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Apple's Media Event to See Introduction of iPad 2, Cloud-Based MobileMe?
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nice, thanks for the pics!
so 2 cameras, not only a front for facetime. hopefully it is the iPhone 4 cam in the back
so 2 cameras, not only a front for facetime. hopefully it is the iPhone 4 cam in the back
I don't wish to get my expectations of an ipad2 up high. This release seems rather fast for apple. I'm sure android & the forthcoming of all the other tablets have forced apples hand. Patiently waiting the day mobile me is included in ilife for free or a very small yearly fee.
According to the screenshot above, snapped YourAppleDaily.net, the iPad 2 available will have Thunderbolt, a camera and 1.2GHz CPU. And it will be released on March 17.
Heres the specs:
9.7-inch screen (same as the current iPad)
1.2GHz CPU
Wi-Fi
Thunderbolt
Camera
Bluetooth
Thoughts?
Laughable...
I personally could care less about the iPad 2. I want to hear about iOS 5 and the new MobileMe. Especially if it becomes free!
Can I possibly be less interested in iPad2
Don't think so!
not sure, but if you'd asked 'can I possibly be less interesting than iPad2?' most would agree that the answer is yes .... Nobody's holding a press conference cos you're going out tomorrow, are they? Not many sites debating the pros and cons of what socks you might wear. Blogs and sites around the world aren't exactly overflowing with chatter about whether you amount as an upgrade or not, and certainly no muti-billion industry is holding its breath over your success or failure.
You don't care bout iPad, and the world cares less bout you. Not saying it's right, but that's how it is.
I have no doubt in my mind that this will be a huge revenue booster for Apple, which I always like with the amount of stock I own. I just think quite a bit of Techy end users won't feel this is much of an "upgrade" just like the iPhone 3 to 3GS. Will it still sell well all around the world? Absolutely!
Uh ? To techy users, the 3G to 3GS was a huge upgrade. Too bad the damn 3G users prevented app developers from using the upgraded hardware of the 3GS for well over a year and us 3GS owners were basically stuck with an iPhone 3G for the longest time.
I think you and I have discussed this topic before, but very few people realize how big of an upgrade the 3GS was from the 3G. It's funny, but with Apple, the typical person only thinks "huge upgrade" when the exterior design changes, even if the internal hardware stays the same...like the iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4 (they are almost identical internally...that's why there's very little performance difference between the two). Yet, when they make a MASSIVE hardware upgrade, yet keep the same external design, very few people think it was a "major upgrade"...like the 3G to 3GS...the 3GS is so much more advanced internally than the 3G that it's not funny...again, the 3GS is essentially the same as the iPhone 4 hardware wise. This whole "external design is the same, so must not be much of a upgrade" idea even seems to be evident with the latest Macbook Pro upgrade...there are people saying the same thing just because the external housing didn't change. For the "common folk" to think it's a "huge upgrade", all Apple has to do is give us a new external housing for the iPad today, throw a camera in it, and people will eat it up. And I think Apple knows that.
I, for one, care more hardware upgrades than the innards.
In my line of work, image is everything.
More RAM
Gyroscope
New Design
New antenna system
A4 SoC, custom chip
IPS LCD
Retina Display
Pentaband UTMS/HSPDA
Dual-mic for noise suppression.
5MP Camera
Front-facing VGA camera
vs
More RAM
Digital compass
A8-Cortex CPU
3.0MP camera
I think the iPhone 4 has a lot more changes than the iPhone 3GS.
I, too, would be surprised if this event was called to simply point out minor spec bumps. Though, of course, iPad is still a young product and has enough hype surrounding it (far more than the MacBook lines - blasphemy, I know, but true for most consumers) that any sort of announcement could be treated as a huge deal.
So many points of view have been tossed around that they're all starting to sound possible.
1) The leak from the Apple employee seems reasonable, at least. There were many comments wondering why someone would actively "hurt" their own company, or betray it, etc. A leak of information so close to an imminent release hardly seems like betrayal, particularly considering the well-circulated rumor among us geeks that the iPad "3" is possibly inbound around September 2011. Most people will not know or care about the possibility of a new iPad more than 8 months away, and those that do are likely to buy both anyway.
2) With that in mind, I predict today's iPad announcements will be disappointing to many on these forums.
3) Dual-core definitely, but I'm not sold on the possibility of a jump to 1.2 GHz. That would be fabulous, of course, but the iPad is already considered snappy and a 20% increase in clock-speed (especially with a second core) could interfere with their plans for the battery.
4) At least 512MB of RAM. It would seem unwise in the current tablet environment to stick at only 512MB, though; consider the Xoom, which is currently the preeminent iPad challenger, with its 1GB. And current models are also trending towards this amount. When the iPad was the only game in town, it could do what it wanted. Now, 512MB would be less than competitive, and 1GB would really keep the bar high. Perhaps the iPads with less storage will default to 512 and the larger will have a "premium" 1GB model.
5) Hi-Res screen is probably a no-go, though we all want it. It doesn't need the screen quality to compete just yet, unlike the iPhone 4 when it came out in June and had to face AMOLED screens left and right.
6) Dual cameras are likely inbound. These don't excite me personally, so I've been ignoring the rumors regarding their implementation.
7) It seems likely that the speakers in the mockups will not be the final design. A post a while back pointed out the high-quality machining process of the speakers in the MacBooks produced higher densities of smaller holes for sound, and it strikes me that Apple would want to maintain that aesthetic. I have no idea about the actual geographical placement of the speaker grill, though.
8) Thunderbolt support would surprise me, but it seems like a good idea to really push the new standard. Even if it is implemented, though, I highly doubt it would support an external display. Maybe the jailbreak community will find a way, but the Thunderbolt would probably be a docking mechanism.
