Top reasons iPad 2.0 is worth waiting for: iOS 5, $$$, camera, more

The iPad 2 is coming… sometime. Its new specs and features: largely unknown. Apple’s pitch thus far for the product: none. In fact Apple is still running ads trying to get you to buy the current iPad. But history shows there will be a second generation iPad released within the next two months or so, and while Apple isn’t even admitting there’s an iPad 2 let alone wanting you to wait for it, here are compelling reasons why it’s worth the wait if you’re currently considering buying your first iPad and can’t decide whether to dive in now or wait for the iPad 2.0 era to arrive.
$$$: Will the iPad 2 start at a price lower than the current $499 and up iPad? Doubtful, considering how well it sells at the current pricing. But whether Apple keeps the original iPad around as an official bargain-bin model or not, the launch of the iPad 2 should see the original iPad at least temporarily available for less than $499 while supplies last. And even if you do actually want the new iPad and not the outgoing one, suffice it to say that its improvements (whatever they are) mean you’ll get more for your money with a $499 and up iPad 2 than you can get from a $499 and up iPad 1.
iOS 5: Apple’s history shows that iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s mobile touchscreen operating system for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, may not arrive until the fifth generation iPhone this summer. But it should be released for iPad at that time as well. Apple’s recent iPhone history has shown that it’s not afraid to make certain new iOS features only fully work on the latest hardware. By the time iOS 5 arrives, the original iPad will be perhaps sixteen month old hardware. Sure, it’ll run iOS 5, but maybe not as fully as you’d like. The iPad 2, on the other hand, will be the hardware iOS 5 was built to run on. It’s not unlike how a new computer operating system (the latest version of MacOS X or Windows) runs better on a new computer than an old one.
That camera thing: Even with all that’s floating around, the only truly confirmable iPad 2 feature is the fact that it’ll have a camera. That may not sound like a big deal to everyone (“Why would I want to take pictures with a tablet?”). But the first time you find yourself using your iPad, wanting to take a photo of something, and instead having to set your iPad down in order to take your iPhone out of your pocket just to take the photo with it instead, you’ll be wishing your iPad had a camera. And unless a landslide of evidence turns out to be wrong, the iPad 2 will have a camera of some kind. Here’s more on the iPad 2.

Apple iPad 2 Will Face Tougher Android Competition

If the latest data updates from market research firm Strategy Analytics are to be believed, the Apple iPad 2 may have found itself a formidable competitor in the shape of Google's multi-headed Hydra, Android.

While the iPad managed to get 75.3 per cent of the worldwide market share of tablets, this is down from 95.5 per cent, a 20 per cent drop.
At the same time, sales of Android-based devices surged by nearly 1000 per cent in just a quarter. Interestingly, the "others" category made jumped from 1.2 per cent to 3.2 per cent.
Strategy Analytics reckons that Apple sold nearly 15 million iPads last year with almost half of it in the fourth quarter of the year alone.

In comparison, 100,000 Android tablet were sold in the third quarter of last year, growing to a staggering 2.1 million units by the end of the year.
Most of the tablets are expected to be the Samsung Galaxy Tab, although might highlight the fact that it is in reality a sized-up smartphone.
Either way, 2011 will prove to be a watershed year for tablets with up to 46 million units expected to be sold based on analysts predictions.
With Asus, Acer, HP, Dell, Motorola, HTC, Cisco, RIM and a raft of other smaller manufacturers expecting to push out scores of tablet PC, Apple may have to up its game with the iPad 2.

Digg founder: Don't buy an iPad, iPad 2 is imminent

You might want to return that iPad you got for Christmas.
Kevin Rose, the founder of the social news site Digg, claims the announcement and subsequent release of the iPad 2 is weeks away at most, so you'll want to hold off purchasing a new iPad because a better one is just out of reach.
Who knows if that's true, but then again, we didn't think we'd be getting a Verizon iPhone announcement within weeks of Christmas, and now all evidence points to that being the case. The Internet has been flooded with iPad 2 information as of late, and with so much junk being leaked and bouncing around between websites and tech blogs, it almost seems strange we haven't gotten the official word about the iPad 2 yet.
And then there's the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 in Las Vegas from the weekend, at which a supposed iPad 2 appeared — or at least, the shell of one, along with purported iPad 2 cases. Between that and Rose's tip, it seems like the iPad 2 has all the features we're expecting, like the new amped-up display and speakers, as well as front and rear cameras.
But the accidentally discovered iPad 2 is definitely suspect. Why would Apple (AAPL) just be handing out its (supposedly) secret products to case makers and the like? And why would that case maker be carrying it around and leaving it places at CES? At least over at Mashable, it's suspected the CES iPad 2 is a fake.
Another possible explanation is the iPad 2 was some kind of plant, rather than a simple accident: a shady move to get reporters wandering CES buzzing about this potentially impending iPad 2 announcement, just when talk about the Android and new tablets was at its peak. Basically, and this is just speculation on my part, I think Apple could have done it — to Bogart CES. And I think the information we've seen coming together about the Verizon (VZ) iPhone and its somewhat suspect announcement date (immediately following CES, with speculation and reporting about it exploding right in the middle of the show) was intentionally done for the exact same reason.
So I, for one, think an iPad 2 announcement before the end of February is a rumor that can be cautiously believed, especially if we see the Verizon iPhone show up on Tuesday in New York. This isn't a prototype iPhone 4 accidentally left behind in a bar, hidden in 3GS casing. The iPad 2 "leak" at CES seems too incredibly dumb on Apple's part, not to mention the case manufacturer carrying around an iPad 2 at a huge technology press show, to be a real accident. That shell is either a fake (which itself begs, "why?") or an elaborate publicity stunt. Either way, it's working.

