
IPad 2 Official Specs - frsandstone
http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/
======
10char
HDMI video mirroring is going to be big.

My sister-in-law is a high school teacher and has been wishing she could hook
her iPad up to the projector since the day she got it.

Think of all the possibilities...makes so much more sense for a school to
spend $500 on an ultralight, ultraportable iPad than spend more on bulky
desktops you have to cart around just to play a video or show a web article
(citation: my old high school).

There's not much more this feature lets me do on the app front, but man I'm
excited to see what people do with it.

~~~
wvenable
How many school projects have HDMI inputs?

(Edit: Didn't realize the original did VGA -- I don't see how HDMI is such a
big deal for presentations then)

~~~
pmjordan
I assume the iPad 2 hasn't lost the original's capability of outputting VGA.

Edit: the reason it's a big deal is that the original iPad had to have the app
specifically coded to deal with the external screen/projector (and few are).
The new version just lets you mirror the content, whatever app you're in. It'd
be nice if the new iOS retroactively made this possible on the original (at
least at same resolution?) but I kind of doubt it. We'll see next week.

~~~
illumin8
It looks like HDMI output is available to all current gen iOS products, as
well as iPad 2:

[http://macdailynews.com/2011/03/02/apples-hdmi-cable-
works-w...](http://macdailynews.com/2011/03/02/apples-hdmi-cable-works-with-
ipad-ipad-2-iphone-4-and-ipod-touch-4th-gen/)

~~~
pmjordan
That's pretty curious. Why would they keep that capability quiet for so long?

~~~
dakotasmith
<http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC953ZM/A#overview>

The iPad2 is the only device which supports video mirroring.

For all other devices, restricted video out remains, even with the Digital AV
Adapter. It will only send video when the application supports it.

~~~
pmjordan
Yeah, I read that bit. I guess I wasn't clear: it means the iPad, iPhone4 and
iPod Touch 4g have had the ability to output HDMI all along. It's pretty weird
they'd keep that quiet IMO.

------
christoph
It truly amazes me that a company can not only design, manufacture and develop
software like this in near 100% secrecy, but that they can also have their
website completely updated instantly after the keynote with beautiful graphics
and videos. How they do it and keep it so under wraps astounds me.

~~~
solutionyogi
I completely agree. Their website roll out team kicks ass! They should publish
how they manage the 'browser caching' issue, whenever I go to Apple.com
after/during keynote, I get the latest page without doing hard refresh.

~~~
cheald

        Cache-Control:max-age=221
    

That would do it.

~~~
solutionyogi
I think you are over simplying. Look at <http://www.mnot.net/cache_docs/> for
the nuances involved.

~~~
cheald
I'm really not. max-age and the Expires header, properly set, will control
caching at just about every possible step. If you refresh apple.com several
times, you'll notice the max-age cycles down with each refresh, and the
Expires header stays the same. They're obviously set up to cause the page to
have a short maximum lifetime in both public and private caches, and in the
case of a launch, it's not that hard to make sure that the old copy of the
page expires at 11 AM PST or whenever you want your announcement to go live.

Announce product, push deploy button on website, people hit website and
browser requests a new copy of the page because its current copy expired at
10:59:59, and presto, it all magically works.

~~~
sghael
But that only solves for the case of predictable events. If you want to remain
agile, and do deployments on an as-needed basis, then you need to cache bust
with file naming or query parameters as I mention in other msg. Again, I'm
pretty sure this is the preferred method of most web teams, and also appears
to be what Apple is doing (atleast with a subset of their assets).

~~~
cheald
Assets, yes. Pages, no. Query strings for cachebusting CSS/images is pretty
standard.

------
hop
Love how Apple up-sells storage in hundred dollar increments. I just bought a
32GB SD card (class 10) for my camera for $50 and I'm not buying millions of
them at a time.

~~~
Gilpo
These iPads ain't for you. Apple doesn't want two important kinds of
customers: power-users and penny-pinchers. Simple as that.

~~~
dr_
What tablet would a "power user" use then? And what practical tablet is
cheaper?

~~~
nlogn
For "power users", the Xoom should be a clear winner, no? More free
customization, tabbed browsing (and plenty of RAM to handle it nicely), and
most importantly, it is free to develop for the Xoom from any OS.

As far as cheaper, maybe the Nook Color would be a smarter buy for the "penny-
pincher".

------
davidjhall
Old Oatmeal cartoon capturing how I feel right
now:<http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple>

------
mrcharles
I didn't see any notice about how much ram it has... I'm hoping it has as much
as the iPhone 4. Does anyone know for sure?