9) It doesn't strike me that Apple needs to increase the SSD sizes in this environment. Blade SSDs that allow more space for a battery: probably. But a sudden jump to 32GB while maintaining $499? That seems unlikely.
10) The pricing tier will probably stay the same, at least for Wi-Fi models. It doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that the Wi-Fi/3G functionality would be streamlined into a single product, and the 3G would only be activated with a subscription. Apple likes having streamlined product catalogs. If they pursue that course of action with the iPads, and bill the activation for 3G capabilities as a carrier subsidy, it seems likely that a lot of people would jump on that "deal."
Also, having little experience with MobileMe, I hope for free basic functionality (email, find my iPhone/iPad, etc). A premium for storage is not outside the realm of possibility.
And more Lion previews, please? I like what I've seen so far, and I'm hungry for more.
So many points of view have been tossed around that they're all starting to sound possible.
1) The leak from the Apple employee seems reasonable, at least. There were many comments wondering why someone would actively "hurt" their own company, or betray it, etc. A leak of information so close to an imminent release hardly seems like betrayal, particularly considering the well-circulated rumor among us geeks that the iPad "3" is possibly inbound around September 2011. Most people will not know or care about the possibility of a new iPad more than 8 months away, and those that do are likely to buy both anyway.
2) With that in mind, I predict today's iPad announcements will be disappointing to many on these forums.
3) Dual-core definitely, but I'm not sold on the possibility of a jump to 1.2 GHz. That would be fabulous, of course, but the iPad is already considered snappy and a 20% increase in clock-speed (especially with a second core) could interfere with their plans for the battery.
4) At least 512MB of RAM. It would seem unwise in the current tablet environment to stick at only 512MB, though; consider the Xoom, which is currently the preeminent iPad challenger, with its 1GB. And current models are also trending towards this amount. When the iPad was the only game in town, it could do what it wanted. Now, 512MB would be less than competitive, and 1GB would really keep the bar high. Perhaps the iPads with less storage will default to 512 and the larger will have a "premium" 1GB model.
5) Hi-Res screen is probably a no-go, though we all want it. It doesn't need the screen quality to compete just yet, unlike the iPhone 4 when it came out in June and had to face AMOLED screens left and right.
6) Dual cameras are likely inbound. These don't excite me personally, so I've been ignoring the rumors regarding their implementation.
7) It seems likely that the speakers in the mockups will not be the final design. A post a while back pointed out the high-quality machining process of the speakers in the MacBooks produced higher densities of smaller holes for sound, and it strikes me that Apple would want to maintain that aesthetic. I have no idea about the actual geographical placement of the speaker grill, though.
8) Thunderbolt support would surprise me, but it seems like a good idea to really push the new standard. Even if it is implemented, though, I highly doubt it would support an external display. Maybe the jailbreak community will find a way, but the Thunderbolt would probably be a docking mechanism.
9) It doesn't strike me that Apple needs to increase the SSD sizes in this environment. Blade SSDs that allow more space for a battery: probably. But a sudden jump to 32GB while maintaining $499? That seems unlikely.
10) The pricing tier will probably stay the same, at least for Wi-Fi models. It doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that the Wi-Fi/3G functionality would be streamlined into a single product, and the 3G would only be activated with a subscription. Apple likes having streamlined product catalogs. If they pursue that course of action with the iPads, and bill the activation for 3G capabilities as a carrier subsidy, it seems likely that a lot of people would jump on that "deal."
Also, having little experience with MobileMe, I hope for free basic functionality (email, find my iPhone/iPad, etc). A premium for storage is not outside the realm of possibility.
And more Lion previews, please? I like what I've seen so far, and I'm hungry for more.
To all the above, it was quite irritating having to correct folks about the speed, but then again us 3GS users did enjoy faster 3Gs
We hear the speed argument or how much of an improvement argument with every upgrade. People claimed the use of Arrandale was a small upgrade compared to the use of Sandy Bridge. Same with the 3GS to iPhone 4 (which my only concession is the RAM and screen...), shoot the original to 3G was a minor change, but people acted like it was a huge deal.
I for one am excited to see if they will preview iOS 5 and to see if they are going to change MobileMe. As far as the iPad 2 is concerned, I am interested in seeing if the rumors are right, for some reason I still can't come up with a good excuse to get one.
I'm talking internal hardware (i.e., architecture). The 3G was a very slow CPU and GPU, with a small amount of RAM. The 3GS jumped to the Cortex A8 and the PowerVR SGX 535 GPU. These are the things that actually determine the "power" of the device, not trivial stuff like cameras. The iPhone 4's "A4" processor is basically an optimized Cortex A8 (same CPU that's in the 3GS, just clocked a bit higher). And the iPhone 4's GPU is the EXACT same that's in the 3GS. So, the internal architecture of the 3GS and iPhone 4 are almost identical (only real difference internally is the doubled RAM in the 4), and why the 3GS was a bigger upgrade (again, architecture-wise) than the 3GS to iPhone 4. I'm talking about the stuff that makes a difference in how quickly apps run (and how powerful those apps can be).
Where the iPhone to iPhone 3G only got a Redesign, 3G, and GPS... yet it was seen as a huge upgrade...
Ah...there's another example of my "if the external design changes, but the guts remain relatively the same...it's considered a huge upgrade" idea that I totally forgot about. Those two phones were EXACTLY the same, except for the addition of 3G capabilities and the GPS, like you said. But it was typically considered a "huge upgrade" as well. Yet, when the 3GS more than doubled the "horsepower" of the phone (the GPU upgrade alone was probably 10 times better than the GPU of the 3G), it was hardly even considered an upgrade by the masses, just because it "looked the same" as the 3G.