Apple iPad 2 Review

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Amazingly, the tablet market has evolved tremendously over the course of the last year thanks to the revolutionary onset of the Apple iPad. Prior to its release, tablets were merely thought of as secondary devices, or even expensive luxuries that rendered them almost completely incapable of reaching mass appeal. However, the iPad surely has taken things to an entirely new direction as consumers gobbled it up thanks mostly to its intuitive operation, portability, and more importantly, its manageable low cost of ownership.

Naturally, it’s only expected to find its successor, the iPad 2, to step things up a notch in various aspects to make it a moderate improvement over its predecessor. And rightfully so, we’re greeted with a product that pushes the envelope in the design and hardware department, while still retaining that gold standard of being ticketed with a minimum $500 cost of ownership. Precisely on cue, its arrival should stem the tide of recent competitive offerings from tampering with its reach, but let’s hope that the tablet experience is up to the task of complementing its fashionable exterior and impressive hardware.

The package contains:

• Apple iPad 2
• USB Cable
• Wall Charger
• Apple Decals

Design:

Let’s get the obvious out of the way, but the first thing to catch our eyes with the iPad 2 is none other than its impressive slim profile. Just when we thought that the original iPad was a piece of work in terms of design, Apple’s engineers truly did a number in cutting out a lot of the fat from its body – leaving it almost unimaginably lean. In fact, it went from the original’s 0.50” thickness, all the way down to a mind boggling 0.34” thick – which is even thinner than the iPhone 4!

Besides its razor thin profile, the overall industrial design of the iPad 2 remains the same, though, we’re presented with tapered edges that comfortably provide a decent amount of grip when holding it with both hands. And of course, its brushed aluminum back cover exudes that utmost premium finish that’s generally accompanied by most of Apple’s products. For something packing a decently sized touchscreen, its weight is also reduced to a mere 1.3 pounds and requires little effort in holding it. Meanwhile, its solid construction tastefully makes the iPad 2 one magnificent looking tablet that doesn’t skimp out with even the smallest of details. However, you may want to exercise some caution in handling the iPad 2 since it would most likely not look too pretty after being dropped from a substantial height.

We’re presented with the same exact 9.7” IPS display that boasts a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. Sure there are other tablets on the market right now with slightly higher screen resolutions, but when you gaze straight at it, there’s no arguing the kind of brilliance that it embodies. Relatively speaking, there is no problem in making out even the tiniest of text, but it doesn’t quite have the same sharpness that’s evident with the iPhone 4’s Retina Display. Despite that, we’re actually still mesmerized by its naturally colorful output and blinding luminance that manages to retain itself at all viewing angles. Even more, we still find it quite viewable under the presence of the sun, however, it’s obviously mostly distinguishable when set to the maximum brightness setting. So even though we don’t see an upgrade with its display, it’s still nonetheless admirable in getting the job done.

Customary at this point, the recessed home button is located at its usual position beneath the touchscreen. Fittingly, it still provides that springy response when it’s pushed down – which translates to zero accidental presses. Thankfully, the iPad 2 is given the functionality of video chatting thanks to the 0.3-megapixel VGA front facing camera found above its display.

The Home button	Front facing camera

If you happen to get the 3G version of the iPad 2, you’ll find its microSIM card slot placed at the upper left corner of the device – with a pinhole next to it that’s used to access the slot. Meanwhile, both the silence switch and volume rocker are placed at their identical positions on the right edge of the tablet. Prominent in nature, they’re both easily distinguishable to feel out – with that solid tactile response with the volume rocker.

microSIM card slot	Silence switch and volume rocker

Also, there is a small black strip located on the top edge with the 3G versions of the iPad 2 which houses the tablet’s built-in 3G modems – whether it be compatible with Verizon’s or AT&T’s 3G network. Moreover, the 3.5mm headset jack, microphone, and the angled dedicated power button round up the items located on the top side of the iPad 2. Conversely, the proprietary 30-pin connection port and the notches for the speaker are all found at the bottom edge.

The top edge of the Apple iPad 2

In the rear, we’re greeted to that instantly recognizable Apple logo that’s placed dead center, with the rear camera placed towards the upper left corner. Sadly, there isn’t much love with the rear camera, but we’ll expand on that a little bit later on.

