Only last year Apple managed to shock the computing and mobile world with a 9.7” Touchscreen tablet that was hardly foreseen. While some called the original Apple iPad as just a magnified iPhone, a few others criticised its name and tried some jokes that were not even remotely funny. Most of the early reviews of this revolutionary gadget were marginal at best, we loved it though. Most cried upon the lack of Adobe Flash and others over the missing cameras. Now, after about sixty thousand apps, and just a few weeks after the first real Android 3.0 tablet rival, the Motorola Xoom hit the market, Apple has let the iPad 2 to stroll back into this hard playing field. This 2nd version is much thinner and hence lighter than its predecessor, but otherwise it is essentially same, which allows it to keep its place on the cutting end in the world that is fully packed with the awesome Android intruders. While the Apple iPad 2 released first on 11th March in the US, UK got its first taste on 25th March.
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| Apple iPad 2 |
Design:
Not much different:
As far as industrial design is concerned, this tablet has set the bar almost unreachable as far as stuff like “sleek” is concerned. The iPad 2 does not look very different from its original. As with the previous version, the front of the device is all screen, except for the bezel, which appears to be slightly less broad than the other, and there is the home button in the bottom. Apart from this, there are the cameras, a tiny dotted speaker grid on the lower left side, and depending on the type of model you got, you will get a 3G camera on the top back. On the rear left side, there is volume, mute and rotate switch, and in the right, there is Micro SIM slot (on 3G models). Along the bottom, there is the standard 30 pin dock, and on the top, there is a power button, sleep button on the upper right side and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left.
If you want to make it obvious to your friends that you have the latest version of the iPad, go for the white version, instead of the black one. While the white gives stylish look, the white bezel distracts from what is on the display, and seems to make the iPad 2 look like a kitchen appliance or digital photo frame, in iPhone 3GS, it was not that bad as that was white only on the rear.
Display:
iPad 2 the same 9.7″ IPS display with the similar 1024 x 768 pixels resolution. Though it still looks absolutely gorgeous, we would have liked to see a small bump in the resolution; though not up to the doubled numbers of the retina display, but something a little substantial. There are no issues what so ever as far as the quality of display such as colour balance, depth of black etc. But we would have definitely loved to see an enhanced resolution.
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| Apple Ipad 2 |
Slimmer and lighter:
Apple had put the iPad on a diet to get the latest version thinner and lighter. At 8.8mm thickness, compared to the original 13.4mm, it looks amazingly slim in reality, almost like a paper. Just after a few hours if reading and browsing, we really appreciate that the WiFi only version of the iPad 2 weighed just 160 grams. This is about 124 grams lighter than the original iPad, which was surprisingly heavy considering its slender form factor. This light weight is a big selling factor especially since it does not lose its battery life that soon.
Durable, yes but no:
The Apple iPad 2 is only 8.8mm thick, which is smaller than that of the thinnest smartphone in the current market, which is again, the Apple iPhone 4. With such dimensions, we feared that being wafer-thin, it would feel breakable; fortunately, having iPad 2’s aluminium case means that it feels incredibly sturdy. Though the iPad 2 can take some scratching and dents on its aluminium casing during normal using, however, if you drop it on a hard surface, you may have to kiss its display a goodbye.
The detachable cover:
The detachable cover attaches itself to the iPad’s magnets that are hidden in its chassis that clicks into its place just right. This cover can also be folded into a stand, which allows for a much more convenient typing as well as video viewing. Peeling of the protective screen of the iPad 2 wake it up immediately. This cover is not at all cheap, coming at £35 for the fabric version and about £65 for the leather version. The bad news is, it does not look as good as it looks in Apple’s tempting pixar inspired promotional video. The grey version is quite futuristic, but we recommend some of the less 70’s shades. The cover is really worth having if you can really afford it. It does not add any bulk to the iPad, and it is handy to have it wherever you are. The best part is, it is extremely quick to get it up and running. Well, we are not taking off ours.
iPad 2 Model types:
There are various iPad 2 models you can get; there is the WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n) only model, a 3G version and a GSM variety. Bluetooth 2.1+EDR is on-board, as is an AGPS chip in the 3G versions. All the models come equipped with an accelerometer, an ambient light sensor, and a new addition of a three-axis gyroscope.
User Interface:
Ease of use:
Since the iPad 2 from Apple do does not deal with any integrated physical keyboard or mouse, Apple has opted to keep the interface of this device as simple as possible. Tablets do not get along well with small icons and fiddly tasks; they will just do with human fingers. This one too has the same touch sensitive interface of the iPhone, just in a larger display; hence even kindergarten goers should have no issues using this. The trademark Apple Home button is present below the display, which will take you to the home screen. The main menu includes heaps of rectangular icons that are nothing but the revolutionary apps. Its simplicity also means that it is not as customizable as that of its other Android rivals, such as the Motorola Xoom. In iPad 2, you get to change the wallpaper and can also create categories for icons, but that is all that you get to do, whereas, with Android tablets, you will be able to fully pack the home screen with shortcuts and widgets; however, keep in mind that this flexibility comes at the cost of simplicity. Hence, it is up to you to decide, which quality is the most essential for you.
