Note: this review comes from our colleagues in the US, but we thought we'd post it while we're waiting to get our hands on the Australian model. When we do, we'll update it with local information and our Australian viewpoint.
The competition must really hate Apple. The Apple iPad wasn't just a successful tablet computer in 2010 — it was the tablet computer. In one fell swoop, Apple created the new tablet market and sold tens of millions of iPads in spite of a global economic downturn and considerable scepticism.
The same, only better
With the iPad's second go-around, Apple sticks to its successful formula. The iPad 2 is thinner, faster and includes two cameras, but otherwise, the iPad stays the same: size, price, (in the US, at least) capacity and features all carry over. Oh, except for colour. Apple now offers both white and black versions of the iPad 2 in every price and configuration.
The hardware
The iPad 2 is thin — so thin, in fact, that it feels like a different device. Measuring just 8.8mm, it's thinner than the iPhone 4 and a third thinner than the original iPad.
Despite the thinner design, its construction quality is no less rugged than the original's. The back of the iPad is still made from a durable, single slab of aluminium machined to fit the iPad's internal components like a glove. The face of the iPad is covered in the same scratch-resistant glass, with a home button at the bottom of the screen and a new front-facing camera at the top.
Otherwise, the iPad 2 sticks to familiar iPad routines. The sleep/wake buttons and headphone jack are in the same place as on the original, up top, as are the volume rocker and mute/rotation lock switch on the right edge. On the bottom you'll find the iPad's universal dock connection and the internal speaker. The speaker's perforated grille now wraps around the back, giving it more surface area and noticeably better sound quality.
Click through for a complete look at the iPad 2.
(Credit: CBSi)
For the iPad 2, Apple has avoided compatibility shenanigans. With the exception of any original iPad cases, the device works with first-gen accessories (docks, adapters, speakers, video cables, chargers), though first-gen docks don't fit like a glove. An updated standard dock for the iPad 2 is available. For keyboard support, Apple now recommends its Bluetooth wireless keyboard.
The iPad 2 accessory that's really getting all the attention is Apple's new Smart Cover. An answer to all the bulky, overdone, rubber third-party cases made for the first iPad, Apple's unique hinged cover comes in two materials — leather and polyurethane — and multiple colours. It attaches magnetically to the left or right edge of the iPad 2 using two aluminium hinges embedded with impressively strong rare-earth magnets. Magnets within the cover are used to detect when the cover is open or shut, allowing the iPad 2 to automatically wake or sleep. It works, but you also have the option in Settings to bypass the automatic wake feature and use the button manually.
As accessories go, the Smart Cover is nifty — not so much for the protection it offers, but for the convenient stand it provides when rolled up. If, on the other hand, you are seriously concerned about protecting your investment, keeping the iPad 2 in a traditional wraparound case is still the best way to go.
Features: new stuff
The iPad 2 isn't a radical departure from the original, but it does have a few new tricks up its sleeve.
The banner feature for the iPad 2 is the addition of two cameras, both able to record video or snap photos. The camera on the back is located in the upper-right corner where it isn't likely to be covered by your hand (in portrait orientation, at least). It looks just like the chrome-ringed lens on the iPhone 4 and is similarly blessed with 720p video capture. There's no camera flash, however, and the camera sensor is a far cry from the one used in the iPhone 4. Just like the fourth-generation iPod Touch, the iPad 2 takes photos that are essentially video stills. A gallery of photos taken with the iPad 2 can be seen here.
Instead of the absence of cameras we got with the original iPad, the iPad 2 has two of them. The rear-facing camera, pictured here, supports 720p video capture. (Credit: CNET)
Even if Apple had gone the route of using a Zeiss lens and a 10-megapixel sensor, the iPad 2 just isn't a replacement for a camera or smartphone. Having tested the camera quality of tablets over the past year, we can't stress enough how silly you feel shooting videos or photos with a tablet in public. It's like taking a picture with a cutting board. Your grandfather's camera was less conspicuous. You get looks, and they're not the envious kind.
The iPad's rear-facing camera won't replace your point-and-shoot, but the image quality isn't bad. (Credit: CNET)
Really, the cameras are there as a way to support Apple's FaceTime video chat app, which is now available for Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad 2. If you've been waiting for the Jetsons' video phone, FaceTime on the iPad gets you pretty close. Unlike smaller devices, the iPad's 9.7-inch screen can present faces at life-size. We've seen this before with desktop- and laptop-based video calling, but it can be uncanny to actually hold an image of someone's life-size face in your hands. FaceTime still remains a Wi-Fi-only feature, however, so in-car iPad video calls are an elusive capability (probably to humanity's advantage).