iPad 2 Model Shows Up At CES, Cameras, New Design And All!

It seems like everyone pretty much accepted the fact that Verizon and Apple are indeed announcing the Verizon iPhone this coming 1/11/11. Now we got that settled, let’s now focus on the iPad 2. Check out this model found by iLounge at CES:



As you can gather from the image above, we definitely see a rear camera, a redesigned casing and some changes to the ports. These mock up features are all in line with the rumors we reported here on the site.

If you have good eyes and saw “iPad 2″ and “128 GB”, it’s only labels for Gopod Mobile’s rechargeable battery and will not appear on the iPad 2 (that we know of right now). What do you think of these features? Yay or nay? What are YOU most wishing for?

Original iPad 2 Mockup From Apple Shows Up, 2011 CES [Photos]

We’ve seen quite a handful of iPad 2 mockups and its alleged cases already, but here comes the real deal. The original iPad 2 mockup, from Apple, showed up at the 2011 International CES!

Apple, quite secretive of its product releases, couldn’t do well here. Right there at China-based manufacturer / developer GoPod’s booth, stood tall on the table, the mockup of the yet-to-be-announced Apple iPad 2. While it’s just another mockup of the tablet, it’s has confirmed early rumors of – a front-facing camera, a flat back panel, a wider speaker grill unit, an SD card slot / USB port, and that foldable battery dock too! Apparently, no signs of a rear-facing camera, or was there? Check out more photos up next…

Verizon iPhone or iPad 2 to probably be launched February 3

pple will probably launch the Verizon iPhone or the iPad 2 on February 3, according to Boy Genius Report. Yesterday, Verizon didn’t mention Apple during its Keynote speech at the CES, and another rumor broke about a week ago that Apple would hold its own event to announce the Verizon iPhone. Lots of Long Islanders can’t wait to get their hands on a Verizon iPhone, so this will no doubt cause waves in the area. According to Boy Genius Report, Apple has scheduled a “Vacation Blackout” from February 3-6, prohibiting Apple employees from taking vacations during this period. There is also an unconfirmed rumor on MacRumors that Verizon is implementing a vacation blackout at the same time. By connecting the dots of the previous rumors, and the vacation blackout, a major device should be launched, narrowing it down to the Verizon iPhone or possibly the iPad 2. It seems a lot more likely that the product launched February 3 will be the Verizon iPhone. All of the aforementioned rumors, along with Verizon liking to launch devices on a Thursday, which happens to be February 3, makes it fairly obvious the Verizon iPhone will be launched on the 3rd.

Apple iPad 2 Release Date and Rumoured 128GB Storage

We wrote earlier on about the iPad 2 mock up being on display here at the CES 2011 in Las Vegas.

The presence of a highly realistic looking and convincing model has increased the already pretty busy rumour mill around this device and now there are two new whispers about this long awaited tablet.

First up, the iPad 2 which has been on display here has a sticker on the back that states that it has 128GB storage space, which is double the space available on the original iPad. Now, because this is a mock up model we can’t take anything on it for granted but why would Apple, or anyone else for that matter, go to the bother of putting on a label with an incorrect storage space? In, fact why would they go to the bother of putting one on with the correct storage space you might ask.

I can only imagine that it was placed there on purpose to get people talking even more and build up some more excitement about the new product. If this is case then it is unthinkable that it could be released with less than 128GB on it, as this would be a huge let down for everyone. This type of storage puts it onto a whole new level and would let it compete against other, more traditional notebooks.

The other rumour which we need to tackle here is about the iPad 2’s release date. A lot of people are now starting to move towards the idea that an announcement will be made later this month and that it will go on general sale around April time at the latest. Kevin Rose, Founder of Digg posted “I have it on good authority that Apple will be announcing the iPad 2 in the next “3-4 weeks”,
possibly Tuesday February 1st.”

