The Apple iPad 2 Review
by Brian Klug, Anand Lal Shimpi & Vivek Gowri on March 19, 2011 8:01 PM ESTFinal Words
If you fell in love with the original iPad, the iPad 2 is a significant upgrade. You get much faster hardware, a much more ergonomic device and the ability to FaceTime with your friends. If it weren't for the fact that the iPad 3 is likely 12 months away with another set of similarly impressive upgrades I'd recommend all iPad users upgrade to the 2nd generation model.
I find that with Apple products you have to pick an upgrade cadence and firmly stick to it. In the Mac world it's difficult but not too hard to stick to. Upgrading yearly never makes financial sense so usually putting yourself on a 2 - 3 year cycle for the biggest upgraders usually works. Apple hardware tends to hold its value surprising well so as long as you do a good job of reselling your old stuff, this cadence can work well if you absolutely must have the latest and greatest.
The iOS platforms are a bit more difficult to be patient with. As you can see by the SoC upgrades Apple has thrown into the iPad 2, for the next couple of years you should expect Apple to be upgrading at a rate faster than Moore's Law. Eventually this will level off but for the iPad 2, iPad 3 and probably even the iPad 4 we'll see this sort of aggressive ramp in hardware capabilities. You really have to treat the iPad like a smartphone - it's going to be made significantly less desirable in about 12 months so plan your purchasing accordingly.
Cautious purchasing brings me to my biggest complaint about the iPad 2 - its pricing. Motorola gets a bad rap for pricing the first Xoom at $799, but there's only one iPad 2 that sells at $499. Buy a case, pick one of the higher capacity models, add 3G and you're quickly paying a lot more for the iPad 2 than you would a mainstream PC. Granted Apple doesn't make as much off of the iPad as it does other members of its product lineup, but I still feel the price is too much for a device that can only augment your existing computing devices.
I do wish Apple was able to increase display resolution on the iPad 2, although I suspect that combined with the SoC improvements that may have been a little too much for this generation. It's clear that a higher resolution panel is coming as Apple finally has an OS that properly handles DPI scaling. The real question is when, and is that time soon enough that you can hold off buying an iPad until then?
There's no better place to say this so I'll just put it out there: Apple's commitment to increasing performance deserves serious recognition. Whether or not you like the company, Apple outfitted the iPad 2 with a pair of ARM Cortex A9s and a GPU significantly faster than anything else on the market. Look around and you won't see many apps that can really stress the PowerVR SGX 543MP2 that Apple put in the A5. Make no mistake, this is about building a big install base of high performance mobile devices. Apple is eager to win the hearts of game developers with the A5. Gaming will be an important part of the tablet's evolution and Apple clearly understands that. What happens when your tablet is fast enough to run Halo? Performance matters here, maybe not as much today, but when the entire install base has PowerVR SGX 543MP2s at the bare minimum things will get really interesting.
Apple's fat trimming really improved the iPad 2's ergonomics, and the smart covers only helped improve things. While I wouldn't consider porting the original iPad around due to its limited usefulness in my workflow, the iPad 2 is thin and light enough where I'm less bothered by it. Ultimately I feel like tablets (iPad or not) have to be even thinner and even more ergonomic to really come into their own. The good news is that Apple hasn't done anything too exotic in slimming down the original iPad. I'd expect the second generation of Android tablets to be similarly thin/light.
And that brings us to the controversy, the Honeycomb comparison. The Xoom is the only real competition shipping for the iPad 2 today, but within 60 days we'll likely have competitors from ASUS and Samsung on the market as well. Honeycomb has some serious advantages in the feature department. Multitasking is better under Android 3.0, as are notifications and as of yesterday there's finally Flash support. Apple still provides a smoother UI than Honeycomb, however this time around I'm wondering how much of that might be due to the GPU horsepower behind Tegra 2. While Tegra 2 does well on a lower resolution screen, I feel like it is underpowered to deal with the Xoom's 1280 x 800 display.
Hardware-wise Apple has an ergonomics advantage over the Xoom. While I like holding the Xoom more than the original iPad, I prefer the iPad 2's feel to the Xoom. The Xoom has the edge in camera quality and display resolution, while the iPad 2 has a better looking display and a faster GPU. I still fundamentally believe that web browsing and email are the killer apps for tablets and as such I don't put too much weight in Apple's iPad app advantage. Long term I believe that the most important apps will be available on both platforms, so unless there's an app that you want today that's an iOS exclusive I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
So if you're actually torn between the iPad 2 and the Xoom my best advice is to wait. Apple needs to update iOS in a major way and Honeycomb needs a hardware update. Whichever gets it right first should get your money.