~~~
nailer
Same here. iPad 1 can't load more than two tabs for me without swapping one
out.

~~~
tomerico
Get an alternative browser, such as Atomic Browser or iCab mobile

------
joneath
FYI: If you are thinking about trading up from the iPad 1, gazelle.com is
offering $320 for the 16GB WiFi version. This price won't stay for long since
the iPad 1 16GB WiFi is going for $399 on apple.com. Also you can use the code
"TWiT" for 10% more.

~~~
illumin8
They must have fixed this pretty quickly because my 16GB iPad wifi in perfect
condition with all cables only got an offer of $283.

~~~
r00fus
I'm getting $300 for same.

------
tscrib
I've been meaning to buy one of these for my parents for some time now. They
rarely do anything other than email, surf the web and photos. The improvements
(especially the speed bump and cameras) finally give me a 'features'
justification for buying it for them.

------
teyc
Looking at the sales page, there has been de-emphasis of iBooks, apps, games,
and additional emphasis on ease of hands-off use for watching videos, AppleTV.
For instance, the angled cover, using the iPad as a projector.

Either this is turning out to be what people are actually using the iPads for,
or Apple is actively steering people towards using iPads. Maybe they don't
want to cannibalize the sale of Macs.

~~~
trotsky
looking at the keynote live blog that engadget did, it seemed like most of the
focus was on how iBooks was doing (the lead), and creation software - iMovie
and some sort of garage band / rock band hybrid.

~~~
teyc
Thanks. That's a learning moment for me. Apple is very clever about speaking
to their audience. The people who'd listen to Jobs live are content creators
and avid readers. The average visitor just want to watch TV.

------
jmcnevin
They must have had some room to spare in that case to bother putting in a rear
camera.

Look at the screenshot of the camera app: <http://www.apple.com/ipad/built-in-
apps/camera.html>

Notice the placement of the "record" button. Now imagine holding the device up
to take a picture with two hands.

Even assuming another app developer will come along and fix this, who's going
to use a tablet as a giant, awkward digital camera?

~~~
jonknee
I imagine it will be most useful in FaceTime when you want to show the other
person what you're seeing and also be able to see them at the same time.

------
6ren
predictions:

    
    
      - iPhone 5G will use this dual-core A5 chip
      - there'll be a smaller, low-cost iPhone model (nano iPhone?)
      - the next nano will play video (maybe combined with the above?)
      - iPad 3G will play 1080p, and have 1GB RAM
    

These devices have enough power for a full OS. But I predict Apple will hold
off combining them (OSX on iPad; A5 in laptop/desktop) for as long as
possible: 1. it doesn't help the customers of the iPad; 2. it would segment
the developer market, who can use the extra power anyway. However, it's
inevitable as processors get faster; and they can't hold off for ever because
if they don't do it, someone else will. It's just a question of when.

~~~
6ren
_EDIT_

    
    
      - iPhone 5G will have HDMI out and keyboard in.
    

It represents the end-game of the smartphone disruption of laptops and PCs,
because you will "dock" it at home and work, yet still have all your data with
you whereever you go (despite coverage, network outages, webapp provider
downtime etc etc etc) like people used to do with their laptops. A bit like
the portable diskdrive that the iPod was.

You might think Apple would be hesitant to do this, because it will
cannibalize their own laptops and desktops. I think they will do it as soon as
they can, because: they have a history of racing down the tech curve as fast
as possible; if they don't do it and it's possible to do, someone else will,
and the strategic losses from not being first are enormous; it will only
_start_ to cannibalize their other products (because a smartphone really isn't
as good yet; people are familiar with the old way; power users are a long way
off being disrupted).

I've been waiting for this. Ye Mark my Words, the End is Nigh for the PC: July
2011

------
mayonnaise
It's frustrating to me that apple keeps making their devices thinner.

Why not maintain the same size and use the extra room for a larger battery,
improved performance, or cooling?

~~~
r00fus
It's clear to me you don't understand the market then. Being the thinnest is a
clear differentiator. Having aesthetic style means a LOT to a lot of people
(ie, customers).

Furthermore, Apple did increase the processor size, memory, and probably
battery (considering it has same 10hr life) and _also_ decreased the total
volume of the enclosure.

