The Apple iPad 2 Review
by Brian Klug, Anand Lal Shimpi & Vivek Gowri on March 19, 2011 8:01 PM ESTSmart Covers
Lately Apple has been trying its hand at first party case solutions. It stated with the bumper on the iPhone 4, carried over to the original iPad, and continues now with the iPad 2. Bumpers were an interesting idea, though clearly designed to mitigate unintended antenna attenuation from holding the phone in your hand, and the first iPad case, while novel, never felt quite right in the hands and had an unhealthy attraction to table crud. I also go over smart covers in our video review.
Third time's a charm, and this time they're both better engineered and endowed with the magic of magnets - they're called called smart covers.
I told Anand that I wasn't going to buy another expensive first party cover at launch just because there weren't any other options, yet here I am with a black leather smart cover.
Smart covers come in two materials - polyurethane and leather. There are five neon polyurethane colors and five more subtle/traditional leather colors. Polyurethane runs $39.00, leather will cost you a somewhat staggering $69.00. I opted for the black leather, Anand opted for neon orange and blue to match the official AnandTech color scheme (why didn't I think of that?).
The polyeurethane covers have a soft textured feel to the front and get the job done at the same price as the first Apple iPad cover. The colors aren't quite as saturated as you'd expect (it's more of a light blue and creamsicle rather than neon blue and lambo orange) but they still look pretty good.
The leather version feels and looks real, and passes the standard sticky test for leather. The outside of the cover is the actual leather surface, whereas the inside is a soft microfiber material. Both the polyurethane and leather models have this microfiber interior. The benefit is that it does keep the screen somewhat clean, the only downside is that it doesn't clean along the vertical strips where the smart cover folds. After a couple of days, you end up with some vertical strips of greasiness punctuated by thick ones of clean.
The smart cover aligns and attaches to the body of the iPad 2 using six magnets along its side that line up with a similar set of magnets on the device. When I acquired the smart case at launch, I immediately set out to determine what magnetic wizardry was at play and borrowed some magnetic viewing tape from my friend Alex (who wrote the glass section). Also no, the smart cover does not work with the iPad 1.
You can clearly see the set of magnets on the iPad 2 and smart cover that are used for alignment using the magnetic viewing film. This strip is from United Nuclear, but there are other vendors online. There are two visible sets of three magnets on the iPad 2 which mate up with corresponding patterns of magnets on the smart cover.
The magnetic viewing film is comprised of tiny beads with a small nickel filament inside, and are suspended in a fluid between two transparent polymer sheets. One side of the bead is reflective and appears light green, the opposite side is matte and appears dark green. The nickel filament orients along the magnetic field, and just like that we can see it.
The iPad 2 also has magnets on the far right side to keep the smart cover latched closed. These mate up to an appropriate set of magnets on the smart cover. Inspecting the smart cover carefully also shows a circular magnet which is used to trigger the iPad 2’s magnetic lock sensor.
The circular magnet above the strips of bar magnets is used for signaling the closed/lock sensor on the iPad 2.
Unsurprisingly, you can also make MacBooks and MacBook Pros that use the same kind of magnetic latch sensor go into standby by waving the smart cover or iPad 2 over just the right place. There’s an excess of magnets on the far right of the smart cover to hold the flap in position when rolled upon itself. The only other unintended consequence of putting so many magnets in the iPad 2 is that it sticks to every ferromagnetic surface. The cafe I frequent has metal tables, and the iPad 2 literally sticks to the surface until you yank it off.
The first time you fire up the iPad 2, the area in general settings lacks any toggles for the smart cover lock. After you attach the smart cover and activate the sensor once, a new toggle appears. It's one of those subtle things that Apple does which fits with the - keep extraneous settings and indicators hidden when they're not actually doing something - philosophy.
Left: Before attaching the smart cover for the first time, Right: After attaching the smart cover.
The smart cover can be rolled onto itself and into a triangle, which then angles and supports the iPad at 15 degrees for typing on a flat surface.
Push the iPad 2 further, and it'll stand upright at 115 degrees for use as a more traditional display, say if you have the Bluetooth keyboard or want to use it to watch movies.
