iPad 2 first impressions. Will you be getting one ?

I'm considering selling my Touch and getting one but I'm disappointed they didn't up the storage capacity.  The white one sure looks sexy and I like the magnetic cover to protect the screen

After looking at the live blogs of the event, I think if you currently own a 16GB version of the Ipad and are going to need to upgrade at some point due to capacity needs, this is a no brainer.  Apple actually made a better product and didn't budge on the pricing.  Nice job.  But if you already have enough memory on your current Ipad I personally couldn't see the need to upgrade.  There just doesn't seem to be enough on the Ipad 2 to justify upgrading just for the sake of upgrading...

I'll be getting one but disappointed they didn't offer a 128GB option.  The white one looks especially nice.  Will need a new case, too, but that was a given.

no retina screen? :(

*adds to the list* .. the white one looks very nice!

Not enough of an upgrade for me. Camera on the back makes no sense as if you would hold it up in public to take a picture.

Storage should have been increased to 128GB. I like the cpu upgrade.

See what happens next year with the next iPad.

Doesn't seem that Apple even did enough to catch up with some of the other devices out there.  The lack of Flash support and support for SD cards makes the Ipad a no sell for me.  The Motorola Xoom would be much more likely to get my hard-earned cash at this point.

iOS will never support Flash. Everything goes through iTunes on it so you'll never see an SD card reader either (AirDrop in iOS 5 amirite!). The specs for the iPad 2 are fine and more than enough to keep it competitive on a checkbox list till iPad 3; it looks lightening quick, and already has a massive amount of apps/support.

The Xoom had like 16 apps like time I checked, it crashed a lot and was buggy running non-Honeycomb apps, the screen is inferior to the iPad (only thing that is better is the res, but the aspect ratio is different), it has trouble playing HD video unless you make sure it's compressed to something specific. Every review I've read said it's pretty good but people are better off waiting for Honeycomb to feel like it's not a beta, for there to be way more apps available, and obviously if you're on a budget, something that's cheaper than the base iPad 2, or even iPad now it's price has been slashed.

It's been a pretty bog-standard refresh, nearly everything the speculators predicted, but the iPad is at the end of the iOS calendar, and I think we'll see 128GB on the iPhone 5 (as well as iOS 5), then iPods, and then iPad 3 next year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazzman 

Not enough of an upgrade for me. Camera on the back makes no sense as if you would hold it up in public to take a picture.

Storage should have been increased to 128GB. I like the cpu upgrade.

See what happens next year with the next iPad.

 

It's for FaceTime, it's not meant to be a point and shoot; you take a video-call and rather than having to turn the thing 180 degrees to show your friend your new car or something you just tap the screen in the appropriate place and you can see the view from the rear camera and aim it at whatever it is you want to show them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Somnambulist 

It's for FaceTime, it's not meant to be a point and shoot; you take a video-call and rather than having to turn the thing 180 degrees to show your friend your new car or something you just tap the screen in the appropriate place and you can see the view from the rear camera and aim it at whatever it is you want to show them.

I didn't see any real surprises from apple with the Ipad2.... same resolution screen, add a junk 0.3mp vga front facing camera and have some color options.  Granted they have a dual-core and more ram (not sure of how much but probably 512mb) while the competitors will have 1gb ram.  No SD card slot (their way of selling the higher priced bigger GB versions)....no real outputs besides their dock....no hdmi.  Apple is the only company I know of that can make "updates" or "newer versions" with the same tech inside and still sell like crazy.  

The hardware is enough to run anything devs will throw at it comfortably and run the OS, web-browsing and all that very fast (as we can see from the hands-on videos).

Face-Time cameras are the same as the iPhone 4/iPod Touch on the front (Apple use the same parts across the range, saves money) and from the pictures I've seen the picture quality on calls is fine, will you be looking at your friends nose hair?

