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The Apple iPad 2 Reviewby Brian Klug, Anand Lal Shimpi & Vivek Gowri on 3/19/2011 8:01 PM EST
189 Comments
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claytontullos - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkhttp://technabob.com/blog/2011/03/18/ipad-2-refrig... kind of fun? Reply
vol7ron - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkThis just goes back to what I've said since the iPad was introduced. It'll be the +1 device that's best for laying around your house. This goes into my review as why it needs to hit the $200-250 price point.
Sure it's a nice e-Reader and can entertain with some games and even allow for some production work, but it is still clunky and uncomfortable and to be efficient and productive you need the additional hardware, which are going to bring you in a nice laptop range anyhow.
The 3GS is hitting the $50-100 price point w/ a 2 year contract, which I suggested a year ago. Personally, I still think that should be the price w/o the contract (to be available after-market for gifts/presents), but as long it's available at that point, that's where it needs to be.
I still think the iPad needs to drop to that $200-250 point. It's the coffee table device, which people should consider having 2-3 spread-out in the home [ maybe one in the bathroom ;) ] - if only they could also self-sync wirelessly. I'm not too sure who buys the base model, but the specs alone would keep me from considering it and when you look at the higher spec'd models, it's not as justified when looking at laptops, or other eReaders. Reply
solipsism - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link$200 to $250 for a newly released 10" Tablet with an IPS panel? WTF are you smoking? How can you have such an odd mental disconnect between writing that and then writing "The 3GS is hitting the $50-100 price point w/ a 2 year contract"? What part of 2-year contract aren't you understanding? Do you not realize the carrier is paying Apple more than $200-250 for that 3GS, and you are paying the carrier a lot more than that over 2 years?
Pray tell, how would this device be $200-250 when the competition with a 2 decade head start still hasn't been able to compete on price? Reply
synaesthetic - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI don't get how they sell so many when they're so useless and clunky... and cost so much.
Lot of hipsters I guess. Reply
michael2k - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkThe weight, battery life, and cost (altogether) are unparalleled in the computing world.
Smartphones with similar performance characteristics have far smaller screens and lower battery life.
PCs with similar battery life cost far more and weigh far more.
PCs with similar weight (and still double at that) cost far more and have only fraction of the battery life.
PCs with similar cost weigh far more and have drastically lower battery life. Reply
Meaker10 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkA dual core sandy bridge 13" device is going to be far more useful for work and far more powerful. Reply
michael2k - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkWho said anything about work? For things like reading Anandtech it would be far heavier, bulkier, and with less battery life. Reply
bigboxes - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkJust admit that it's a toy. The authors laid it out for you on how they prefer to use other devices instead of the iPad. It too bulky for portability and underpowered for any productivity tasks.
So, you're telling me (and everyone else here) that you paid $500+ just to surf AnandTech on your couch? Just wondering. Reply
Stas - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkThat's exactly why it cannot cost this much to be a reasonable buy. No, the following purchases are not reasonable: fa- sheep base, soccer moms that buy the latest gadget with most hype for their kids/husbands not even knowing wtf it does, or PR boost in form of including, again, the most hyped device with cars, hotel rooms, air travel, etc (3 categories right there probably account for 90% of all sales). I mean people that understand exactly what the device is, what it's not, and have a clear idea of how they are going to use it. And it doesn't matter how much it costs to make it, how advanced the hardware is, or how "revolutionary" the design is. Given the limited usability of a slim, touchscreen device, I think asking $600+ for one is ballsy. Reply
MScrip - Monday, March 21, 2011 - link-- "Given the limited usability of a slim, touchscreen device, I think asking $600+ for one is ballsy." --
That's true about any tablet.
As great as Honeycomb tablets are... they're still not gonna provide a true computing experience.
A $600 laptop will always provide far more functionality than a $600 tablet...
Yet... all these manufacturers are pumping out tablets at an alarming rate.
Apple took the risk and added a new product to their lineup.
If tablets were destined to fail... we wouldn't see Motorola, Samsung and even RIM jumping into the tablet game... Reply
podperson - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkJust admit that most PCs are used as toys. Heck, the whole reason the personal computer took off (in homes) was as a games platform.
Most of the people I see with PCs are using them to surf the web, watch youtube, update facebook, or mess around with digital media. Where I work there are Macs and PCs available to the public with 27" monitors all open to Facebook (hint, it's a university). Exactly what is this "work" you need to do on PCs? For most people it's a little bit of text editing now.
For some kinds of things the iPad is markedly superior ergonomically to a PC (or even a tablet computer or WACOM tablet display) — e.g. sketching or various musical apps. For others a PC is markedly superior. For still others one or the other is completely useless. Reply
michael2k - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkExcept it isn't bulky nor underpowered for many things.
I have a 2006 G4 iBook that is lower performance than a 2010 iPad 2. If the iPad 2 is a toy, then so is just about any early 2006 computer, including older Pentium M based laptops.
It is also far less bulky than self same 4 year old computers, with trivially 2 to 3 times the battery life.
I paid $500 so that my wife can follow my kids around, but still have a computer she can put in her purse. Without the iPad, she would have indeed settled for an iPod touch, but a netbook with a hinge? Too short a battery life and too hard to manage (Windows XP, Windows Update, AV, etc) for the harried housewife/homemaker Reply
bigboxes - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkJust how big is her purse? As for battery life I think you are looking through rose colored glasses in emphasizing the positive qualities that your device holds. As long as the device lasts until you get home to plug it in (maybe even your vehicle) it will suffice. The iPad is too bulky and not functional enough too do day to day tasks. As I said earlier, the authors point this out.
As much as we want these cute devices to succeed we find ourselves using other devices that are far more practical. I've made the same mistake myself in the past. Anyone remember the Sony Clie? Another proprietary underpowered overpriced device. I believe I paid $500 for it. It gathered dust for years until I finally put it in a box. There's the cool factor and then there's reality. Do you set it out for your friends' visits or do you actually get x value out of it?
Also, you are going to be carrying your phone with you already. Why carry both devices with you when one doesn't have more functionality over the other? I would think that the balance for function belongs to the smartphone (phone service is more valuable than screen size). Reply
michael2k - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkHer purse is big enough to hold an iPad, a wallet, another smaller purse, a phone, keys, two Capri Suns, two candy bars, a small bag of chips, and a couple of diapers.
As for battery life, that's exactly what the iPad is; it lasts as long as it needs to until it gets home to be plugged in. I cannot find a laptop under 2 pounds with similar battery life. The minimum requirement is 6 hours.
I carry my phone because I am more like Anand than not. She carries the iPad because she isn't like Anand, at all. It would be the equivalent of me driving a Civic and her driving a minivan; surely the very concept of a soccer mom and her requirements being different than a 9-5 commuter isn't lost on you? Reply
bigboxes - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkSo, we can officially say this is the official tablet of soccer moms everywhere. Yay.
She carries it around not because she is unlike Anand. She carries it around because she has a strong back! Reply
vol7ron - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkA lot of the "sales" are from the retail outlets and not-necessarily the end-user consumer. There's people that buy it to sell to China or other Asian countries that buy it for double it's price; there are a plethora of reviewers these days; there are the people with mass amount of wealth that buy up anything just because they can; and then the hipsters that want to be cool and fit in. It reminds me of the episode of South Park with the smug Prius drivers.
I'm not saying this isn't a bad device and it's mobility makes it beneficial in many regards. But the price of its mobility does not make it as attractive as it would be at the lower price (~$250). I'm not saying it should go for $100, but you're nearing the $1000 end of the spectrum for these devices and way over that for the necessary apps and accessories. Reply
crunc - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkI don't know why I'm getting into this argument, but all the iPads, including iPad 2's, that I'm seeing out in the world would seem to dispell your notion that no one is actually buying them for their own use. I saw 3 of them within 5 feet of me on the train this morning, for example. In 3 weeks time or so I'll be another one on the train with one, and also using it at home. I don't own a laptop. I wouldn't mind a laptop, but I'd rather have an iPad. It is, for me, far more comfortable to use then a laptop. Even the excellent trackpads on MacBooks don't compare to the entirely touch-based interface of the iPad. Obviously they aren't for everyone, but for some these are a great choice. I don't expect to write a book on it, but I then don't write books. If I ever decide to write a book, maybe I'll get a laptop. Reply
Ushio01 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkIt's a fasion accessory just like the iphone, to be with the "in crowd" you have to have apple products that's all there is to it. Everyone on here must know at least someone who bought an iphone and then use it only for calls and texts, I know dozens of people who have done this. Reply
crunc - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkActually, no, I don't know anyone who has an iPhone that only uses it for texts and phone calls. Everybody I know who has one uses it for virtually everything, myself included. In fact, I rarely text and only occasionally make phone calls (mostly of the, "should I pick up a pizza?" variety). You go on living in your little dream world, though. I won't stop you. I have an order in for an iPad 2 and I'm really looking forward to it. I love my iPhone and I want something akin to a laptop, but that isn't that, because the iOS interface is fantastic and the devices are more comfortable for me to use. Sure, there's some shortcomings to the platform, but they are overwhelmed by the multitude of positives. Reply
sarahtim - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI think this sort of comment represents a failure of imagination. As iPads sell million after million you have to adjust your idea of how many hipsters there are...
Other people are different from you.
Speaking for myself; I find my iPad extremely useful. I use it for a number of hours each day. I don't find it clunky. To me, and this is a very personal thing, the cost was of little consequence. While it is poor taste to blurt out your relative wealth when many folks are having a rough time of it, it is the only way to answer your comment. Further, I consider iPads to be very good value. I bought the bottom of the line iPad 1. It does everything I want. The bulk of its time is spent streaming video via the Air Video app.
I represent a single data point - as do you. I fully appreciate that an iPad is a useless paperweight to you. No problem. When I use my iPad I do it in private. I don't discuss my ownership with others. I don't think I'm clever or a better person because I have one.
You would have to look at me for a very long time before you thought of a hipster. Trust me on this. :-) Reply
vol7ron - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkSmoking the magic of realism, that's the point this device needs to hit. You can take that back to your IPS gods.
I didn't say it was feasible to happen right away, but that's where it needs to be for the low-end devices. The upper-end of the spectrum should land in around $450.
BTW, you misunderstand R&D and cost procurement. Just because these devices have a hefty starting price does not mean the cost of materials is even 1/1000 of that price. Whether the service providers are eating the price, or not, it all comes down to the fact that these devices do have a large mark-up. I think you need to consider the cost of an iPod Touch to the iPhone if you need a simpler way to compare - the 3G modem doesn't cost $300 lol and the Touch still had a high mark-up.
"when the competition with a 2 decade head start still hasn't been able to compete on price" ... no one has had a 2-decade head start. Technology (manufacturing and supply chain) and costs have both shifted over the last 20 years to make things more affordable. You come at this with an emotional response of "that can't happen", when I say it can and it will. Be care about being shortsighted it will come back to bite you one way or another. Reply
name99 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkLook, if you want a crappy cheap computer, go out and buy one. They make $50 computers (none of that extravagant $100 OLPC nonsense) for India powered by 6502s.
But at the end of the day you are being disingenuous. You don't ACTUALLY want a $250 PC --- you can get something like that today if you buy a second hand Eee on eBay. What you want is an actual iPad, not something with a tenth of the functionality, but at $250.
Good luck with that.
And spare us this "eventually". If you're not content with a $250 eBay Eee now, buy the time the $250 iPad equivalent comes around, the real iPad 5 will be quadcore, 2GiB of RAM and a retina display screen, and you STILL won't find the cheap equivalent an acceptable choice, not when there's a real device at $600 that is so much better. Reply
medi01 - Monday, March 21, 2011 - link"Competition" has such devices for as low as about 100$, go google. They don't come with IPS panel or good battery, but how much do those parts cost?