Banes of being simple:
Even though the simplicity of the iPad 2 Tablet is appreciable, it will prove to be an incredible drawback in some occasions. For instance, you get to interchange between the 2 apps that are active at the same time by just double clicking over the home button, but you will not get to view the apps side by side in two separate windows; this simply means that iPad will have issues with anything that is more complex than simple browsing. For instance, if you wish to compose a mail, if you just going to type it all, the process will be a breeze, however, if you wish to do some copy and pasting and all that stuff, then you will have to open more than one app. And even some of the most common tasks on a full sized computer like adding an attachment to a mail will be extremely hard and cannot be accomplished.
Editing on the iPad 2:
Even the simple tasks such as copy and paste can get really annoying on the iPad 2. To begin with, you will have to hold your finger on the text in order to highlight it. Then simply drag a few small markers around it to highlight the exact content you like. And, it is mostly impossible to get it right on web pages, especially since they are HTML formatted. Even if you get it right, you need to be a monk to press and drag the pointer wherever you want it to be. On the iPhone, the copy and paste will seem great with the lack of a mouse, and because of the fact that it quite a small gadget, any of its text editing capability will look just miracle like; whereas, on a tablet which is considered as an alternative to a laptop, this process feels ‘non-elegant’ and uncomfortable. The banes of a tablet can be felt especially as you try creating files in Pages, Keynotes and Numbers, which is nothing but Apple’s version of Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
Good luck with complex documents:
Overall, the interface is great, but when you try to create documents that are any more complex than a shopping list without the help of a keyboard and mouse, is nearly impossible; if you manage to create anything more than this, you can assume that you have incredible patience. The best you can do is, make use of the Google Docs in the browser to do any sort of serious typing on your system, and have any sort of access to your documents for reference and some quick editing. The Printing process is also pretty much plain, unless you got an AirPrint activated printer or any of the other third party enabled printing apps. So, just forget about trying any sort of serious work on the iPad 2, and simply stick with having fun.
Apps:
As you can expect from the Apple iPad 2 you get access to a huge collection of apps and games in the App Store. Gamers will simply love this gadget, they can choose between everything from some really addictive puzzles to the first person shooting games. You will also find some very useful apps from photo editors to guitar tuners. iPad allows you to do anything and everything from planning your workouts, diets, booking holidays and even plan your love life for you. Most of the major App titles tend to hit the App Store much before they appear on the Android market, and the best part is that, most of the time they cost less than a couple of pounds. You can also make use of the iPhone Apps on the iPad 2, but they do not use up the full screen, you have to use the pixel-doubling zoom. While this will make the images bigger, it will not take advantage of the higher resolution of the iPad 2, leaving you craving for the iPad version of the same app. Another major quibble here is that, you are locked into Apple’s App Store to get access to all of these apps, and hence, you can only use iTunes on a single system for syncing.
GarageBand:
One App that deserves special mentioning is Apple’s GarageBand, which really shows of the touchscreen possibilities of the iPad 2. This app allows you to record a number of tracks with the help of ‘real’- sounding virtual musical instruments, or they can be simply described as “cheating instruments” that play themselves for you. While this is not the app for the pros who love to do it all by themselves fiddling with innumerable knobs on a desk, it will surely interest the beginners who seem to be getting addicted to creating songs on the iPad 2. We were left wishing if only you get to export tunes to the music player on the iPad 2, instead of being forced to sync them first in the computer first.
Photo Booth:
Apple tempts the iPad 2 users into making use of its new 0.3 megapixels in the fascia and 0.91 megapixel rear cameras with an amazing and addictive app called Photo Booth. This app is pretty much straightforward and this basic app can also be used to create funny photos for your Facebook profile and other social media, but is not recommended for any serious editing.
FaceTime:
You also get FaceTime on the New Apple iPad 2, which you must be aware by now, a video calling app. With this app, you are allowed to call people using the above mentioned front or rear facing cameras, but with only those of you who own a Mac, iPhone 4, iPod Touch and iPad 2. The FaceTime experience on the iPad is not so different than what can be got out of the iPhone or OS X computer. Though the layout might be a little different, you will basically get the same results. When we tested this feature, we were stunned at the excellence of video quality, when compared to some of the major rivals in this feature, such as the Skype. Unfortunately, you will not be able to share this fun with your other mates owning any other kind of smartphone.
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