A couple of weeks with the iPad 2 - First impressions
Category ipad2 Review
I've now had the iPad 2 for about 3 weeks, here are my first impressions. A lot has been written already about the device, so I'll try and avoid rehashing what others have said, and give it my spin.
The physical dimensions - The iPad 2 has the same width and height as the earlier iPad, is much smaller in depth, just a bit thinner than the iPhone 4. Even though the device is pretty much the same weight as the previous model, the thinness does make it easier to hold and doesn't make the iPad2 feel any less solid than the iPad first generation.
The screen - I haven't seen anything documenting it, but myself and a few others have commented that we feel the screen is brighter. Personally the screen resolution is perfectly adequate for my needs, and all these people complaining about no retina display are just looking for something to complain about or have bionic vision. Movies and apps, still look as good as they did on the iPad 1. I do wish they offered a screen with anti-glare, but then I also think that about laptop screens, and I appear to be the minority here. Adding a $8 anti-glare screen protector does the trick though.
The cameras - A lot has been written about the cameras, saying how they're not very good. But lets think about what they're intended for, and that's video. For video they are 720p, now not many people realize this, but very people in the world have a network capable of sending 720p video up their internet connection, so I think 720p video is perfectly adequate. Sure the back facing camera could have been better, but if you want to use the back camera as a real camera you're probably an insurance agent at an accident or something, not the huge consumer market apple are going after. Apples solution for video chat is Facetime, personally I've never used it. Facetime is pretty much useless as you can only chat with iphone, ipad or Mac owners. If I want to do video chat, I use the skype iPhone client. It allows me to do video and audio chats with anyone I know on skype (windows, mac, iphone etc.) and apart from a couple of small bugs it works great, oh and it works without a wifi connection so can work with 3G.
GPS - one of the things I use the iPad for is flying. I specifically use an application called ForeFlight (this is another reason I need I'd like the anti-glare screen). My iPad 1 didn't have GPS so I can't really compare it to that, but flying at 6500 feet, Foreflight was reporting 5m accuracy with the iPad2 GPS.
The iPad 2 screen protector - Genius idea but in actual use has a few irritating flaws. The biggest issue I have with the device is that the panel that slides across the screen to protect it, picks up dirt when you use it as a stand, and over time it creates ridges of dirt on the screen. So the part intended as a cleaner actually does the opposite.
The connector - the connector on the iPad 2 is the same type as on the iPad 1, but it doesn't create a clean tight connection as it did in the iPad 1, this can be a little disconcerting and often leads to people trying to plug in the power connector at an angle. I can see why it was done this way for backwards compatibility, but it doesn't feel very high quality.
Speed - The only place I've noticed speed improvements so far is in the load time of apps. Some of the apps that took a little while before are much quicker now. I did notice that jumping forward and back in a movie with cineXplayer was also much faster.
The kid test - The iPad 1 was very popular with the Niece, and the iPad 2 was the same. I don't think she even noticed it was a different device. They still find it dead easy to navigate.
Some apps could do with an upgrade. For example if you have photos on the iPad/iPhone you can still only create albums on the PC/Mac with iTunes. Never understood that.
So final conclusion, if you've got an iPad 1 and don't have anyone to chat with using the cameras, stick with the iPad 1. If you need the camera get an iPad 2. Otherwise the device is still a great device, but not a must have upgrade.
I've now had the iPad 2 for about 3 weeks, here are my first impressions. A lot has been written already about the device, so I'll try and avoid rehashing what others have said, and give it my spin.
The physical dimensions - The iPad 2 has the same width and height as the earlier iPad, is much smaller in depth, just a bit thinner than the iPhone 4. Even though the device is pretty much the same weight as the previous model, the thinness does make it easier to hold and doesn't make the iPad2 feel any less solid than the iPad first generation.
The screen - I haven't seen anything documenting it, but myself and a few others have commented that we feel the screen is brighter. Personally the screen resolution is perfectly adequate for my needs, and all these people complaining about no retina display are just looking for something to complain about or have bionic vision. Movies and apps, still look as good as they did on the iPad 1. I do wish they offered a screen with anti-glare, but then I also think that about laptop screens, and I appear to be the minority here. Adding a $8 anti-glare screen protector does the trick though.
The cameras - A lot has been written about the cameras, saying how they're not very good. But lets think about what they're intended for, and that's video. For video they are 720p, now not many people realize this, but very people in the world have a network capable of sending 720p video up their internet connection, so I think 720p video is perfectly adequate. Sure the back facing camera could have been better, but if you want to use the back camera as a real camera you're probably an insurance agent at an accident or something, not the huge consumer market apple are going after. Apples solution for video chat is Facetime, personally I've never used it. Facetime is pretty much useless as you can only chat with iphone, ipad or Mac owners. If I want to do video chat, I use the skype iPhone client. It allows me to do video and audio chats with anyone I know on skype (windows, mac, iphone etc.) and apart from a couple of small bugs it works great, oh and it works without a wifi connection so can work with 3G.
GPS - one of the things I use the iPad for is flying. I specifically use an application called ForeFlight (this is another reason I need I'd like the anti-glare screen). My iPad 1 didn't have GPS so I can't really compare it to that, but flying at 6500 feet, Foreflight was reporting 5m accuracy with the iPad2 GPS.
The iPad 2 screen protector - Genius idea but in actual use has a few irritating flaws. The biggest issue I have with the device is that the panel that slides across the screen to protect it, picks up dirt when you use it as a stand, and over time it creates ridges of dirt on the screen. So the part intended as a cleaner actually does the opposite.
The connector - the connector on the iPad 2 is the same type as on the iPad 1, but it doesn't create a clean tight connection as it did in the iPad 1, this can be a little disconcerting and often leads to people trying to plug in the power connector at an angle. I can see why it was done this way for backwards compatibility, but it doesn't feel very high quality.
Speed - The only place I've noticed speed improvements so far is in the load time of apps. Some of the apps that took a little while before are much quicker now. I did notice that jumping forward and back in a movie with cineXplayer was also much faster.
The kid test - The iPad 1 was very popular with the Niece, and the iPad 2 was the same. I don't think she even noticed it was a different device. They still find it dead easy to navigate.
Some apps could do with an upgrade. For example if you have photos on the iPad/iPhone you can still only create albums on the PC/Mac with iTunes. Never understood that.
So final conclusion, if you've got an iPad 1 and don't have anyone to chat with using the cameras, stick with the iPad 1. If you need the camera get an iPad 2. Otherwise the device is still a great device, but not a must have upgrade.
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Comments
Posted by Thomas At 04:21:32 PM On 04/13/2011 | - Website - |
Posted by Theo Heselmans At 05:19:15 PM On 04/13/2011 | - Website - |
Posted by Glen At 06:30:49 PM On 04/13/2011 | - Website - |
Posted by Glen At 06:28:19 AM On 04/14/2011 | - Website - |
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We have an international staff here, and a few of them now travel only with their iPad and iPhone/BB.
When you look at all the engineering, iPad really is a brilliant device. This will be an interesting decade for technology.
Posted by Brian At 10:23:46 AM On 04/14/2011 | - Website - |