Resurrection
03.03.11, 05:41
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xct-fU00SA
iPad Specifications
* Dual-core A5 processors to improve speed -- graphics will run up to 9x faster while using the same battery life.
* Front and rear-facing cameras. Rear camera is 720p resolution, front is "VGA quality" -- it's meant to be used for Facetime chat primarily, so quality isn't that big a deal.
* Gyroscope for position-based apps.
* 33% thinner than the first iPad at 0.34". It's 9.5" high and 7.3" wide.
* Lighter, at 1.33 pounds versus 1.6 pounds for the current iPad.
* Starts at the same price: $499. So it won't be dramatically cheaper as some had proposed. It also comes in the same models as the current version: Wi-Fi and 3G (Verizon or AT&T) in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB sizes.
* It ships on March 11 in the U.S. -- that's less than two weeks away. March 25 in the rest of the world
----------------
And here a couple articles that review the product...
Apple’s iPad 2: First Impression? Pretty Remarkable - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com (http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2011/03/02/apples-ipad-2-first-impression-pretty-remarkable/)
Steve Jobs didn’t appear much different than the last time we saw him. Of course, he is still very thin as his challenges with gaining weight have been well documented. He put in another patented pitchman performance. It was classic Jobs, but no mention of his health or his leave of absence from the C-suite.
While the announcement wasn’t a game-changer, I think we have become jaded to a degree when it comes to some of the incremental improvements to Apple products. In this case, the ability to increase speed dramatically and add two cameras and various other new bells and whistles to the operating system while decreasing the thickness of the device by one-third is pretty remarkable.
Much of the credit goes to its proprietary A5 chip produced by Apple’s “chip wizards,” as Jobs refers to his semiconductor engineers. These enhancements were achieved without decreasing battery life and increasing the price. As the WSJ and others have noted, Apple’s lower production cost, superior retail channel and aggressive pricing seems to be its biggest competitive advantage.
I held the iPad2 in one hand and my own personal 1.0 iPad in the other, and the difference in weight was certainly noticeable. Certainly, the version 1.0 black cases are also heavier than the new “smart covers” held by magnets.
Will it change your life? Hardly. But from an engineering standpoint, and you can ask any smartphone engineer about this, adding considerably more functionality while decreasing the overall real estate footprint is a very impressive accomplishment.
It is no coincidence that today’s Apple announcement at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco came during the middle of the Game Developer Conference being held at the Moscone Convention Center next door. By increasing the speed of the graphics by nine times and adding the gyroscope function, Apple was aiming directly for the hundreds of computer game developers in town for the trade show.
I’m personally impressed with the new iMovie app that will sell for $4.99. As a former television reporter, I learned to edit video using three-quarter inch video tape on massive decks with expensive editing consoles that would consume small rooms. Now, through the elegance of Apple software, one can do more sophisticated video editing on iPad than was once possible in last century television news operations.
The GarageBand app will turn your kid’s bedroom into a rock-and-roll recording studio. Consider yourself warned.
---
5 Disappointments with Apple iPad 2 - PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/article/221225/5_disappointments_with_apple_ipad_2.html)
Apple's iPad 2 is the lighter, thinner and faster tablet we were all expecting, but it's no revolution.
Even though the new iPad is enough to beat most of the competition, Apple left enough features off the table to yearn for whatever's next. If 2011 is the year of the iPad 2, as Apple claims, here's what I'll be beefing about until 2012:
You're Still Tethered to iTunes
Dave Schumaker of gdgt zinged Apple with a pithy Tweet: "'The iPad is a true post-PC device.' First thing you have to do when you turn on an iPad? Hook it up to a PC." Even if you never sync a single piece of media from a computer to an iPad, you still need iTunes on a PC or Mac to keep the tablet's software up to date. This needs to change.
The Software is Mostly the Same
Apple added a few bells and whistles in iOS 4.3, including iTunes Share and the optional restoration of an orientation lock switch, but fundamentally the iPad OS is the same. Between Android Honeycomb's widget support, the HP TouchPad's neat interplay with WebOS phones and the Blackberry Playbook's powerful multitasking, the iPad is looking more like an oversized iPod Touch than ever. Here's hoping iOS 5 brings the necessary overhaul.
Not a Peep on MobileMe
With MobileMe removed from retail channels, a revamped free version seemed like a safe bet for Apple's iPad 2 event. The rumor mill was predicting a digital locker for multimedia, and maybe even wireless syncing to iTunes, but no dice.
Pricey Dongles
Want to connect your iPad to a television through HDMI? That'll be $39 for the Apple Digital AV Adapter. Want to transfer photos directly to the iPad without going through iTunes? That'll be $29 for the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit. Maybe I'm a bit spoiled to complain about these things given that the iPad 2's main competitor, Motorola's $800 Xoom, doesn't come close on pricing for the tablet itself, but $68 for a pair of connectivity dongles seems a little unfair.
No Retina Display
I'm putting this gripe low on the list because the rumor of a display that doubles the last iPad's resolution was more or less debunked going in. But you can be sure that some fence-sitters will hold out on the iPad 2, hoping for a screen resolution that makes their eyes cry with joy. Fortunately for them, the iPad 3 speculation is already well underway.