Competitors like Samsung do not have any reason to lower prices, as they are competing for different customers anyway. Not to mention, people perceive cheaper devices to be inferior. Reply
medi01 - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkPS
There are NETBOOKS (from Acer, Lenovo or pretty much anyone) with multi-touch screens for below 300$. Reply
michael2k - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkThey also weigh 2 to 3 times as much and have half or less the battery life. Reply
sean.crees - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkI still am amazed when people complain about the iPad being too expensive. I remember a little over a year ago everyone expected it to have a starting price of $999. It debuted at half that, and people still complain it's too much.
It's now a year later, and even Apple's competitors cannot make a device that is competitive with a $499 starting price point or less.
Here is where i see the iPad fitting in. The console and notebook have effectively replaced my PC. Everything i used to do on a PC i now do on either my notebook or my PS3. You're always going to have a cellphone. The tablet then does what you used to use a notebook for 10 years ago.
You end up with a cell phone, a tablet, a notebook and if you want to game, a console.
I don't know if a tablet will ever replace a notebook, maybe for some who can't afford all 3 and have to choose between a tablet and a notebook and don't need the productivity and power you gain with a notebook. Like how a TV is just for media consumption, a tablet is the same but you carry it around with you. Reply
Mishera - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - linkPeople complain about the device being too expensive because for what it is capable of doing, and compared to other devices it is overpriced. For Apple the price makes perfect sense for what they portray as a luxury device. It starts with enough room to drop the price (which they did sort of) and to be able to introduce another smaller ipad at some point in the future without cutting into their sails of macs. That's probably why they went with their keyboard choice.
I thought about buying one but came to the conclusion that it simply was far to expensive to justify, especially since all I needed was an ereader, and later a new laptop. But I ended up getting on for Christmas so I wasn't complaining. Turns out the iPad is for EXACTLY what Steve said it was for. This is essentially a couch companion. This takes care of all my computer need when I'm at home and don't have to do work. But that's about all it's good for since it's too big to feasible carry around and doesn't replace your laptop.
I still stand by my belief that the ipad is overpriced though much more attractive at $400. I think tablets will be very important in the future, it's just that they are far away and apple right now is only interested in making consumer devices while everyone else follows them. But right now everyone seems happy with just a new toy.. Reply
george1924 - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkDSC_2328.jpg and DSC_2364.jpg Reply
george1924 - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkGreat in-depth review though! Still can't get excited about tablets very much yet. I've had fun playing around with them, but don't think I could justify it along with a laptop, desktop, etc... Reply
MonkeyPaw - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkYeah, and the problem with playing with them at the store is that they always look really gross. I was messing with a tablet at a store today, and immediately washed my hands afterwards. I'm not a huge germ-a-phobe, but when I guy blows his nose, then approaches the electronics, I just start getting uneasy. I guess the screen just shows what's on all the mice and keyboards there, too. :p Reply
george1924 - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkSeems to be fixed now Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkThanks for the correction :)
Take care,
Anand Reply
drugos - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkAs usual, one of the most comprehensive reviews on the net. Thanks guys! Reply
Bosh - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkYes, as usual ! Reply
PrinceGaz - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkWho buys worthless over-priced rubbish like the iPad, apart from hipsters/dickheads? I can understand the appeal of it to them, and I've nothing against dickheads who love them, but what purpose do they serve to the rest of us?!?
It's incapable of being used for real work so basically useless except as a toy when out and about, but too large to be carried around in anything smaller than what a small laptop could be carried in, so what it can do when on the move may as well be done on a smartphone. Reply
B3an - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkCant beleive i'm saying this about an Apple product... but the iPad 2 isn't expensive for the hardware. Look at the Motorola Xoom which is lot more expensive for marginally better hardware, although the iPad 2 has better hardware in some areas. The thing is though Apple can sell the iPad 2 at little profit because they just make the money from app sales. So it's hard for other tablet makers to compete on price.
I agree with everything else though. Reply
shabby - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkThe ipad2 is expensive, imagine if asus took their $250 10" netbook and removed the keyboard, replaced the hard drive with a sd card for memory, and ditched the intel mobo/cpu for a slower soc this thing would cost maybe $150.
The only reason these devices have these prices is because that's how much people are willing to pay for them.
As for the xoom, motorola for some reason thinks they can charge a premium for it, they certainly are smoking some good shit. These phone manufacturers will fail with their expensive tablets.
Once asus and other netbook manufacturers start saturating the market with android tablets you'll start seeing cheaper solutions. Reply
jalexoid - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkThat is not true. FOB price for the 16GB XOOM clone(proper quality clone, not a knockoff) is about $330. Smaller components cost more. Reply
WaltFrench - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link"The only reason these devices have these prices is because that's how much people are willing to pay for them."
Showing off the fact that we've had Econ 101, are we?
Perhaps there's some object/service that operates differently that you'd care to mention. Reply
kukabuka - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkWell, I for one think tablets are really great when you don't need a keyboard or a fast processor or a lot of storage. Which would be never. If the iPad sells way better than the Xoom, I'd say your theory about hipsters/dickheads being the only market group for tablets is confirmed. Reply
FrederickL - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - link
I have to say that I largely agree even though I perhaps would not use PrinceGaz' somewhat "undiplomatic" description of the iPad's current customer profile! However, I am obliged to agree that tablets of this size are of little interest (IMO) until they are functional enough that they can _replace_ ones laptop. The case for buying an iPad (fine piece of content consumption kit as it is) falls down at that first fence as far as I am concerned. In general terms my mobile device needs are met by my Desire Z. A third or fourth generation10 - 11 inch tab with a full slide out qwerty (either Honeycomb or Win 8 ARM, the iOS is not to my taste) with more connection/plug options than you can shake stick at, with a docking station+large screen at home - now THAT would open my wallet! Reply
dhuhtala - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI tend to agree - I've always carried a Blackberry phone instead of an iPhone just because it has a slide-out keyboard...I will not compromise on that! This makes the device really practical and I use it a lot.
That's why I'm closely watching the ASUS eee Slider - a tablet with a slide out keyboard - that sounds like it will be much cheaper than the Xoom (rumour has it at $500.
The Tegra 2 probably won't meet my requirements for playing MKV video files though, from what I've gathered...
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/15/preview_tabl... Reply
solipsism - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkYou're the minority. The majority of buyers just want something that works, which is why the techtarded people of the world are jumping into simpler devices for email and browsing, not building their own PCs and running a home-brew version of Linux. Reply
synaesthetic - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkA netbook can check email and browse the internet for significantly less money. Most people I know, even the techtarded as you so colorfully put it, realize this and do not buy an iPad.
The people I know who buy iPads are college students who get Mommy and Daddy to pay for it, and hipsters. Reply
doobydoo - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI couldn't disagree more.
I would say that technically savvy people are the ones who are MORE likely to buy an iPad.
I say this as a technically savvy person who has not yet bought an iPad, but can see the appeal:
Firstly - the iPad is lighter, thinner, and has better battery life than most netbooks.
Secondly - it's more capable, in that u wont have to wait around for Windows or whatever OS you're using to load, the apps are designed for the platform and the device's capabilities so it's actually quicker. Games, for example, are much nicer to play and to control on an iPad when compared to a netbook.
Thirdly - it's more convenient in certain situations - u dont need to find a table to set it on or put it on ur lap - you can just hold it, such as when standing up or walking along, or where ur sitting at a table with food all over it.
Fourthly - it's touch screen, extremely advantageous in certain situations. For example, the iPad makes a much better presentation device than any netbook can.
It's such blind ignorance of a lot of people on here to assume that it's non-techy people who buy iPads. It's the non-haters, who buy iPads. The people who want to embrace the latest technology and actually see what it's about before dismissing it with some pathetic stereotype. Reply
medi01 - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - linkIt's a "for fun" device, so if you buy it for some thing else, I doubt your "tech savyiness".
And for some, not being able to read stuff you've written to your own device, is a show-stopper. Calling this "hate" is silly. Reply
synaesthetic - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkIt pretty much is a toy, but I really think smartphones are better toys. They're smaller, and you carry your phone anyway, so why not game on it to kill some time between appointments? Reply
Rick83 - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkI still stick to my 5" tablet (though something slightly larger might work also...but 7" is already too much).
That I can carry around all day (when I want to, and keep a separate non-smart phone that does telephone well enough) and yet it is much more useful than the 4" and 3.5" smart phones. I can comfortably hold it with one hand, buttons are nice and big in landscape mode, the dock gives me USB host, there's BT for keyboards as well, dock with hdmi-out, analog video-out...basically it does anything I would ever need, in the ideal portable form factor.
It could do with a marginally better touch screen and build quality, and performance and stability aren't that great, but considering it predated the first iPad by about 6 months, I'm willing to accept the odd quirk. Also, it still works after quite some use over the last 18 months, with no visible battery life issues.
I hope that the mini-tablet form factor will be explored some more in the future, I would be willing to replace my current device with something similar once the warranty has expired...
Oh did I mention that it cost me less than a third of an iPad? (But, no, no flash either ;)) Reply
tzhu07 - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkI've been trying to figure out a use for the iPad, and the only thing I can think of is that it's good for doing really simple things and taking notes. Also, when you take it out in front of a client during a lunch meeting, it tends to impress them.
But, yeah, I find that there isn't really a need for a device that bridges the gap between a laptop and a smartphone....yet. Reply
vision33r - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkIt's all about the Apps, regardless which OS they are useless without apps.
The iPad has tons of productivity and enterprise ready apps. Would like to see an iMovie clone on Android or some quality productivity apps. So far only iOS has the most real apps. Reply
jalexoid - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkThe movie editing app on Honeycomb is there. And it's similar to iMovie.
The Office look alike apps on iPad are still not good.
Honeycomb struggles on the apps side, because the developer hardware was not there, when it was needed.
But saying "So far only iOS has the most real apps" is a bit incorrect. Reply
WaltFrench - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link"The movie editing app on Honeycomb is … similar to iMovie."
Yes, except for one thing: the YouTube of it shows it unable to show thumbnails properly and balky, rough animations. This wouldn't even get bronze at a beer-fueled coding contest.
The two are exactly as similar as night and day: they live on the same planet. Reply
Zoomer - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - link>>Also, when you take it out in front of a client during a lunch meeting, it tends to impress them.
That's probably why most buy it. Reply
Azethoth - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI bought my iPad to turn my daily NY Times habit at Starbucks paperless. So Wi-Fi only and one year = it paid for itself.
Acting as an awesome controller for my home stereo setup is a total bonus. Same with reading books again via iBooks and Kindle.
Yes, the underlying thing is I use it to consume and not to create. Unless you find an application that uses its strength in that regard it will just frustrate you as you try to do your pad-inappropriate netbook / laptop / PC / mini / mainframe or whatever apps on it.
For me its a perfect way to avoid the netbooks / laptops which I have always loathed but get a little mobility. But then I only create on a desktop with 2560 x 1600 resolution so laptops will never cut it anyway. Reply
synaesthetic - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkIt's pretty refreshing to see someone who has actually found a usable niche for these things.
It's just not too useful to a lot of folks. I carry my laptop to class already--yeah, this big, heavy MSI gaming laptop--because I need it. If I could carry something as light as the iPad and have it do what I need... I'd be sold.
But it can't. And LCDs suck for long reading sessions. I'd rather have an ereader. Reply
doobydoo - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkwhat is it you can't do on an ipad? Reply
LaughingTarget - Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - linkQuite a bit, really. It's a lousy drafting platform. Don't try doing anything remotely related to engineering on it. Want to create a proprietary program to tie into your own business systems at work? Don't bother, you're not putting that thing on your iPad without Apple's permission. Don't bother trying to type anything lengthy up on the thing, you'll be operating, at best, on about 1/4 speed as a keyboard. It's a useless tool for accountants, field technicians needing to keep track of customer data, worthless for engineers trying to troubleshoot a power plant turbine on-site. Hell, it's even a horrible method of ringing up orders at a fast food joint.
