Engadget reviews the iPad 2
Our sister site Engadget has spent the past week playing around with its iPad 2 review unit, and Engadget's review is now live. (We'll just assume Apple meant to send one to TUAW, but it got lost in the mail ... along with all of our event invitations.) Engadget gives the iPad 2 a score of 9/10, citing the iPad's speed, design and addition of cameras as its strongest points.
Engadget's review isn't entirely glowing, however. Reviewer Joshua Topolsky was unimpressed with the quality of the iPad 2's cameras, and after viewing the gallery of photos taken with the iPad 2's camera, I agree with him. Topolsky also wished the display had received a resolution increase from the first-gen iPad's 1024 x 768 resolution, something I was also hoping to see. It's been rumored that Apple actually wanted to debut a double-resolution 2048 x 1536 display in the iPad 2, but high cost and production difficulties meant the company had to reserve that feature for a future model.
The money quote from Topolsky's review, which you can expect to see re-printed many times over the next few days: "It might frustrate the competition to hear this, but it needs to be said: the iPad 2 isn't just the best tablet on the market, it feels like the only tablet on the market." So much for the Motorola Xoom saving us from an eternity of white tracksuits.
To me, the part of Engadget's review that truly caught my eye was the iPad 2's Geekbench results. The iPad 2 scored 721 in Geekbench, a vast improvement over the original iPad's 442 score. For comparison, Geekbench's baseline score of 1000 is the score for a single-core, 1.6 GHz PowerMac G5. The iPad 2's score puts it roughly on par with the performance of a 1.5 GHz 12" PowerBook G4, which says to me that these little tablet computers are quickly on their way to becoming much more than a supplement to a traditional computer.
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Our sister site Engadget has spent the past week playing around with its iPad 2 review unit, and Engadget's review is now live. (We'll...
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Has anybody made the connection of how the white iPad facilitates balancing screen brightness to ambient light by matching the relative screen setting to the surrounding reflective white?
Presumably, when screen output matches reflection under current lighting, any eye fatigue should evaporate.
So what are the stats on people going for white or black?
Can I get Lightroom on the iPad 2 now? I'll even carry around a stupid SD card adapter.
March 10 2011 at 12:28 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe android kids, are throwing a fit about this review, they can't believe it got a 9/10.
March 10 2011 at 11:25 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyconsidering the improvements in the iPad 2, and that it's available at the same price point as the previous models were, people should be more cognizant that the pricing wouldn't be the same if a higher quality camera were included. it's an IPAD, NOT A DSLR. if you want to film home videos in your backyard, a photo travel blog, or video conference with FaceTime, the iPad's your tool. if you want higher quality, put a camera in your bag with you. if you can afford one, you can afford the other, right?
everyone calm down ;)
With all due respect...I DO NOT plan on using the iPad2 for taking snapshots (I have my 5MP iPhone4 camera for that - not great, but passable). The iPad2 is not designed to take great photos (imho), but has the capability for those that need it. If you want better pictures, use a DSLR.
Review makes me seriously look at the refurbished 32 gb ipad for 430... very very tempting.
March 10 2011 at 4:58 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI wouldn’t because you know there are probably going to be some cool features in ios 5 that can't run on the first gen ipad due to the ram limitations and processing speed.
March 10 2011 at 8:04 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI recommend you save a little more and buy the new one. If you buy the new one you will be able to likely be able to get full upgrades up until IOS8.something, but if you get the 1st Gen they will likely stop upgrading at 6.something. Just look how many iOs devices aren't getting 4.3.
Well regarding the camera, I don't recall Apple ever saying, "Use the iPad to take photos." Rather, they say, "Use the iPad to record 720p video or video chat." As such, they didn't see the need to put a more expensive higher resolution camera in.
Besides, I don't think there are too many situations where I'd want to take photos with an iPad anyway. If I'm going somewhere with the intention of taking photos, I'll be bringing along my regular digital camera. If I'm out somewhere and see something I want to snap a quick picture of, chances are I wouldn't even have the iPad with me, but would have my iPhone with me. It makes a lot more sense to put a better camera in a phone, as that's the device people have on them the most.
Those photos in the gallery look absolutely terrible. Please tell me they were taken with the front facing lower quality camera!?
March 10 2011 at 1:13 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyNot according to Engadget. The iPad 2 seems to be sporting the same camera as the current iPod touch, which shoots an effective 0.7 megapixels for stills. It's really this device's Achilles heel -- if I have a camera, ANY camera other than the iPad 2's built-in one with me, that's the camera I'll use.
March 10 2011 at 1:20 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWhy does apple always fail on cameras? Notably the macbook pro's cameras are terrible compared to a $120 logitech webcam!
March 10 2011 at 2:21 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply"It might frustrate the competition to hear this, but it needs to be said: the iPad 2 isn't just the best tablet on the market, it feels like the only tablet on the market."
Gave me chills. Yup, I am a nerd. -_-
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TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
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