A Review Of The Apple IPad 2
It’s difficult to believe that there were tablet computers on the market before the marketing maestro, Steve Jobs, came along with his game changing iPad. The fact still is though that many corporations had already experimented with tablets well before the iPad came along but Apple basicly revolutionised and created a market for this kind of device and any other tablet that follows will always be compared to the phenomenal iPad.
For anyone that has tried the iPad and a rival product the differences are clear to see. Despite being underpowered compared to most other tablets on the market, the iPad 2 uses the iOS 4 which is Apple’s proprietary operating software and has been especially made to work with the iPad hardware and the infamous Apple styling, subtleties and intuitive UI’s give this device a way better user experience than any other tablet. The touch gestures are responsive, the transitions are superbly smooth, there are none of the exasperating pauses where you don’t know if the tablet registered your touch and everything works so seamlessly that when you try another device it just doesn’t feel right much in the same way that people who move to OSX vow they will never go back to Windows.
The iPad 2 comes in 2 flavors: one with wifi and one with wifi and 3G. The 3G version is a tiny bit deceptive and more of a marketing decoy because it costs $130 more to add a 3G chip which likely costs $10 at the most it just about forces folk to choose just the wifi one. The storage space is pretty decent with the base model beginning at 16GB and the top end model comes with 64GB, but again the difference in storage can’t explain the big increase in price which makes us think that Apple truly would like you to buy the 16GB version and then use their new iCloud service to store all of your files.
As discussed earlier, the hardware and tech specs are a little bit underwhelming when put next to a similarly priced tablet like the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The 1 GHz dual core processor and 512 GB RAM is similar to what you would find on the Kindle Fire which is less than fifty percent of the price but since the iOS is so efficient and well optimized you might think the iPad 2 has more than double the processing power of the Fire. There are built-in cameras in the front and rear of the iPad 2, but the less said about them the better. Apple have been especially coy about the details of this camera and for good reason as well, the rear camera is a paltry 0.7 mega pixels and the front camera is a pathetic 0.3 mega pixels – Apple truly scrimped on the cameras.
The iPad 2 is a real productivity device thanks to the wonderful iOS and big screensize. With in-built office apps you can simply prepare reports, charts, presentations, edit graphics and truly become creative thanks to Apple’s pre-installed programs. If you are attempting to find something to replace your laptop then the iPad 2 actually comes close as it lets you do everything you would routinely do on a personal computer.
That said, the iPad 2 also makes a superb media consumption device too thanks to its support of a gigantic range of video files and codecs, giant 9.7inch screen and of course access to the iTunes App Store where you can stream movies, download music and purchase literally millions of programmes that may add utility to your tablet. The battery will not disappoint you either with an all day charge of up to 10 hours even when you are browsing the web.
The only actual downside to the iPad 2 is the price. The fact that it’s an Apple means that you’re paying up to 30% more for the Apple logo on the front. A device with the same technical specs would likely cost 1/2 the amount, although it probably wouldn’t have the same refinement as the iOS. There’s also the lock in that Apple forces upon you but this is becoming increasingly common today with Barnes & Noble and Amazon taking a similar approach with their lower cost tablets.
About the author: James Perron loves to write technical articles and book reviews about Arduino.