What’s the only thing that could make the internet briefly forget about Charlie Sheen’s newly minted Twitter account? A new Apple product launch, that’s what.
Apple pulled the covers off their brand new iPad yesterday (you can view the entire 73 minute presentation here) and while many of the specific changes to the device were outed weeks ago, the company still managed to pull off a couple of surprises.
For starters, Steve Jobs not only made an appearance at the event to a thunderous standing ovation, he drove the entire presentation! This is a dude who people were speculating had six months to live just a few weeks ago. While Jobs didn’t talk about his health, the fact that he was able to do the presentation in the unparallelled manner that he normally does speaks volumes.
We’ll get to the other surprise in a little bit, but let’s get right down to what’s new with the iPad 2 compared to the iPad 1:
(credit to Engadget for putting together the chart)
First of all, it comes out March 11th, with no pre-ordering before then. Apple stores will be selling them at the odd hour of 5pm, which isn’t so odd when you think about it because it is a weekday and they clearly want people to buy them after work on Friday. The pricing scheme remains the same, along with options for 3g capability and storage capacity – $499-$829 depending on which flavor you want. You can buy the iPad 2 on launch day from Best Buy, Walmart, and Sam’s Club along with Apple stores.
The biggest physical changes that you’ll notice off the bat are the addition of two cameras and the vastly thinned form factor. Early hands on reports show that the cameras aren’t anything to write home about. They aren’t bad, but they’re not as good as the iPhone 4 camera. In fact, the video taken by the iPad 2 is at 960×720 resolution, which is just a little off of the full 1280×720 resolution to be considered “HD.”
The new form factor, though, is significantly thinner than the original iPad. Apple’s shaved off a significant portion of the device’s thickness to get it down to 8.8mm. That’s thinner than an iPhone 4, folks. The iPad 2 is also 0.2 lbs lighter than before. Since we haven’t had a chance to hold one ourselves, we’ll just have to trust the reports that iPad 2′s new form factor make it a lot easier to read in one hand, like a Kindle. It’s still much heavier than a Kindle, but easier to hold up, from what people are saying.
What really should get you excited, though, is the vastly improved processor inside the iPad 2. It’s a dual-core proprietary processor called the “A5.” Now, we can look at spec sheets all day long, but what really matters is how the new processor makes things better from a user perspective.
Ryan Block from gdgt got ahold of some benchmark numbers for web browsing on the iPad 2 using SunSpider:
iPad 2: 2,151ms (this could even be potentially improved by me quitting all other apps and not accidentally rotating the screen a couple times)
iPad: I’ve seen as low as 8,500, and as high as over over 10,000ms*
iPhone 4 (iOS 4.2, latest): 10,116ms*
Nexus S: 6,410ms
Motorola Xoom: 2,164ms
Motorola Atrix: 4,635ms
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7-inch: 7,015ms
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10-inch: 2,256**
That’s a pretty significant boost in speed from the original iPad and on par with the Motorola Xoom. If you use your iPad primarily for web browsing, you know firsthand how the thing can get sluggish some of the time. Plus, with the additional memory on the iPad 2, more browser windows can stay open at once. There may not be much in the way of mindblowing new features on the iPad 2, but it sure as hell sounds like it’ll make doing whatever you like doing on your iPad a lot more enjoyable.
Otherwise, the iPad 2 retains the same screen resolution and battery life, which is a bit disappointing, but better than a cut in battery life especially considering the thinner form factor means that there’s less space for a battery to take up.
So what was that other surprise we alluded to earlier? It’s the new cover Apple’s releasing for the iPad 2. You heard us right, the cover accessory.
It’ll be easier to explain if you watch this very brief video of the “Smart Cover:”
I mean… right? Apple’s clearly watched their Insane Clown Posse videos, because they totally get how magnets work. You don’t even have to worry about aligning the thing once you snap it on, as the magnets embedded inside the iPad 2 will automagically align the cover to fit over the device. Plus, the underside of the cover is made of microfibers so it’s also “automatically cleaning” the screen whenever it’s closed.
I always feel a bit guilty when I fall for Jobs’ hyperbolic language, but there’s no arguing him here. Smart Covers are SO COOL.
Smart Covers will come in a bunch of colors and retail for $39 for the polyurethene version and $69 for the leather version. Yeah, it’s a little bummer that the accessory is fairly pricey, but it’s arguably the coolest new “feature” on the iPad 2. (Unfortunately, Smart Covers will not work on the original iPad, because they require the magnets embedded inside the iPad 2 to function.)
Launching alongside the iPad 2 on March 11th will be iOS version 4.3 and iMovie and Garageband for the iPad 2. iOS 4.3 has some neat new features, but nothing groundbreaking. Probably the most relevant “feature” to most people will be the return of the screen orientation toggle on the slider. You can read about the other updates to iOS here.
iMovie and Garageband will be cool tools to have for only $4.99 each, but frankly, we’d rather do substantial production work on a traditional computer. That probably won’t stop people from getting their 15 minutes of internet fame by creating something cool using “just” an iPad, though.
If you haven’t gotten in the tablet game, yet, the iPad 2 is probably your ideal jumping on point. The device has had a generation to mature with a robust library of 65,000 apps. Not convinced? Watch Apple’s brainwashing short video explaining the new device:
If you already own an iPad, though, things get a little hazy. Do you roll the dice and hope for a surprise “iPad 3″ release this fall? Or do you bite the bullet and go for it? It’s a tough decision that’ll probably hinge on your usage habits and budget. Gazelle is offering to buy your original iPad starting at $300 for the 16 GB wifi version, so you’re looking at a $200 price for an upgrade.
And hey, if all else fails, having two iPads around the house isn’t the worst thing in the world. You can just leave one in the bathroom where it gets the most use anyway.
