  I can already hear Tim Cook talking about HD FaceTime.

Release Date: For you early adopters out there, reports are that the iPad HD will be released in the USA on March 16, 2012.  Lucky you - you won’t even have to take off work to wait in line!

Follow me on twitter @nscricco for tweets about tomorrow’s event