SD cards will never happen with iOS for three reasons:

1) everything goes through iTunes

2) Apple doesn't do user-replaceable/upgradable on iOS

3) AirDrop is coming/here on Mac OS X and will surely arrive on iOS 5, so if people want to file transfer they'll be doing it wirelessly rather than with a physical medium

The iPad 2 outputs 1080p video over HDMI, you just need to buy their 30pin-to-HDMI adapter (which also works with iPad at 720p).

People aren't just buying specs, they are buying into a lifestyle product, the way the adverts show the possibilities with the software e.t.c. Something else might have better internals, but if what you can actually do with them is limited by poor/fragmented support, lack of developer interest because people on your platform want everything for free so there's not much profit potential or people just don't see it as 'cool', then it's just ticks in boxes really.

What are you talking about?  They make an SD card reader for the docking port.  So don't say it could never happen.  Apple is just stupid for not building one in.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A?fnode=MTc0MjU4NjE&mco=MTcyMTgxODc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Somnambulist 

The hardware is enough to run anything devs will throw at it comfortably and run the OS, web-browsing and all that very fast (as we can see from the hands-on videos).

 

Face-Time cameras are the same as the iPhone 4/iPod Touch on the front (Apple use the same parts across the range, saves money) and from the pictures I've seen the picture quality on calls is fine, will you be looking at your friends nose hair?

 

SD cards will never happen with iOS for three reasons:

1) everything goes through iTunes

2) Apple doesn't do user-replaceable/upgradable on iOS

3) AirDrop is coming/here on Mac OS X and will surely arrive on iOS 5, so if people want to file transfer they'll be doing it wirelessly rather than with a physical medium

 

The iPad 2 outputs 1080p video over HDMI, you just need to buy their 30pin-to-HDMI adapter (which also works with iPad at 720p).

 

People aren't just buying specs, they are buying into a lifestyle product, the way the adverts show the possibilities with the software e.t.c. Something else might have better internals, but if what you can actually do with them is limited by poor/fragmented support, lack of developer interest because people on your platform want everything for free so there's not much profit potential or people just don't see it as 'cool', then it's just ticks in boxes really.

Face-time camera's aren't just for facetime.... they can be used to make videos/still shots.  and if I was face-timing with friends or family i'd like it to be a good quality video....0.3mp?  really? i think my razr had that in 2003.

Why would I want to pay for an adapter where its standard for every other company?  once again...apples way of "forcing" people to buy the higher GB versions.  And they do have a SD card reader...but yet again its for an optional adapter.

"Buying a lifestyle product"....must be the motto for apple fan boys/girls aka isheep.  lets talk about limitations.... like the limitations that apple puts on all their products.... thats why most people jailbreak their idevices to break through those limitations and get more out of their product.  

Lack of developer interest?  Google stands behind android.... no lack in interest there.

Wanting it for free?  all consumers want it for free.... again thats why sooo many idevices are jailbroken.... for free apps.

Lack of flash support is just dreadful..... and don't tell me its not possible because their are ways around this when jailbroken to support some flash sites (apple is just lazy)

Steve Jobs is the worlds best hype man.  He can convince any apple supporter to "upgrade" to their "updated" / "newer version" when its pretty much the same thing with all the same drawbacks and very few "upgrades" actually to it.
 

I think we can agree that Apple products tend to lose out, specs-wise, to the competition. Still, here's a quote worth considering:

That quote comes from this CNET article on the iPad 2: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20038297-266.html?tag=mncol;txt

I for one thought the iPad 1 was a ridiculous product when it first came out. I couldn't see any point in it. I fell back on the specs arguments (and I'm not "anti-Apple", being a MacBook user). But today I can't help but wish, if I had the cash to spare, or if the price was lower, I wouldn't mind an iPad. And what held me back from saving up for an iPad 1 was the knowledge the they were announcing iPad 2 today.

I wish I could have the iPad 2. Technical arguments aside, the real question is embedded in that statement--in other words, do you wish for one?