iPad 2 announcement rumored for March 2

[pm]

I saw this on Yahoo tonight.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_techn...news/report-apple-to-unveil-ipad-2-on-march-2

And it's looking like the Xoom will be in Best Buy in two days. The tablet scene is starting to get more interesting.

 

[Bateluer]

Get ready to rumble!

 

[Pliablemoose]

I think the gen II iPad will be an awesome device...

Although, I'm just going to hang with the 11" MBA I just bought.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

even though a Mac air is more expensive than an iPad i am more inclined to get a 11" air instead for utility. The 11" air is small enough and convenient enough just as an iPad is. The iPad 2 would have to have much more to offer in a competitive price range for me to consider it over a Mac air. I am still on the fence. Not in a hurry to go anywhere. I don't expect much of a wow factor going from a iPhone 4 to a 5, more like how things went when the 3GS came out to overtake the 3G iPhone.

 

[Red Storm]

I would have been pretty excited for it had there been a resolution bump, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen, so I will continue to wait for the right tablet.

 

[hanoverphist]

I would have been pretty excited for it had there been a resolution bump, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen, so I will continue to wait for the right tablet.

they leaked the res or any specs on it?

 

[pm]

they leaked the res or any specs on it?

The WSJ had an article about it a month or two back. Some people (Engadget for one) seem to think that the WSJ is Apple's method of doing a "controlled leak" because the WSJ is unerringly accurate in their pre-launch articles.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704364004576132643125168876.html#ixzz1DPTwoech

The WSJ rumors are: thinner, lighter, better battery life, form-factor more like an iPhone 4 (square bezel), more memory, front facing camera for "facetime", and NFC. The rumors are the screen size and resolution stay the same.

 

[hanoverphist]

ah, didnt see that.

i wouldnt be surprised to see the res kicked up a bit tho.

 

[dpodblood]

But can it do flash? That is one of the main deterrents for me (other than cost). Even Android phones are starting to do flash now.

 

[MagickMan]

No, don't expect Flash on the iPad, ever. The Steve hates Flash.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yay, I am excited. Not to get an iPad 2, but to finally get an iPad 1 at a "this is a toy" price.

 

[bucwylde23]

I"m torn between iPad and possibly one of the android tablets. The iPad has quite a few apps that interest me (that may make it to android eventually) but I love android and I'd really like to have widgets on my screen. Going to be tough to decide.

 

[pm]

I"m torn between iPad and possibly one of the android tablets. The iPad has quite a few apps that interest me (that may make it to android eventually) but I love android and I'd really like to have widgets on my screen. Going to be tough to decide.

This.

This is exactly it. I love Android as an OS, but I like a bunch of iPad apps. It's going to be tough to decide.

 

[zerocool84]

I'm waiting to see how much they upgraded on 2. They really don't need to add much to it, Front Facing Camera and some more RAM is pretty much all they really need to add to be current. Maybe it'll have HSDPA+ and LTE radios. Just like with the iPhone's before, they don't need to change much to it since competition is just finally coming up.

 

[Sephire]

iPad 1 for $399

iPad 2 = Dual core cpu + camera + double rez + wireless sync

 

[zerocool84]

iPad 1 for $399

iPad 2 = Dual core cpu + camera + double rez + wireless sync

No dual core, yes camera, no double rez, no wireless sync.

 

[poofyhairguy]

iPad 1 for $399

As someone who has held off buying an iPad 1 for this event, I really hope they don't pull another trick like they did with the Intel Mac Mini where the price on the base model moves up $100 to $599. That will leave the iPad 1 at its current price in secondary markets, which means I waited for nothing.

Unfortunately there isn't a lot of lower priced competition for the iPad yet, so there is no market pressure for Apple to deliver EVEN MORE for the $499 price point...

 

[TheStu]

Yea, expect the iPad 3 (which may or may not come out in Sept) to be the true successor. Double Res screen will require more RAM (I am with Zerocool, the iPad 2 will probably be upped to 512MB or 1GB), a faster/dual core CPU and a better GPU to work right.

 

[TheStu]

As someone who has held off buying an iPad 1 for this event, I really hope they don't pull another trick like they did with the Intel Mac Mini where the price on the base model moves up $100 to $599. That will leave the iPad 1 at its current price in secondary markets, which means I waited for nothing.

Unfortunately there isn't a lot of lower priced competition for the iPad yet, so there is no market pressure for Apple to deliver EVEN MORE for the $499 price point...

In this case the iPad is more in the iPod/iPhone camp, and those prices have either held steady or gone down historically. In fact, with the exception of the Mac Mini, that holds true for I think all of Apple's products in recent years.

 

[theeedude]

No dual core on a new high end tablet? I find that hard to believe in 2011.

 

[zerocool84]

No dual core on a new high end tablet? I find that hard to believe in 2011.

Because it doesn't need it.

 

[theeedude]

Because it doesn't need it.

Then what's the point of iPad2, adding a camera?

 

[zerocool84]

Then what's the point of iPad2, adding a camera?

What do you mean what's the point? Everything needs to be upgraded.

 

[TheStu]

Then what's the point of iPad2, adding a camera?

Thinner, lighter, better battery life, and yes a front facing camera. Some are saying that there may be an SD card slot, which makes some sense.

Compare the first iPhone to the second, they changed the shell, and added 3G. They put a fast CPU and more RAM into the third one. It wasn't until the fourth one that you finally got a lot of changes. Better CPU, more RAM, front camera, better rear camera, camera flash, high res screen, thinner and more battery life.

Apple adds stuff slowly, but eventually you reach the point after all these relatively minor changes, comparing the first iPhone with iOS 1, to the latest iPhone with iOS 4 that it is suddenly a whole different kind of device.

I think that the earliest we will see that with the iPad is the iPad 3.

 

[pm]

Then what's the point of iPad2, adding a camera?

As I mentioned above:

The WSJ rumors are: thinner, lighter, better battery life, form-factor more like an iPhone 4 (square bezel), more memory, front facing camera for "facetime", and NFC.

I don't know that they need to do any of these, but these are the rumors. It certainly wouldn't hurt to make the iPad 2 thinner, lighter and give it better battery life.