First iPad 2 Reviews: Evolutionary, 512MB RAM, Thinner, Faster

[marksman]

You're right. Nobody should buy anything unless Apple makes it. What was I thinking? If Apple doesn't make it, it's garbage. Only fools buy non Apple products.

That is not the point at all... But if you make a product that is inferior across the board than other products and is more expensive... Yeah nobody should buy it.. Regardless of what it is...

If you are going to offer an inferior product, then you need to compromise on price.

You can't say I am going to offer you a car just like the toyota coralla that has 2" less leg room and gets 10 miles less per gallon and is 5,000 more. That is a non-starter.

It doesn't matter who makes the relative products.

 

[dernhelm]

Evolutionary not Revolutionary

Uh, it's called iPad 2. Of course it's evolutionary, not revolutionary. How is this a knock?

The question is: when it evolved, did it address some of the shortcomings of it's predecessor? Since it is lighter, thinner, faster, more functional, with the same price and battery life, the answer is yes.

If they had done something revolutionary, it would likely have been a mistake.

 

[spazzcat]

Other than the lackluster picture-taking quality, this is shaping up to be a great device!

I know, right! I want the same quality photos my $1800 Nikon takes!

 

[xIGmanIx]

Exactly, since its not true multitasking they don't need as much ram

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

A lot of people are also comparing "other tablets" speed to the iPad. iOS uses memory different than those "other tablets" so I don't see what the fuss over 512mb ram is. Yes it's nice to have more but what do you expect from apple to begin with? Android needs that extra memory because their multitasking is different and it STILL slows down to be unbearably slow.

I never thought the I pad weighed a lot in the first place, its just really is a bigger iPhone at this point

Battery life & price which are more important to most than having the best specs on the block especially if they offer little utility
Weight is function on a portable device, so yes.

 

[Popeye206]

What's utterly pathetic is the foaming at the mouth comments and angry nerd rage after these reviews (especially engadget) accusing the reviewer of being payed off by Apple (in more colorful terminology) spewing vile insults towards the Apple and the product, then listing a spec list of a competing product. They then present their case of what iPad 2 'should' have been (which is usually the Xoom)- with no realization of the irony of their idiocy.

I wish I had a dime for every argument of 'Apple is doing it wrong', which ended in Apple being massively successful by completely ignoring the very argument. I'd be filthy rich.

Good post!

I think there are two types of people that make those type of posts... one type just want to spew anti-Apple stuff because for some reason Apple's success makes them mad. I really think it's people who can't afford the toys so they bash them.

The other type of basher is the gadget geek that only want's the highest specs on a device with no consideration for the entire package. As an example, they don't care that they don't have 4G in their service area or that using 3G or 4G on an iPad is really a waste for most people since you have a smart phone for on-the-go internet and WiFi only is just fine for an iPad. But for them.... without 4G, it's junk! Pathetic! I think you get my point.

 

[spazzcat]

I'm pretty sure Apple said that GBand will work on iPad 1.

Thing is, I'm much more excited to buy garageband on Friday than I am to buy the ipad 2. The reviews are pretty underwhelming. The iPad 2 is a let down for a number of reasons

1. No sd card/usb/retina/magic pony dust, etc. etc., basically no new features at all.
2. The cameras, the only real addition, suck horribly.
3. The CPU is running slow. Everyone else has these chips running at 1.2Ghz. Why did Apple only do 1GHz?
4. 512MB ram is too little. All the other tablets have 1GB.

Sure, it's "thinner", but the idfference isn't that huge, and the weight difference is almost non-existent. It's just hard to justify spending a lot of money on this when you already have the iPad 1. I was expecting more, and reading these reviews kind of hammered home how little they have actually changed.

If all you are about are specs, Apple is not for you. The rest of us will be enjoying our iPads & iPad2s....

 

[zenio]

To Hell With The Cameras I Don't Care

Overall Apple has done what they typically do right, and that's build an improved 2nd gen device.

I say damn the bloody cameras, it's a tablet not a photographers primary camera. Why all the noise about these things anyway is only a result of narcissists like Jobs & company installing them on huge slab of aluminum.

Focus on what most of us will be using it for 90% of the time and it's ideal. I knew it would be, simply because I've been with Apple for years. Just another reason I sold my first gen iPad weeks ago when I could get the most for it.

Besides other than a convenient and alternative way to access the web it's only a secondary device for me anyway. Keeping it into perspective is the key.

My new MBP, MBA & MacPro's are the REAL computers I rely on.

 

[irun5k]

"My friends, I'm telling you: just that much improvement in thinness, weight and speed transforms the experience. "

I suspected the same thing and I doubt this is an overstatement. The iPad 1 is just a little too heavy in the hands... with perhaps a bit too much bulk caused by the thickness. I can image that any measurable decrease in weight and/or thickness would go a really long way.

