Apple has just finished unveiling the iPad 2 this morning at an event in San Francisco where, despite being on medical leave, Steve Jobs made a surprising appearance and introduced the device. It was good to see Steve looking good and healthy. I think he is absolutely crucial to sustaining Apple's wow factor.
So the iPad 2 has quite a few improvements or upgrades over the previous edition. It's thinner, lighter, supports HDMI out at full 1080p, mirrored video-out for all apps, two cameras (front-facing and rear, which does HD video recording), FaceTime, faster dual-core processor, enhanced graphics processing, funky looking magnetic cover (optional and additional accessory), PhotoBooth, iMovie and GarageBand for iPad, phew...., new Javascript processing in Safari and finally it comes in both white and black! The white will ship on launch date along with the black model. Both will ship with iOS 4.3, which has a host of new features, and the big date is March 11, 2011. Mark your calendars, people!
Wow, a great spectrum of new features. So what's stayed the same? The display is the same resolution (no retina display). I'm guessing the speaker is the same too as nothing was mentioned about an upgrade (it's pretty good already). Another thing I've noticed from the stock pictures on Apple's website is the back of the iPad 2 doesn't say "iPad 2" but just "iPad". That's just a minor detail though. The 30-pin connector is the only port on this thing apart from the headphone jack but this one supports the new 30-pin connector which has an HDMI port on it. That will sell at $39. Oh, and that funky magnetic cover looks interesting but I'm not jumping out of my seat over it. That too will sell at $39 for the polyurethane model whereas a leather model will retail at $69. Pricey!
All these new features but does this mean it's worth a buy? I think it is. What pushed my decision to buy one eventually was the price point. And that alone (along with all the powerful features to a lesser extent) will kill all current tablet competition. I mean $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi only model! That's hard to beat. A whole set of new features, a faster device, powerful processing, cameras, HD video recording etc. for the same price as the previous model? That's a winner right there. The 32GB model which will sell at $599 will be the one for me. I think 32 gigs is the right size for the kind of things I do with my current iPad. I have enough room for the right number of music, videos and apps on it. I travel a lot so I need it.
One big feature of iOS 4.3 that I have to mention in this post (I'll write a separate entry on 4.3 when I get the new iPad) is home sharing. Now you won't need to have all the media you want on your iPad, you can just stream it from your Mac. I have all my media on my Mac Mini which is my media server. This feature of iOS 4.3 will be very useful and quite awesome!
So $599 plus tax, which works out to about $650 is what I have to set aside by March 11. iPad 2 will be available at 5 p.m. on that day in-store. No pre-orders online, which means you can order on March 11, probably have it delivered the next day. I don't think I'll be getting the magnetic cover quite yet. I will however get the 30-pin connector. So by the end of the day I will be down $700. The home sharing feature has got me wondering if getting a 16GB model makes more sense for $100 less. Hmmm.... As the big day nears my thoughts will be clearer but as of now it's the 32GB black iPad 2.
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| iPad 2 is here. March 11, 2011 is the big day (photo from Apple.com) |
So the iPad 2 has quite a few improvements or upgrades over the previous edition. It's thinner, lighter, supports HDMI out at full 1080p, mirrored video-out for all apps, two cameras (front-facing and rear, which does HD video recording), FaceTime, faster dual-core processor, enhanced graphics processing, funky looking magnetic cover (optional and additional accessory), PhotoBooth, iMovie and GarageBand for iPad, phew...., new Javascript processing in Safari and finally it comes in both white and black! The white will ship on launch date along with the black model. Both will ship with iOS 4.3, which has a host of new features, and the big date is March 11, 2011. Mark your calendars, people!
Wow, a great spectrum of new features. So what's stayed the same? The display is the same resolution (no retina display). I'm guessing the speaker is the same too as nothing was mentioned about an upgrade (it's pretty good already). Another thing I've noticed from the stock pictures on Apple's website is the back of the iPad 2 doesn't say "iPad 2" but just "iPad". That's just a minor detail though. The 30-pin connector is the only port on this thing apart from the headphone jack but this one supports the new 30-pin connector which has an HDMI port on it. That will sell at $39. Oh, and that funky magnetic cover looks interesting but I'm not jumping out of my seat over it. That too will sell at $39 for the polyurethane model whereas a leather model will retail at $69. Pricey!
All these new features but does this mean it's worth a buy? I think it is. What pushed my decision to buy one eventually was the price point. And that alone (along with all the powerful features to a lesser extent) will kill all current tablet competition. I mean $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi only model! That's hard to beat. A whole set of new features, a faster device, powerful processing, cameras, HD video recording etc. for the same price as the previous model? That's a winner right there. The 32GB model which will sell at $599 will be the one for me. I think 32 gigs is the right size for the kind of things I do with my current iPad. I have enough room for the right number of music, videos and apps on it. I travel a lot so I need it.
One big feature of iOS 4.3 that I have to mention in this post (I'll write a separate entry on 4.3 when I get the new iPad) is home sharing. Now you won't need to have all the media you want on your iPad, you can just stream it from your Mac. I have all my media on my Mac Mini which is my media server. This feature of iOS 4.3 will be very useful and quite awesome!
So $599 plus tax, which works out to about $650 is what I have to set aside by March 11. iPad 2 will be available at 5 p.m. on that day in-store. No pre-orders online, which means you can order on March 11, probably have it delivered the next day. I don't think I'll be getting the magnetic cover quite yet. I will however get the 30-pin connector. So by the end of the day I will be down $700. The home sharing feature has got me wondering if getting a 16GB model makes more sense for $100 less. Hmmm.... As the big day nears my thoughts will be clearer but as of now it's the 32GB black iPad 2.
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