Apple iPad 2 In-Depth Preview

Apple iPad 2

On March 2nd 2011 Steve Jobs took to the stage once again, despite being on medical leave suffering with severe pancreas cancer, to announce the much anticipated sequel to the iPad, iPad 2. Job's keynote's are usually interesting & captivating, this one was no exception.

For months now, people have been speculating about the features of the iPad 2 with 9to5 Mac releasing a leaked image of the white iPad 2's bezel & digitizer (click here to view photo). It was almost certain that a dual core processor & dual cameras would be on the cards but nobody could be too sure.

Now it's official the final specs can be confirmed. The iPad 2 still sports the same 9.7" multitouch, IPS (In-Panel-Switching), LED backlit display with the same 1024x768 pixel resolution at 132 ppi (pixels per inch). Although the IPS display is absolutely fantastic at providing brilliant power consumption & a superb 178° wide viewing angle, it cannot compete with OLED equivalents in colour reproduction & saturation. This, however, isn't a deal breaker as other competitors use LCD or similar technologies as well. 

Under the hood, the iPad 2 is using the brand new Apple A5 dual core processor that provides twice the horsepower of the original iPad's A4 chip & 9x the graphics capabilities with the same 10 hour battery life! There's a 3 Axis Gyroscope, an Accelerometer & a Digital Compass present for full motion gaming. Obviously there's 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi as standard & GSM (Worldwide) or CDMA (Verizon Wireless) 3G on select models.

The iPad 2 also features dual cameras, one front facing VGA (640x480) & one 0.7 megapixel (960x720) 720p HD camera. The front facing VGA camera is primarily used with the Apple FaceTime video chat service although both units can be used by the array of cameras apps available as standard & on the App Store. On such a high end device like the iPad 2, it would have been nice to see higher quality cameras capable of so many more features but the iPad isn't meant to be your dedicated point & shoot camera! Despite all of the new feature implementations, the iPad 2 comes in at 33% thinner at just 8.8mm (slimmer than the iPhone 4!) & 15% lighter at 601g (WiFi only model).

 Now onto the software side of things. At launch, the iPad 2 will run the latest edition of the iOS mobile platform, iOS 4.3. Some of the new features in iOS 4.3 are the improved AirPlay function, a new JavaScript engine for Safari & iTunes Home Sharing integration. Multitouch gestures (disabled by default in final release) that were available in the developer betas of the 4.3 update, can be activated via some simple workarounds.

On the exterior of the device we find the famous Apple Home Button beneath the screen, the volume rocker & multi purpose switch sit on the right hand side of the device & the 30 pin Apple proprietary connector on the bottom. The iPad 2 can also mirror it's 1024x768 (no 1080p output or decoding) via a 30 pin connector to HDMI output cable to connect up to HDTVs for a rather steep price of £23 or $39.

         
What's this? Apple making a cover?! Wow! But wait, this isn't just any cover, this is an Apple Smart Cover! Embedded magnets within the iPad 2 attract the magnets on the Smart Cover & allow the cover to stick to the tablet. But get this, when the case is fully applied to the iPad, the device automatically sleeps, retract the case & the iPad will wake! The cover also cleans the 9.7" screen when it is applied. The smart cover only 'covers' the front of the iPad 2, if you require full protection a case is required. The Smart Cover is available in 10 colours, 5 bright polyurethane covers & 5 darker leather covers.

The iPad 2 will be available in the United States on 11th March & in the United Kingdom on 25th March. The pricing plan is the same as the original iPad's starting at $499 for the 16GB WiFi version.

Overall the iPad 2 is a well worth upgrade to the original iPad with twice the processing power & 9 times the graphics capabilities. The fact that the screen resolution has been maintained at 1024x768 is a bit disappointing but it's high enough. It would have been nice to see higher resolution cameras on a leading tablet like the iPad but at least it actually received some units unlike the previous generation.

Update: iPad 2 is now available in the United States! The UK will follow on 25th March.
Update 2: Apple A5 dual core processor is officially clocked at 1 GHz per core. This provides 2 GHz of raw processing power combined with 512MB of RAM. 
Update 3: iPad 2 is now on sale in the UK.