Mar 14, 2011 4:26 PM

Review: Apple iPad 2

Name: iPad 2
Item: iPad 2

The iPad shed some weight and gained some speed to become the iPad 2. It's incredible what a difference that makes.

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$500 at Apple

Rating:

9/10

Everybody wishes the iPad 2 had a higher-resolution display like the iPhone 4, but Apple didn't even have to go there yet.

All Apple did was put the iPad on a treadmill. The tablet shed some weight and gained some speed to become the iPad 2, and it's incredible what a difference that makes. It feels like a brand-new product.

Most important of all is the iPad 2's thinness. The iPad 2 is 0.34 inches thick, about 33 percent thinner than its predecessor. Now, reaching your fingers across the screen to swipe and tap is far easier than it was on the chunkier iPad 1.

People who enjoy reading will love the thinner body: Cradling an iPad 2 in your hands for an hour doesn't feel that cumbersome. You'll also be surprised how often you'll be using the tablet with one hand. Even though it's only a few ounces lighter than the older iPad (1.3 pounds versus 1.5 pounds), the changes to the tablet's weight and ergonomics feel substantial.

Imagine how significant thinness and weight are for people who are considering tablets for use in a professional field that requires a lot of moving around, such as doctors who could use the iPad to replace a stack of X-rays, architects relying on an iPad as an interactive display for blueprints, or students using the iPad as an all-in-one textbook, note-taker and daily planner. The thinner and lighter a tablet gets, the more useful it becomes for various types of customers.

As a standalone device, the iPad 2's soft keys still aren't ideal for typing compared to a physical keyboard. However, this problem seems to be eroding over time, as the skinnier profile already makes it easier to hold the device with one hand while pecking away on keys with the other.

Also, Apple's Smart Cover protective accessory (sold separately for $40 to $70) is a cover that folds to create an angle to prop up the device so you can type on it more comfortably. The built-in magnets, which cling to the side of the iPad, are very cool and make the cover extremely easy to take off or put on. Personally, I prefer using most gadgets bareback, but the Smart Cover is the only cover I'd consider keeping with the iPad 2 since it's so easy to take off.

The other most important change is speed. Apple claims the new A5 processor in the iPad 2 offers double the performance of the original iPad. Indeed, apps and websites load more quickly, and 3-D games look more detailed; the entire iOS experience is just buttery smooth.

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Web performance has largely improved, thanks to iOS 4.3, the latest software update shipping with the iPad 2, which includes an improved JavaScript-rendering engine for Safari. The iPad 2 took 2,180 milliseconds to complete a SunSpider benchmark test, whereas the iPad 1 took 3,353 milliseconds. Running the earlier iOS 4.2, the iPad 1 took over 8,100 milliseconds to complete the same test. That means JavaScript-heavy websites (such as Gmail) should run significantly faster.

Surprisingly, despite the major speed boost, the iPad 2 retains a 10-hour battery life, the same as the slower, first-gen iPad.

As for the cameras inside the iPad 2, Apple took some shortcuts, presumably to keep the costs down and to make the device thinner. Apple claims it primarily designed the cams with FaceTime video conferencing in mind, so photos weren't a priority. That's an understatement: The front-facing cam is VGA, or 640 x 480 pixels, and the rear camera shoots 720p video. These resolutions add up to less than a megapixel, making the cams useless for still shots. The iPad 2's video looks good and it's adequate for video conferencing, but still shots are frighteningly bad.

The rest of the iPad story is the most important ingredient that defines a tablet: the apps. Without apps, after all, a tablet is nothing more than a fancy digital picture frame, and here, Apple is the uncontested winner: The iOS App Store serves about 65,000 apps made just for the iPad.

Here in the Wired newsroom, we were entranced with Apple's new, $5 GarageBand app that launched with the iPad 2. People could pick up the tablet for the first time, fiddle with some options and immediately figure out how to compose a drum loop or guitar melody. Within minutes, we were passing the iPad 2 around the room as if it were a spliff.

The iPad's closest contender, the Motorola Xoom, has about 16 apps made for Android Honeycomb, and the tablet has a starting price of $800. Here's where the decision becomes easy: Why would you buy a tablet for $800 with just over a dozen apps, when you could pay $500 to $830 for a tablet with access to 65,000 apps?

Google and its manufacturing partners have their work cut out for them, and until we see some killer apps made for Android tablets, Apple will continue to lead this market.

As for which iPad 2 you should buy, it really depends on your needs. For most people, we'd recommend at least the 32-GB model ($600), which should come in handy if you plan to use the iPad for gaming, watching video or creating media. If you already own a smartphone with tethering or hotspot options (which all iPhones have now), you won't need to plunk down extra money on an iPad 2 with 3G, so go with a Wi-Fi-only model. Those who plan to use lightweight applications – reading, web surfing and e-mail – will be fine with the 16-GB base model for $500.

WIRED Skinnier profile shows mercy to your joints. Big performance boost makes apps, games and web browsing more zippy. Same $500 starting price and 10-hour battery life.

TIRED Mediocre cameras make still photos look slimy. Thinner body makes physical buttons on the side a little harder to press.

Photos by Jim Merithew/Wired

$500 at Apple

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