The smart cover, while novel, has a few puzzling flaws. First up is what position to put the flap when the cover is opened and held in the hands. Folding the smart cover around to the back works, but magnetic attraction is weak and flap doesn’t stay in place at all. This is how users place the flap in videos on Apple.com and in marketing materials. The cover also makes it difficult to access the power and volume buttons in this position, though admittedly locking functionality with the smart cover should be left to the flap.
Left folded completely over, the second problem is that the cover then completely occludes the iPad 2’s rear facing camera. The other option is to fold the cover in half, which is probably the best solution. You don’t cover up the camera, and the cover doesn’t flap around as much. It still isn’t entirely secure, however.
Third, the smart cover leaves you with the same limitation as the first Apple iPad case: there's no way to make the iPad 2 stand up in portrait mode. There are a couple of landscape options as we described earlier but if you want to prop up the iPad 2 in portrait mode you're out of luck.
The final problem is that the smart cover doesn’t protect the rear of the iPad 2, which any iPad user will tell you is the surface that immediately starts to show aging from scuffing, scratching, denting, and white aluminum oxide from handling. Aluminum is a soft material, and while the iPad 2's aluminum seems to be harder and less porous than the MacBook Pro, it still picks up table crud like nobody's business. It’s frustrating because the smart cover is otherwise one of the most innovative parts of the iPad 2 experience.
As a stand, the smart cover is excellent, and it’s also nice to see Apple finally adopting some magnetic signaling for when to lock the device. Any Blackberry user will tell you this isn’t anything new at all, but execution here is indeed awesome.
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Shadowmaster625 - Monday, March 21, 2011 - link
If that is true then why not focus on that? I still have yet to read anything on anandtech about remote desktop on a tablet. How powerful does a tablet need to be to stream 1-2 mbps compressed images of my desktop over wifi? I can skin my desktop to make it look more like a mobile OS. Touch commands can be fairly easily emulated and transposed into mouse commands. Audio doesnt require much bandwidth. Only video would present a problem, but even then it really doesnt take all that much hardware to play a video. Yet all I see are horrible implementations of remote desktop.marc1000 - Monday, March 21, 2011 - link
i remember reading here at AT that the Nokia N8 could be used to drive an HDMI display and hooked to an keyboard/mouse, to "simulate" a pc-like experience . and now the Ipad2 does the same thing, but 1 year later.IMHO all that apple does is beautifull, but they charge the price for the "beautifullness" of their products.
well, I just want a tablet/smartphone that works, so I will wait until these prices drop... until then I will live with my Htc HD (1st gen.. ugly!)
Watwatwat - Monday, March 21, 2011 - link
almost feels like i learned something:DJayman30 - Monday, March 21, 2011 - link
Maybe the iPad doesnt fit into a busy techbloggers "workflow" but as a consumer device it's an incredible gadget. My ipad 1 is used daily and has never sat on a shelf unused for more than a few hours. I reach for it first instead of my iPhone or clunky Gateway laptop for 90% of my daily computing needs. It has incredible performance, portability, battery life, and overall utility.I can buy & read books, download and play great games, movies and music quickly and easily. Great Email and web surfing are just icing on the cake! Works great for me!
FYI. iPad 1 costs $399 now.
cotak - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
I am with the staff at anand. I use an iPhone 4. It's nice fo getting a little reading of news etc done. And I have looked at the iPad and I have consider getting one. And likely I will have one but not for myself. It'll be too limiting for me to use. For my fiancee though it's perfect since on a regular week she can go 5 6 days without powering up her computer.So is there s market for tablets? Maybe but I don't think it's big as various peope like to think it could be. And the fall out from that might be pretty big. Nvidia's betting on it, moto has only recently make it back into the black, and rim seems to have concentrated on the playbook over improving their last series of phone release. So maybe some of these players might not be be best stocks to hold for the medium term...
