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A gaunt-looking Steve Jobs has launched the second version of the iPad at a special event in San Francisco. He said 15 million iPads had been sold in just nine months during 2010, a figure he was keen to point out was far larger than the total number of Tablet PCs ever sold.
He mused about 2011 being the “year of the copycats”, but said none of the new launches by Samsung, BlackBerry and others even measured up to the original iPad. Rather than “resting on laurels”, Jobs said Apple wanted to give customers what they wanted and that the new iPad has an “all-new design”, being “dramatically faster” thanks to the new dual-core 1GHz Apple A5 processor. Graphics, however have been the focus, being up to 9x faster than the A4 processor. Battery life is unaffected, as the new processor uses the same amount of power as the old A4 processor to give a claimed 10 hours of use or up to a month in standby.
As expected, the iPad 2 gains two cameras – one rear- and one front-facing. They appear to be identical to the pain in the iPhone 4, with the rear camera capable of shooting 720p video at up to 30 frames per second, while the front supports 640×480 at the same frame rate.
There’s also now a gyroscope, just as you get in the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch for better detection of the iPad 2’s position in space. Despite these additions, the iPad 2 is one-third thinner than the original: down from 13.4mm to 8.8mm thick – that’s marginally thinner than the iPhone 4. The rear is made from “durable aluminium” while the screen is unchanged from the original in terms of both size and resolution. That means 9.7in and 1,024×768 pixels – no Retina display, unfortunately. Also missing is a GPS receiver, although geotagging photos is possible via WiFi.
Of course, thinner means lighter – the iPad 2 weighs just 601g, compared to the 680g of the original. It makes a noticeable difference, as we found when we got our hands on one of the demo units at Apple’s UK launch at the BBC Television Centre. Unlike the original, which didn’t feel particularly light or svelte, the new model (partly thanks to its bevelled rear edges) feels impossibly thin, yet sturdy. Performance also felt nippier, with the web browser being very responsive in particular.
There are two colours to choose from, with both black and white shipping (in the US at least) from day one. There was no word on which 3G providers would be supporting the iPad 2 in the UK.
Battery life has the same claimed 10 hour battery life, which is impressive given the thinner, lighter body. It should last a month in standby. The price has not increased, meaning the base model will cost $499 in the US. It isn’t yet possible to pre-order the iPad 2 in the UK, and no prices have been announced, but we hope Apple will keep the price match for UK models as well. There are 16, 32, and 64GB options in both WiFi and WiFi + 3G models. Shipping will begin on March 25th in the UK, which is earlier than we expected, and beats many of Android tablet manufacturers, who are mostly yet to announce launch dates, or prices for that matter.
Accessories will include an HDMI video output cable, which will support video up to 1080p. It will deliver a mirror image of the iPad screen to a TV or projector, and allow the iPad 2 to be charged at the same time thanks to a passthrough connector.
So-called Smart Covers were designed to avoid the need for a case, which would cover up the “beautiful design” of the new iPad. There are 5 leather colours, and 5 in polyurethane – the material used for space suits. Again, prices are yet to be announced for the UK, but are $69 and $39 respectively.
They’re certainly clever, waking up the iPad 2 when you open it and putting it to sleep when you close it. Magnets in the hinge grasp and auto-align the cover so it’s always in perfect alignment. The idea is that it adds minimal weight and thickness, and only covers the screen – not the rear. It can also be folded into a triangle to provide a typing stand, but you can also use it in upright in landscape mode, potentially for watching videos.
Of course, with new hardware comes new software. The iPad 2 will ship with iOS 4.3. Safari performance has been improved greatly, running around twice as fast as before. iTunes home sharing means you can wirelessly stream media from your iTunes library on your computer to your iPad 2 – but this feature will also work on the original iPad, plus the iPhone.
iOS 4.3 also adds AirPlay (a way to send video wirelessly to the new version of the Apple TV) features including being able to view the same photo slideshows as the Apple TV. Also, websites and apps can play video and audio via AirPlay rather than it being limited to videos playing in the iOS devices’ own video player. Another addition lets users assign a mute or rotation to the iPad’s switch.
In terms of software, PhotoBooth has been added to take advantage of the iPad 2’s new cameras. This should feel familiar to anyone used to the application on their Mac. It allows you to apply wacky effects to live video from the cameras, and take photos when you see the effect you want.
FaceTime is another obvious update for the iPad 2. You can use FaceTime between iPads, between iPads and iPhones, and between iPads and Macs. As with the iPhone 4, you can easily flip between the front and rear cameras, and move the thumbnail image of yourself to any position on the screen. iOS 4.3 will be available as a free download on March 11th for the iPhone 4 and current iPod Touch as well as the two iPad models.
New apps on the App Store include iMovie for iPad. This includes a precision editor, multitrack audio recording, new themes (eight in total), support for AirPlay and direct uploading (including in HD) to popular video sharing sites, including YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo. Jobs commented, “This is not a toy”. It’s also available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. In a demo, we saw it working in both portrait and landscape modes, as well as the ability to record video from the iPad 2’s rear camera. The interface is broadly similar to iMovie on the Mac, meaning it’s simple to trim clips, precisely adjust transitions and add clips to the timeline. Lots of work has been done on the audio side of things, and it’s possible to adjust the audio level of clips. You can also drag and drop over 50 audio effects to enhance videos. Plus, you can use the iPad’s microphone to record a voiceover.
Apps is one area where Apple trounces other tablets. There are already 65,000 apps optimised for the iPad. In a jibe directed at competitors, Jobs said their products launched with “at most 100 apps in their app stores, and that’s being generous”.
Jobs ended the presentation by saying that 2011 was “clearly the year of the iPad 2”. We’re inclined to agree, especially if the iPad 2 really will cost the same as the current model in the UK. We’ll bring you a full review of the iPad 2 as soon as we can.
