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Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2

By | March 2, 2011, 10:33am PST

Summary: Apple today announced the iPad 2. Motorola, RIM, HP and Samsung all just wet their collective pants.

Apple today announced the iPad 2:

  • All-new design:
  • 33% thinner than iPad 1 (8.8 vs. 13.4mm)
  • Thinner than the iPhone 4 (9.3mm)
  • Lighter (1.3 vs. 1.5 pounds)
  • 2x faster Dual-core Apple A5 CPU
  • Same low-power as A4
  • 9x faster GPU
  • Front-facing camera
  • Rear-facing camera
  • Available in black or white
  • Models that work with both AT&T and Verizon
  • Gyroscope
  • Same battery life as iPad 1
  • 10 hour battery life, over a month of standby
  • Same prices as iPad 1
  • WiFi: 16GB $499, 32GB $599, 64GB $699
  • 3G: 16GB $629, 32GB $729, 64GB $829
  • Shipping March 11 in the US
  • Shipping in 26+ countries on March 25th
But wait! There’s more:
  • HDMI out at 1080p (via $39 dongle)
  • Mirrored video output (yes!)
  • HDMI dongle supports simultaneous video out and charging
  • Supports rotation
  • Innovative new “cover” case, attaches to the device and only covers the screen
  • automatically wakes the iPad when you open it, and puts it to sleep when it closes (via magnets)
  • Cover adds minimal weight and thickness
  • Cover is made of microfiber cloth that cleans the screen
  • Cover comes in polyurethane ($39) or leather ($69)
  • Cover doubles as a two-height stand
  • Cover comes in 10 colors: 5 poly, 5 leather
iOS 4.3 was also announced:
  • Safari inherits the Nitro Javascript engine
  • iTunes Home Sharing
  • AirPlay improvements
  • Preference for iPad switch
  • Personal hotspot (iPhone 4 only)
  • Photo Booth app
  • FaceTime app
  • iMovie for iPad
  • Available March 11
Apple home page updated, iPad product page updated, press release posted, US Apple Store still down.
A photo gallery is available here.

Thanks to ZDNet’s own Adrian Kingsley Hughes for the live analysis.

Photo: Engadget

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Apple Inc., Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve

    • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 11th Oct
Respectable submit. I fully concur with many of the stuff china nfl jerseys you might have printed.
View in thread
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It's Game Over for Android tablets
dougsyo@... 2nd Mar 2011
The specs and price point for the iPad2 put a world of hurt on not-yet-released Android tablets. You have to really want Android bad to pass this up.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
Hasam1991 2nd Mar 2011
@dougsyo@...
I agree, see you at the Apple store next Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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whishfull thinking
Linux Geek 2nd Mar 2011
@dougsyo@...
When Job$ charges you $100 for extra 16GB of flash, I would not sweat it. Android rules!
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
samalie 2nd Mar 2011
@Linux Geek All hail Android & Malware!
0 Votes
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Agreed, $100 more for the Xoom WiFi only will not cut it.
DonnieBoy 2nd Mar 2011
The masses will buy iPad.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
rhonin 2nd Mar 2011
@DonnieBoy
Which masses?
Existing iPad owners or non-iPad owners?

I have to say I was seriously underwhelmed with the event today. The iPad 2 looked more like iPad 1.1.
Feels more like they left the door open for Android and others to make inroads into their perceived customer base.

next.....
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
shane@... 2nd Mar 2011
@dougsyo@... Yah right game over - Android tablets can drop their price too - and in 3 months your iPad 2 is going to look like a PS1 vs a PS3 when looking at Android Honeycomb tablets. iOS needs an overhaul, horrible multitasking interface, horrible notifications, and you all are settling for left over parts that are being called a "NEW" magical device. I own two iPads and these specs and lack of real iOS enhancements give 0 reason to upgrade, however Honeycomb gives me a reason to make a switch. Seems to me that Apple is stuck in netural now that the real competition has arrived.. Guaranteed - iPad 3 rumors will start flying even more now and it will be rushed to compete. This is no second generation iPad, this is v1.1 and what v1.0 should have been.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
Droid101 2nd Mar 2011
How is that a new design? It looks identical.

They didn't even surpass the Xoom on specs. Yawn.

And still that terrible 4:3 ratio? Sucks.

Next!
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
jorjitop 2nd Mar 2011
@Droid101

That 4:3 screen ratio is one of the best parts. These new vertically challenged screens designed for movies are useless for anything else. Thanks Apple for not falling into that ridiculous trap.

Yes, it still does not have integrated Google spyware. You must be missing that.
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ok
sportmac 2nd Mar 2011
@Droid101
and all the android tablets are new designs because...

it's thinner and lighter. that's more than can be said about any of the copycats so far.

