By me at TUAW: "Notes on the iPad 2 launch"
This one was a lot of effort, but I’m proud of how it turned out.
Speaking of the iPad 2, here’s how I did on my predictons:
Front-facing camera for FaceTime (and maybe a low-res backside one too for completeness)
Score one for me.
Increases to RAM (at least doubled to 512 GB) and CPU and GPU specification
Apple’s keeping mum about the RAM but I’m still betting it’s there, and also that the iPad 1’s paltry 256 GB is why it can’t run iMovie.
A bit thinner with a flatter back.
Partial score, because it’s more than “a bit” thinner; down from 13.4 mm to just 8.8 mm.
Maybe a little lighter, but probably not much; don’t forget a beefier CPU and GPU might need a bit more battery capacity so as to not sacrifice battery life.
Score. Weight of the Wifi model dropped from 680 g to 601 g.
Maybe more flash capacity (i.e. 32/64/128 GB), but note that the iPhone and iPod Touch capacities didn’t change during their last refreshes.
Flash capacity didn’t change, but I hedged my bets with the prediction, so no credit.
Better speaker – louder and a bit more high fidelity. It’ll still sound like a fart in a hurricane though.
Some people from the hands-on session are saying it has improved, but it’s hard to tell in a crowded press room; Apple didn’t say anything. Jury’s still out.
NoThunderbolt
Score.
No Retina Display
Score.
What I didn’t predict, but did turn up:
- HDMI out via a dongle – the thought crossed my mind but it seemed like such an ungainly idea I dismissed it. I’d argue it still is ungainly (particularly the Dock passthrough for charging), but also very practical, so fair play to Apple for putting it on sale.
- the aforementioned Smart Covers – I don’t think anyone saw it coming beyond some vague rumblings of “magnets in the case” from one of the rumour sites.
