iPad2 thread

[pm]

I received mine yesterday from Apple. I third all the comments. The same res hurts it the most. I played around with it while setting it up for my wife and it feels the same as the first gen. Weight and thinness didn't impress me either. The blue magnetic cover impressed me the most. But wife is happy so I'm happy. My wife and daughter now have their own tablets. Now I just have to find non-Apple tablet for me.

Yeah, I like the magnetic cover too. It's slick. People can say what they want about Apple, but one has to admit that they have got style.

 

[Aikouka]

Shouldn't be a problem I mean it is glass. I think those streaks have something to do with the microfiber on the bottom of the smart cover don't touch the glass in those streaks.

Well, my thought is that the micro-fiber surface is picking up grease from some of the finger prints and then depositing it as a line going across.

I mostly didn't know if the glass had any certain coatings on it that would be ruined by isopropyl alcohol.

 

[yacoub]

I left the clear packaging over the device yesterday and picked up a screen protector today which I installed. I haven't actually touched the bare glass. No issues with the smart cover other than if I'm not careful it can catch the edge of the screen protector and start to peel it up, which is annoying, but I suppose I could adjust it a little if necessary so it's not so close to that edge of the screen.

Favorite things so far:
Being able to stream my collection of movies from my PC to the iPad with live transcoding (when necessary), thanks to Air Video app and server software. (No need to take up space on the device with movies unless traveling.)
Being able to control iTunes on my PC from the iPad with Remote app.
Games like Infinity Blade which I couldn't even play on my old 1st gen iPod touch are very impressive and pretty much flawless thanks to the horsepower of the iPad2.
The extra screen real estate and size over the iPod touch makes it useful for things like web surfing, email (love the on screen keyboard size for typing), and practical things like finding recipes and then standing it on the kitchen counter to reference while cooking.
Haven't found a satisfactory way to stream my music collection to the device yet (Air Video doesn't support mp3s... hopefully they will make it Air Audio soon too).

Downsides:
Doesn't charge via USB from my PC (there are some Gigabyte motherboards that apparently have enough voltage to the USB ports to charge it but most of us are SOL so it's worth noting)
Not sure I'd take it out of the house... it's too big to pocket and since people are crazy (and it's expensive) I'd hate for it to get stolen.

 

[pm]

It does charge from a standard USB port... it just does it really really slowly and says that it's not charging. My Asus motherboard supports iPad charging.

 

[Kaido]

Well, I completely echo all of your comments. I bought one for my mother yesterday (they had them at the local Best Buy - Milo.Com rocks for searching stock). The screen being the same also felt like more of a letdown than it should have - it's just it feels like it should be higher res just because... The camera really is awful. As a contented gen1 iPad owner, about all that I've felt playing with the new one is that I have no reason at all to upgrade.

The tricky thing is actually going to a Retina resolution. They are going to have to do some pretty crazy things to pull that off - including resolution independence, I'd imagine. 2048 x 1536 would be insane to read text on, so you'd really have to boost that up, as well as make giant menus - or do resolution independence and solve the whole problem. But I don't know if they are going to have the horsepower to push both the resolution graphically and the resolution independence. But if they can, that'd be great, especially if they could add a pressure-sensitive stylus to the mix.

Yup, the camera is awful. I wanted to love the rear camera, but it's grainy even in daylight - pitiful. Very cool that it has cameras, but I'm betting the iPad 3 will have better cams, especially now that the new Macbook Pros have HD iSight webcams built-in. That's how the marketing department works for upgrades

 

[Aikouka]

Isn't Retina just reflective of the DPI of the monitor... not the actual resolution?

 

[DivideBYZero]

Isn't Retina just reflective of the DPI of the monitor... not the actual resolution?

Correct.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Isn't Retina just reflective of the DPI of the monitor... not the actual resolution?

Yes. Though it is closely related to display resolution in the case that diagonal measurement of the display is constant.

 

[MichaelHudson]

It is ok to touch the glass.

I left the clear packaging over the device yesterday and picked up a screen protector today which I installed. I haven't actually touched the bare glass. No issues with the smart cover other than if I'm not careful it can catch the edge of the screen protector and start to peel it up, which is annoying, but I suppose I could adjust it a little if necessary so it's not so close to that edge of the screen.

Favorite things so far:
Being able to stream my collection of movies from my PC to the iPad with live transcoding (when necessary), thanks to Air Video app and server software. (No need to take up space on the device with movies unless traveling.)
Being able to control iTunes on my PC from the iPad with Remote app.
Games like Infinity Blade which I couldn't even play on my old 1st gen iPod touch are very impressive and pretty much flawless thanks to the horsepower of the iPad2.
The extra screen real estate and size over the iPod touch makes it useful for things like web surfing, email (love the on screen keyboard size for typing), and practical things like finding recipes and then standing it on the kitchen counter to reference while cooking.
Haven't found a satisfactory way to stream my music collection to the device yet (Air Video doesn't support mp3s... hopefully they will make it Air Audio soon too).

