iPad 2: Improvements
The iPad 2 has JUST been announced. Quite literally. So what's new? Well firstly, the thing is a hell of a lot thinner and lighter. 33% thinner to be exact, which is great, and it's only 1.3 pounds, so it seems that they've really addressed one of the main problems of the first iPad in it being too heavy. They are also shipping it in both white and black, which is good, as it gives more diversity.
It also has a dual core processor, which really puts it up to speed with it's other competitors. They haven't changed the pricing at all, it's still like before, with the entry model being 499$. One of the main things they did was add cameras: front and back, and with that obviously comes Facetime and Photobooth, both of which look pretty slick on the iPad UI.
iMovie and Garageband were also announced, and they do look pretty awesome (Garageband is practically exactly the same as the full version on Mac) and they also made some tweaks in the new iOS 4.3 update (added more features to Airplay and of course added camera compatibility).
The final thing that featured on the iPad (literally, on the iPad) is this weird looking cover. It's sold separately as far as I can see and it attaches via magnets at the side. When you lift it off the iPad turns on, which I think is a nice touch.
My overall opinion: I slightly expected more. For me the thing that really lets the iPad down is not accepting Flash, which is something a lot of websites are based around. However when you compare this iPad with other competitors the iPad is lightyears ahead, even more than it was before.
For me though, I'm not really a tablet person and I much prefer having a full fledged Macbook or iBook which can run independently, so I doubt I'll be getting the iPad 2. Still, it's improved and I'm sure there will be massive queues outside Apple stores on the 11th and 25th of March (US and other countries) when it comes out.
Henry Taylor-Gill Mar 2, 2011 at 2:38 PM
Reader Comments (1)
I will get this one, sadly it won't be released here until March 25th, 2011. Good to know that iPhone 4 will work as a router so I don't need a 3G version.
Hope everything really is working what I read even here in Scandinavia. I can't wait for it's release!