 

[spazzcat]

you mean a device with real multi-tasking, so its not needed in the iPad.

So you are talking about the battery sucking type of multitasking that is useless for a mobile device because you can only do one thing on the screen at a time...

 

[Chupa Chupa]

What's utterly pathetic is the foaming at the mouth comments and angry nerd rage after these reviews...

Heh. They do provide good comedic foils though. Love to read them from these "smartest people in the room." Have you read David Pogue's review. The intro is genius. I love his humor.

I never thought the I pad weighed a lot in the first place, its just really is a bigger iPhone at this point

I suspect you don't own an iPad then b/c it can get quite heavy holding it up like book for a while. In that regard Kindle FTW. Apple needs to continue to get the weight down. Low weight is a huge feature, do not mistake.

 

[Slurpy2k8]

I'm pretty sure Apple said that GBand will work on iPad 1.

Thing is, I'm much more excited to buy garageband on Friday than I am to buy the ipad 2. The reviews are pretty underwhelming. The iPad 2 is a let down for a number of reasons

1. No sd card/usb/retina/magic pony dust, etc. etc., basically no new features at all.
2. The cameras, the only real addition, suck horribly.
3. The CPU is running slow. Everyone else has these chips running at 1.2Ghz. Why did Apple only do 1GHz?
4. 512MB ram is too little. All the other tablets have 1GB.

Sure, it's "thinner", but the idfference isn't that huge, and the weight difference is almost non-existent. It's just hard to justify spending a lot of money on this when you already have the iPad 1. I was expecting more, and reading these reviews kind of hammered home how little they have actually changed.

1. You would have said that about the 1st iPad. It ended up selling 15million in 9 months. Clearly not a deal breaker for most people. Retina for that size doesn't exist on a single current or future product. Why were you 'expecting' it to be there?? You have no idea if it was even technically/financially feasible.
2. They're more than adequate for their intended purpose- videochatting/HD video. Who the **** is going to go around taking photos with a 10' device? The 1st iPad didn't even have cameras, and it did quite alright for itself. Complete non-issue for 99.9% of people.
3. Slow? Every single review has said this thing is blazing fast, which benchmarks showing raw number to be double and graphics from 5-8x. So by what standard is it 'slow'- you think 200mhz would have made a damn difference? You think they didn't run a multitude of tests/scenarios to balance Mhz and battery life, as well as heat? How much faster would 200mhz even be, and would it have a real-world effect? At what expense? You obviously don't have an answer to any of these questions- yet have the hubris to pretend you know better- even when every single hands on contradicts what you say. Idiotic knock, and again, non-issue.
4. You're a broken record. Too little, says who? You? Based on what? Again, absolutely nothing. A random comparison with another device running a completely difference OS, which by the admission of most reviews often 'lags'. My 1st gen iPad never feels slow, even with 1/2 the cpu, 1/2 the RAM, and a fraction of the video performance of the new one. Again, not a shred of evidence to back your claim of 'too little'.

Your entire post is a fail, and its clear that Apple understands what most people want more than you do. Where have I seem a spec list as an argument for why an Apple product will fail before? Oh yeah, pretty much every Apple product ever which became a massive success. Yet people like you will never, ever get it, and will throw the same arguments again and again regardless of the proven success of Apple's methodology.

 

[Megagator]

Yes! 512MB of ram! Now where to buy....

 

[wimbledonsound]

"Though the iPad 2 is an improvement on the original iPad in numerous ways, it’s still an evolutionary product, not a revolutionary one"

Er, yeah, hence the "2". Revolutionary would be removing the smugness from the ads.

 

[xIGmanIx]

Funny you should mention that but I do, and like you if I am reading a book I would never use the I pad, kindle all day.

I suspect you don't own an iPad then b/c it can get quite heavy holding it up like book for a while. In that regard Kindle FTW. Apple needs to continue to get the weight down. Low weight is a huge feature, do not mistake.

So since apple is the innovator, why no posts on how they copied the camera setup of other tablets? Of course its fast its only doing one thing at a time with a dual core chip and 512MB of ram!

 

[Thunderhawks]

Why? Do you see yourselves carrying that huge thing around to take pictures? Of course not, it shouldn't be even a question. These cameras are meant as videoconferencing cams, they are perfect for that.

Has anyone ever complaint (ed) that the Macbooks' isight is mediocre for still pictures?!

I think it is a shame that we can't hook up different zoom and panorama lenses and flashpods to the ipad.

Also, there is no opening to attach a tripod and klieg lights.

Geez people THIS IS NOT A CAMERA. Give it up!

 

[Scarpad]

Ios 43 has made my Ipad 1 6ggb 3g a little snappier, I'm overall pretty happy with it, it'll hold me till the next revision come out. I skipped the Iphone 3gs too and this feels like that upgrade.