Other iPad 2 apps designed by Apple include GarageBand and iMovie, which must be purchased separately for AU$5.99 each. The iPad is the last of Apple's iOS devices to be blessed with iMovie (and the camera required for it), but is the first to receive GarageBand. We have separate write-ups of GarageBand for iPad and iMovie for iPad available for more depth.
Under the hood, the iPad 2 has plenty to brag about. The new spec uses a dual-core A5 processor that promises to be twice as fast with nine times the graphics performance. If gaming graphic quality is an important consideration for you, you can jump ahead to the Performance section of this review.
Another feature sure to burn the competition is full HDMI AV output compatibility. Using a US$39 dock cable, the iPad can now mirror its output to a TV over a standard HDMI connection. The supported resolution goes up to 1080p, though video playback and most apps never break out of 720p. Unlike previous video-out solutions for the iPad, this cable no longer limits users to simply video playback or presentations. Everything you see on the screen is mirrored on your TV, including video, photos, games and the home screen. Competitors such as RIM's PlayBook and the Motorola Xoom have been waving HDMI compatibility as a key advantage over the iPad. Now they have one less bragging point.
The iPad 2 also adds the same three-axis gyroscope sensor shared by the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch, giving the device a more detailed sense of its orientation in space, similar to the feeling of holding a Nintendo Wii remote. The gyro's appeal is mostly for gaming, allowing for more precise motion control and realistic navigation within virtual environments. In a first-person shooter game like N.O.V.A., for instance, you can tilt the iPad 2's screen up, down, left or right to explore the game's surroundings, just like a window into the game's universe.
Features: oldies but goodies
Cameras and gyros are nice, but let's not forget all the features that made the original iPad unbeatable. If you've ever used an iPhone or iPod Touch, the iPad 2 will feel immediately familiar. Out of the box, you get many of the iPhone's capabilities, including Apple-designed apps for web browsing, email, maps, photos, music, video and YouTube. More apps can be installed using the built-in App Store software or by connecting the iPad to iTunes via your computer using the included cable. If you already own apps purchased for an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can transfer these apps to the iPad, as well.
The original iPad made its debut with iOS 3.2. That OS's limitations seem prehistoric today. You couldn't bounce between applications with multitasking. You couldn't organise applications into folders. And support for document printing and AirPlay streaming of music, videos and photos didn't arrive until November 2010.
At launch, the iPad 2 comes with iOS 4.3, bringing a host of important new features and improvements. There are new apps for Photo Booth (a dedicated portrait-taking app) and FaceTime video chat. The Safari web browser gets a speed boost under the hood for improved JavaScript rendering. The app now includes a Home Sharing option for streaming media over your home network from local computers. And for those of you who want flexible control over the function of the switch above the iPad's volume buttons, iOS 4.3 hands over the reins and allows you to designate it as either a rotation lock or a mute for system alert sounds (such as incoming FaceTime calls).
One sticking point in the original iPad that Apple hasn't addressed in the iPad 2 is Adobe Flash support for Apple's Safari web browser. Apple seems dead set against supporting Adobe's popular tool for presenting video and graphics on the web, and without it, many corners of the web are inaccessible on the iPad or present a Swiss cheese of broken content. For the most part, though, the iPad's web-browsing experience is the best you'll find on a tablet. Navigation is responsive, zooming in and out of text is fluid, and managing multiple open pages is a cinch.
The iPad's device features, such as Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP, EDR), Wi-Fi 802.11n, 3G and 10 hours of battery life, are all here, and in many cases are still the bar by which other tablets are judged.
Wi-Fi versus 3G
For road warriors or those who just get a little itchy at the idea of not being connected to the internet, Apple offers a version of the iPad with an integrated 3G mobile data connection.
Aside from a negligible added heft of 45 grams and the fact that buyers are paying extra for the 3G capability (compared with Wi-Fi-only models), there's no downside to owning a 3G-compatible model. Unlike the data plans for most smartphones, the iPad doesn't come with any long-term contractual obligations. If you don't end up using the iPad's 3G capability, you can cancel the data plan at any time.
