Get your bingo cards ready kids, Apple have just announced the iPad 2. Presented by Steve Jobs himself, Apple’s new iPad not only matches, but beats almost every other manufacturers tablet entry (due later this year).
In a very typical ballsy move, Apple even called them out during the event, labelling them as ‘copycats’. To be honest, given Apples lead in the market, the other manufacturers will really have their work cut out for them. Most of them are scheduled for release in months, not weeks like the iPad 2, meaning Apple will ship its second tablet, before many sell their first.
- Dual-core A5 processor
- 2x CPU speed, 9x graphics speed improvement
- Back camera: Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio; still camera with 5x digital zoom
- Front camera: Video recording, VGA up to 30 frames per second with audio; VGA-quality still camera
- Gryoscope
- 33% thinner, 13.4mm to 8.8mm thin — thinner than an iPhone 4, and lighter than the previous iPad
- White and Black colours available
- Same original iPad battery life, over 10 hours of usage and a month of standby time
There’s also a new case design which uses small magnets built into the surface of the iPhone bezel which pair with magnets in the new Apple cases. Anyone with an iPad 1 case will be aware of the flappy, nature of the existing case, so this is a smart solution. Cases are available in a range of colours.
New Applications
PhotoBooth and Facetime built-in. GarageBand and iMovie for iPad will be available for US$4.99. Apple also announced they have more than 65,000 iPad apps.
Price
We only have US pricing at the moment, but it looks like price is staying the same. Hopefully when Apple does the US-AUD translation our strong aussie dollar will help in local pricing.
Release date
iOS 4.3 will be available on March 11th. iPad 2’s will ship with 4.3 pre-loaded on March 11th (US). Waiting for Australian release dates. The Australian release date for iPad 2 will be March 25th.
Overall
So will all the changes be enough for you to upgrade ? Or if you don’t currently have an iPad, is this the time you’ll jump in ? I’d like to think I won’t upgrade.. ah who am I kidding, I’ll be getting an iPad2.
