iPad 2 – First impressions

Curved edges on the new iPad 2

A scant 2 weeks after the official release of the new iPad 2, I was able to find one at an Apple Store in Richmond, VA. I was there visiting a customer and stopped by in the morning. Apparently, the stores get stock in during the day, but only sell iPads first thing in the morning, that way people don’t need to waste their time hoping to get one in the afternoon. Show up in the morning and cross your fingers. I visited at 9am and was able to get exactly what I wanted, the 32GB AT&T 3G version. I was amazed. The place was fairly busy for so early in the morning. I also grabbed one of the new flippy covers.

I resisted the urge to open it there and then, and waited until I got home the next day. Mostly because, much to my chagrin, Apple still insists on locking the iPads down in useless-mode. You need to “Connect to iTunes” and let it do its thing before you can use it. That is, I think, something which will have to change as it prevents people from buying an iPad if they don’t have a computer. I should point out that the Apply gal did offer to set it up for me, but that is time I didn’t have.

So what’s new? Well, we all know the basics:

• it’s thinner
• it’s lighter
• it has 2 cameras
• it is faster

These are all very nice, but I got this mainly as part of an ongoing research project (and yes, because I’m a major Apple-gadget fan). The original iPad is awesome, but heavy and somewhat clunky to hold in “reading mode” for exended periods of time. By comparison to the Kindle, the iPad 1 is a brick. The new iPad 2 is thinner and tapered around the sides. It also has a flat back which makes it better for laying flat. The tapered sides are nice, but actually don’t help much in the grippiness department. Importantly, the lack of the flat edge surrounding the iPad means we lose a certain amount of ease of use with the the ipod connector. It now feels much harder to insert and somehow more fragile. The headphone jack is also weird as it rests on the curve. The feel of the black button seems slightly better though.

The flippy cover for the iPad 2

The flippy case, although pricey, is a very impressive example of good, well thought out design. Apparently, the cover team and the iPad team worked together to ensure all the right bits worked. First off, the metal spine automagically attaches to the side of the iPad 2 at precisely the right position. Once there, it looks like it is attached. The cover fits perfectly, of course. But there’s more. The cover actually includes about 15 magnets, some of which attach to a sensor in the iPad. When the magnets come within range, the iPad automatically goes to sleep. Remove the cover and it comes back to life. I doubt I’ll ever use the on/off switch again. A really simple and elegant solution. I do wish there was more to the cover though, like, say something to protect the back, but I guess 15 million other ipad cover vendors are already working on that. The cover has these sections which allow for it to be folded into a triangle and possibly some other shapes. The cover seems a bit “floppy” when you open it, and sometimes configuring the folding feels like a minor mental challenge. Ah, there it is, a triangle.

I have the original iPad, so here are some thoughts on how it differs. The new unit is faster. A lot faster. Doubling the RAM (to 512MB, like the iPhone 4) helps a lot as does adding 2 faster CPUs. Battery life seems the same. Complex apps like Garageband and iMovie really shine with the iPad 2. In fact, iMovie will not even install on an iPad 1.

Real Racing HD 2

Purely for research purposes, I downloaded “Real Racing 2” which is a Gran Turismo type game, but for the iPad. It is tuned to use the newer graphics chip, memory and CPU in the iPad and frankly, it freakin ROCKS. The graphics are never laggy and the gameplay is smooth as silk. Its astonishing. As I write this, the developer has released an update which supports 1080p output via the new Digital AV adapter which outputs to HDMI. This basically means you will be able to play a racing game on your HDTV via HDMI. All from an iPad 2. The game makes use of the new gyro sensors which mean you can “drive” the car by rotating the iPad like a wheel. The earlier version of this game had similar controls, but the enhanced gyroscopic controls provide another layer of sophistication. I’m sure developers will think of amazing ways to use this functionality in the future. One thing I did notice however was that after extensive play- I mean testing- of the racing game, the iPad 2 got warm on the back. The original iPad never got warm.

In the second part of this review/commentary, I’ll talk about some of the new features, what is missing and why Garageband is the greatest thing since iPhoto/iMovie.