This past Wednesday, March 2nd, Steve Jobs returned from his medical leave and unveiled yet another Apple's newest product, the iPad 2. It has certainly been the subject of innumerable rumors for the past several months leading up to this unveiling with all sorts of speculations and anticipation. And I for one was following plenty of them. Ever since my wife got her iphone4, I have been thinking about getting an iPad. I love all the features and apps you can use from an iPhone but with a bigger monitor that iPad offers. But more importantly, I've been thinking about a dedicated computing device for my son who is 5 years old and even for my daughter who is barely 6 months old where I don't have to share my own computer with them and the iPad might be a good solution. I thought about getting the first generation but why get one only to regret in a few months with the 2nd generation iPad with all of its new designs and new features. I feel for those who are scrambling to get rid of their old version in an effort to upgrade to the new.
As expected, the new iPad is thinner and lighter in design, It's actually 33 percent thinner than its previous model and up to 15 percent lighter. It also comes in two colors one in your traditional black and the other in white-I like the white. It comes equipped with two cameras, one on the front and one on the back. Having a front facing camera is pretty cool because it allows you to easily take a picture of yourself looking right at the monitor and you can see your image on the screen. The front camera also puts you and your friend face-to-face for video chat and you can switch to the back camera to share where you are, who you’re with, or what’s going on around you, etc. Other improvements include Dual-core A5 chip which has increased the processing speed; up to twice as fast and nine times the graphics performance than its predecessor.
Couple of key elements that stayed the same is the 10 hour battery life and the price. The new iPad will have the same prices for both the wifi and the 3g models. Immediately after the announcement, I noticed that Apple was selling their 1st gen iPads for $100 dollars less than its original prices. Unlike your average PC user who view their computers and other electronic devises as mere tools, almost all of the Apple users seem to have this strong, emotional connections with their devices. And as you might have guessed, I am a big fan of Apple products and like other Apple users, I am a bit of loyalist when it comes to their product. Having said that, I don't think you are going to see me waiting in line, camped overnight to be one of the very first ones to buy one of these devices as they become available on Mar 11th. The price tag of their least expensive model of $499 is still not cheap, but it is definitely on my wish list. The verdict is still out on the new magnetic cover. Given the choice, I would choose the ZAGGmate iPad Case pictured below:
