Apple iPad 2 Quick Reivew
iPad 2 is simply the original iPad with a thinner design, a couple of cameras, and a faster chipset. Only it isn’t. Not any more than the original iPad was just a big iPhone. Device by device, year after year, Apple has slowly and now successfully changed the conversation from individual specs to unified experience, from reviewer and competitor driven checklists to mainstream consumer-centric usability. They’ve forced us to touch and feel our computing and not just click and think our way through it.
Let us review a few of the new features:
Dual Core A5 Chip
The iPad 1st Generation is fast and responsive. I was amazed at how agile and sensitive the interface responded to tactile input. Twice as Fast, with the new Dual-Core A5 chip, this 2nd Generation iPad is definitely a screamer! This will make multi-tasking between applications smoother and faster loading.
10 Hour Battery
One word – WOW… Not only has Apple succeeded in reducing the over-all weight of the iPad 2
Two Cameras
A friend of mine wanted to Skype on the 1st Generation iPad, but we didn’t know that the camera port (which does exist on the 1st Generation iPad, but no camera is present) was empty. We loaded Skype and…. Nothing. It was an experiment, but we were deflated none the less. So the 2nd Generation iPad has the back-to-back camera arrangement and comes with a video conferencing package called FaceTime. And get this – it’s HD. I can honestly say, that I can see several uses for this in my profession.
FaceTime
Think of video chat on steroids. You can now make video calls from your iPad 2 to another iPad, an iPhone 4, the new iPod touch or to a Mac desktop machine over wi-fi. You can also take snapshot images and use PhotoBooth to edit, manage or upload to your favorite Web 2.0 site for sharing.
Smart Cover
If I have had any gripe with the 1st Generation iPad, it has to be the lack of a REALLY GOOD COVER. Sure, there are some covers out there that come close to being the right one for me… but the price was always the prohibitive factor. Apple recognized the need for consumers to protect their investment and developed a fashionable (multiple color) yet protective cover that fits your iPad perfectly. Open the cover and the iPad wakes up, close the cover and the iPad goes to sleep. It transforms into a stand and comes in 10 different colors.
AirPlay | Video Mirror | AirPrint
Three new additions that I will really come to enjoy is the wireless HDTV and speaker connection. Yup – streaming wirelessly. Video mirror allows us to plug in a Apple Digital AV adapter or VGA adapter into an HDTV or projector. Your audience will see what you see. I am going to LOVE this when I do my presentations! Finally AirPrint is the wireless printing feature. I try NOT to use hard-copy as much as possible, but if you really need to do it, there it is.
iPad 2 is an evolutionary improvement to the original iPad, but that’s true of almost every iOS device update. Taken year by year each generation seems only slightly better than the last.
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