If you don't fall into the borderline camp then the decision is pretty simple. If you need a tablet that runs iOS today, the iPad 2 is great. If you're not sure, you should wait. Tablets are still a couple of generations from being really amazing. Everything between now and then are just steps along the way.
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FrederickL - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - link
I have to say that I largely agree even though I perhaps would not use PrinceGaz' somewhat "undiplomatic" description of the iPad's current customer profile! However, I am obliged to agree that tablets of this size are of little interest (IMO) until they are functional enough that they can _replace_ ones laptop. The case for buying an iPad (fine piece of content consumption kit as it is) falls down at that first fence as far as I am concerned. In general terms my mobile device needs are met by my Desire Z. A third or fourth generation10 - 11 inch tab with a full slide out qwerty (either Honeycomb or Win 8 ARM, the iOS is not to my taste) with more connection/plug options than you can shake stick at, with a docking station+large screen at home - now THAT would open my wallet!
dhuhtala - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link
I tend to agree - I've always carried a Blackberry phone instead of an iPhone just because it has a slide-out keyboard...I will not compromise on that! This makes the device really practical and I use it a lot.That's why I'm closely watching the ASUS eee Slider - a tablet with a slide out keyboard - that sounds like it will be much cheaper than the Xoom (rumour has it at $500.
The Tegra 2 probably won't meet my requirements for playing MKV video files though, from what I've gathered...
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/15/preview_tabl...
solipsism - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link
You’re the minority. The majority of buyers just want something that works, which is why the techtarded people of the world are jumping into simpler devices for email and browsing, not building their own PCs and running a home-brew version of Linux.synaesthetic - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link
A netbook can check email and browse the internet for significantly less money. Most people I know, even the techtarded as you so colorfully put it, realize this and do not buy an iPad.The people I know who buy iPads are college students who get Mommy and Daddy to pay for it, and hipsters.
doobydoo - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link
I couldn't disagree more.I would say that technically savvy people are the ones who are MORE likely to buy an iPad.
I say this as a technically savvy person who has not yet bought an iPad, but can see the appeal:
Firstly - the iPad is lighter, thinner, and has better battery life than most netbooks.
Secondly - it's more capable, in that u wont have to wait around for Windows or whatever OS you're using to load, the apps are designed for the platform and the device's capabilities so it's actually quicker. Games, for example, are much nicer to play and to control on an iPad when compared to a netbook.
Thirdly - it's more convenient in certain situations - u dont need to find a table to set it on or put it on ur lap - you can just hold it, such as when standing up or walking along, or where ur sitting at a table with food all over it.
Fourthly - it's touch screen, extremely advantageous in certain situations. For example, the iPad makes a much better presentation device than any netbook can.
It's such blind ignorance of a lot of people on here to assume that it's non-techy people who buy iPads. It's the non-haters, who buy iPads. The people who want to embrace the latest technology and actually see what it's about before dismissing it with some pathetic stereotype.
medi01 - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
It's a "for fun" device, so if you buy it for some thing else, I doubt your "tech savyiness".And for some, not being able to read stuff you've written to your own device, is a show-stopper. Calling this "hate" is silly.
synaesthetic - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link
It pretty much is a toy, but I really think smartphones are better toys. They're smaller, and you carry your phone anyway, so why not game on it to kill some time between appointments?Rick83 - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - link
I still stick to my 5" tablet (though something slightly larger might work also...but 7" is already too much).That I can carry around all day (when I want to, and keep a separate non-smart phone that does telephone well enough) and yet it is much more useful than the 4" and 3.5" smart phones. I can comfortably hold it with one hand, buttons are nice and big in landscape mode, the dock gives me USB host, there's BT for keyboards as well, dock with hdmi-out, analog video-out...basically it does anything I would ever need, in the ideal portable form factor.
It could do with a marginally better touch screen and build quality, and performance and stability aren't that great, but considering it predated the first iPad by about 6 months, I'm willing to accept the odd quirk. Also, it still works after quite some use over the last 18 months, with no visible battery life issues.
I hope that the mini-tablet form factor will be explored some more in the future, I would be willing to replace my current device with something similar once the warranty has expired...
Oh did I mention that it cost me less than a third of an iPad? (But, no, no flash either ;))
tzhu07 - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - link
I've been trying to figure out a use for the iPad, and the only thing I can think of is that it's good for doing really simple things and taking notes. Also, when you take it out in front of a client during a lunch meeting, it tends to impress them.But, yeah, I find that there isn't really a need for a device that bridges the gap between a laptop and a smartphone....yet.
vision33r - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - link
It's all about the Apps, regardless which OS they are useless without apps.The iPad has tons of productivity and enterprise ready apps. Would like to see an iMovie clone on Android or some quality productivity apps. So far only iOS has the most real apps.