Go down the list of what people do for a living, the meat of the modern global economy, and you pretty much found everything the iPad can't do. Reply
kevith - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkUse it as an E-reader?
Well, only for books, that the the censors at Macintosh find good, clean and familyfriendly enough, that is.
"When You start burning books, You will eventually end up burning people."
That fact does not change over time... Reply
WaltFrench - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkLet's be a bit more honest here: Heine was talking about government-sanctioned political violence, not commercial decisions. In fact, the considerations are almost exactly opposite.
Commercial decisions have dozens of considerations, including authors' willingness to grant rights (e.g., Nabokov's Pale Butterfly not in any e-form), format (the wonderful Visualizing Information, also MIA) and a host of others. Freedom of speech implies the speaker's right to choose when and how he speaks; that means Apple's right to make commercial decisions about what it offers and what it does not.
E.g., Apple no longer sells a camera, but they don't in any way restrict your ability to buy them or use them. Re books: if you like Kindle, for example, read them on the iPad. (As long as Amazon chooses to carry the work.) This is just like say, the B&N store across from my office: they don't carry titles they don't want, whether for expected lousy sales, or to keep the local Bigots United chapter from waving pitchforks at them. This freedom of Apple, which is NOT an arm of the US Government, to have its own voice, is just as important as preventing governments from banning speech.
Maybe there is somebody at Apple who wants to treat you like a child. But about a hundred times more likely is that they simply want to do the stuff they think they do best, and some people act (childlishly!) as if Apple should run by different principles.
PS: "Macintosh" is not the company you're talking about. Reply
vision33r - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkThe last thing you want is bring that $899 device in front of people and have app crashes and App drawer that doesn't work when you press it like a zillion times.
People at work will just say you blow $899 on a netbook.
Yes, the LCD on the Xoom is the typical 10.1" you found on Acer Netbook parts bin.
How dare Motorola try to pass off a netbook for $899. How about the ASUS EEE Slate for $999 instead. Reply
VivekGowri - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkI think it's $799, but I agree, it's too high. The equivalent iPad, at $729, is also way up there - really the only iPad that makes much sense as far as value goes is the base 16GB WiFi. I think the Xoom is probably going to have it's price cut by at least $100, if not $200, before it actually gets anywhere - ASUS took the right tack by putting it's lowest end Honeycomb tablet at $399. Reply
KoolAidMan1 - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkWhere the iPad really works for me is as a travel device and in the living room. The iPad is just much nicer to use with in-flight wifi. Small, no cable management, and the battery will outlast a LAX-JFK roundtrip. My laptop lives in the overhead storage bin.
You mentioned that the iPad has replaced the ThinkPad in airports, and I think that is spot-on. It is just so much more convenient and manageable to use compared to a laptop. I've left the laptop at home twice and I didn't miss it much, aside from not being able to play Starcraft 2 when I'm on the road. :)
The "sharing" aspect of the device has great advantages in a work environment, especially when you want to go over PDFs with a group of people. No need to crowd around or turn a laptop, just pass around the iPad.
As for the living room and bedroom, self explanatory. Not being tethered to the home office in order to fire off email is nice. Ditto using it as a universal remote in the living room.
It is a luxury device and a supplement, absolutely, but a damn good one. Reply
nickdoc - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkFinally a sensible person. We are definitely on the same page. Reply
kevith - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link"You're absolutely right" almost always really means: "I totally agree..." :-) Reply
relentlessfocus - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkAs always a real insight into the hardware. I'd like to make an observation about generalising from your own inability to find something that tablets add to your PC./smartphone mix to the larger sphere of buyers. Indeed most are not crazy and overly rich.
My friends have a 2 year old child. I have no doubt that eventually she'll be reacting with laptops and desktops but my oh my how much my friends talk about the 3 of them with the iPad. Not an Anandtech thing... fine. A real life use. I think so.
Jake Humphrys is the lead for BBC's Formula 1 coverage here in the UK. While talking live in the pits with his co-commentators he now holds an iPad cupped in his hand that he gracefully reads from and then puts to his side as he gets live update info from his directors as the show is broadcast. OK, its not an Anandtech thing but its a real life use for a tablet that you wouldn't do with a netbook or notebook.
It's being used by coaching staff in sports and by doctors making their rounds in hospitals. It's used by major corporations for field workers running in house bespoke apps for catalogues and inventory and real time pricing etc. It's used by estate agents in the field with their clients and its used in trendy clothing shops like All Saints to display the entire store catalog for customers to browse. I could without a doubt put together 100 real life uses that "did figure out a use for it" distinctive from what you might do with a netbook or laptop or even desktop.
Your reviews set the gold standard in so many ways but in this one way its a shame you brought such a limited perspective to the usefulness of touch tablets in the world at large. I understand that people who do certain kinds of work really do find that a touch tablet device may not be useful, indeed you may not own a pickup truck or headphone amplifier. But the slant of your article and some of the comments above implies a great generality than I think can be justified. Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkFirst of all, thank you for your kind words - I really do appreciate them.
I don't doubt that there are specific uses for a tablet that a notebook cannot do as well. I mentioned one of these in the review - simply passing around the iPad for others to look at, information sharing, it's a lot easier to do this than with a clunky notebook.
My point about the usefulness is that it's currently not powerful enough, flexible enough and ergonomic enough to completely replace a notebook. I'm not saying it won't get there, but I don't believe it's there today. The iPad 2 is a great device, but it's an augment to existing computing devices - and for some users that's tough to integrate into their existing workflow.
If you can find a fit that makes sense however, it's a great device.
Take care,
Anand Reply
Azethoth - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkGood article. However I do not think the point of tablets and smartphones are to replace netbooks. I think their point is to compete on apps. If they can do something critical to someone better than another form factor then they win a sale. I think it will turn out there are more apps that are tablet appropriate than netbook appropriate.
Unless there are more interface revolutions I just do not think there can be a 100% intersection between netbook and tablet utility. So while netbooks will remain better at the things a lot of people complain about not being able to do on a tablet, tablets will eat their lunch market share wise because of the many more things they do good enough or perfectly. Reply
Fontanka - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link"Workflow ", "Use", "Users","Usefulness".........
That's not what most of the 15 million purchasers (and counting) are thinking about....they want to communicate, be entertained and diverted when NOT WORKING. The iPad delivers.
Fontanka Reply
WaltFrench - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link@Anand, let me second the kind words of @relentlessfocus.
And also his point: a tablet and a notebook are largely incommensurable.
Lightweight, sub $1000 notebooks with 11-hour battery life, compressed learning times and near-instant app startup don't exist.
Likewise, notebooks don't have anywhere near the touchscreen's I/O capabilities, which you call out as great in iMovie and GarageBand. (I'd add the iOS app I use for writing Chinese as part of my studies, and the painting app used by high profile artists to create New Yorker covers.) Then, there's a new mix of software appropriate to mobile life, including the many "specialized" apps @relentlessfocus offered.
I get that, by definition, our current workflows can't be optimized on a tablet. (Mine, with multiple screens on the desktop, and a bigscreen laptop, would be horrible. Why would I even think to try?) These things are "technical disruptors," "creative destructors," "inventor's dilemmas," however you want to characterize them. They enable new usage modes at the same time that they're not as good, or downright awful, for the old ones. They serve new customers better than the old; this is all old hat ever since Shiva got incorporated into the pantheon.
But thanks for such a complete review, for those of us who happen to be dabbling in devices that enable new functions, new activities. Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI believe we're actually in agreement here. The tablet is a disruptive form factor and a disruptive device. In the article I state that I believe there's a glorious future for tablets, however I believe we're still at an early point in the evolution. Since we're operating on a faster-than-moore'slaw-curve here, you're looking at a 12 month product cycle with these things. As such I believe a cautious approach to investment is better, especially given the price points we're talking about.
By all means, if you have the money to spend and have a genuine use for it - the iPad 2 is a great device. I'm genuinely giving the iPad 2 another chance, I really wanted to use the iPad 1 I just found myself carrying it and a notebook wherever I went.
For example, I'm traveling now for CTIA but I brought the MacBook Air. I'd much prefer reading comments on the iPad 2, but I like responding to them on the Air. I don't really know what the right solution is to that problem. It can't be to have one device for reading web pages and another device for contributing to web sites? I believe there's still a lot of work to be done here, that's all I'm saying - not that the iPad or the tablet are doomed.
Take care,
Anand Reply
synaesthetic - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkTouchscreens are the very antithesis of good ergonomics. Unless haptic feedback can defy physics or we get some deformable/flexible screens, devices with actual buttons will always be superior.
The human brain simply reacts better to physically pushing a button. Touchscreens have horrible ergonomics--a tiny bit of vibration is not really much haptic feedback. It feels like a lot to us (and it certainly helps me on my phone) but it only feels like that beccause a touchscreen is so far away from any semblance of "natural use."
Touchscreens should be used when they are REQUIRED--such as on smartphones, where the number of controls, commands and options far outstrip the physical size of the device and the physical space to place buttons.
I don't think tablets will ever stop being a toy. Reply
stephenbrooks - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkPage 2, final picture. The iPad 2 is on the BOTTOM not the top there. Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkFixed! Thanks :) Reply
Omid.M - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - link"There's also the idea of synergy among devices. Even if you play within the Apple universe and own a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad, there's no magical way of sharing data and applications between them. I should be able to work on my Mac, step away and have my apps/data come with me. Your best bet is something like Dropbox but that's no where near the type of cohesive solution I'm talking about. Think HP's webOS touch-to-share but on steroids and you're on the right track."
I'm sure that's what Apple is planning with NFC-enabled iOS devices, but then wouldn't that require a saved state to be stored in the cloud and then re-downloaded on demand on the next device used? I would imagine that "lag" in the UX would be a problem. How long would you feasibly have to wait for stuff to download the first time you sit down with a new device (new as in rotation) ?
Also, would this be limited to stock-Apple stuff only? It would be a bear for Apple to save the state of arbitrary 3rd party software from one device to the next (assuming both devices have the client installed). Right?
"So if you're actually torn between the iPad 2 and the Xoom my best advice is to wait. Apple needs to update iOS in a major way and Honeycomb needs a hardware update. Whichever gets it right first should get your money."
This is really the money statement of the review. I think Android tab makers need to NOT simply look at the iPad 2 to figure out their next move, but to pave their own path, not for the path to be a RESPONSE to the competition. The Xoom should have higher quality display for sure, and Honeycomb needs faster incremental updates. I really liked it but it just lacks so much in terms of functionality and compatibility, at least if we're considering it for productivity.
None of the tabs on the market right now are really meant for editing/creating content--even if you're able to with a handful of apps--but simply consuming existing content (iTunes music streaming, sharing videos, social networking--and I think that's the biggest issue with tablet to replace netbooks or become devices taken seriously.
Please, please cover the WebOS tablet when it comes out.
Thanks for the review, guys. Great work. The technical section on glass, for instance, is one reason with AT does the best reviews.
Worth the read. Will tweet for others to check it out!
-Omid Reply
clb - Monday, April 04, 2011 - linkI agree on both, but the point on #1 is missed. It is not the need for the cloud on NFC, but the fact that you cannot actually sync the device:
>I should be able to work on my Mac, step away and have my apps/data come with me.
