The original ipad was a Prince Thrifty fav and in a word, ROCKED.
The ipad 2 kept all the great stuff from the initial release and added several upgrades. So the ipad 2 ROCKS EVEN HARDER!
In fact, for its quality and innovation I have deemed the ipad 2 “Prince Thrifty Certified.”
The ipad 2 is hands down the best in class tablet.
When you first hold this elegant device in your hands you can immediately feel—tactilely perceive the balance and precision of its design.
When you press the power button it gets better.
As with most new Apple releases the ipad 2 is smaller, lighter and faster.
Faster is always good in the hustle-bustle landscape in which us Instant Gratificationites dwell.
Smaller and lighter are especially important with a device that that’s designed to be held in your hands.
The original ipad was somewhat difficult to hold in one hand. With a reduction in the weight and size of the ipad 2 it has crossed the threshold of “one-handed use comfortability.”
Note: Prince Thrifty realizes that the terms “comfortability” and “Instant Gratificationites” are not found in the dictionary. However Prince Thrifty will not let a dusty old book stand in the way of conveying the real deal to his subjects. ☺
Speed
Hold on to your hat because Apple has added the blazing fast Dual Core A5 processor to the ipad 2. Mr. Jobs and co. have also doubled the ram (512MB) and the bus speed (200MHz) of the original ipad. Therefore the iPad 2 runs twice as fast the original. The graphics performance is 9 times faster than the original ipad!
Variations
The ipad 2 comes in 18 variations / configurations ranging in price from the Wi-Fi 16 GB $499 base model to the Wi-Fi + 3G 64 GB $829.00 tricked out top of the line. The entry model will be fine for most casual users.
Cameras
The ipad 2 has cameras on both the front and back of the device and comes with FaceTime video chat. FaceTime allows video conferencing which is amazingly useful if you run in business circles.
Caveats
With such an amazing device, pointing out it’s few shortcomings seems nitpicky. However good ole Prince Thrifty always tells like it is.
Here are the Nit Picks…
The cameras on the ipad 2 are not that great in terms of image quality. Sure they work fine for video chat / conferencing. However for shooting videos and especially still photos, the cameras leave a lot to be desired in terms of image quality.
Prince Thrifty would like Apple to shave a little more weight off the next release of the device. It is still a little cumbersome to hold for long periods of time when using it for such activities as reading a book. The Amazon Kindle 3 weighs half as much as the ipad 2. However the Kindle lacks much of the ipad 2’s rockin’ functionality.