Finally, if you've ever used an iPad at length you'd realize it doesn't need
cooling 99.9% of the time. It just doesn't get warm... this is a huge
differentiator from the netbooks it's often compared to.

~~~
smackfu
Apple even like to "cheats" the thinness, by making the edges thinner than the
rest, so it seems thinner in photos and is just hovering over the desktop.

~~~
jonknee
Cheating or not, 8.8mm is really thin.

------
cpswan
Anybody know if the 3G models are carrier locked, or is it simply that the
'AT&T' model is GSM/UMTS and the 'Verizon' is CDMA?

~~~
cpswan
Sadly it now seems clear that the iPad 2 will be locked to specific providers
(at least in some regions) -
[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/06/apple_forced_to_make...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/06/apple_forced_to_make_carrier_concessions/)

------
joeybaker
If you look at the "TV and Video" section, it explicitly says it supports
1080p video out. But, if you look at the "formats supported" sub-section, it
only supports 720p video.

~~~
allwein
That's simple to explain. The graphics subsystem easily supports outputting
1080p video. However, the iPad 2 has the same screen resolution as the
original iPad, 1024x768. This means that the device itself only supports up to
720p, since 1080p is 1920x1080.

~~~
MichaelGG
720p is 1280*720; so the device can't display 720p. I think what the spec
there is talking about is that it can decode video up to that resolution -
it's more of a codec performance number.

------
billpaetzke
Is the 3G version factory-unlocked for USA? Such that, I can swap SIM cards
from country to country (and not have to incur roaming charges from ATT)?

------
jonah
Curious that the Verizon version is lighter.

Weight: 1.35 pounds (613 g) (AT&T)

Weight: 1.34 pounds (607 g) (Verizon)

~~~
GeorgeTirebiter
I suspect it's the SIM card cage + SIM card required for AT&T but not for
Verizon.

------
jsz0
Nice little incremental update. I think they did a pretty good job addressing
some of the issues people had with the original model -- at least within the
realm of what is technically possible while meeting the same price point.

------
armandososa
I wonder how they implemented pressure sensitivity in garage band drums, I
can't find any mention of pressure sensors in the screen.

My guess is that they are using the gyro for this. Is it a good guess?

~~~
rradu
According to the TC live blog: "Very neat; you can tap keys hard or soft to
determine how the note comes out, thanks to some accelerometer magic"

[http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/03/02/live-blog-apple-
ipad-...](http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/03/02/live-blog-apple-
ipad-2-event/)

------
brettnak
Did anyone else notice that the "sensors" section doesn't list anything for
the 3g version? Is this an oversight or is it correct?

~~~
bbatsell
The rows with specs that don't differ between the two versions span two
columns. Look at the backgrounds. It's true for Display, Chip, Cameras, and
Sensors.

------
frsandstone
More general info about the iPad: <http://www.apple.com/ipad/>

------
pcestrada
Nice hardware. But only a higher resolution Retina display will get me to
trade in my current iPad.

~~~
MikeCapone
I don't have an iPad and was waiting for this one hoping for the hi-rez
screen. I might pull the trigger on it anyway because I'm not _that_ patient,
but it certainly would've been nice.

------
xal
Any word on build in memory?

~~~
cpr
It's gotta be at least 512mb like the iPhome 4.

Unfortunately, I don't think it'll have 1gb. Apple loves their margins too
much, I think.

~~~
Zakuzaa
Or they know how to do good in less?

------
kodisha
Wait, AT&T and Verizon only? What about us from Europe?

Will there be sim free version?

~~~
ugh
Check your local Apple website.

In Germany it’s the same deal as before. UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA, GSM/EDGE and
unlocked. It will consequently, as before, work with every carrier.

------
Devilboy
I'm so happy to see Steve back on stage! He looks great.

[http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/03/201103...](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/03/20110302-10025941
--img4445.jpg)

~~~
shortlived
This is sarcastic? He looked like the walking dead.

~~~
Devilboy
I'm just happy to see him.

------
HelloBeautiful
Replaced the MVA matrix with IPS.

Same bad cameras as 4G iPod Touch - 1MP in the back, even worse in the front.
Suitable for video calls only IMHO.

Too bad the models with cell connection don't support audio calls. Could've
completely replaced a phone with a wired or bluetooth handsfree.

~~~
glhaynes
_Replaced the MVA matrix with IPS._

Not sure what you mean - all iPads have been IPS.

~~~
HelloBeautiful
Right, my bad.

