After months of umming and erring you finally decided that you couldn’t live without the magical wonder that was the iPad, so off you went to the local Apple dealer with a spring in your step and a wad of cash in your wallet.
On your return with a warm glow in your heart and a significantly lighter wallet you thought that life couldn’t get any better, you were finally living in the modern world, no longer would people scoff at you as you tapped away on your battered old laptop. Unfortunately as with most things tech, if you hang around too long you are already living in the past because Apple have now released their new improved iPad 2.
The new iPad is faster, lighter and prettier than the original iPad which now when you hold it in your hands feels as cutting edge as a flint axe. Still, you emit a quiet sign and resolve to enjoy your iPad because it is after all still a revolutionary piece of kit but at the back of your mind you know that you are missing out on something and that once again people will turn their noses up when you play with your new old toy on the bus. But is the new iPad that different from the original and will your life continue to have a gaping hole in it until you upgrade?
Let’s start with the exterior which possesses similar lines to the original but is significantly thinner, a massive 33% thinner according to the Apple website and with that comes a 15% reduction in weight from not a lot with the original to virtually non-existent with the new model. The more eagle eyed of you will quickly notice the addition of two tiny camera lenses on both the front and the rear of the Ipad 2. These allow video calling with the FaceTime programme the front one being used for face – face calling and the rear one capable of shooting HD video.
The user interface remains simple and familiar with the large touch screen display and single home button which is a feature of the original iPad, the iPhone and iPod touch. The screen size is approximately the same as the original and both benefit from LED backlighting giving an extremely vivid, crisp and bright display which is ideal for viewing high resolution photos, films, webpages and books. The viewing angle of the screen remains impressively high at 178o but this is no improvement on the first iPad.
Another new features include video mirroring which allows you to show a larger version of the iPad 2 display by connecting it to your HDTV or data projector via an Apple VGA adaptor cable. The iPad also allows for both wireless streaming of video, photos and music and wireless printing.
Underneath all that glitzy exterior the iPad 2 benefits from a significant processor upgrade when compared to the original unit. The new A5 is a 1 GHz duel core processor which Apple boasts will result in up to 9 times faster graphics and that independent tests have shown faster loading web pages and apps and a more responsive operating system.
So, it seems the iPad 2 is lighter, thinner and faster than the original. It also comes complete with a pair of inbuilt cameras and can then show the photos you’ve taken by streaming them to or connecting directly to your HDTV. Surely though all this must come at a cost, there’s no such thing as a free lunch and all that. Well surprisingly enough apparently there is because here in the UK the iPad 2 will be £30 cheaper than the original was on its launch. The entry level 16GB wi-fi will retail for £399 with the 32GB and 64GB models costing £479 and £559 respectively. The addition of 3G connectivity will cost around an extra £100 on all models.
Bet you wish you’d waited now don’t you.