-----------
What do you guys think about this?Is this item on your wishlist or are you happy with a netbook/notebook?
iPad Specifications
* Dual-core A5 processors to improve speed -- graphics will run up to 9x faster while using the same battery life.
* Front and rear-facing cameras. Rear camera is 720p resolution, front is "VGA quality" -- it's meant to be used for Facetime chat primarily, so quality isn't that big a deal.
* Gyroscope for position-based apps.
* 33% thinner than the first iPad at 0.34". It's 9.5" high and 7.3" wide.
* Lighter, at 1.33 pounds versus 1.6 pounds for the current iPad.
* Starts at the same price: $499. So it won't be dramatically cheaper as some had proposed. It also comes in the same models as the current version: Wi-Fi and 3G (Verizon or AT&T) in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB sizes.
* It ships on March 11 in the U.S. -- that's less than two weeks away. March 25 in the rest of the world
----------------
And here a couple articles that review the product...
Apple’s iPad 2: First Impression? Pretty Remarkable - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com (http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2011/03/02/apples-ipad-2-first-impression-pretty-remarkable/)
Steve Jobs didn’t appear much different than the last time we saw him. Of course, he is still very thin as his challenges with gaining weight have been well documented. He put in another patented pitchman performance. It was classic Jobs, but no mention of his health or his leave of absence from the C-suite.
While the announcement wasn’t a game-changer, I think we have become jaded to a degree when it comes to some of the incremental improvements to Apple products. In this case, the ability to increase speed dramatically and add two cameras and various other new bells and whistles to the operating system while decreasing the thickness of the device by one-third is pretty remarkable.
Much of the credit goes to its proprietary A5 chip produced by Apple’s “chip wizards,” as Jobs refers to his semiconductor engineers. These enhancements were achieved without decreasing battery life and increasing the price. As the WSJ and others have noted, Apple’s lower production cost, superior retail channel and aggressive pricing seems to be its biggest competitive advantage.
I held the iPad2 in one hand and my own personal 1.0 iPad in the other, and the difference in weight was certainly noticeable. Certainly, the version 1.0 black cases are also heavier than the new “smart covers” held by magnets.
Will it change your life? Hardly. But from an engineering standpoint, and you can ask any smartphone engineer about this, adding considerably more functionality while decreasing the overall real estate footprint is a very impressive accomplishment.
It is no coincidence that today’s Apple announcement at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco came during the middle of the Game Developer Conference being held at the Moscone Convention Center next door. By increasing the speed of the graphics by nine times and adding the gyroscope function, Apple was aiming directly for the hundreds of computer game developers in town for the trade show.
I’m personally impressed with the new iMovie app that will sell for $4.99. As a former television reporter, I learned to edit video using three-quarter inch video tape on massive decks with expensive editing consoles that would consume small rooms. Now, through the elegance of Apple software, one can do more sophisticated video editing on iPad than was once possible in last century television news operations.
The GarageBand app will turn your kid’s bedroom into a rock-and-roll recording studio. Consider yourself warned.
---
5 Disappointments with Apple iPad 2 - PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/article/221225/5_disappointments_with_apple_ipad_2.html)
Apple's iPad 2 is the lighter, thinner and faster tablet we were all expecting, but it's no revolution.
Even though the new iPad is enough to beat most of the competition, Apple left enough features off the table to yearn for whatever's next. If 2011 is the year of the iPad 2, as Apple claims, here's what I'll be beefing about until 2012:
You're Still Tethered to iTunes
Dave Schumaker of gdgt zinged Apple with a pithy Tweet: "'The iPad is a true post-PC device.' First thing you have to do when you turn on an iPad? Hook it up to a PC." Even if you never sync a single piece of media from a computer to an iPad, you still need iTunes on a PC or Mac to keep the tablet's software up to date. This needs to change.
The Software is Mostly the Same
Apple added a few bells and whistles in iOS 4.3, including iTunes Share and the optional restoration of an orientation lock switch, but fundamentally the iPad OS is the same. Between Android Honeycomb's widget support, the HP TouchPad's neat interplay with WebOS phones and the Blackberry Playbook's powerful multitasking, the iPad is looking more like an oversized iPod Touch than ever. Here's hoping iOS 5 brings the necessary overhaul.
Not a Peep on MobileMe
With MobileMe removed from retail channels, a revamped free version seemed like a safe bet for Apple's iPad 2 event. The rumor mill was predicting a digital locker for multimedia, and maybe even wireless syncing to iTunes, but no dice.
Pricey Dongles
Want to connect your iPad to a television through HDMI? That'll be $39 for the Apple Digital AV Adapter. Want to transfer photos directly to the iPad without going through iTunes? That'll be $29 for the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit. Maybe I'm a bit spoiled to complain about these things given that the iPad 2's main competitor, Motorola's $800 Xoom, doesn't come close on pricing for the tablet itself, but $68 for a pair of connectivity dongles seems a little unfair.
No Retina Display
I'm putting this gripe low on the list because the rumor of a display that doubles the last iPad's resolution was more or less debunked going in. But you can be sure that some fence-sitters will hold out on the iPad 2, hoping for a screen resolution that makes their eyes cry with joy. Fortunately for them, the iPad 3 speculation is already well underway.
-----------
What do you guys think about this?Is this item on your wishlist or are you happy with a netbook/notebook?