Apple iPad 2 vs Motorola XOOM

Although the Motorola XOOM managed to get a slight head start in making some headlines so far this year in the tablet market, we’re already seeing the Apple iPad 2 demonstrating its might as it flexes its muscles in hopes of retaining its crown amongst the newest generation of tablets out there. On one hand, we have the Motorola XOOM that’s backed with the overhauled Android 3.0 Honeycomb experience, and bevy of next-generation hardware to keep it up with the times for a while. And of course, there is the iPad 2, which uniquely modified our perception with its intricate razor thin profile – while still making some moderate improvements over its predecessor. Precisely on schedule, these two juggernauts in the tablet arena will undoubtedly capture the attention of the world right now, but which one will keep you interested in the long run?


Design:

Unsurprisingly, the iPad 2 obliterates all prior notions of what tablet design should follow since it literally blew off the front cover with its amazingly thin razor profile. Even though we might think that the Motorola XOOM’s 0.50” thickness is respectable, the 0.34” thickness of the iPad 2 makes for an instant jaw dropping realization – especially when Apple touts that its battery life is unchanged. Even more for the iPad 2, we prefer its brushed aluminum casing seeing that it’s better equipped at repelling scratches, debris, and fingerprints. Unfortunately for the XOOM, its metallic rear casing is awfully prone to retaining dirt and is rather difficult to clean as well. Give any individual a choice between the two, the attention grabber easily goes to the iPad 2 nine out of ten times.

Barely considered a major difference, the Motorola XOOM sports the larger of the two screens with its sizeable 10.1” LCD display versus the 9.7” IPS display of the iPad 2. Even though the XOOM boasts a higher resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, it doesn’t drastically offer any better clarity or detail over the iPad 2’s resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. However, it’s obvious that the iPad 2 produces richer looking colors since darker colors, like black, appear to look smokey in tone on the XOOM. Moreover, the viewing angles on the iPad 2 are superb which make it supremely better to view in outdoor settings. Lastly, the oleophobic coating on the iPad 2’s display makes it very easy to clean versus the XOOM.
In our experience, there are rare instances when we would accidentally press the virtual buttons of the Motorola XOOM. Still, the springy home button of the iPad 2 soundly eliminates any hint of potentially pressing it by accident.

Placed in a familiar location, the dedicated power button of the iPad 2 still retains that prominence which is equally complemented by its solid tactile feel. Uncharacteristically, the XOOM’s recessed power button is located in the back of the tablet, however, it perfectly lines up with our index finger as we hold it in landscape.

Without a doubt, the volume rocker of the iPad 2 is exponentially better than the tiny and rather stiff felling volume buttons with the XOOM. In addition to that, we find the silence switch of the iPad 2 to come in handy for quickly turning off its speaker.

Since the iPad 2 carries over the same single speaker, it’s nice to see that the XOOM employs two speakers, left and right, which enables it to deliver stereo sound. However, the speaker grill with the iPad 2 is placed more at an angle which aids it in better dispersing audio.

And if you want to easily share content, you’ll probably adore the list of traditional ports on the Motorola XOOM – like its microUSB and microHDMI ports. Specifically, you can output the XOOM’s display to your high-definition television by simply connecting it with an HDMI cable. But if you want to do the same thing with the iPad 2, you’ll need to purchase its optional digital HDMI adapter that snaps into the proprietary 30-pin port.

When it comes down to cameras, the XOOM manhandles the iPad 2 in this category since it features a front-facing 2.0-megapixel camera and a rear 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash. Comparing it to the iPad 2’s paltry 0.3-megapixel front facing camera and less than 0.7-megapixel rear camera, it’s already giving away a good indication as to which one will provide the better quality.

On the front	On the back	The backs of the tablets
Cameras of the Apple iPad 2 (top) and the Motorola XOOM (bottom)

Despite not having easy access to their batteries, it’s nice to see that you can increase the storage capacity of the XOOM thanks to its microSD card slot. At the same time, it enables you to quickly share content – whereas on the iPad 2, you’ll need to connect its USB cable to get things transferred.

Finally, the XOOM still has one ace up its sleeve that has yet to show itself that will give it faster data speeds than the iPad 2. Down the road, the XOOM will be retrofitted with a 4G LTE modem that will provide next-generation data speeds – which will outperform the 3G speeds found with the iPad 2.