Even if you are going from a Mac to the iPad (1 or 2), there is no sync feature that covers everything. A note created on the iPad has to be emailed to your Mac; Apple will not let you read a note created on the iPad on a Mac unless you email it to yourself! And there is no way to get a note into the Likewise, using DropBox is great, but now files have to be loaded up, then you must reconnect, then load down. You cannot simply have the Mac send to the iPad or vice versa.
This is because unlike the early iPods, the iPhones and iPads do not allow the user to move files. Early iPods could be treated as FireWire drives. Not the iOs devices. Everything must go through iTunes or via the cloud (i.e., third-party sites). If I'm at a beach house with no cloud connection, and want to move content from my PC/Mac to my iPad, I'm SOL in many cases.
This is bad. Reply
Adam Chew - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkJudging from your review of the iPad, its competitors will stand no chance of ever gaining traction in everyday use.
So get a Macbook Air.....LOL
The problem is the everyday user is not a tech blog blogger, the iPad is ideal for consumption of everything of the net and not like some tech blogger who needs to blog unnecessarily with a laptop when an iPad is at hand. Reply
nickdoc - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkLoved your contribution! The geek talk was getting really boring and repetitive. Hello! Normal people have needs, too. This is what the reviewers often forget. Not everyone needs to create content to be consumed by other creators of mostly the same content. Lol! Reply
stephenbrooks - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkOK, why where you joining *two iPads* together with magnets and buying a "smart vase" from Apple? :D
"The iPad aligns and attaches to the body of the iPad 2 using six magnets along its side that line up with a similar set of magnets on the device. When I acquired the smart vase at launch, I [...]" Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkFixed again :) Reply
tipoo - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkHow the f does it work? Reply
PeteH - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkIn the Garage Band section:
"There are three Smart Instruments - Piano, Bass, Guitar, and Drums."
I'm pretty sure that "three" should be a "four." Reply
VivekGowri - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkAhaha, I'm an idiot - thanks for catching that, it'll be fixed. Reply
PeteH - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkAs far as typos go that one isn't remotely bad. I once published a spec (internally) that had a section detailing how asynchronous boundaries were handled in my section of a chip. Unfortunately I had titled that section "Cock Domain Crossings." Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkA few years ago I used the word overcocking instead of overclocking in an article. Reply
UNLK A6 - Saturday, March 19, 2011 - linkI'd like some clarification about LINPACK and Geekbench. Are these benchmarks created by compiling some portable code for each platform as a measure of floating point performance? Or, is this supposed to be some measure of how fast one can do linear algebra or DSP on the platform? On Mac OS and iOS, one wouldn't compile say LINPACK for this but use the hand-tuned LAPACK/BLAS and DSP routines built into Apple's Accelerate Framework. The difference between the two can be huge. Which do these benchmarks purport to supply--generic floating point performance or available linear algebra and DSP performance on the platform? Reply
metafor - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI believe Linpack on both iOS and Android are plainly compiled (by the JIT in the case of Android) to run on the platform. They don't make any calls against the onboard DSP's nor do they use NEON beyond what the compiler is able to auto-vectorize. Reply
name99 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkApple supplies all the Linpack routines in optimized NEON code as part of the OS (in the Accelerate framework). Intelligent apps that need them use those routines.
Android, as far as I know, does not provide an equivalent.
You can use apps that deliberately bypass these iOS routines if you wish to get a handle on the raw FP performance of the hardware, but
(a) it doesn't give actual linear algebra performance, if that is something your app or algorithm really cares about AND
(b) it's kinda dumb because if you care about fp performance in any way, you'll be using NEON, so what's the value in a benchmark that doesn't exercise NEON? Reply
nimus - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI hope AnandTech can do a comprehensive comparison of the usability/feature strengths between the Android, Apple iOS, BlackBerry Tablet OS (QNX), HP webOS, and any others tablet OSes.
It will be interesting to see how the Windows Tablet OS will be able to compete when it finally is released for ARM processors. Reply
KidneyBean - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI'm using a tablet, so I can't see the mouse-over pics :-( Reply
tcool93 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI don't know where the reviewer gets the idea Netbooks are much faster. That is nonsense. Here is a video showing an ARM 9 processor being just as fast, yet the ARM 9 processor is running 1/3 the speed of the Netbook Atom. (500mhz vs. 1600mhz for the Netbook).
The Netbook also has a graphics accelerator in it, and the ARM shown in this video doesn't. Reply
JarredWalton - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkConsidering the source (ARMflix), you need to take that video with a huge grain of salt. It looks like they're running some Linux variant on the two systems (maybe Chromium?), and while the build may be the same, that doesn't mean it's optimized equally well for Atom vs. A9.
Single-core Atom at 1.6GHz vs. dual-core A9 at 500MHz surfing the web is fine and all, but when we discuss Atom being faster than A9 we're talking about raw performance potential. A properly optimized web browser and OS experience with high-speed Internet should be good on just about any modern platform. Throw in some video playback as well, give us something more than a script of web pages in a browser, etc.
Now, none of this means ARM's A9 is bad, but to show that it's as fast as Atom when browsing some web pages is potentially meaningless. What we really need to know is what one platform can do well that the other can't handle properly. Where does A9 fall flat? Where does Atom stumble?
For me, right now, Atom sucks at anything video related. Sorry, but YouTube and Hulu are pretty important tools for me. That also means iOS has some concerns, as it doesn't support Flash at all, and there are enough places where Flash is still used that it creates issues. Luckily, I have plenty of other devices for accessing the web. In the end, I mostly play Angry Birds on my iPod Touch while I'm waiting for someone. :-) Reply
Wilco1 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkThe article is indeed wrong to suggest that the A9 has only half the performance of an Atom. There are cases where a netbook with a single core Atom might be faster, for example if it runs at a much higher frequency, uses hyperthreading, and has a fast DDR3 memory system. However in terms of raw CPU performance the out-of-order A9 is significantly faster than the in-order Atom. Benchmark results such as CoreMark confirm this, a single core Atom cannot beat an A9 at the same frequency - even with hyperthreading. So it would be good to clarify that netbooks are faster because they use higher frequency CPUs and a faster memory system - as well as a larger battery... Reply
somata - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - linkCoreMark is nearly as meaningless as MIPS. Right now the best cross-platform benchmark we have is Geekbench. It uses portable, multi-threaded, native code to perform real tasks. My experience with Geekbench on the Mac/PC over the years indicates that Geekbench scores correlate pretty well to average application performance (determined by my personal suite of app benchmarks). Of course there will be outliers, but Geekbench does a pretty good job at representing typical code.
Given that, the fact that a single-core 1.6GHz Atom (with HT) scores about 28% higher than the IPad's dual-core 1GHz A9s in the integer suite leaves me little doubt that the Atom, despite being in-order, has as good or better per-clock performance than the A9s.
Even the oft-maligned PowerPC G4 totally outclasses the dual A9s, with 43% better integer performance at 1.42GHz... and that's just with a single core competing against two! Reply
tcool93 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkTablets do have their advantages despite what the article claims. For one thing, their battery life far out lives any Netbook or Notebook. They also run a lot cooler, unlike Notebooks and Netbooks, which you can fry an egg on. Maybe they aren't as portable as a phone, but who wants to look at the super tiny print on a phone.
Tablets don't replace computers, and never will. There are nice to sit in bed with at night and browse the web or read books on, or play a simple game on. Anything that doesn't require a lot of typing.
Even a 10" tablet screen isn't real big to read text, but its MUCH easier to zoom in on text to read it with tablets. Unlike any Notebook/'Netbook, which its a huge pain to get to zoom in. Reply
tcool93 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI do think the benchmarks shown here do show that there is quite an improvement over the Ipad 1, despite what many seem to claim that there isn't much of an upgrade. Reply
secretmanofagent - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkAnand,
Appreciate the article, and appreciating that you're responding to the readers as well. All three of you said that it didn't integrate into your workflow, and I have a similar problem (which has prevented me from purchasing one). One thing I'm very curious about: What is your opinion on what would have been the Courier concept? Do you feel that is the direction that tablets should have taken, or do you think that Apple's refining as opposed to paradigming is the way to go? Reply
VivekGowri - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI still despise Microsoft for killing the Courier project. Honestly, I'd have loved to see the tablet market go that direction - a lot more focused on content creation instead of a very consumption-centric device like the iPad. A $4-500 device running that UI, an ARM processor, and OneNote syncing ability would have sold like hotcakes to students. If only... Reply
tipoo - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkMe too, the Courier looked amazing. They cancel that, yet go ahead with something like the Kin? Hard to imagine where their heads are at. Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkWhile I've seen the Courier video, and it definitely looked impressive, it's tough to say how that would've worked in practice.
I feel like there are performance limitations that are at work here. Even though a pair of A9s are quick, they are by no means fast enough. I feel like as a result, evolutionary refinement is the only way to go about getting to where we need to be. Along the way Apple (and its competitors) can pick up early adopters to help fund the progress.
I'm really curious to see which company gets the gaming side of it down. Clearly that's a huge market.
Take care,
Anand Reply
Azethoth - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkGaming side is a good question. Apple will have an advantage there due to limited hardware specs to code to. They are a lot more like a traditional console that way vs Android which will be anything but.
Are actual game controls like in the psp phone necessary?
I am also curious what additional UI tech will eventually make it to the pad space:
* Speech, although it is forever not there yet.
* 3D maybe if its not a fad (glasses free)
* Some form of the Kinect maybe to manipulate the 3d stuff and do magical kinect gestures and incantations we haven't dreamed up yet.
* Haptic as mentioned earlier in the thread.
Speech could make a pad suitable for hip bloggers like the AnandTech posse. Reply
Mike1111 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkWell, Anandtech is a site for geeks, but shouldn't you have at least mentioned how you think the iPad 2 could fit into the average person's life? People who don't "work" with PCs in their free time and who don't have a dedicated PC workflow?
Some thoughts regarding the review:
- I thought the glass was supposed to be from Asahi Glass (Dragontrail)?
- Okay, the Xoom can't play videos with b-frames without problems. But what h.264 videos can the iPad 2 play? Same as iPad? More? High-profile? Blu-ray class h.264 videos?
- I wish you could have gone more in-depth regarding the A5. Why is it so big compared to the Tegra2? How efficient does it work? What kind of video decoder/encoder are used? etc. Reply
Zebo - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkNothin like the real things baby.....I have used a x201 tablet since April of 10 and it's the best investment I ever made. True outdoor viewable with upgraded outdoor IPS screen and 500 nits. true keyboard, true duel core processor, true work machine. I have ATT card to get internet and take it everywhere I go. I bet I travel more than Anand and it's the only way to fly. Reply
tcool93 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI don't even own the Ipad. Yet I do know for a fact there are at least two other browsers you can use with it besides Safari. The Atomic browser, and the Skyfire browser... both supporting tabs and supposedly are much better than Safari. Skyfire even has partial flash support, and viewing social network sites built in (twitter, facebook, etc). Both of those browsers have very good reviews also. Reply
secretmanofagent - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI'm starting to play with iCab, but I don't have an iPad. Reply
name99 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkYes and no.
On the other hand, Apple is well aware of the limitations of their current browser tech and are actively working on ways to run different parts of the browsing code in different processes (for both performance --- multi-threading, non-blocked UI --- and security reasons), on both OSX and iOS.
When this effort comes to fruition, who knows how much of the underlying tech (in particular, in this case the ability to create code on the fly, perhaps in some sandboxed fashion) will be made available to devs? Reply
Zebo - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkYou'll never even think about a slate tablet after that.
10 hrs battery
all windows apps
plays games
IPS screen (with upgrade)
can use as HTPC when on road
can publish this site effortlessly
I doubt you'll use a another device besides your iphone Reply
VivekGowri - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkAnd I could buy three iPads for the same price. It simply isn't a valid comparison for the same reason the MB Air, Asus Slate, and other $1000+ devices aren't; not in the same category, not even in the same price range. It's like saying that after driving a Mercedes S-class, you'll never think about driving a Lotus Elise or Porsche Boxster ever again - it's not really a useful or valid comparison to make.
