Without the majority of the tablet competition yet available it's hard to definitively call the Apple iPad 2 the best of this generation. However, it's here, it's good and it's well priced, all of which gives the competition even more to live up to when they finally arrive.Read full review
I love my iPad 2. I had little experience with the first gen so can't really compare but in a household that has a PS3, 360, gaming laptop as well as old gen consoles the iPad 2 has really ruled over them all.
What I particulary find pleasing is just how easy it is for everyone to use. My other half loves it too and my little kid - just turned two - already has his favourite apps that he knows how to get to and operate (really is an impressive sight when you let young kids loose on one of these).
My main complaint is how much I spend in the Appstore - far too easy to persuade myself to buy things. LAst night I bought the Korg im20 and Djay apps. Both great fun but not exactly needed.
Really is a joy to use and has replace about 90% of my pc use. The pc is now just a machine for ripping cds and downloading.
Favourite apps so far:
Sword and Sworcery - stunning game Read it Later + Reeder - has got me into rss news feeds in a big way Galcon Fusion - very addictive game
"Apple has managed to gain these performance improvements, and pack this faster iPad 2 into a smaller space, without impacting on battery life"
Veery true, however think how amazing it would have been if apple had kept the, not exactly porky, 13mm profile and had a battery that lasted 15-20 hours? And then would have enough room to put in the same camera as the iPhone 4, a missed opportunity IMO
Also as nice as iMovie is, with the camera quality it is currently wasted on the iPad, its such a shame that apple doesnt push the boat out and allow you to connect or import raw video footage from external video cameras
I don't understand this obession with NEEDING to own an iPad.
No one really needs most of the products on this site so I don't see why the iPad is treated any differently.
It's worth noting as well that iMovie does not work on the original iPad. A warning box flashes up and says you need a front facing camera in order to install it.
"For all that they leave a lacklustre impression, the iPad 2's Smart Covers don't damped our impression of the device itself."
I think that should be dampen.
@ RageBoy: I dont think anyone needs to own a luxury device, which is why they are luxury and I did not get the impression from the article that I needed it either.
Personally I am waiting for a decent android tablet, might be a long wait but the software suits my needs a lot more than the iPad does unfortunately as it does look very nice.
Sorry but "The iPad 2 is still just a toy" line REALLY frustrates me because it's absolute nonsense and geek snobbery of the worst kind.
For the majority of users the iPad (and, frankly, this applies to most tablets but let's stick with the iPad for now) does everything they ever want from a computer. Both consumption and creation tasks work well (providing the app being used is well designed) and the learning curve is a LOT less than a Windows / OS X / Linux computer. There's no real OS to worry about, just a view onto your apps. Finding and obtaining new apps is trivial, getting new content is easy, creating content is often more intuitive than a desktop if the software is built right (again, remember this is content creation for non-geeks so blog posts, facebook entries, making movies that sort of thing). Is this a good device for businesses to consider replacing desktop Windows machines with? No, of course not, but that does not automatically make this a toy.
Sorry for the rant but I really wish that geeks (and I've seen more than a few tech sites make this mistake with the iPad and now the iPad 2) would realise that computers aren't just for us anymore. User friendly devices that don't demand PC literacy are the way of the future, time to start realising that. Raw functionality isn't the only defining measure of a computer anymore, the look, feel, ease of use and overall quality of the experience count for just as much for many people. It still strikes me as odd that Apple are one of the few companies that understand that, though at least Microsoft seem to be showing signs of realising it with WP7.
@BOFH UK I agree with you but refrained from commenting on that in order to keep harmony with the hordes of naysayers. After all the article wasn't that unbalanced and with an average score of 8.4 and TR Recommended I think the reviewer actually enjoyed this particular "toy".
Those of us who now use it professionally know that it's far from a toy, I actually do a lot of things differently just one week in and feel it's a great experience. But it's easy to see how it appears otherwise to outsiders. These shifts take time to kick in, but just wait and see..
The whole industry was also clueless when the iPhone showed up, I actually talked to mobile executives who thought Jobs was crazy when he said he was aiming for 1% of the industry in one year, now they're singing a very different tune.
Here is great example of the iPads appeal, and how it's not just a toy.
My mother-in-law got the first iPad, she's never used a computer before, and would need to ask her husband to handle anything computer related.
She now able Email here daughter in Scotland, browse the net, she's even into creating documents, (food recipes), and then printing them out. etc. )
Now to us Geeks, nothing amazing. But from the POV of my mother-in-law it's certainly more than just a toy. Both me and the wife have been amazed at how she has taken to it.
Now from the POV of a geek, the iPad may well be seen as a toy. But even then for the majority of stuff most of us do, it could still be used for productive purposes. Remember PC's were once classed as Toy's / Fad that would never catch on :)
I'm with BOFH UK to an extent. to the PC literate it's a toy, but a toy that can replace a house laptop. To those who don't have a PC, or don't like using one, it can be everything. If only Apple will get cloud iTunes working and out there, you would never have to connect it to a PC again and it would become a house PC for those not wanting the fuss of a laptop or desktop. That would make it the ultimate laptop replacement imo. Of course, the same can be said for any tablet, but iPad 2 is the market leader currently.
I will think of it as a toy personally, but I still want one. I am also hoping to use it fairly frequently at work instead of a pad and paper, taking digital meeting notes in meetings and email on the go (which is hugely useful).
We're sorry. We were unable to report abuse at this time.
We limit the number of reactions an individual user can submit over a given period for quality reasons. You have currently reached that limit. Please try resubmitting your abuse report again later.
Comment is too long. Enter 500 characters or less.
The storage on the three versions of iPad 2 is a mere 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. I could never fit all my iTunes on that. My Classic iPod has more storage than the iPad, a whopping 164GB! Why are Apple so mean? Some of the apps. are 1GB, so if you had 16 apps. all i GB each that's it you can't fit anymore apps on! Will the next iPad that comes out have more storage? I hope so. It would be worth the wait.
Please let me know if a new model with more storage is coming out.
Comments
User reviews
Average user rating
9/10
Read more reviews >
9/10
53 out of 105 people found this review helpful
iPad 2 needs more ram
27th May 2011, By stephen sturgess
The storage on the three versions of iPad 2 is a mere 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. I could never fit all my iTunes on that. My Classic iPod has more storage than the iPad, a whopping 164GB! Why are Apple so mean? Some of the apps. are 1GB, so if you had 16 apps. all i GB each that's it you can't fit anymore apps on! Will the next iPad that comes out have more storage? I hope so. It would be worth the wait.
Please let me know if a new model with more storage is coming out.
Report abuse
To add your own review log in or sign up