 

[Thunderhawks]

1. You would have said that about the 1st iPad. It ended up selling 15million in 9 months. Clearly not a deal breaker for most people. Retina for that size doesn't exist on a single current or future product. Why were you 'expecting' it to be there?? You have no idea if it was even technically/financially feasible.
2. They're more than adequate for their intended purpose- videochatting/HD video. Who the **** is going to go around taking photos with a 10' device? The 1st iPad didn't even have cameras, and it did quite alright for itself. Complete non-issue for 99.9% of people.
3. Slow? Every single review has said this thing is blazing fast, which benchmarks showing raw number to be double and graphics from 5-8x. So by what standard is it 'slow'- you think 200mhz would have made a damn difference? You think they didn't run a multitude of tests/scenarios to balance Mhz and battery life, as well as heat? How much faster would 200mhz even be, and would it have a real-world effect? At what expense? You obviously don't have an answer to any of these questions- yet have the hubris to pretend you know better- even when every single hands on contradicts what you say. Idiotic knock, and again, non-issue.
4. You're a broken record. Too little, says who? You? Based on what? Again, absolutely nothing. A random comparison with another device running a completely difference OS, which by the admission of most reviews often 'lags'. My 1st gen iPad never feels slow, even with 1/2 the cpu, 1/2 the RAM, and a fraction of the video performance of the new one. Again, not a shred of evidence to back your claim of 'too little'.

Your entire post is a fail, and its clear that Apple understands what most people want more than you do. Where have I seem a spec list as an argument for why an Apple product will fail before? Oh yeah, pretty much every Apple product ever which became a massive success. Yet people like you will never, ever get it, and will throw the same arguments again and again regardless of the proven success of Apple's methodology.

You fell for another troll

They want an MBP combined with an HD TV w. blue ray and a Nikon camera in the ipad form factor, Octo core of course and it better not have an Apple logo on it. Say it was made by any company, they'd still say that it is an embarrassment that Apple didn't make it!

It's just not what they expected out of Apple and they are disappointed!

As for:

2. Who the **** is going to go around taking photos with a 10' device?

They are so dumb that they probably have been taking pix with their imacs and were wondering why the got hernias. LOL

 

[Sodner]

Great reviews! I am so ready to line up now!!!

And of course some people are STILL NOT HAPPY. Gotta love MR posters. Sheeesh.

 

[notabadname]

Funny you should mention that but I do, and like you if I am reading a book I would never use the I pad, kindle all day.


So since apple is the innovator, why no posts on how they copied the camera setup of other tablets? Of course its fast its only doing one thing at a time with a dual core chip and 512MB of ram!

That stealing the camera idea, that's just ridiculous copying that.

Yeah, and can you believe it, Apple also copied that other idea, a predecessor's (poor) tablet had, . . . . a screen. Can you believe that Apple put a screen on the iPad. Why aren't there any posts about Apple putting a screen on the iPad?

 

[murkurb]

The NY Times just corrected its error about the 5 megapixel camera in the new iPad 2.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

So since apple is the innovator, why no posts on how they copied the camera setup of other tablets? Of course its fast its only doing one thing at a time with a dual core chip and 512MB of ram!

What does this have to do w/ my comment on plus side the iPad 2's weight loss?

You complained that Apple touting the iPad 2 as lighter was no feature, just "form over function". I commented that weight is part and parcel of a portable devices usefulness, i.e., it's functionality.

But I'll give you another thing the iPad 2 doesn't do that other tablets do... sit unloved on store shelves.

 

[room271]

The iPad 2: still no Flash. Ergo an incomplete web experience.

Also, Apple's new terms of service screw over developers and ultimately restrict what users can access on the device.

Until these two things change I won't buy an iPad.

 

[buckers]

1MP? lol, my first camera-phone had 2MP camera.

That said, for a device such as the iPad, I don't see a camera as being particularly important. And as other posters have said, no-one is complaining about iSight's photo taking abilities, which I imagine are comparable.

And also, having less pixels doesn't necessarily translate to taking poorer quality pictures. I'd hope camera technology has come along a little since 2005.

 

[wovel]

The iPad 2: still no Flash. Ergo an incomplete web experience.

Also, Apple's new terms of service screw over developers and ultimately restrict what users can access on the device.

Until these two things change I won't buy an iPad.

Which competing tablets have flash again? Which ones with 10 hour battery lives? If you are waiting on the first one, you will never own a tablet..

 

[Kane08]

You're in the extreme minority to state that the Xoom is garbage. I haven't read one review that has stated anything of the sort. Same for Honeycomb.

Actually, I got to use the xoom myself, and well, color me unimpressed. Sure honeycomb is kinda pretty at first, but it's a pain in the butt to actually use. And even though it has 1GB of ram, it can't even zoom smoothly, adjust for screen rotation except after a several second delay, and all around was just slow and unresponsive. Fandroids can keep it, it's a POS, unless you absolutely hate apple and refuse to buy their products...