I don't doubt that the X220t is going to be an excellent, excellent device - fixes every problem I had with the X200/201t, goes back to the IPS display, and it's going to be pretty fast too. It looks pretty awesome, IMO. If I was in the market for a tablet PC (as opposed to a smartphone-based tablet), this and the ASUS Slate would be the only two I'd really look at - the ASUS is kind of like a cheaper version of the X220 except without the built-in keyboard. Reply
snouter - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkBut I left it on a plane. What did I replace it with? An 11" MacBook Air. Honestly, it's no comparison. The Air can do so many things that the iPad could not. Tablets will stick around and find niche applications in lots of places, but I'd keep my eye on the the super thin super light notebooks. BTW, the Air has a ULV Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz and will get Sandy Bridge in the next update. The processing power is far superior to the tablets and the netbooks. It's everything I wanted to do with my iPad, and it's a notebook when I need it to be. Main main work Laptop is still a 17" MacBook Pro, but none of these tablets, netbooks or ULV laptops are in competition with it. When the next Air comes out with a backlit keyboard and ULV Sandy Bridge, I'll be there. Reply
synaesthetic - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI have to agree, the 11" MBA is one extremely sexy piece of kit.
I wish there was a similar option that wasn't branded with the half-eaten fruit of hipsterdom. And doesn't run OSX, which I don't particularly like. Reply
snouter - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkiPad does have for real 10 hour battery life and is generally maintenance free. Charge it, pick it up, use it. But, the Air gets a solid 5 hours (gets me from coast to coast) and is also pretty much instant on and generates no heat and I never hear the fan. So, although the iPad has a clear advantage in battery life it has no clear advantage as a "consumption device" and it forces you to favor apps and it does not handle media files as well and it does not have flash, which, is still out there.
As far as price, yeah, the 11" Air is 50% to 100% more expensive, but ULV Sandy Bridge will see a flood of products on the PC side of things that should have lower price tags and if some PC manufacturer would please step up and start taking product design seriously.
I typed this on my Air, and I would probably type less and put less thought into it (the same dreaded way that BlackBerry effect has really been a setback for written communications with the half butt answers) on an iPad.
Also, one last Air advantage, it has a screen on a hinge. I got so sick of hold the iPad or having to prop it up on things...
The iPad is a +1 device, sure, but... I'm going to stick with the 2 pound laptops for a while. Reply
nickdoc - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkWell, if I deserve to be called a hipster or dickhead by some poorly educated idiot with two brain cells (both of them obviously white) for owning an iPad along with a MacBook Air, Mac Mini Server, MacBook Pro 15 and 17", 27" Cinema Display, iPhone4 and something else I forgot, then so be it. I'm not offended in the knowledge who the comment came from. A really sad case. Can't help feeling sorry for you, Kuka-whatever-your-screen-name-was.
It looks like the comments here have been written by people under the age of 45-50 because no one has ever mentioned glasses. Yes, those things people need to see what's in front of them, far and near. It's worse when you need both. Then you won't be so happy to do any kind of work on an iPhone or even surf the web. You would wish for a larger screen every time you are forced to switch from your normal glasses to your reading spectacles. Use a netbook? Even worse. A tablet is different and allows you to read with your nose practically replacing your fingers on that touch screen. Perfect!
As a surgeon, I often have to show other people what I mean. This can be a scan, a plain radiograph, lab results and so on. Unless I have a big screen right there for all to see, the iPad is the gadget of choice. Give it to the team before surgery to look at scans with my notes right there on the screen, pass it around when on teaching rounds, give it to a frightened patient to reassure. Try doing the same with a smartphone or a netbook (useless toys that they are) and you will see how crazy that idea is.
Basically, in my field, there is no end to the list of possible applications. This is combining consumption with creation. Therefore, before using such terms as dickheads, try to think a bit further than your own little world if your "processor" has that much power. If not, well... As I said, a very sad case. Reply
Gunhedd - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkThank you. I wish more folks would pipe in with the real-world capabilities and uses they're discovering. No matter though. Apple-hate isn't new. I dealt with it in the '90s when Apple really was in trouble. Apple currently firing on all cylinders just keeps giving haters more and more to bitch about. (Price of success perhaps?)
Hipsters? Dickheads? WTF?
This comment isn't about the review but the inane comments that invariably get trotted out by hater technogeeks that won't move out of their mother's basement, disappointed that all the flash-porn won't work on an iOS device. Instant "fail" (or whatever silly phrase the self-annointed, self-important digerati are using today) in their book. These folks need to get out and learn that most people are "not" like them. But that would require getting a life. (Which would probably be easier than getting a date...)
(See? I can paint with the broad strokes too. ;) Reply
softdrinkviking - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI just wanted to say that I really enjoyed Alexander's glass article, it was a great read.
My grandfather was a material scientist, so it brought back a lot of good memories. Reply
AgeOfPanic - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkThanks for the great review. Anandtech seems to be the best site for independent and in-depth reviews. Please keep that going, because there is too much fanboyism going around. Saying that I have to admit, that I lean towards the Android side, because I think it's much more suited towards the tech enthusiast. Right one my HD2 is running the newest Gingerbread 2.3.3 rom from XDA, something impossible with iOS. However, I'm typing this on my iPad and if you would ask me which tablet I would recommend to my parents right now, I would say the iPad.
I myself will switch. The question is if I can hold out to the quad core SOC that have been announced for later this year or will go for a Xoom wifi only model. The iPad convinced me that a tablet is what I need most of the time. However, iOS is hopelessly outdated. No widgets, notifications are laughable and browsing is annoying. With no memory, switching between tabs means reloading almost every time. And loading is slow.
That's also why I was so interested in your browser scores. Couple of things I noticed. First of all you switched back to manual measurements for the page loading, because the Honeycomb browser stopped the timer too early. Isn't that just a sign that it is fast or was it really, really early? Manual measurement has it's on flaws though.Very susceptible to operator bias. I don't think you should report your scores in milliseconds then, because that implies an accuracy you just don't have. Furthermore, I would like to see error bars, so we can determine if these differences were really significant.
Again, these are my comments. Thanks for the good work. Reply
bjacobson - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkwant it on android... Reply
TEAMSWITCHER - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI purchased an iPad 2 for my wife. I had been giving her my old MacBook Pro laptops, which at even four years old are complete overkill for her use. She adores the new iPad. It's far more portable and can be used in more situations than a laptop.
Case in point, this week she created the family shopping list on her iPad 2 and brought it grocery store. She browses the WEB, FaceBook, games, EMAIL, and keep all her favorite photos, movies, and music.
From now on, i'll be hocking my used MacBooks on craigslist if I can. She doesn't even want a laptop anymore. That's the biggest issue I have - it's too good. Too many people will find that tablets are better and abandon their laptops altogether. Laptops will stop evolving, much like desktops did once Laptops became popular. Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkI agree that it's a better laptop for casual users. However the Flash limitation I believe is still a problem that prevents it from being a complete laptop replacement for even casual users (a lot of restaurant, automotive and photography websites are still unfortunately 100% flash based). As long as you have some access to a laptop however this is really a non-issue, except when traveling with only the iPad.
Take care,
Anand Reply
alex2792 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI enjoyed reading the review,but it seemed a bit biased to me. While it's true that the iPad can't replace a laptop for content creation it works just fine in many fields. I sell annuities and the iPad has totally replaced my laptop when I'm on the go. I have designed presentations using keynote before and It worked great, whenever meeting a client I always bring my iPad instead of carrying paper brouchoures, in fact most of these clients end up getting an iPad themselves after playing with mine. Maybe Apple should pay me for advertising their product. Reply
shangshang - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkbut if you enough fanatic hipsters, +1 device can become a primary fashion must-have.
And it's not just yuppies. There are so many geeky engineers at my work place that have an iPad so they can just put it next to there desktop PCs. Worst, there are some managers who use an iPad right along side their laptops in meetings. Baffling to me. I can only chuck it down as fashionable. I mean it's the same reason women pay $2000 for an LV purse that most men would deem god ugly. Reply
kasplat99 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkLast fall there was a discussion of a limitation of 16GB on photos in the iPad.
I haven't been able to find out whether this was resolved with an iOS 4.x update or the problem persists. This probably is not a limitation of the camera connector kit itself, but rather the photos app, either for total number or data size of photos, but regardless it is a serious limitation if trying to use the iPad for photo work or backup on a long trip.
Testing should be done on 32GB or 64GB iPad if anyone wants to check on this. Reply
BlendMe - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkWhile reading the section on the cameras and the camera UI, I was wondering if you couldn't have saved yourself 1/2 page of writing by just switching on rotation lock? I see that the rotating controls are annoying, but isn't that what the rotation lock switch is for? To keep the UI from rotating? Reply
dagamer34 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkThat's a pretty bad hack for a problem they should have realized themselves if they ever tried to take a picture with the iPad 2. Reply
BlendMe - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkHow is that a hack? That's what the switch is for (unless you set it to be a mute switch). If you use it to lock the rotation in a browser it's considered a feature.
Theoretically (I don't have an iPad 2 and won't be able to try one for at least a week) this switch should allow you to place the capture button on any side of the screen.
I'm kinda surprised Anand/Brian/Vivek didn't even mention it, given that most of their reviews are very thorough and in-depth. Reply
Azethoth - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkI second that notion. My default is to have rotation locked. I loves me some landscape mode and when reading with it flat it freaks out without some rotation discipline.
Now that its on the external switch again there really is not much issue.
Still, it was a major UI oversight. I think they got "lucky" that Jobs was sick and didn't see that rubbish and chew someone a new one. Heck, even Gates would have noticed such UI incompetence. Reply
Bosh - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkYes, you can wait and wait and wait and........... Reply
WaltFrench - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkAw, cut @geekfool a break: he's waiting because by then, Flash 10.3.0173 will actually have watchable 720 framerates on a quad-core Tegra.
There's geek and there's geek. Perhaps geekfool has drunk the Adobe jizz bigtime. With that list of priorities, he's absolutely doing the right thing. Reply
LauRoman - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkGreat review but it doesn't hold a candle to Charlie Brooker's 3 and a half minute insightful dissection of the differences between the two devices.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNSn6AtdSGM Reply
kube - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkGreat review.
I have an iPad 1 and plan on upgrading.
The review says that the principal use is email and web-browsing. Like most my use focuses on a few uses. But the most important is reading.
1. books. I use the Kindle app most, but sometimes ibooks. I share lots of books with my daughter, who uses a kindle device. Ebooks have probably doubled my book reading.
2. journal articles. For me, this is revolutionary. I'm a scientist, and over the past decade journal articles have migrated from print to pdf. With applications like "good reader" and especially "papers", my reading experience has changed. Reading a journal article pdf off of a computer screen is a second-rate experience. Reading off of the ipad, for me, is as good or better than reading print. As pdf applications have matured, the ability to high-light or write notes on the pdfs has gotten better. Really terrific.
3. Other pdfs. Viewing pdfs of slide presentations or theses or other stuff is great.
4. Instapaper. Can't believe its legal. While saving standard web pages is nice, it really shines at saving things like extended magazine articles. Things like the NY Times book review or NY Review of books articles. Extremely comfortable reading experiences, and easy to share with friends via email.