Now it is a question of sitting tight and waiting so if these rumours are confirmed before the CES is over. Will Apple give the show a huge send off with some welcome news or will we have to wait until February 1st or later?

Here Are 6 Features Apple Should Include in the iPad 2

Unlike most of my tech-journalism brethren, I'm not at the circus in Las Vegas this week. Neither is Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) -- the hardware giant has traditionally skipped the International Consumer Electronics Show, rightly figuring that it can generate all the hype it needs just by inviting a few hundred people to the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco or its own auditorium in Cupertino.

So far, there are no hints about when curtain will rise on the next Steve Jobs Show. But it was around this time last year (on January 4, 2010, to be exact) that somebody at the company leaked word of a coming tablet-related product unveiling. That January 27 event turned out to be the coming-out party for the iPad. So even though Apple is avoiding Las Vegas again this year, the company is the "elephant in the convention center" at CES, as CNBC's Julia Boorstin put it yesterday -- in part because everyone assumes that Apple is working on, and will soon preview, the next version of the iPad.

There's little doubt that the iPad 2 is coming: Apple refreshes its core products on a roughly annual schedule, and it's the iPad's turn next. On top of that, Apple never stops with the first iteration of a product -- Version 2 is usually baking before Version 1 even ships. On this point, I'm going to haul out a quote from my January 29, 2010, column about the iPad. This is from Chuck Goldman, the founder and former CEO of Boston-based mobile app development house Apperian, who formerly ran the professional services division at Apple. With any product launch, Goldman said:

There are 400 things that Apple wants to do, but they can only do four in the time allowed, so they have got to decide what feature set is going to ship with Version 1. And they usually do a pretty good of getting a product to market with enough features for the Apple fanboys and the early adopters to want the thing. But you have to know that someone in Cupertino has got the roadmap for this product pretty much planned out. What they do is, they listen to customers, and they are really good at aggregating that customer feedback and working it into the roadmap, and that's how they create versions 2 and 3 and 4 and 5.

So, what might be on the roadmap for the iPad 2? If I knew, there'd probably be police knocking on my door. But if history and Moore's Law offer any guidance at all, then the device will have more memory than the first-generation iPads, and a faster processor. It's also a fairly good bet that the next iPad will have a front-facing camera for two-way video calling. (My guess is that AT&T saw that empty iSight slot in the first-generation iPad prototypes and freaked out -- but things may have improved. At any rate, AT&T didn't veto the recent addition of two-way video calling over 3G to Skype's iPhone app.) Better speakers would not be an unexpected addition, nor would a dual-mode communications chip that allows the device to pull wireless data from both CDMA and GSM networks.

Somewhat less likely is the addition of a rear-facing camera for serious videography and photography. (I think Apple still sees the iPad mainly as a tool for consuming media content rather than creating it. But who knows, they could fork the product and come out with both an iPad 2 and an "iPad 2 Pro" with a rear-facing camera for $150 more.) I also think it would make sense if, as rumor has it, the iPad 2 came with a narrower bezel and borrowed a few design tweaks from the iPhone 4, such as the flat back.

But those are just the easily predictable changes. Here's my list of suggestions for a few less obvious improvements. These are changes that would not only address shortcomings in the first-generation iPad, but give the iPad 2 some extra pizazz and help it stay ahead of the competition.

1. Haptic Feedback.
This is my second-favorite feature on the Galaxy Tab, Samsung's 7-inch tablet device. (My first favorite is the rear-facing camera, but we already covered that.) When this option is turned on, the whole device vibrates briefly and subtly every time your finger taps a soft key, giving you a bit of confirmation. Unlike just about everyone else I know, I like to type on my iPad, and I've gotten pretty good at it. But the secret, I've found, is that you have to watch where you're typing. If you take your eyes off your fingers for one second, your hands are likely to slide off-target, creating gobbledygook on screen. Haptic feedback would help prevent this and make something like touch typing conceivable on the iPad.

2. Batteries that Recharge Faster.
Battery life isn't an issue with the iPad -- I regularly go two or three days between charges. That's a pretty remarkable fact, when you think about how long we've been living with laptops that die after three or four hours of use. But if your iPad battery meter is in the red zone and you need to plug it in, you'd better be sure you aren't going to need it for the next few hours -- the recharge time on this puppy is loooong. (In tests of the iPad 3G, Gizmodo found that it took between 2.5 hours and 7.6 hours to reach an 80 percent charge, depending on the method used.) I know recharge time is a simple matter of physics: the bigger the batteries, the longer they take to recharge, and the iPad has two huge 3.75-volt Lithium-ion polymer jobs. But if Apple could figure out a way to speed this up -- or to put smaller batteries into the iPad 2 without sacrificing battery life -- that would be nifty.

