2011: Year of the iPad 2?

On Wednesday, the hearts of Apple fanboys everywhere fluttered as their leader, Steve Jobs took the stage once again and announced the iPad 2. After weeks of rumours and anticipation, it seems like the iPad has been working hard to prepare for its big day. You know the way girls would diet, gym and maybe slap on some bleaching cream, well the iPad did exactly that! The iPad 2 lost weight, got thinner, whiter, powered up & even has a whole new wardrobe and accessories.  

The iPad 2 is 33% thinner than the original, at 8.8mm thick (down from 13.4mm) it is even thinner than the iPhone 4. It has also lost 0.2lbs off the weight and Steve insists that it makes a big difference. He also reassures us that the iPad 2 which is now also available in white will be shipping on the same day as the black ones…unlike the iPhone. *still waiting*

You’ll also get not 1 but 2 cameras on the new iPad. With a front and rear facing camera, you can now PhotoBooth and FaceTime to your heart’s content. The back camera is capable of recording at 720p at 30 frames per second, and the front camera is a VGA quality camera for videoconferencing.

The iPad’s new polyurethane and leather wardrobe is definitely worth mentioning. “Less is more” is back in style, the Smart Cover is barely there! The Smart Cover magnetically attaches to the side of the iPad and covers its display with a microfiber cloth but does not cover up the beautiful design of the iPad. The origami like cover can fold back to prop the tablet up for watching videos or to facilitate easier typing. It also acts as a sleeping mask so when it’s closed your iPad can get a well-deserved break, open it and your iPad will wake up and be ready to do work.

Now that we’re done with appearances, let’s look beneath the surface to see what the iPad 2 has to offer. The new iPad has a “dramatically faster” processor, Apple’s custom-designed 1GHz dual-core A5 chip. It is twice as fast as the A4 and graphics processing will be nine times faster! I’m imagining more games and less productivity. You’d expect that with all these improvements the battery life would be reduced but Steve ensures that we will still get our 10 hours’ worth of music, books or Angry Birds.

It’s not as revolutionary as its predecessor but it’s still impressive. But wait, is there something missing? Did I miss part of the keynote? Will the iPad2’s memory remain at 256 megabytes? Why no retina display? Not even a resolution upgrade? How many megapixels are the cameras exactly? No stereo speakers? Apple has still left a lot to speculation and desire.

However with Apple, it’s not always about the specs, hardware or even new iOS 4.3 software, it’s about a way of life. The year of the iPad video featured in the keynote shows how the iPad can be used by kids, teenagers, professionals and even senior citizens. The iPad is magical in the sense that it can be whatever you want it to be. It can transform from a toy to a notepad to a TV to canvas. Apple fanboys will buy the iPad just because it’s the new Apple product but the general public whose head is probably spinning from the technical specs will pick up an iPad because of those videos, because they want that Apple lifestyle.

Were the specs, iMovie, GarageBand or the Apple videos extraordinary enough to make you spend $499 (starting price) on the iPad 2? Will you be receiving a new toy from Apple on March 11^th? Or would you rather save some money and settle for the original at the new discounted price of $399?