Another comment. My college-student daughter has an 11-inch macbook air. Its her only computer and is a terrific device. it seems to be a better device for students. It overlaps the function of the iPad making it hard to justify both. Reply
TareX - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkIrrelevant, but is Anandtech gonna do an Atrix review? Reply
name99 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link"The Digital AV adapter is a bit clunky and I believe the future of this is clearly in some form of wireless transmission, but for now it plugs directly into the dock connector. "
You mean the wireless transmission that ALREADY EXISTS called AirPlay?
Apple HAVE a solution to your hatred of wires. You seem to be upset that they don't have a solution that somehow magically transports video from iPad to your (HDMI and nothing else) TV using some non-existent wireless standard that isn't actually built into your TV.
It's fine to be frustrated at some of the idiocies in tech, but it's truly silly to complain about this one. Apple provides this cable for one, and only one, group of users --- people who actually NEED that physical wire. Reply
BlendMe - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkAirPlay doesn't mirror tha iPads screen, it only allows you to stream content. For now. And for AirPlay you need an Apple TV or another AirPlay enabled device. The HDMI adapter allows you to hook it up to almost any recent TV, monitor or beamer. Reply
ananduser - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkIn fact there is a standard already built in in most modern(emphasis on modern) TVs. It is called DLNA. Unfortunately Apple decided that coercing you into using their ecosystem ONLY is the way to go. Personally I find Apple's modus operandi of not giving 2 sh*ts about other 3rd party solutions one of the "idiocies in tech" as you well put it.
Regardless, the iPad2(or 1) is a cool gadget(emphasis on gadget) nonetheless. Combined with leading parental controls as:no flash(as a porn enabler), no porn(appstore policy), no bloody/gory games(appstore policy) and a damn spartan simple and fast GUI makes it a great basic computing device for the naive crowd(parents, grandparents etc.). IMO it really shines for children as their 1st computing platform.
That it is also a frequent choice for the tech literate few, good on them... it still is best suited, IMO, for those of the above. Reply
name99 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkCan both of you not read?
I was referring to, as I quoted, "The Digital AV adapter is a bit clunky and I believe the future of this is clearly in some form of wireless transmission, but for now it plugs directly into the dock connector. "
How do either of your comments have any relevance to that?
If you want Wifi, you need something that accepts a Wifi signal. Your TV doesn't have Wifi built in, so, yeah, you need some other box.
And DLNA? Really? You want to go there? Go explore the DLNA web pages (http://www.dlna.org/products is a good start) and tell me this pile of turds is EVER going to be relevant to the real world. For god's sake, man, get in touch with the real world. Compare that web page and everything it implies about compatibility nightmares and technobabble with the Apple TV web page. Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkAirPlay is really for specific content at this point. I'm referring to the future of video out on tablets in general. And I didn't mention it as a knock against the iPad today, just a heads up that in some future version of the iPad you won't need a physical adapter (at least not on your tablet). When you have full wireless display mirroring then you can start introducing more interesting usage models - e.g. tablet as a desktop replacement, tablet as a game console, etc... You can do these things without wireless display but they are definitely enhanced by it being there.
Take care,
Anand Reply
Ushio01 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkWhen ifixit did there teardown of the first ipad it was shown that apart from the battery and the antennas all the other components were kept up the top so why can't a tablet simply be a dock you slot a smartphone in that supplies a larger screen and additional battery's?
That to me is a far more appealing device than current tablets. Reply
kmmatney - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkmakes sense to me. I can't see Apple doing this, but maybe on of the Android makers can come up with something along these lines. I'd love to be able to pop my phone into the back of a tablet and use the bigger screen. I'd just keep it near the couch. Reply
zmatt - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI still hold that the entire market segment (not just the iPad) is a solution looking for a problem. The idea seems cool but in reality nobody was asking for the tablet. And after using them I still can't see what the attractiveness is other than people buying them cause they are "cool". I take calls and get mobile updates on my Galaxy S, which is more than competent enough for light work such as taking down notes or answering emails on the go. Any real work I do with a computer. I'm sorry but you can't make up for the lack of performance and a real keyboard if you are talking about getting work done. The iPad may be nice for mobile entertainment, but if i already have an mp3 player and a laptop what can it do that they can't? For tablets to be viable productivity devices and not just toys i think they would basically have to evolve into laptops. So again i ask, what's the point? Reply
cucurigu - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkThanks a lot for your review, Anand, Brian and Vivek - I was waiting for your opinion on the iPad 2 as it was a gadget most appealing but, as you said, very polarizing for the reviewers.
There is something I didn't really understand, even after rereading the Xoom review - both you (Anand and Brian) said the first iPad wasn't your cup of tea in the long run and chances are the new one won't change this (but you're giving it another go). The general impression (one which I also got while looking at the tablet segment) is characterized by their unclear niche - where do they really fit ?
If I understand correctly the first tablet (ipad) didn't integrate with your workflow and the reasons seem to apply to all tablets, however, this sentiment doesn't come off so clearly from the Xoom article - so I wondered : did you have the impression the Android OS was more adequate to your usage patterns ? Meaning, if the Xoom and iPad 2 where left on your desk, which one would you choose to take with you, and for which purpose ?
Once again, thanks and best regards ! Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkThe Xoom review was really written from the perspective of an iPad alternative, while I felt like we covered much of what made the iPad 2 different in our preview and wanted to focus on the bigger picture in the review.
The Xoom's multitasking and notifications I believe make it easier to integrate into my workflow, but still not perfect. However Apple has been ergonomics than the Xoom, seemingly better (non-Flash) webpage compatibility, better stability and a smoother UI so it's a tradeoff.
Personally, I'd probably carry the iPad 2 thanks to improved ergonomics (especially with a smart cover) and non-smooth UI frame rates do bother me. But given my workflow neither is sufficient for me to use exclusively when traveling. That's why I mention that both camps have things to work on, whichever gets there first should get your money if you're really on the fence.
Take care,
Anand Reply
Death666Angel - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkHow do you get to the number in the chart? It would make sense to use the average of all 4 displays, but you don't seem to do that:
406 + 409 + 352 + 354 = 1521
1521 / 4 = 380,25 ~ 380
Am I missing something here?
Also, the contrast should be 861:
966 + 842 + 778 + 859 = 3445
3445 / 4 = 861,25 ~ 861
Black levels should be better however:
0,42 + 0,45 + 0,49 + 0,41 = 1,77
1,77 / 4 = 0,4425 ~ 0,44 Reply
kmmatney - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkThe point of having the numbers separate was to show the difference between the WiFi and "WiFi+3G" versions. Reply
Death666Angel - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkAnd my question wasn't about that at all. The numbers in the actual charts they use for comparison against the iPad1 and the Xoom are not corresponding to any of the 4 distinct iPad2s. So I was wondering where they got the numbers from, if they averaged them or whatnot. If they did average them, then they made a few mistakes in the process. :-) If they got them through some other means it would still be interesting to know which they used. Reply
buff_samurai - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link
speaking about workflow.
I am running a small consulting company for food/pharma industry, my expertise is in analytical instrumentation. Right now I'm using a beefy PC for CAD/backups and IP4/ipad for everything else: emails, project management, crm and documentation all squeezed into a small and portable device (terminal).
Although I am not 100% happy with exchange support in iOS, security, syncing etc I see myself more efficient then ever and that simply means more time/money in my pocket.
Lets try a common scenario: in a car, take a call, pull over, grab a laptop from a bag, power up, check some details, email couple of pdfs and do all that with customer hanging on the phone. Repeat the whole thing 10 times or more - you will see where I am coming from. Or try to carry your laptop around any mid size production line, control room and boardrooms and impress other engineers with questions like: 'where can I plug my laptop' at the same time.
I can understand that for most of heavy laptop users ipad is just useless but lets face the fact that there are millions of professionals on the road and all they care for is better response time and flexibility.
I could spend hours listing applications where no PC (portable or not) can match a tablet but the bottom line is: when moving to new tech we need to overcome our habits first. ipad, xoom and other are like a nice and shiny screwdriver but you will never find a use for it with pockets full of nails. That means no reviewer should ever comment on any device without actually making it a primary tool for couple of months: and if there is no time/money for it - just focus on things that are traceable or you may use your reputation. Reply
darwiniandude - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI always love Anandtech reviews, they cover 'everything' really well, advantages and flaws with equal gusto.
Two points:
1) Page 19 I think you're referring to iDisk, not iDrive. Doesn't really matter unless someone trys to Google it.
2) With regard to web browsing, I know you're comparing these units as shipped, but I strongly recommend pro users consider 'iCab' from the AppStore, I don't use Safari much anymore. Propper tabs, full screen, downloading, browser user agent ID spoofing, way more powerful. Scroll pad to quickly navigate huge pages, gestures etc. Tt's very anti-iOS in that it's insanely powerful rather than designed to be simple, but I love it, specifically options like 'open bookmark in new tab' and 'open links from different domain in new tab' very customisable, plugins, blah blah blah. Anyway. It has Desktop style tabs. I wouldn't suggest you change the article, or review this or other 3rd party browsers because it's kinda beyond the scope of the review of the device, but it would be nice if people knew there were alternatives to give a more desktop style (still sans-flash) browser. Reply
pja - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkI have really wanted an iPad ever since they were released. Several months ago I had the money (the previous barrier to acquisition) so I went looking. I didn't want the 3G version, WiFi would be fine. But I knew I would not be happy unless I got the one with maximum ram. Well in Australia that was going to cost me over AUD1,000 (I thought they were much cheaper :-( ).
Just before this I had built myself a new desktop with an AMD processor and graphics card; see I'm a fan of AMD (but not a bigot). So might I be better off with a netbook rather than an iPad. AMD had recently released the Brazos range. So I started to do some research.
The result was my purchase of a Toshiba NB550D (the sexy orange one) which is a "little under-done" with the C50 Fusion Processor, only 1 Gb of memory and Windows 7 Starter. I have upgraded the memory to 2 Gb (still not enough) and installed Windows 7 Home Pro.
The Toshiba is about the same size as an iPad but is much more functional, it has all my desktop PC's apps installed (particularly my favourite text editor (EditPlus), my browser (Firefox) and all the same bookmarks, etc. etc.) so when I travel I have everything I need and I didn't need to learn how to use new software.
I still think the iPad is a great bit of gear but that's when I use the right side of my brain. My left side says "where's the value proposition?" We are all different but for me the left side of my brain always tends to win over the right side. I am very happy with "my" iPad alternative; more memory and the C-350 processor would be good (but not the larger form=factor that seems to entail). Oh! I forgot to say that the total cost of the Toshiba (including hardware and software upgrades was about AUD675 - more than AUD325 saving!
Peter Reply
Deepcover96 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkGreat review. Anandtech's reviews are always well worth the wait. They are always thorough and I always learn something. I agree that it is a luxury device and it is hard to justify it for getting work done. I still purchased an iPad 1. I recently sold it to buy the iPad 2, as soon as I can find one. I do think you downplay how important the app selection is on iOS as compared to Android. Reply
name99 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkReading the summary of what all three authors think of iPad feels to me like someone who buys an iPod because it has calendar and contact functionality, and then is upset/surprised that it isn't a Palm.
iPad is not a REPLACEMENT for a laptop/desktop, it is an AUGMENTATION. You use each for what they are good at. If you find yourself spending most of your time traveling and you need a full-featured computer during that time then, sure, adding iPad to the mix is stupid. But if you already have a laptop, and can afford it, iPad makes certain tasks a lot more pleasant.
For my part, for example, my primary use for iPad is reading technical PDFs using Good Reader. I could read these on a laptop, but the keyboard really gets in the way (not to mention that the aspect ratio of the screen is inappropriate). If you don't do much reading of technical PDFs, this might seem dumb to you --- but I DO spend many hours a day reading these PDFs and I appreciate a tool that does the job properly, just like a professional carpenter doesn't use a $5 saw he bought at Walmart.
