iPad 2 -Features, Build in Apps & Comment

It's All About Technology

Ipad is like an extra hand of you. With 8.8 mm thin and 601 of grams of weight it is very innovative. Surfing the web, watching movies, checking email and reading ebooks is just a click away. With it's Two powerful cores in one A5 chip, iPad can do twice the work at once. Multitasking is smooth, apps load quickly and anything you touch responds instantly. And with up to nine times the graphics performance of the first-generation iPad, everything on iPad 2 is even more fluid and realistic, from gameplay to scrolling through your photo library. Even with such a thin, light design, iPad has an incredible 10-hour battery life. That’s enough juice for one flight across the ocean, or one movie-watching all-nighter or a week’s commute across town. Because iPad hardware and software are made for each other, the power-efficient A5 chip works with the iOS software to keep the battery life from fading away.

 You’ll see two cameras on iPad — one on the front and one on the back. They may be tiny, but they’re a big deal. They’re designed for FaceTime video calling, and they work together so you can talk to your favourite people and see them smile and laugh back at you.³ The front camera puts you and your friend face to face. Switch to the back camera during your video call to share where you are, who you’re with or what’s going on around you. When you’re not using FaceTime, let the back camera roll if you see something movie-worthy. It’s HD, so whatever you shoot is a mini masterpiece. And you can take whacky snapshots in Photo Booth. It’s the most fun a face can have.

 For more features : http://www.apple.com/asia/ipad/features/

Review :

To say Apple's  iPad 2 is an easy tablet to review is somewhat of an understatement. The device, a follow up to last year's wildly successful (and currently market-defining) iPad, is nearly identical when it comes to software, and though improved, closely related on the hardware side as well. With a 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 display, the general size and shape of the device has remained the same, and though inside there's a new dual core A5 CPU, more memory, and a pair of new cameras, most of the iPad 2's changes are cosmetic. Still, the previous tablet soared far above most of its competitors when it came to the quality of both the hardware (if not its raw specs) and its software selection -- something Apple still stands head and shoulders over its adversaries on. So this new model, a thinner, sleeker, faster variant of the original may not be breaking lots of new ground, but it's already at the front of the pack. But is the iPad 2 worth an upgrade for those that took the plunge on the first generation? More importantly, does the device have what it takes to bring new owners into the fold? 

Hardware

The iPad 2 is all about the hardware. From an industrial design standpoint, the iPad 2 just seriously raised the bar on sleek, sexy computer hardware. If you're an owner of the original model, you know it was no slouch in the design department, but its latest iteration takes it to a whole other place. The first thing you'll probably notice about the iPad 2 is that it's thin -- unbelievably thin. At its thickest point, the tablet is just 0.34-inches (compared with the first iPad's half an inch of girth). The device is slightly shorter than the previous model (at 9.5-inches tall), but also slightly less wide (just 7.3-inches versus the iPad's 7.47-inches). It looks and feels amazingly sleek when you hold it. As Steve Jobs pointed out at the launch event, the device is thinner than the astoundingly thin iPhone 4 -- quite a feat considering what's packed inside the slate. Of course, it's still not exactly light, weighing in at 1.33 pounds (or 1.34 / 1.35 for the 3G models), just a hair under the original's one and a half pounds.

As with the previous version, the front of the device is all screen, save for a bezel (which appears slightly less broad than the one on the first model), and a home button at the bottom of the display. The iPad 2 does add a camera opposite from that button at the top of the device, but the small dot is barely noticeable. Around back there's the familiar, smooth aluminum of the previous version (it does feel slightly smoother here), a small, dotted speaker grid on the lower left, a camera on the upper left, and depending on what model you get, the 3G antenna along the top back. The volume buttons and mute / rotate switch sit on the back left side of the device, while on the right you'll find the Micro SIM slot (on 3G versions). A standard 30-pin dock connector is along the bottom, while the top reveals a power / sleep button on the upper right side, and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left. All pretty standard business for an iPad, but smartly put together on this tiny frame.

Internals / display / audio

Much has been made about what is -- and isn't -- inside the new iPad. For starters, Apple has replaced last year's A4 CPU with a new, 1GHz dual core chip it's calling the A5 (surprise surprise). According to Geekbench, there's now 512MB of RAM in the iPad, bringing it up to iPhone 4 standards. That still seems on the low side to us -- a device in this class should probably be sporting 1GB, though we had no memory issues. The screen is identical to the previous model, a 1024 x 768, 9.7-inch IPS display. It still looks good, though we really would have liked to see a bump in resolution -- if not up to the Retina Display's doubled numbers, then something substantial. We don't take issue with the quality of the display as far as color balance or deepness of blacks go, but we would like to see higher pixel density, especially for the book apps.

On the wireless front, you can nab either a WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n) only model, a Verizon 3G version, or an iPad of the AT&T / GSM variety. Bluetooth 2.1+EDR is on board, as is an AGPS chip in the 3G versions. All the models come equipped with an ambient light sensor, an accelerometer, and a new addition: a three-axis gyroscope.

As we said, Apple has relocated the iPad's single speaker to the back of the device. The sound seems clearer if somewhat quieter than the old version, and we can't say that there's a major improvement as far as the placement goes. It does the job, but if you're working in GarageBand (or just listening to music or watching video), you'll want good headphones or decent speakers nearby.

Still, on the specs front the iPad 2 feels very iterative. There's nothing here that is totally mind-blowing, but there's nothing here that makes it feel far off from its nearest competition. We're early enough in the tablet game that a small push in specs like this will last us another season, but Apple needs to deliver bigger guns by the time we see a "3" at the end of the iPad moniker.