The New iPad 2

Not enough to get me to upgrade, but there’s some surprising features, namely that it’s thinner. The original device isn’t what I would consider overly thick. That’s being done with a CPU that’s twice as fast, and with, they are claiming, nine times the graphics performance. This still preserves a 10 hour battery life. Front and rear facing cameras were an expected new feature, as was a better speaker. The better speaker is welcome, because it is a serious deficiency of the iPad. Smart covers I could care less about.

When the iPad first debuted last year, I was skeptical of it, since it just seemed like it was a big iPhone. It wasn’t until I tried out a friends that I realized a big iPhone actually works pretty well as a device for consuming media. I tend to use it to catch up with blogs, Twitter, and Facebook. I also use it for watching Netflix and games. The shortcomings are mostly that it doesn’t give me a good way to keep my life integrated between devices. If Apple can create a way for me to access what I’m doing on each device (iPad, iPhone, MacBook, Desktop) seamlessly, that would be great for my work flow. MobileMe helps a lot, but it’s not nearly as smooth as it could be.

The big question I’m facing right now is whether to get a Verizon iPhone 4 now, or wait for the iPhone 5, supposedly this summer. I’m trying to imagine what more I’d want a smart phone to do, and I’m hard pressed to come up with anything. Just about everything else I can think of is a software and integration issue. Though, I know if I go out and get the iPhone 4 right now, the iPhone 5 will debut with the ability to warp time and space, and I’ll be kicking myself for not waiting.

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9 thoughts on “The New iPad 2”

  1. I did get the Verizon iPhone 4 on the day it came out. In my case I couldn’t wait as my old phone had died and I was using a loaner.

    As this is my first real “smart phone”, I love it but I do have a semi-steep curve to get the most out of it. I am still trying to figure out the best way to migrate everything from my Palm T-3 to the iPhone.

    If I didn’t have to switch, I might wait. As it was, I didn’t have an option.

  2. Since you had waited such a long time, why not get the iphone 5?

    It might have the ability to go back in time and correct terrible sci fi endings on season 4.

  3. “I’m trying to imagine what more I’d want a smart phone to do, and I’m hard pressed to come up with anything.”

    How about fold out into a pocket pistol, or less than lethal sound emitter?

  4. So the reasons to wait for iPhone 5 so far are:

    -Probably bigger screen
    -Faster processor
    -Higher quality camera(s)
    -The ability to purchase goods without a credit card
    -White version

    and those are all I can think of based on the rumors floating around.

  5. I’d wait for the iphone 5. Hopefully by then Verizon will have sorted out the multitasking problem. This is a deal killer for me at this time, I’m sticking with ATT as much as I despise them if only for the multitasking reason.

  6. I share your excitement about the new iPad 2, however I am a little bit worried about how, if ever, are they planning to fix some of the interface issues that I think might not be very pleasant once you use iPad often. All the notifications, every single time iPad tries to communicate with you are full screen so you have to stop whatever you worked on and remove notification manually. This might be very bothering, at least for me it will be. If I was in a middle of a presentation or something similar for example.

  7. ImRight: Denser screen, maybe. Bigger screen, very unlikely.

    I’d go 50/50 on NFC support, too.

  8. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve needed to use voice and cellular data simultaneously on my smartphone; which, incidentally, I really wish people wouldn’t refer to as “multitasking”. The iPhone has relatively poor background task capability, in the little bit I’ve played around with it, when compared to WinMo6.5 of all things! Good battery life, though. (And I’d call myself a power user).

    But – I use navigation with on-device map storage (CoPilot), not cloud-based maps. If I was forced to use cloud-based mapping I might have a different opinion. If it matters that much, use skype?

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