The future of computing is not one device that does everything; it is multiple devices all optimized to a particular human form factor, that all work together --- an iPod nano AND an iPhone AND an iPad AND a laptop AND a desktop. Criticism of something germane to this vision is legitimate and sensible (and Apple's flailing regarding how much of the file metaphor it wants to present to users is a legitimate part of this criticism.) But complaints whose primary structure is "this device doesn't work exactly like a device I already own" is just stupid --- like complaining that a bicycle isn't a car.
It's perfectly reasonable to say that you don't have a use for a certain class of device, especially because you already use something more powerful. I, for example, have no use for a Tivo or a video streaming devices like WD Live or Roku --- I have a full-fledged computer hooked up to my TV. But it is unreasonable to go further than that, and I've observed plenty of non-techy people who are very happy with their WD Live's or Tivos.
It's even more unreasonable to complain that "Tivo sucks because it doesn't play DVDs".
Use some sense. Don't keep trying to use iPad for things it is no good at. Keep in the bedroom, and use it to read, or to look up something quickly on the net, or to play a movie just before you go to sleep. Don't be insane and try to write a novel on it. Reply
pja - Monday, March 21, 2011 - link"iPad is not a REPLACEMENT for a laptop/desktop, it is an AUGMENTATION. You use each for what they are good at. If you find yourself spending most of your time traveling and you need a full-featured computer during that time then, sure, adding iPad to the mix is stupid. But if you already have a laptop, and can afford it, iPad makes certain tasks a lot more pleasant."
You must have either too much cash or too much time on your hands or both. A good business class laptop is AUD1,500+ while a top of the range iPad is AUD1,000 + here in Australia.
It seems to me when you think about the iPod with your left brain there is very little functionality that a good netbook does not do both better and cheaper. However, I would agree that when you let your right brain rule then all of a sudden the iPad becomes a irresistible thing that you must possess. Unfortunately for me my left brain clicks in when I pull out my credit card.
Peter Reply
name99 - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link"you cant be a very tech inclined person if if you think you are, if you dont know that 1.2 GHz quad core arm cortex is coming later this year and so most tech people are waiting on that to happen"
Really? You're going to buy that crappy 1.2GHz quad core A9? You're not going to wait the even better 1.8GHz quad core A15 that will be available in late 2012? Sucker!
Personally I think that if you buy now, before the 802.11s wireless spec is standardized, and before the chipsets support OpenGL 6, you're just throwing your money away. But I tell you, come 2020, that's going to be one SWEET rig that I finally get round to buying. Reply
CZroe - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link"Just to test it out, I shot a series of videos of my car and stitched them together using iMovie, then added some titles and a soundtrack."
I found iMovie completely useless on my iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS because I could not combine two clips/videos nor could I make a runing commentary with titles.
Are you sure that the iPad 2 version can do this or were all the "videos" in the "series" made from the same longer video? Reply
CZroe - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - link"Lately Apple has been trying its hand at first party case solutions. It stated with the bumper on the iPhone 4, carried over to the original iPad, and continues now with the iPad 2."
When you fix that typo ("stated" instead of "started"), you may also want to correct that fact about what came first.
The iPad launched before the iPhone 4 so the official iPad case launched before the iPhone 4 bumper case, unless I somehow missed it and the official iPad case came out mid-life for the iPad. Reply
darwiniandude - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkpja: The 64gb 3G version was at most $1049 AUD rrp, before the price drop, the 64gb WiFi one was $899 AUD rrp. The 64gb WiFi was never $1100 AUD unless you were looking at eBay pricing while stock was scarce. Anyway as this article states, the iPad, provided it does what you require, is a great combination of battery life, weight and size. Tablets certainly aren't for everyone though.
Deepcover96: Agreed. Hopefully this changes later and I'm sure it will, but for the moment Android has a poor selection of AAA titles. Nothing like Garageband or iMovie, but certainly nothing like Infinity Blade, Nanostudio, Beatmaker 2, World of Goo etc. I'm sure Gameloft and EA will eventually do more, provided they can monitize ok on Android. And for the limitations of iOS apps, I wouldn't be able to have an iPad as my only portable device if it were not for Pages/Keynote/Numbers/TouchDraw/Photogene and so on.
CZroe: iMovie for iPhone (last year even) could do what you ask after the first update. This year it's greatly improved. A downside to this app and other Apple apps can be a lack of well known gestures. People don't know in Pages that if you hold your finger on an object, swiping with another finger moves it by one pixel, swipe with two moves it by 5 pixels, and so on. Likewise in iMovie, you swipe down through footage like you were cutting it at the playhead to make a cut. Each cut is a faultless transition, but then you can title each cut area separately. So you cut where you want the text to change, and label accordingly. In the new iMovie (only used on iPhone 4 as I sold 1st gen iPad whilst waiting for iPad2) when you import video there are standard iOS movie trim handles over the clip, you only need import the bits you want from each clip. But you could definitely always import more videos into one project in the last version. I think Apple need a modal help "Would you like to watch a short video about iMovie?" dialog or something on the first few launches with a website link, all these apps have their features tucked away so people often think they're less powerful than they are. I'm not sure Apple is choosing the best ratio of controls to expose to the user here. And yes, iPad case came out before iPhone 4, definitely. Reply
kschaffner - Sunday, March 20, 2011 - linkAn awesome free web browser for the iPad is Terra, it gives you tabs, has an incognito mode. etc I would definitely check it out. Reply
darwiniandude - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkThanks, I'll check it out. I only use iCab as I bought it for iPhone, it got a universal update and I've been happy enough not to bother looking elsewhere. (it does have a 'privacy' mode) also caching of pages for when you're offline. Anyway, I've downloaded Terra and will play with it on the new iPad. It looks nice.
Ha, there's a Terra Incognito HD game, lol Reply
medi01 - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkLooking at the rounded back of ipads, ipad2 in particular, it's hard to understand, why the newer version is easier to hold.
With rounded surface, they both should be harder to hold, and ip2 in particular. Reply
darwiniandude - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkThe original had flat sides, probably about 4 or 5mm, and a giant convex back, domed in the centre. The new one is thinner, has no flat sides (the curve just falls away from the front) but it's more of a bevelled edge, and once you're about 1cm in from the edges the back is perfectly flat.
Is it easier to hold? Dunno, haven't got mine yet :) But that's what people are saying. Reply
thebeastie - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkEveryday I use my Ipad even when I don't think about it.
I use it as my wake up Radio clock via TuneIn Radio app. This app is great as I can go to sleep with the timer and then wake up to Internet radio which beats the hell out of analog radio. I been looking at a digital radio for a while but there is no reason now for me in the world to do that, and digital radios aren't cheap, it is just another device the Ipad as replaced perfectly with much better screen interface, and life time of free updates as app software evolves.
I think the Anandtech authors here saying that they found them selfs not using their original Ipad1 after a while didn't adapt their imaginations enough of where it can be used, maybe it is something to do with age and being hardwired into their life styles, dare I say it but becoming 'old school'.
I am wondering how they wake up in the morning, I find it hard to believe there is a better way to wake up in the morning then from an Ipad radio app, if it is about sound quality there are plenty of speaker options.
For people who don't get it then I say you just don't see things the same way, I would rather shove a pine cone up my backside then wait more then 2 seconds to be able to look at my email. A laptop takes ages to boot up let a lone the loading of the email client.
The main reason I got an Ipad was because I LOVE to read the paper outside, but the wind blowing the paper around drives me nuts, the Ipad is a killer in this regard. Reply
damianrobertjones - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkI have an Asus EP121, 4Gb ram, SSD drive, etc. It takes 20 seconds to start from cold onto the desktop. Anotgher 2 seconds to pen my email application.
Is that fast enough?
from sleep, we're talking seconds Reply
Azethoth - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkNo! 22 seconds is not fast enough. That is 20 seconds wasted each time you do that in a day. Reply
benonemusic - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkExcellent writing and content as usual. As a longtime reader (this is my first post) with an editorial eye, I had a suggestion for future articles such as this with multiple authors but in which the main review is written in the first person singular. It was slightly disorienting to see three authors (Brian, Anand, Vivek) but then much of the article written with "I" (presumably Anand), you might want to avoid listing all three authors as "ands" in that case. One idea would be make the first author the one who is speaking in the first person voice (presumably Anand in the case) and the other two to be listed as "with." If the review is written as "we" then having all three of the authors as "ands" makes sense. There are multiple solutions. You can simply keep the "ands" and then indicate who the "I" is in the first instance. You could obviously say "one of us" in the first instance and indicate "Anand" in parentheses. And so on. Sorry for going on this long, but I'm big on bylines. Keep up the great work with the articles! Reply
embeddedGPU - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkCan you clarify the floating point precision for your GPU GFLOPS figures ? You mention 20-/32-bit for nVidia, but I think the SGX is only 16-bit precision. If so, it's not a totally fair comparison... Reply
wellortech - Monday, March 21, 2011 - link"If you fell in love with the original iPad, the iPad 2 is a significant upgrade."
Really? Since when is thinner and a crappy camera a significant upgrade? Reply
mcnabney - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkYou guys missed noticing something when documenting the huge step forward with the iPad2 GPU power.
We now have iOS fragmentation.
The entire iPad1 generation was obsoleted in the graphics department. Now developers have to choose between writing for the iPad1 or iPad2. There is far too large of a gulf between the two platforms. To benefit from the GPU advancement, the massive installed base of the iPad1 will have to be written-off. Reply
kmmatney - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkI don't think this is true. First, we are only talking about 2 models, and second, they can just enable more graphics features for iPad 2. I can see where some truly advanced games might only be written for the iPad 2 in the future, but there is really no way to avoid that. Reply
Azethoth - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkThere always was and always will be iOS fragmentation since the 2nd iDevice shipped.
As for what it means in a practical sense: check out Infinity Blade on multiple devices (iPhone and iPad). See, not a big deal, content providers are used to scaling artwork and design.
Furthermore, iOS will suffer less from this than Android (fewer device specs). It is one of the aspects of the competition at this form factor that makes me think that Apple will do better than it does at the PC level. (Not that Apple PC profits are not insanely good for their industry: over 50% of entire industry by some accounting). Reply
araczynski - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkif you're after a notebook/pc replacement, you're kidding yourself with any tablet.
if you're after a gaming device, you're golden :) especially if you think gaming on phone sized screens (this includes psp/ds/etc) is plain stupid.
mine is filled to the brim with games, no room for audio/video/etc, just pure games.
i love it, my daughter loves it, even my technophobe wife loves it.
its for entertainment, nothing more. Reply
Azethoth - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkIt is for more than entertainment:
You can amuse your cat with it as well! Reply
coolio68 - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkGreat review Anand,regarding this comment though:
'The real competition for the SGX 543MP2 will be NVIDIA's Kal-El. That part is expected to ship on time and will feature a boost in core count: from 8 to 12. The ratio of pixel to vertex shader cores is not known at this point but I'm guessing it won't be balanced anymore. NVIDIA is promising 3x the GPU performance out of Kal-El so I suspect that we'll see an increase in throughput per core.'
Worth bearing in mind a couple of things:
SGX 543MP can already incorporate 2 to 16 cores
The even higher performance SGX 554MP cores have also been announced in December
Power VR Series 6 (Rogue), the next-generation, can scale from 210 GFLOPS to 8 TFLOPS , and is already licensed by the usual suspects.
The A9600 chip announced by ST-E at MWC ,containing Rogue, is sampling in H2 2011.