Anyhow tablets are useful for light use. But for people who use their devices/technology enought to justify spending regularly on technology, it might be too small and too slow. And really isn't the repeat buyer the important one I the market? My fiancee could get a iPad 1 and happly use it for the next 6 years without considering buying a new one. If people like that are the market, it's not going to be as big as some people in wall street seems to think.
vshin - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
The one thing I'm surprised that isn't getting as much coverage is that small text is actually harder to read on the Ipad 2 than on the Ipad 1. Some folks chalk this up to being "spoiled" by the Iphone 4's retina display but it's actually because Ipad 2 implements heavy use of anti-aliasing, which can't be configured or turned off. I find my eyes tiring very easily as I browse the web or read on iBook in portrait mode.speedkills - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
I noticed over and over in the review people came back to the point that the current app switching functionality is a very poor user experience. It's too bad Apple isn't enabling the multi-touch gestures for multi-tasking by default as they work very well and while they are not for general release it would be nice to see Anandtech weigh on them to see if they feel they should be included in iOS 5 or if they feel a better implementation is needed.Personally both my girlfriend and I have been using them and absolutely loving them. A four finger swipe up shows the multi-tasking bar instead of having to use the double-tap but 95% of the time a simple four finger swipe left or right is sufficient swapping between your most recently used apps. It makes it very easy to do something like copy a bit of text out of a web page, swipe over to Evernote and make a note, then swipe back to Safari and continue surfing.
It's really too bad Apple chose to hide them by default (my guess is they want to save them for the iPhone release to make iOS 5 look like a bigger jump in functionality) because they are a great and much needed addition to the iPad 2.
Mac Ike - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
First of all this was great and extensive review,thank you very much! I have used Windows computers everyday at Work since Windows 3.1,I enjoy all Computers,but Macs are more stable more elegant,easier-to-use,and hold their value longer! I'm not trying to make Windows-users/lovers change to my preferences. I have not purchased an ipad yet,even though I can see many uses for it,and enjoy using iPads. I want ALL OF THE POWER I could possibly need with me,at all times,so I carry my 17-inch MacBook Pro for those times; when not practical I carry my iphone 4. Serious workloads might send me to my imac,it deprnds on ehere I am and what i need to do or what I can do in the environment that I'm in.Since I enjoyed the ipad 1,it only stands to reason that I would enjoy ipad 2,because the speed increase,cameras,weight-reduction,...can only enhance the experience! I am always amazed by the rude,idiotic,self-centered opinions and insults expressed on these Forums! If YOU don't want or need an ipad (or iPhone/Mac),then buy what YOU like! Why insult someone else,for THEIR DECISIONS or PURCHASES?? it's almost always a cheaper or alternative choices you can make. I give less than a Damn if you like another brand more,or feel that Apple's prices are too high!! If you want a cheaper computer,don't need a tablet,can't see the value of design/workmanship/elegance of OS &Hardware,hardware-software integration,good,buy your low-priced,cheap shit,and leave the rest of us alone,so that we can enjoy what WE LIKE! I don't ask any Apple-Haters or Fence-Sitters to purchase my products for me,so it's just amazing how people feel that you're an Apple-Fan Boy or Girl if you prefer Apple products! If I want a $60,000 Car,and you feel it's worth it(V-8 or not),and you can get a car for $20,000,why should your choice determine mine?? If you Windows-trolls don't like Apple-gear,why come to Apple-topics to complain about SOMEONE ELSE's choices?? Rude,immature,and Stupid!
rice2999 - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
Dear anandThere is nothing about screen brightness setting to go with the battery life testing. Did you use 50% default brightness? Xoom screen is dimmer than ipad/ipad2. Though it can be argued, it is not exactly fair to compare battery life while the screen is on different brightness, since screen is probably the one uses the most battery.
I forget where I saw it, someone else actually used a meter to measure the brightness and adjusted the brightness to the same before testing the battery life.
Sabresiberian - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Every editor said what I've been saying all along about tablets - they are coolz toyz, but when people start trying to use them, they will find they aren't as handy as either a laptop or a smartphone and they'll be returned or be gathering dust somewhere. Except for niche uses, such as book readers and possibly media device controllers in the home, something like that, tablets are a fad - in my opinion, of course.That being said, they do have innovative technologies I think notebook manufacturers should pay strong attention to and add to their products (netbooks and notebooks). There are things the netbook/notebook can do a tablet's form factor prohibits (add a keyboard to a tablet and it really isn't a tablet any more now, is it?), but there is no reason the notebook should lack any feature a tablet has (except to save money on very low-priced budget models).
As to this thing having enough power to replace a "mainstream" computer if attached to a monitor and keyboard - right. I'll run out right now and buy one to play World of Warcraft on - or isn't that "mainstream" enough for you?
Won't be long now and a device this size will be able to replace what we consider to be a power-house PC these days - but then what will the power-house PC build be like then?
;)