The iPad 2
The iPad 2 is a curious device to review. Pure performance numbers are almost meaningless without a context against which to measure them. Ecosystem metrics (600,000 apps? 20,000 good apps? Upset booksellers? Infuriated developers?) provide an indicator, but in a nascent market - and, let there be no mistake, the tablet/slate market is a nascent market - they are subject to rapid change.
The iPad was a monolithic device. It hit the market with a singular design and simple execution, and for a full year has been essentially given free reign to lure in consumers. Unlike the competition (Such as the Xoom) who are trying desperately to steal the iPad’s mindshare, the iPad 2 only has to live up to the original. Other tablets have to excel to beat the iPad: the iPad 2 only needs to not disappoint.
Spoiler: the iPad 2 does not disappoint.
I intend to write another post for this, but suffice it to say I’m not new to tablets. I bought a Toshiba Portege 3505 convertible Tablet PC in 2001. Back then it wasn’t tablet computing or slate computing - it was “pen-based (or “penabled”) computing. I remember enthusiastically agreeing with Bill Gates’ prognostication that by 2005, the majority of portable computers would be convertible-style.
Looking back, this feels an awful lot like Microsoft’s recent attempt to push touch-sensitive displays and Windows slates, as if “touch” is a feature of traditional computers. It’s not, and shouldn’t be. Microsoft won’t be allowed into this market until they get that.
The iPad was the first real entry of tablets into the consumer conscious, just like the iPod in its day. The iPad 2 is slimmer, faster, lighter, more solidly built. It’s better in every way and worse in none. But for the first time it’s not truly alone in the market place - is “better” enough?
1. The Hardware
At the risk of giving away the ending, the hardware is the real story here - at least for now. The iPad 2 feels like a whole different product: this is what Apple means when they say it’s “completely redesigned.” Yes, it’s an iterative technical improvement, but the changes are dramatic and feel that way.
As numerous other reviewers have noticed, the weight reduction feels a lot more substantial than it really is. This comes, in part, due to the dramatic change in shape. Where the iPad 1 was sharp edges and a chubby round back that felt awkward both on a table and in your hands, the iPad 2 is the opposite: rounded edges and a flat back. It feels designed to fit in your hands, and it’s genuinely a joy to hold.
The performance (graphics/memory/processor) improvements are dramatic. The true potential here won’t show until apps start to take advantage of the new muscle, but GarageBand, Real Racing 2, and Infinity Blade are already promising a wonderful future. And on the bundled apps, the iPad 2 is simply blazing fast. It never stops, never stutters, the user never has to wait. It simply does what you ask.
Unless, of course, you ask to read The Daily.
As for the other changes: The speaker is slightly, but not markedly improved. The cameras are pretty self-evident: suitable for FaceTime and basic video, but nothing else. It’s not going out on a limb to say that Apple expects these to be used for FaceTime and nothing else. Buyers expecting more will be severely disappointed. The new recessed conectors and controls along the outside edge generall work quite well. As Mossberg noted, the Dock connector can be hard to seat initially, but by and large the change does not feel substantial.
I can’t say much about the Smart Cover that the videos on Apple’s website don’t say more effectively. Seriously, watch this video, and imagine it working exactly that well in practice. They’re a joy. In practice, the effect is not unlike the leather flaps that slid into the side on the Palm V: covers the fragile front, lets the sturdier aluminum back fare on its own.
The best part? Because the iPad 2 is slightly narrower and much thinner than the original, the vast majority of sleeves and zip-in type cases will fit the iPad 2, even with the smart cover installed.
In fact, by and large the accessory story on the iPad 2 is great - it works well with every case and stand I own for the original. For an Apple product, this is needless to say a pleasant surprise.
2. The Software
Let’s get this out there: iOS needs an update, and needs it badly. iOS 4.3 is very, very good. But it’s not great - not with its utterly broken notification system. I fully expect more on this front in April, but until then the software story is what you probably don’t know. In short: It’s a fantastic unitasking OS. It’s intuitive, has a thriving app ecosystem, and performs its duties with polished smoothness.
As a multitasking OS, it’s good. The task switcher is fast and effective, but the shortcut (double-tap home) is awkward and there is no keyboard support. Out-of-app notifications are awkward and modal. There is minimal ability for apps to speak to each other. Importing and exporting data via iTunes is clumsy, though DropBox solutions for syncing and accessing user data are beginning to catch on well.
However, the real truth here is that there’s simply nothing better on the market. Palm (HP) looks to have a promising contender in the TouchPad - but it’s not out yet, and let’s not forget that Palm often looks to have a promising contender. It’s been a while since the delivery has been quite up to expectations. Honeycomb has finally materialized as Google’s entry to the tablet market, but feels like an awkward blend of a WinAmp skin and Tron - certainly not for the masses. Plus, it’s been described as buggy, clumsy and immature.
So iOS is still “good enough” when the competition isn’t. On a unit where the hardware has reached near-perfection, having disappointing software is a real let-down.
3. The Package:
Let’s not forget that the hardware and the software do play together, though. The total package the user experiences is something exceptional.
The iPad very much feels like a device, a gadget, a thing. The goal of the tablet has always been to peel away the layers of abstraction that lie between the user and the content - hence the incessant skeuomorphic interfaces and the quest for thinness.
The iPad 2 is still all of these things, and to the layperson there will still be a learning curve. However, after using my iPad for a year, the iPad 2 clearly sheds some of the thing-ness and becomes much less a piece of technology and much more a slab of content which you control. Yes, it’s a dual core, wireless, aluminum piece of engineering - but when you use it, it’s just a piece of glass that obeys your whim and whimsy.
This is a stupendous thing, and it is why I and legions of consumers will forgive iOS’s current shortcomings and the typical Apple-isms (lack of ports, hidden filesystem, arbitrary restrictions on developers and user customization) that fetter the device from its “true potential.” The iPad 2 gives the iPad just the boost it needs to achieve the tablet dream. Everything from the speed boosts to the thinness to the wonderfully versatile Smart Cover conspire to make the new iPad exactly enough for the things it purports to do.
“Enough”, it turns out, is sometimes much better than “too much.”