Nvidia are gonna have their work cut out methinks, but the competition is great for the industry and consumers. Reply
Shadowmaster625 - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkIf that is true then why not focus on that? I still have yet to read anything on anandtech about remote desktop on a tablet. How powerful does a tablet need to be to stream 1-2 mbps compressed images of my desktop over wifi? I can skin my desktop to make it look more like a mobile OS. Touch commands can be fairly easily emulated and transposed into mouse commands. Audio doesnt require much bandwidth. Only video would present a problem, but even then it really doesnt take all that much hardware to play a video. Yet all I see are horrible implementations of remote desktop. Reply
marc1000 - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linki remember reading here at AT that the Nokia N8 could be used to drive an HDMI display and hooked to an keyboard/mouse, to "simulate" a pc-like experience . and now the Ipad2 does the same thing, but 1 year later.
IMHO all that apple does is beautifull, but they charge the price for the "beautifullness" of their products.
well, I just want a tablet/smartphone that works, so I will wait until these prices drop... until then I will live with my Htc HD (1st gen.. ugly!) Reply
Watwatwat - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkalmost feels like i learned something:D Reply
Jayman30 - Monday, March 21, 2011 - linkMaybe the iPad doesnt fit into a busy techbloggers "workflow" but as a consumer device it's an incredible gadget. My ipad 1 is used daily and has never sat on a shelf unused for more than a few hours. I reach for it first instead of my iPhone or clunky Gateway laptop for 90% of my daily computing needs. It has incredible performance, portability, battery life, and overall utility.
I can buy & read books, download and play great games, movies and music quickly and easily. Great Email and web surfing are just icing on the cake! Works great for me!
FYI. iPad 1 costs $399 now. Reply
cotak - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - linkI am with the staff at anand. I use an iPhone 4. It's nice fo getting a little reading of news etc done. And I have looked at the iPad and I have consider getting one. And likely I will have one but not for myself. It'll be too limiting for me to use. For my fiancee though it's perfect since on a regular week she can go 5 6 days without powering up her computer.
So is there s market for tablets? Maybe but I don't think it's big as various peope like to think it could be. And the fall out from that might be pretty big. Nvidia's betting on it, moto has only recently make it back into the black, and rim seems to have concentrated on the playbook over improving their last series of phone release. So maybe some of these players might not be be best stocks to hold for the medium term...
Anyhow tablets are useful for light use. But for people who use their devices/technology enought to justify spending regularly on technology, it might be too small and too slow. And really isn't the repeat buyer the important one I the market? My fiancee could get a iPad 1 and happly use it for the next 6 years without considering buying a new one. If people like that are the market, it's not going to be as big as some people in wall street seems to think. Reply
vshin - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - linkThe one thing I'm surprised that isn't getting as much coverage is that small text is actually harder to read on the Ipad 2 than on the Ipad 1. Some folks chalk this up to being "spoiled" by the Iphone 4's retina display but it's actually because Ipad 2 implements heavy use of anti-aliasing, which can't be configured or turned off. I find my eyes tiring very easily as I browse the web or read on iBook in portrait mode. Reply
speedkills - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - linkI noticed over and over in the review people came back to the point that the current app switching functionality is a very poor user experience. It's too bad Apple isn't enabling the multi-touch gestures for multi-tasking by default as they work very well and while they are not for general release it would be nice to see Anandtech weigh on them to see if they feel they should be included in iOS 5 or if they feel a better implementation is needed.
Personally both my girlfriend and I have been using them and absolutely loving them. A four finger swipe up shows the multi-tasking bar instead of having to use the double-tap but 95% of the time a simple four finger swipe left or right is sufficient swapping between your most recently used apps. It makes it very easy to do something like copy a bit of text out of a web page, swipe over to Evernote and make a note, then swipe back to Safari and continue surfing.
It's really too bad Apple chose to hide them by default (my guess is they want to save them for the iPhone release to make iOS 5 look like a bigger jump in functionality) because they are a great and much needed addition to the iPad 2. Reply
Mac Ike - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - linkFirst of all this was great and extensive review,thank you very much! I have used Windows computers everyday at Work since Windows 3.1,I enjoy all Computers,but Macs are more stable more elegant,easier-to-use,and hold their value longer! I'm not trying to make Windows-users/lovers change to my preferences. I have not purchased an ipad yet,even though I can see many uses for it,and enjoy using iPads. I want ALL OF THE POWER I could possibly need with me,at all times,so I carry my 17-inch MacBook Pro for those times; when not practical I carry my iphone 4. Serious workloads might send me to my imac,it deprnds on ehere I am and what i need to do or what I can do in the environment that I'm in.
Since I enjoyed the ipad 1,it only stands to reason that I would enjoy ipad 2,because the speed increase,cameras,weight-reduction,...can only enhance the experience! I am always amazed by the rude,idiotic,self-centered opinions and insults expressed on these Forums! If YOU don't want or need an ipad (or iPhone/Mac),then buy what YOU like! Why insult someone else,for THEIR DECISIONS or PURCHASES?? it's almost always a cheaper or alternative choices you can make. I give less than a Damn if you like another brand more,or feel that Apple's prices are too high!! If you want a cheaper computer,don't need a tablet,can't see the value of design/workmanship/elegance of OS &Hardware,hardware-software integration,good,buy your low-priced,cheap shit,and leave the rest of us alone,so that we can enjoy what WE LIKE! I don't ask any Apple-Haters or Fence-Sitters to purchase my products for me,so it's just amazing how people feel that you're an Apple-Fan Boy or Girl if you prefer Apple products! If I want a $60,000 Car,and you feel it's worth it(V-8 or not),and you can get a car for $20,000,why should your choice determine mine?? If you Windows-trolls don't like Apple-gear,why come to Apple-topics to complain about SOMEONE ELSE's choices?? Rude,immature,and Stupid! Reply
rice2999 - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - linkDear anand
There is nothing about screen brightness setting to go with the battery life testing. Did you use 50% default brightness? Xoom screen is dimmer than ipad/ipad2. Though it can be argued, it is not exactly fair to compare battery life while the screen is on different brightness, since screen is probably the one uses the most battery.
I forget where I saw it, someone else actually used a meter to measure the brightness and adjusted the brightness to the same before testing the battery life. Reply
Sabresiberian - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - linkEvery editor said what I've been saying all along about tablets - they are coolz toyz, but when people start trying to use them, they will find they aren't as handy as either a laptop or a smartphone and they'll be returned or be gathering dust somewhere. Except for niche uses, such as book readers and possibly media device controllers in the home, something like that, tablets are a fad - in my opinion, of course.
That being said, they do have innovative technologies I think notebook manufacturers should pay strong attention to and add to their products (netbooks and notebooks). There are things the netbook/notebook can do a tablet's form factor prohibits (add a keyboard to a tablet and it really isn't a tablet any more now, is it?), but there is no reason the notebook should lack any feature a tablet has (except to save money on very low-priced budget models).
As to this thing having enough power to replace a "mainstream" computer if attached to a monitor and keyboard - right. I'll run out right now and buy one to play World of Warcraft on - or isn't that "mainstream" enough for you?
Won't be long now and a device this size will be able to replace what we consider to be a power-house PC these days - but then what will the power-house PC build be like then?
;) Reply
Mishera - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - linkAn and you made an excellent point when you said that tablets don't seem on a path towards perfection. Right now IPads are somewhat of a novelty. They're kind of like that thing you see at a museum as a child that make you go "wow" or a concept at a convention that's not fully realized. The problem is people seem content with the device as it is because it's Apple, and companies are trying the "square in circle" method to put it in schools, businesses, etc.
Thats what really bothers me. Apple pretty much marches on it's own beat, consumers eat up what they release, and companies desperately try to run behind them and release something with better specs, never questioning if there is a better direction. As a consumer device it's excellent, its just there are so many more directions tablets can go. I would almost would say that Microsoft had a better idea of what a tablet should be with their umpc line, except they could never get the ui right, and now it seems like their hardware endeavors are over for so I wonder who could really bring a better concept to market. To make tablets work it's going to take on os and a hardware so far android can't do it, microsoft won't to it and hp is still a question mark so we just have to be content with whatever apple gives us. Reply
Zink - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - linkHere's a very surprising video showing the flexibility of the glass used in the screen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd... Reply
JustinB - Monday, March 28, 2011 - linkWhile OEMs are racing to create a competitor to the iPad, it seems like commenters on sites like this are trying to create a competitor to the Reality Distortion Field... Reply
NetJunky - Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - linkActually Dropbox has its own lack of security. So I wouldn't say, that this is a best example of data sharing via web. Reply
Bronx 6 - Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - linkApple had touch first congrats.They can keep there not so tech ridiculously rich ppl who buy lesser powerful or frivolous shoppers.xoom is to much with not enough (like ipad) on board no dongle needed ports/hdmi/usb/micro usb like acer.i bought an ipad2 as my first owned apple product just so I could show everyone whata piece crap it is and then return it to the store.The things I get off android apps are sooooooo much better because they arent being ran by the Nazi's (apple).,i like not having to waste money on anything app wise,movie(better than anything I could dream for) and of course free absolutely FREE music mp3s.now I even get artwork on them and they appear just as if I bought them.The music mp3 apps even (some) even include music charts so you know what's new and hot.i dont need cable tv,satelite,nadda I get thousands of channels free from apps which use flash and lemme tell flash is the key to the future and present.i love how developers make the good apps ipad has for honeycomb tabs(splashtop hd remote desktop)-myfav allows me to use all pcs as if I was on it even whem im in another state.the resolution is amazing also the many keyboards u can get-new swype is surreal should be stock on all tabs.tried to ruin acertab with viruses it wont phase it amazing alone.i so love the apps on droid they are made by ppl wno arent like the government and honeycomb keeps getting better asnow 3.1 is so muchbetter and its free.the power.of these tabs are like two ipads and the cameras on ipad2 is patheic like an old boostmobile vga cam.mine has the same quality cameras as iphone4 has another + acer has the best tab for the buck they have a functual full usb port and it connects alot.of useful things like keyboard,flashdrives,ch arging capabilites.i had bought one accessery a case stand that's it had hdmi cords already.the ipad I bought over 8 seperate things totally a money hungry company who designs product too keep you buying shit week after week.itunes is just plain retarded.i get the sameshit they do for free easier than a pc.wide open is free like usa is supposedly.if ur reading this and have a tablet download swype beta for honeycomb.It takes the basic stock keyboard but adds stuff u will love even if you dont swype u type better than the stock more like a real one.i bought 2apps in 2YRS yet ive had more than I can think of.i spent $8 total.i have sold more of these to anyone I show and teach.my old mother has one and now wont use her win7 pc's only thru the tablet-thats including me fixing her old pcs accross the country in california all from my badass acer tablet.apple should stick to ipods.droid tabs are diffently ipad.killers.i hope ppl enjoy wasting their money basically getting raped.so dumb ppl stay apple,smart ppl sick of paying for things that we shouldnt and having the ability to do all n then some on tablets enjoy.ps these flash modified apps on droids I cant praise the quality they look during playback is wow.ive watched more hdtv thru this than I have in years with my hdtv sets pretty crazy,so is the gaming similar to xbox360.buy an galaxy tab first then return it for an acer so you can appreciate getting more for less.send me the difference for enlighting u on values of better things.then again the world is more than 50% ignorant and very rude to ones who help them.take it as grain of salt Reply
rampantarmadillo - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - linkI recommend that you learn to seperate vertex and fragment perf, this would demonstrate you aren't clowns. Reply
powchie - Saturday, December 10, 2011 - linkanand, brian,
what's that workflow that the iPad cannot fit in? Reply
ChaoticCupcake - Tuesday, December 27, 2011 - linkAny word on whether or not a camera can be attached and used as a webcam for FaceTime, Skype, etc.? Reply
omkarphatak - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - linkFind out why choosing an iPad 2 over a laptop makes no sense... http://www.buzzle.com/articles/which-is-better-ipa... Reply