Another advantage of iPad 2 models enabled with 3G is the added capability of assisted GPS (A-GPS), allowing users to accurately pinpoint their locations on a map and take advantage of navigation and location-aware apps. The Wi-Fi-only models of the iPad can use rudimentary Wi-Fi hot-spot triangulation techniques to guess locations, but are much less accurate and consistent.
If you have no plans to regularly use the iPad outside of your home, you'd do just as well to save some money and stick with a Wi-Fi model.
iPad 2 as e-reader
When Apple pitched the original iPad and then-new iBooks app as the be-all and end-all ebook reader, we were sceptical. Apple had only a handful of publishers and the device was as thick as two Kindles put together.
A year later, the iPad has legitimately seized the attention of the publishing industry. Apple claims to have passed its 100 millionth iBook download. Meanwhile, competitors such as Kindle and Kobo have jumped on board with apps for the iPad. Mainstream magazines, including The New Yorker, Wired and Vanity Fair, all have iPad-specific editions. Even speciality publications, such as comic books, test prep and sheet music, have found their way onto the iPad. As far as content goes, the iPad has you covered.
In terms of hardware, the iPad is still a little beefy at 608g, compared with the Kindle 3's 246g. And in spite of the iPad's otherwise excellent IPS LED-backlit display, there's no beating E Ink displays when it comes to outdoor readability. Also, a product like the Kindle DX promises up to four days of reading without a recharge, whereas the iPad will only get you 10 hours.
In spite of all these criticisms, the iPad has already proven itself a success as an e-reader. There are certainly cheaper options out there, but none with the breadth of features offered by the iPad. Plus, with the iPad 2's dramatically thinner design, Apple is in much better shape than it was last year.
What the iPad still isn't
We have plenty of kind things to say about the iPad, but there is a limit to its "magic". Tablets, in general, sit between the practicality of laptops and the convenience of smartphones, but stop short of actually replacing either device.
The iPad 2 is not a laptop replacement. After spending a year with the original iPad, we've come to appreciate laptops more than ever. In most cases, laptops and netbooks offer a more natural typing experience, and there's still nothing like a tried-and-true mouse or touch pad when it comes to editing and navigating documents and spreadsheets. Also, if you're really a stickler for the full Adobe Flash-enabled web experience, traditional laptop and desktop computers are still your best bet, offering more flexibility and compatibility with the web's many formats (especially when it comes to video content and games).
The iPad 2 isn't a smartphone replacement, either. To point out the obvious, the iPad simply doesn't fit in your pocket. Today's smartphones do more than connect us to the world — they're extensions of us. If it doesn't fit in your pocket, it's not going to stay with you all day, and it will never be as personal.
Apple's aces
The App Store built into every iOS device is Apple's secret weapon. Any tablet can offer a fun experience right out of the box, but it takes a steady stream of interesting, affordable apps and games to keep people glued over the long haul.
When Apple debuted the iPad in 2010, it also gave developers the tools and guidelines needed to create a new breed of tablet-optimised apps. Since then, over 65,000 apps have been made just for the iPad. By contrast, competitors such as Google, RIM and HP are just now starting to create catalogues of tablet-optimised apps, and the chances of them catching up are slim.
The quality and selection of apps made for the iPad represent a kind of fountain of youth for the device, imbuing it with new uses and capabilities whenever you tire of the old ones. It also helps that Apple's App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store and iTunes software all run off a common user ID, making account set-up and purchases just about as effortless as it gets.
The main menu app for Apple's iTunes store is also one of these "sleeping giant" features we take for granted. Here you have one-touch access to what is now the No. 1 music retailer in the world. The world. On top of music selections, you also get movie and TV downloads as well as rentals priced as low as 99 cents. Podcasts, university lectures, music videos — it's all there and no other competitor has it, or anything close.
To be fair, when it comes to core features such as email, web browsing, media playback, maps and contacts, many of Apple's competitors (most notably Google and the Android Honeycomb tablets) are quickly matching the iPad. If third-party apps, games and media downloads aren't your thing, there are many competent tablets on the market worth considering and more on the horizon. On the other hand, if apps and media aren't your thing, you may want to consider skipping a tablet altogether.
Performance
The iPad 2 is an undeniably faster and more responsive machine than its predecessor. With a new dual-core A5 processor under the hood, Apple is claiming to have doubled performance speed overall and boosted gaming graphics by nine times. The company has also gone and tweaked the code behind the Safari web browser, improving JavaScript load time.
