Joe Kueser's Blog Another Geek Finding His Place on the Web

I See An iPad 2 In My Future

About a year ago, I wrote my initial impressions of the iPad, and explained why I wouldn't be buying one.  I ended up buying one, but not for my wife, not me, so I stuck to my guns. With the iPad 2, Apple addressed my biggest complaints, and I've come around on the others, at least to a degree, and they've given me a couple of things I didn't even ask for, so, yeah, I'm going to buy an iPad 2.

The new iPad uses the A5 processor, a duel-core monster that is twice "up to" twice as fast as its predecessor, with graphics "up to" 9 times as fast. The "up to" phraseology is Apple's, and makes me wince a little, but frankly, if I can get a 50% bump in processor speed and graphics "only" 4 times faster, I'd be a very happy boy. The original iPad was incredibly responsive, so faster is icing on the cake.

I am looking forward to some real-world benchmarks to see just how fast this puppy is. Engadget has posted some hands-on videos, the first of which shows the speed of the iPad 2, and where the word "fast" is mentioned 10 times in 2 minutes, along with "blazingly", "insanely", "incredibly", and "really really". So yeah, it's fast, but how fast?

The front-facing camera is what I have been waiting for. FaceTime on the iPad would be perfect. I personally don't care very much about the rear camera, but can see where it could be useful for showing people what you are looking at, or for some stealth-ish video. The form factor is not a good one for general videos, however.

Apple managed to pack these new features and much faster processor in while maintaining a 10 hour battery life. That I am very happy about.

The iPad 2 also introduces a gyroscope. It will be interesting to see how developers use this. As a more precise gaming controller is an obvious use, but I'm hoping for something more.

The new iPad is also 33% thinner than the original iPad. Basically the flat edge of the original iPad has been removed. Engadget posted an image of an iPad and iPad 2 sitting side-by-side, and the difference is striking.

iPad 2 and iPad 1 Side By Side

One of the things I am most excited about though, and against my better judgement, is the "Smart Cover". It attaches to the iPad 2 with magnets, and acts as a thin protective cover and a stand. Apple has posted a video of the Smart Cover on their site. I think everyone that gets one will spend the first day or two trying to figure out how it works. I figured out how the refrigerator light turns off (and it does!) I can figure out how the Smart Cover works too. (Between you and me, I already know how it works, but I don't want to spoil it for everyone else).

There's already a lot of talk about how the iPad 2 still falls short of the Motorola Xoom. Yes indeed it does, but not by far, and, well, the iPad has a huge head start.  Not many people are going to be willing to fork over $799 knowing that they'll have to replace all of their iOS software too. Apple has a huge lead that they are not going to lose any time soon, and while the iPad 2 doesn't have the most muscle of the bunch, it's still the alpha male.