3. I Don't Care If It's Thinner, But Make It Lighter, Please.
When I picked up an iPad for the first time, my first reaction was "This thing is sweet." My second reaction was "This thing is heavy." Those giant batteries, plus the thick slab of glass over the iPad's display, contribute to an overall weight of 1.5 pounds (0.68 kg; the 3G model is 0.05 kg heavier). I like the fact that the iPad feels substantial -- it would be pretty awful it felt bendy or plasticky. But it's too heavy to hold in one hand for extended periods without muscle fatigue. Trimming half a pound would help enormously.

4. An Ergonomic Grip or Kickstand.
My parents got an iPad recently, and over the holidays I had a chance to watch them using it. My dad doesn't like to grip the gadget from the side, as his thumb tends to stray into the touchscreen area, causing havoc. So he puts the iPad in the little kickstand my mom bought and holds that. But that's precarious, because the kickstand is intended as a prop for the iPad on a table or desktop, not as a handle or grip; the iPad isn't secured in it but merely rests through gravity, so it could fall out if he let it tip. (There are special iPad holders designed for what my dad was doing; I should probably get him one.) Anyway, all of this got me stewing again about Apple's occasional tendency to favor form over function. I've said this before, but there's something wrong when a company releases a handheld product that cannot be properly held without third-party accessories. The iPad is not an iPhone, and it can't be gripped like one. The iPad 2 should either have some kind of built-in grip -- maybe a rubberized section on the sides or back? -- or a kickstand like the one on the Sprint EVO 4G. Or it should come with detachable accessories that accomplish the same thing.

5. A Camouflaged 3G Antenna.
Call me a perfectionist, but when I traded in my Wi-Fi iPad for a 3G model last summer, I winced at the way the 3G model's black plastic antenna shield interrupts the otherwise beautiful aluminum rim. Apple should look for a way to fix this in the iPad 2. But if the company has learned anything from the iPhone 4 Antennagate fiasco (another form-over-function mistake) it won't try to use the rim itself as an antenna.

6. A Dual-mode Display for Indoor/Outdoor Use.
Amazon scored a few PR points against Apple with this TV commercial dramatizing the fact that the reflective E Ink screen on its Kindle e-book reader actually gets easier to read in outdoor light, whereas the iPad's transmissive LCD screen dims to a faded scrim. Of course, the Kindle screen doesn't support color or video. But maybe this isn't an either/or situation. San Bruno, CA-based Pixel Qi has developed a color dual-mode LCD screen, already used in the XO Laptop from the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, that's both reflective and transmissive. Indoors, the screen looks like a regular LCD. Outdoors, with the backlight off, it looks sort of like a color Kindle. (And as a bonus, it draws 1/5 as much battery power in this mode.) Maybe Apple should give Pixel Qi a call.

There's one new iPad feature that many commentators have asked for, but doesn't actually make sense to me: an iPad-sized Retina display. The iPhone 4's Retina display is a truly remarkable piece of technology, squeezing 640×960 pixels into a 2-by-3-inch space, or 320 pixels per inch. But if you scaled that up to the size of the iPad's 5.75-by-7.75-inch display, you'd have something like 1840×2480 pixels to work with, or nearly 5 megapixels, and that's just ridiculous. It's far more resolution than you need for HD video, and it's more data than you can really stuff through today's wireless pipes or store on today's flash memory chips.

And there's another addition that would be nice, but isn't even worth asking for: the ability to run Flash video and animation on iOS devices. Apple doesn't appear to be anywhere close to a truce with Adobe on this issue. And if Steve Jobs' contention that Flash is a CPU-hog is true, then it doesn't make sense to ask Apple to add more processing power to its mobile gadgets just so Flash can eat it up.

So, there you have my wish list. Watch this space to see how many of my suggestions Apple actually adopts. I scored about 50 percent back in 2008-09 when I gave Amazon some unsolicited advice about how to improve the original Kindle, so I'm optimistic.

Apple iPad 2: Apple iPad 2 Case Showed in CES

Apple iPad 2: Many high end Tablets has been showcased in Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 such as Samsung Galaxy Tab, iPad and Motorola Xoom. One among them is Apple iPad. Apple iPad 2 case has been showed in CES 2011. Apple iPad 2 case is having very stylish design.

Apple iPad 2 is having front and rear facing camera, large speakers, retina display, 3 axis gyroscope, USB port, video calls, high speed processor, 9.7 inch LED backlit glossys widescreen Multi-Touch display with 1024 x 768 resolution, 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed processor, 256MB of RAM, and access to the Apple App Store where more than 10,000 apps are available for downloads.

Apple iPad 2 will be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions. Apple iPad 2 is expected to be available by the first quarter of 2011. The latest Apple iPad 2 case is shown in silver color.