So being the apple fanboi I am (and because I sold my old iPad 1 when rumors began leaking parts from china) I waited an hour on line at bestbuy and picked up a 32gb Wifi Black.
Initial Impressions: Physical redesign is big improvement, Speed/Processor is a moderate/minor improvement (See below) and interface is basically unchanged. The case is a big upgrade and overall I'd call it a buy if you don't own an iPad, a probably buy if you use your iPad 1 a lot and a no buy if you don't use your iPad 1 a lot.
Physical Design: The iPad 2 has a pretty big physical design change from the iPad 1. The back instead of being a sweeping curve which is thicker in the middle and thinner on the edges is a flat back. The other two major physical changes are the unit is 33% thinner and weighs about 3 oz less then the iPad 1. You might think this is a minor change to design but as pictures below show its actually quite major. For comparison sake an iPhone 4 is compared as is 6 DVD-R's stacked on top of each other (for those of you without an iPhone around to compare how thick it would be.) The changes result in it being significantly easier to hand hold along with feeling much better in the hand from a flat back. The weight difference isn't as significant but any decrease in weight in tablet form factor is a good thing. The other major design change is the case mounting system which I'll get in to later in accessories.
Speed/Processor: The iPad 2 has a dual core A5 1 ghz Cortex A9 CPU versus the iPad 1's single core A4 1 ghz Cortex A8 cpu. The ram is also doubled from 256 in the iPad 1 to 512 in the iPad 2. The net effect is to have a device which is significantly faster on certain tasks but only somewhat faster on most tasks. iPad app developers were very careful to make sure the current generation of apps runs well on iPad/iPhone so the A5 isn't being taxed a lot. You can see in the below video some comparisons of websites loading but for right now there is a speed improvement of a few seconds in web browsing and certain apps but it has potential for a lot faster apps especially in gaming/media creation where dual core and upgraded graphics will help.
User Interface: It's the exact same as iPad 1. iOS is dated in some ways especially how it shows notifications but it works very well and apps on it still exude quality and polish that is hard to find in other places. Many people use windows for the apps not because windows is a better OS then linux or OsX and the same is true for iPad. I'm not going to debate the competition in this review but that is why iOs devices have a leg up when it comes to software. Let's hope Apple improves notifications and re-polishes the UI for iOS 5.
Accessories: The case is a significant upgrade from the old case. The new latching system is magnetic and as you can see from the video below it works very well. The case folds into a triangle shape which functions as both a landscape and a portrait stand while adding minimal bulk to the iPad. It's not perfect and a major complaint is when you flip it over to open it there is no magnetic "catch" in the back so it kind of dangles and it overlaps the end by a few mm reversed thus causing it to bend slightly if your holding it up on your chest in the bed... not that I'd ever do such a thing... just heard... you know... from people.
Video: Below is a video of interface in action including loading some web pages versus iPhone 4. Please excuse the moire effect which is causing the pinkish wave distortion on the image, as you can see by end of video if I shift the screen slightly the effect goes away and is only a photography artifact from photographing something with many vertical and horizontal lines in a pastern the screen in person has no such effect. If I adjusted the focus back ever so slightly the effect would of disappeared.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUsax39Z3Dc&feature=player_detailpage
Tim
Initial Impressions: Physical redesign is big improvement, Speed/Processor is a moderate/minor improvement (See below) and interface is basically unchanged. The case is a big upgrade and overall I'd call it a buy if you don't own an iPad, a probably buy if you use your iPad 1 a lot and a no buy if you don't use your iPad 1 a lot.
Physical Design: The iPad 2 has a pretty big physical design change from the iPad 1. The back instead of being a sweeping curve which is thicker in the middle and thinner on the edges is a flat back. The other two major physical changes are the unit is 33% thinner and weighs about 3 oz less then the iPad 1. You might think this is a minor change to design but as pictures below show its actually quite major. For comparison sake an iPhone 4 is compared as is 6 DVD-R's stacked on top of each other (for those of you without an iPhone around to compare how thick it would be.) The changes result in it being significantly easier to hand hold along with feeling much better in the hand from a flat back. The weight difference isn't as significant but any decrease in weight in tablet form factor is a good thing. The other major design change is the case mounting system which I'll get in to later in accessories.
Speed/Processor: The iPad 2 has a dual core A5 1 ghz Cortex A9 CPU versus the iPad 1's single core A4 1 ghz Cortex A8 cpu. The ram is also doubled from 256 in the iPad 1 to 512 in the iPad 2. The net effect is to have a device which is significantly faster on certain tasks but only somewhat faster on most tasks. iPad app developers were very careful to make sure the current generation of apps runs well on iPad/iPhone so the A5 isn't being taxed a lot. You can see in the below video some comparisons of websites loading but for right now there is a speed improvement of a few seconds in web browsing and certain apps but it has potential for a lot faster apps especially in gaming/media creation where dual core and upgraded graphics will help.
User Interface: It's the exact same as iPad 1. iOS is dated in some ways especially how it shows notifications but it works very well and apps on it still exude quality and polish that is hard to find in other places. Many people use windows for the apps not because windows is a better OS then linux or OsX and the same is true for iPad. I'm not going to debate the competition in this review but that is why iOs devices have a leg up when it comes to software. Let's hope Apple improves notifications and re-polishes the UI for iOS 5.
Accessories: The case is a significant upgrade from the old case. The new latching system is magnetic and as you can see from the video below it works very well. The case folds into a triangle shape which functions as both a landscape and a portrait stand while adding minimal bulk to the iPad. It's not perfect and a major complaint is when you flip it over to open it there is no magnetic "catch" in the back so it kind of dangles and it overlaps the end by a few mm reversed thus causing it to bend slightly if your holding it up on your chest in the bed... not that I'd ever do such a thing... just heard... you know... from people.
Video: Below is a video of interface in action including loading some web pages versus iPhone 4. Please excuse the moire effect which is causing the pinkish wave distortion on the image, as you can see by end of video if I shift the screen slightly the effect goes away and is only a photography artifact from photographing something with many vertical and horizontal lines in a pastern the screen in person has no such effect. If I adjusted the focus back ever so slightly the effect would of disappeared.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUsax39Z3Dc&feature=player_detailpage
Tim
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