It is scarcely a year since Apple unleashed its original iPad - a game-changing piece of tech in the world of mobile computing. Today the tablet is strongly established as a niche item: smaller than a laptop or netbook yet bigger than a mobile phone. The Apple iPad might not have been the first tablet device but it was the one that characterized the tech to the average person.
Now, twelve months later, with the first iPad a monumental triumph - but with other manufacturers getting in on the act - Apple has introduced the iPad 2. The expectation regarding this new model has been remarkable, so on this page we will have a look at the new iPad, and also whether it is necessary for owners of the previous iPad to upgrade straight away.
When Apple launches a new, improved version of one of its gadgets, you can be certain that the new design will try for something clearly different compared to its predecessor. Keeping this in mind, the new iPad 2 is remarkably similar to the previous model. To be fair it would be hard to reinvent the wheel; that being said, the new design is noticeably thinner as well as sleeker than the first generation. There is also a curve to the edge of the product that gives it a different feel in the hand. As well as being thinner compared to the first iPad, the new edition is also lighter, by 80 grams.
Moving on to the technical specifications, we can observe that there have been some big improvements. The updated version is driven by an A5 dual core 1 GHz processor chip, that is two times as quick as the single core A4 in the previous iPad. The iPad 2 has 512 MB of Memory, again twice that of the original generation iPad. Also, the iPad 2 features an upgraded graphics engine that is meant to be 9 times faster than the previous edition. On the other hand, the iPad 2 screen is the same, thus there is no improvement there. A significant leap forward is its supply of two cameras: a rear-facing camera for still capture, and a front-facing VGA cam for video. In contrast the original iPad lacked a camera at all. Another enhancement with the iPad 2 is its integrated gyroscope that picks up if the device is being used width wise or up and down. This feature aims to deal with an annoying tendency of the old iPad to display images or pages at the incorrect positioning if the device was moved suddenly.
Finally, we shall try to answer the twin questions of whether you should choose the iPad 2 over another tablet, and whether current iPad users ought to upgrade their device. Concerning other devices, the key challenger seems to be the Motorola Xoom. Should you put the iPad 2 versus the Xoom, the Xoom comes out slightly on top. This is largely because the Xoom's display screen is significantly clearer and better. The Xoom is, furthermore, an Android device. The flexibility of the Android OS is undoubtedly better than the Apple iOS.
If you already own an iPad, you might be wondering whether or not to upgrade. If you are the kind of person who must acquire the latest and greatest gadgets, and price is not an issue for you, then yes, you ought to go for it. The iPad 2 has a noticeably, sleeker design and also a significantly faster performance. You will definitely observe a speed difference compared to the previous model. On the flip side, if you've only just obtained the iPad, you could take comfort in knowing you have a great product and enjoy it for what it is. Unless you're desperate to be up to date, you should wait for the iPad 3, or for a low cost on the iPad 2, which will most likely come once the device has been on the market for a while.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")