Hands on with iPad 2 | Tablets | iOS Central | Macworld
Immediately after Steve Jobs introduced the iPad 2 Wednesday at the Yerba Buena Theater in San Francisco, California, he invited members of the media to visit a special hands-on area right behind the theater—the same set-up Apple used a year ago to introduce the original iPad. While the iPad 2 wonʼt be available until March 11, we were able to spend some quality time with the
iPad 2 today. Hereʼs what we found.
The iPad 2 is thinner and lighter than its predecessor. People who have been following Appleʼs product designs will not be surprised by this. Whatʼs interesting is the effect this has on the “grippability” of the product. The original iPad was one of the most solid pieces of hardware weʼve seen from Apple, but the combination of its weight, thickness, and the curve of its backplate made it a bit hard to hold—and made a case pretty much necessary.
Itʼs much more comfortable to hold the iPad 2 in one hand. The slight decrease in weight helps, no doubt, but itʼs also the thinness—and most notably the fact that the back side of the device tapers to a flat surface in a much shorter distance than its predecessor.
In terms of materials, the iPad 2 and the iPad are cut from the same cloth (figuratively speaking): Thereʼs a glass front and an aluminum back. The device still seems solid, though palpably thinner. The big difference when looking at it from the front is that you canʼt see the edge of the aluminum frame, which is quite noticeable around the edge of the original iPad when viewed from the front.
The reduced thickness of the iPad 2 means that we canʼt say the iPadʼs buttons and ports are on its side—there really is no side, unlike on the original iPad. Thereʼs a front and a back, really, with a very small amount of curved space on the back where it meets the front piece. Thatʼs where the buttons and ports are. Itʼs a very different feel from the original iPad. However, the buttons and ports are in more or less the same places as they were on the original iPad.
Beyond the deviceʼs physical redesign, the major outward difference in the iPad 2 is the addition of a pair of cameras: one on the front and one on the back. As on the latest iPhone and iPod touch, these cameras can shoot pictures, record video, and be used for FaceTime video conferencing. However, theyʼre definitely of lower quality than the iPhone 4ʼs 5 megapixel camera, and more in line with the cameras on the current-model iPod touch. The test images we shot in the hands-on room were grainier and with more evident jagged edges than those shot with an iPhone 4. Even a FaceTime conference with an Apple rep across the room looked a bit soft, though some of that could have been the result of heavy Wi-Fi traffic.
Along with the cameras, there are a couple of minor changes related not to sight but to sound. Instead of the pinhole microphone residing near the original iPadʼs headphone port, the microphone has been shifted to the top back of the iPad 2 (on the 3G models, itʼs actually right in the black plastic that covers the 3G antenna). And since thereʼs no real “edge” on the iPad 2, the speaker has been moved to the back, and sports a grille design more like that of a MacBook Pro speaker. It was impossible to gauge the speaker performance in the crowded hands-on room, but weʼd guess itʼs roughly comparable to that of the original iPad.
Dan Moren tests out the iPad 2 camera. There were white and black iPads on display Wednesday, and while this isnʼt evidence that the white iPad 2 is real—weʼve held a white iPhone 4, after all—Steve Jobs seemed to indicate they would definitely ship on day one. Personally, I think I like the look of the black iPad 2 better, but thatʼs why they make the iPad 2 in both versions. Isnʼt choice great?
Beyond the two colors, there are also three different variations of the iPad 2 based entirely on wireless configuration. Thereʼs the Wi-Fi version, of course, and then two separate versions with 3G cellular connections as well—one for AT&T and one for Verizon. Both of the 3G versions have a black plastic strip on the back, at the top, just like the 3G versions of the original iPad. The only way to tell them apart is the presence of a microSIM slot on the AT&T version.
As ridiculous as it is to focus on something a simple as a cover when thereʼs new technology to be had, the fact is, Appleʼs new iPad 2 Smart Covers are a pretty interesting and notable feature: so notable, in fact, that iOS 4.3 includes a feature designed specifically to support them. (How very Apple is that?)
The Smart Cover itself is a rectangle exactly the size and shape of the iPadʼs screen, folded in four parts. The side that faces inward is made of soft microfiber cloth; the outside is either leather or polyurethane in one of five colors each. On one side is a metal hinge with small magnetic parts at both ends; these magnets attach to magnets embedded in the iPad 2 when you drag the Smart Cover near the iPadʼs edge (it only affixes to the left-hand side of the device, however). One Apple representative referred to attaching the Smart Cover as a foolproof operation, but we proved him wrong by failing to do it the first couple times we tried. After we figured out how it worked, it all went smoothly.
iPad 2 Smart Cover in action. The inside of the Smart Cover on the edge opposite of the hinges also has an embedded magnet; when you close the cover over the iPadʼs screen, it snaps closed and stays closed. But thereʼs more going on here: the iPad 2 senses that the Smart Cover has been closed, and immediately locks itself. Thatʼs cool, but even cooler is what happens when you peel the Smart Cover back and disengage that magnetic clasp: the iPad 2 automatically wakes back up, bypassing the lock screen in the process. (Thereʼs an option in the Settings app to turn this feature off.)
As with Appleʼs case for the original iPad, the Smart Cover can be folded up to provide a gentle incline for typing, or flipped around to make a stand for watching video. In this latter regard, itʼs vastly superior to the case for the original iPad, which always felt a little bit wobbly in this configuration.
Lest we judge the iPad 2 by its (Smart) Cover, letʼs remember that itʼs whatʼs inside that counts. In this case, itʼs an Apple-designed dual-core A5 processor. Itʼs very hard to test speed of a device like this, especially in a controlled environment like a demo room. The iPad 2 certainly felt fast—really fast. GarageBand and iMovie, both apps that presumably tax hardware to its limits, moved smoothly. While we donʼt know for sure how much memory the iPad 2 contains, 512MB—the same as the iPhone 4—seems like a reasonable guess.
Apple also spent some time touting the iPad 2ʼs graphics performance, an improvement that is subtly visible when you fire up the new Photo Booth application and are greeted with nine previews of real-time effects, ranging from thermal vision and x-ray to twirl and mirror. A brief tour through Epicʼs Infinity Blade RPG and Gameloftʼs N.O.V.A. 2 yielded likewise impressive results.
These are just a few of our impressions after spending some time in a room packed with journalists and a few iPad 2 demo units. Weʼll have much more to say, obviously, when the iPad 2 arrives and we write our full review. In the meantime, check out our hands-on video below:
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