Downsides:
Doesn't charge via USB from my PC (there are some Gigabyte motherboards that apparently have enough voltage to the USB ports to charge it but most of us are SOL so it's worth noting)
Not sure I'd take it out of the house... it's too big to pocket and since people are crazy (and it's expensive) I'd hate for it to get stolen.

 

[yacoub]

Of course it is. But since I was planning to put a protector over it, I avoided touching it directly so there wouldn't be anything to wipe off it before applying.

 

[cheez]

Like I said, I currently own an iPod Touch 4G 64GB. Will Apple accept an exchange for an iPad 2 and pay the difference?

I paid over $400 for my Touch.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Like I said, I currently own an iPod Touch 4G 64GB. Will Apple accept an exchange for an iPad 2 and pay the difference?

I paid over $400 for my Touch.

Certainly, but depending on the condition of the iPod Touch (obviously physical), the difference will be greater than you'd expect. I'd say expect at least a healthy $300 on top.

 

[cheez]

Certainly, but depending on the condition of the iPod Touch (obviously physical), the difference will be greater than you'd expect. I'd say expect at least a healthy $300 on top.

It's been nearly 2 months since I bought it. Apple would still honor this?

And yes, it's in prestine condition (no scratch on back and top side), covered with invisible shield and back cover.

$300 difference would not be bad for me. Is that for the 16GB iPad 2 or 64GB ipad2?


thanks,

 

[runawayprisoner]

I believe 16GB. I can't really tell since this is something you'll have to come up there and ask yourself.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Verizon is now clearancing out the Gen 1 iPads for $299

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-20046927-243.html?tag=cnetRiver

 

[zerocool84]

Verizon is now clearancing out the Gen 1 iPads for $299

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-20046927-243.html?tag=cnetRiver

 

[Ns1]

don't worry, 16gb's are sold out everywhere. Picked up 32gb @ 440 out the door, VZW Burbank.

 

[zerocool84]

don't worry, 16gb's are sold out everywhere. Picked up 32gb @ 440 out the door, VZW Burbank.

Dammit

 

[runawayprisoner]

Well, another reason to upgrade to iPad 2. This one is legit: more durable glass.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/03/24/dont-do-this-at-home-flex-testing-ipad-1-and-2-glass/

How much more durable? The iPad 1 glass breaks under normal pressure. As expected of, well, glass. The iPad 2 glass is so hard and flexible that you'd have to break the touch digitizer before the glass breaks.

Don't know what that implies for face-down direct drop on concrete, but looks like it'll at least be more resistant to your kid's growing muscles.

Now let's see how much harder that aluminum back is. I wouldn't be surprised if they made it bullet-proof even.

 

[cheez]

I believe 16GB. I can't really tell since this is something you'll have to come up there and ask yourself.

Meh, no thanks. I need to keep my iPod touch anyway to hook it up to my car stereo for listening. Bad thing about iPad 1/2 is that they are big, so won't fit in my pocket. It's easier to get stolen at work too. I may have to purchase iPad 2 separately and use it for home use.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Home use might be implied. iPad 2 to get its first full 1080p game soon.

http://toucharcade.com/2011/03/25/real-racing-2-hd-set-to-get-full-screen-1080p-video-out-feature/

Native 1080p. Not too shabby.

Edit: iOS 4.3.1 out too. Hopefully it'll resolve the animation and graphical bugs.

620.8MB download.

More battery life is welcome, though 12 hours is way more than enough for me.

 

[cheez]

I went to BestBuy to check out the iPad 2.

My impression:

- It's thicker than I anticipated. I thought it was going to be super-thin...

- LOVE the screen quality. I haven't checked out the video quality but the desktop images show how well they are displayed. Viewing angle was very impressive.


MORE QUESTIONS:

1). How does sound quality stack up, via ear phone? Anyone moved from iPod Touch 4G or iPhone 4G to iPad2? Is the sound quality equal or better? btw, I have a $150 Etymotic HF-5 ear phone so this isn't the bottleneck.

2). Can you use iPad 2 to download files from the web and store them just like regular computers?.. Can you also "install" programs (such as utorrent) just like regular computers do?

3. Pending....

 

[TheStu]

I went to BestBuy to check out the iPad 2.

My impression:

- It's thicker than I anticipated. I thought it was going to be super-thin...

- LOVE the screen quality. I haven't checked out the video quality but the desktop images show how well they are displayed. Viewing angle was very impressive.


MORE QUESTIONS:

1). How does sound quality stack up, via ear phone? Anyone moved from iPod Touch 4G or iPhone 4G to iPad2? Is the sound quality equal or better? btw, I have a $150 Etymotic HF-5 ear phone so this isn't the bottleneck.

2). Can you use iPad 2 to download files from the web and store them just like regular computers?.. Can you also "install" programs (such as utorrent) just like regular computers do?

3. Pending....

1: Should be about the same
2: Uh... no. It is an iOS device, just like the iPod Touch and iPhone. It has a bigger screen, and there are apps that take advantage of that, but almost every limitation that exists on the iPhone/iPod Touch exists on the iPad.
3: I wait with bated breath

 

[Pliablemoose]

3: I wait with bated breath

LOL

 

[cheez]

lol thanks.