iPad 2 Unveiled

That's right! The all new iPad 2 has officially been unveiled. Pretty nice stuff frankly.

Here are the highlights:
- 33% thinner
- 15% lighter
- Front and rear facing cameras
- Facetime across all iDevices (iPhone 4, iTouch and iPad 2)
- ATT or Verizon 3g service
- Duel Core processor (apple's A5 chip)
- New iOS (4.3)
- Smart cover (looks pretty d@mn slick and automatically turns on and off the iPad when you open and close it)
- Same pricing and the original (but I am sure the original will drop in price soon as they clear out stock)
- In Stores March 11, 2011

Check out all the details here - http://gear.ign.com/articles/115/1153014p1.html

No SD or USB? Weak. Nice upgrade on the processor and cameras though. I wonder if that will lead to new apps that will not run on the old iPad?

~mrmiller

Ironically there's a commercial that says 'I just bought this" where they make fun of how fast technology can change-- and I have to say for the iPad original..."I just got this!!" So, no iPad 2 for me. But maybe on iPad 3 they will have the usb which is the only real thing that I'd like added. The cameras and facetime crap not so much...more for teen girls. The iMovies thing maybe pretty cool, especially for JWriter making home movies of the baby.

It's pretty sweet though!

Sidenote: The Xoom seems pretty weak! The release of the iPad2 will kill that instantly (IMHO). Plus, is it even out yet? This is how you do it...announce a product and release 9 days later. Impressed!

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1103pijanbdvaaj/event/index.html

Full event Video...enjoy!

http://www.gazelle.com/ will give you $300 for your first gen ipad 16gb wifi.

"No SD or USB? Weak." What do you need a SD for? it has usb through the Apple dock connector it is a proprietary 30-pin connector. It comes with a 30 pin - usb cable and they do have a camera kit connector so you could upload pics directly from a camera's SD card.

If it can record video and take pictures, it would be nice to be out on vacation or somewhere not in arms reach of a computer and be able to switch out SD cards instead of using up all the memory. Otherwise you better overpay for the larger memory units. No SD card = no expandable memory = more money for apple when you have to by the bigger flash memory iPad. Really, $100 more to double your memory? Plus with USB you could add many peripherals, with as you said "proprietary 30-pin connector" is crap and the same thing people bash Sony for with all their "proprietary" stuff (memory sticks/connectors/ etc..) I’m not saying what Apple is doing is not good business, for they have so many people sheepishly drinking their Kool-Aid they will be happy to hand over $400-$800 every year for minor tweaks, but I was hoping for much more with the explosion of tablet popularity.

I still want one, but was holding out and hoping for big changes. And the main reason I mention the SD and USB is that many of the publications were predicting that they would be included in an upgrade, and that seems to be a standard on all the other tablet devices coming from other manufactures. I figure that Apple would be pushing to make the iPad a necessity like they did the iPhone.

~mrmiller

Totally agree with everything miller said, no USB or sd is hella weak, I need a USB for videos, I would buy one for sure if it had USB, it whould makes it a whole lot better to get stuff off the iPad as well as watching vids

Ah I see what you are thinking. I agree it would be nice to have that expandable storage space option but I really don't think apple will allow that to happen. Like you said when they can get more of money for for the memory options they allow. I also think they are trying to move away from thinks like sd cards and usb drive as well as discs and are moving more in the direction of storing things in "the cloud" or wirelessly accessing your home computer to transfer those movies and pictures to make more room on your wireless device. I also don't think that the ipad is ever going to be a main source of some ones vaction video tapping, or at least not some thing I would use it for.

My point about the 30 pin connector - UBS cable is that it can do alot with USB and that comes in the box. Just was not thinking in the way of external/added memory. That's why I asked.

"proprietary 30-pin connector" is crap and the same thing people bash Sony for with all their "proprietary" stuff (memory sticks/connectors/ etc..)
I can see what you are saying. It would be a whole lot easier if it was just a usb plug at the bottom of the device. I think in the next gen or so you will see them utilize the light peak technology but who knows if they will use the regular light peak plug or make there own version to pluginto the device similar to the 30 pin connecter.

DROOPYmcC00L wrote: I need a USB for videos, I would buy one for sure if it had USB, it whould makes it a whole lot better to get stuff off the iPad as well as watching vids

What do you need USB to watch videos for?
I don't have an ipad nor do I plan to buy one for I while but as an iphone user and having used an ipad I don't see where a usb in that way makes it a game changer.

I was just going of what some of the speculation for the iPad 2 was (which was really a wish list – LOL). Doubling the processing power is huge (rumors are the RAM has been doubled too) and really a big step forward when remaining at the same price point. I guess with 3G and the whole cloud concept, memory does almost becomes moot. Again, you can’t fault Apple on their business practices. The only thing I wish they would do is find the way to make the iPad a necessity, and not luxury. Apple marketing is really good at that. Right now I don’t have a solid argument if I have an iPhone and laptop to get an iPad. Now, I don’t need that argument as it’s a cool piece of hardware I want just because I “want it” and it’s cool, but it’s still basically a toy. What I really need a reason to explain to my wife why I “need” to have one- LOL.

~mrmiller

I hear you on that but if you talk to some one like Inteseptor who has an ipad and iphone you tend to use and ipad in a different way than you use your iphone.
I has many functional apps that allow it to become more of a digital planner, news reader, digital entertainment device (you know we all need more of those). But so many other functions that really are taken full advantage of in a phone.

Matt... RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!!

I agree that I use my iPad for completely different things than I use my iPhone for. They really are completely different in term of what I use each device for but I also agree that it is not a necessity. It is a "luxury item" as miller says. Still, I love it and get a ton of use out of it. In fact, I actually can't imagine not having it so in a strange way I guess it is a necessity. (But I see what Miller is saying)

It would be nice to put my kids shows or DVD movies on a thumb drive and be able to watch them from there, without having to put them in iTunes, or stream them from your pc which sucks unless your on wifi, I mean 16 gb is really about 10 if ya put all your music/ apps/os on it leaving ya with like 2 movies you can put on it,weak

S7 Glock wrote:Matt... RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!!

LOL- classic! Good stuff.

~mrmiller