Taking Apple's spec bravado with a grain of salt, the iPad 2 is still an improvement. The original iPad was already pretty tough to beat when it comes to general system responsiveness, such as keyboard latency, scrolling and zooming. With the iPad 2, the system is a little tighter and response is more immediate, but the real-world benefits come in the form of app load times and when switching between apps using the multitasking bar.
Is the iPad 2 a gamer's dream come true? It's a mixed bag. To Apple's credit, the iPad has more games than any other tablet out there, and many of the titles feature graphic and play quality on par with full-blown gaming consoles. With the new processor, even graphically intensive games like Infinity Blade run with an uncanny fluidity, free from stuttering. But no matter how fast the iPad 2 can render its pixels, it's still limited by the iPad 2's 1024x768-pixel display resolution. We had hoped for some of the iPhone 4's Retina Display technology in the iPad 2, but it seems Apple might be saving it for next time.
There's more to a screen than pixel density, though. Apple is still using the IPS panel technology from the original iPad, which offers outstanding viewing angles in every direction. Photo and video playback quality are still great. We noticed a slightly warmer colour on the iPad 2's display compared with the original, but the contrast and black levels seemed about the same.
Our CNET Labs team will update this review with their analysis of iPad 2 performance as data comes in. We'll be testing for battery life, web page load time and gaming performance.
Accessories
The number of accessories made for the original iPad is overwhelming. There are cases, stands, speakers, dock adapters, gaming peripherals — even an iPad-compatible grille. With the iPad 2's new thinner design, fitted accessories for the original iPad (such as cases) aren't likely to work. Even Apple's own dock and keyboard dock for the original iPad are an awkward fit for the second-generation models — though they do work.
Fortunately, Apple hasn't done anything to monkey around with the iPad 2's universal dock connection. Generally speaking, if you could plug it into the first iPad, it should work with the new version as well. This goes for charging cables, video adapters, Apple's Camera Connection kit or any in-car adapter cables.
Apple's new Smart Cover for the iPad 2 comes in five colours of the polyurethane version and five of the leather. (Credit: CNET)
For the iPad 2, Apple announced two new accessories. There's the magnetic Smart Cover (which we've gone over already) and a new Digital AV Adapter that allows you to connect the iPad to a TV over HDMI. The same AV adapter also works with the iPhone, iPod Touch and the original iPad, but only on the iPad 2 does it allow you to output everything from your iPad's screen — the menu, the browser, apps, games, you name it. Priced at only US$39, it's a bit of an Apple TV killer, since it will output the entire iOS experience at up to 1080p, including downloaded iTunes videos and even streaming content from apps such as Netflix (US only).
If you'd prefer to beam content wirelessly from your iPad to your TV, the little hockey-puck-size AU$129 Apple TV is the way to go. Aside from working as a great stand-alone media streamer for iTunes downloads, you can also use it to push media from your iPad to your TV (a feature Apple calls AirPlay). As of iOS 4.3, AirPlay streaming works with music, videos and photos, as well as selected apps and web content.
Worth the upgrade?
If you wanted the first iPad but possessed the foresight and restraint to wait until now, congratulations. There's nothing about the iPad 2 that is a step backward from the original. Buy with confidence.
If you're sitting there with a first-generation iPad and wondering whether you should upgrade, the sensible answer is no. That said, we understand that the iPad isn't a device that sells on its sensibleness. It's a fun product, and if fun is your only criterion, then by all means, buy them by the bushel.
Some of the iPad 2's capabilities for some niche audiences may justify trading in the old iPad for its thinner, faster next of kin. If Apple's FaceTime video calling service has become an indispensable feature for your family (via iPhone, iPod Touch or Mac), it's one feature of the iPad 2 that firmware updates and accessories will just never bring to the original iPad. Some professionals may also find the iPad 2's unique HDMI video output mirroring (adapter required) to be a critical tool for presentations.
For the rest of you original iPad owners, the iPad 2's thinner profile, added cameras and improved performance probably aren't enough to justify shelling out your money again. Unless you just have piles of cash lying around, we recommend that most existing iPad owners wait for the iPad 3.
Final thoughts
So, is the iPad 2 the tablet to beat in 2011? No doubt. It has the most apps, the thinnest construction, the longest battery life, a competitive price and an existing pool of hundreds of thousands of satisfied, iPad-evangelising customers. Competition from Google, HP and RIM will keep things interesting this year, but from what we've seen so far, they've got their work cut out for them.
Via CNET
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