NEXT!
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
Hasam1991 2nd Mar 2011
@Droid101
Android sucks, you can have my galaxy S POS!!!!! Meet me at the Apple store next Friday!!!!! this thing is awesome!!!!! why pay extra for XOOM!!
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Pick up a piece of paper, a book or a magazine some time.
fr_gough 2nd Mar 2011
watch how people fold a newspaper when they read it. There's a reason Apple picked the 4:3 ratio. And there's a reason Android geeks didn't. Hint: One understands usability, the other doesn't. Oh, it's also the reason one group chants specifications, and the other just sells millions of units.
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Thinner, lighter, dual core, much better graphics, front and rear camera.
DonnieBoy 2nd Mar 2011
Same price. This will put a big hurt on Android for now.
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I want to see this in action
Michael Alan Goff 2nd Mar 2011
It sounds pretty good, though.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
dougsyo@... 2nd Mar 2011
@Droid101 It's significantly thinner, as well as the new and upgraded features.

They didn't have to beat the Xoom specs, but by getting up into that range, they've made the Xoom a lot less attractive by comparison.

I have an iPad and an Android phone. I want Android tablets to succeed, but it's become a lot tougher now.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
Rama.NET 2nd Mar 2011
@dougsyo@...
Correct.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
rynning 2nd Mar 2011
The $5 "killer" apps are also big. They didn't say if they'd work on the 1st gen. Anyone know?
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
Cylon Centurion Updated - 2nd Mar 2011
Still no 'key' tablet features.... Next.
Still no removable storage.... Next
Still tied to iTunes.... Next.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
Hasam1991 2nd Mar 2011
@Cylon Centurion 0005
Apple pretty much invented the tablet!! what else do you want! this is perfect!!!!
0 Votes
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
Cylon Centurion 2nd Mar 2011
@Hasam1991

Lol. Where did you learn your history? Tablets have been around long before the iPad has... PDAs as well.
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@cylon
fr_gough Updated - 2nd Mar 2011
A little suggestion for you: comparing an expensive laptop with a flippable display that required a stylus and had anemic sales for years with a form factor everyone is scurrying around like crazy to copy makes you look like an idiot. Don't do it.
0 Votes
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Odd, how since the product category
fr_gough 2nd Mar 2011
didn't even exist last year, you suddenly have fantastic insight into what the key elements of this new market space actually are.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
Cylon Centurion 2nd Mar 2011
@frgough@...

Tablets have been around for quite a few years now dude. You know those things that run Windows (Or whatever OS you want to), that you can write with, use removable media with, and don't need to plug into a stationary machine running iTunes? wink
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@Cylon
fr_gough Updated - 2nd Mar 2011
The iPad is not a tablet in that sense. Of course, you know that. But in order to diss the product you have to pretend it's in a category of product it isn't. A category, by the way, that has been a miserable market failure for all those years. You really should have taken my advice.

Oh, and the only thing you need iTunes for with an iPad is to back up the device. This tells me that you've never actually looked at one or know anything about one, you just regurgitate a bunch of talking points from folks who somehow think their manhood is tied to not buying an Apple product.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
rhonin 2nd Mar 2011
@Cylon Centurion 0005
so very true...... they were right; 2 is more of an update, not an upgrade.
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YES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hasam1991 2nd Mar 2011
THIS IS IS AWESOME!!!! I will be at the Apple store on March 11 to pick one up!!
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
educationtalk 2nd Mar 2011
And the children enter the walled garden never to leave again, drawn in by the strange thin man with dazzling toys.....
0 Votes
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Once you're in Shangri La
fr_gough 2nd Mar 2011
why would you ever want to leave?
0 Votes
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¿?
Rigel.628 2nd Mar 2011
"...just wet their collective pants".

Nice way to waste my time with that kind of "professional" analysis...
0 Votes
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he mispoke
Linux Geek Updated - 2nd Mar 2011
@Rigel.628
he was actually talking about the fanboys and girls in the room with guru Steve wink
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
rocketboy5114 2nd Mar 2011
ipad seems cool, but i dont know if you ask me its just a big iphone which i already have so i think im gonna pass
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Speaking of the iPhone
kenosha77a Updated - 2nd Mar 2011
@rocketboy5114
Speaking from experience, the iPad is not a big iPhone (and I wish that comparison would just fade away), I agree with you and I might just pass on an iPad upgrade this year. I will probably spend my disposable income on the next iPhone model.

Since iPhone 5 will most assuredly have the iPad 2's new A5 processor, I can't imagine a scenario where the new iPhone won't have HDMI mirrored output capability as well (via this new iPad model). That, and the rumored (but highly likely) 4" screen should allow the iPhone 5 to handle just about any task a 7" tablet would perform.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
mjardeen@... 2nd Mar 2011
@rocketboy5114
I own both and there are many differences between them. The iPad is much better for reading and surfing. It also does content creation in ways the iPhone can't. Some games are better on the smaller screen, while others on the iPad. This will be my 3rd iPad....
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
Rick_K 2nd Mar 2011
The real sky is to see how much of this make its way into the next iPhone. Imagine one phone that will work on either network. You could walk into the Apple store pick out your device and then choose the carrier. If they offer a 30 trial, and you choose not to use them you can simply switch to the other carrier. This would also make building the iPhone significantly owe in cost, as there would only be two models, instead of four.
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
dougsyo@... 2nd Mar 2011
@Rick_K Or perhaps take the direct connection between buyer and carrier out of the picture? The last thing the carriers want to be is 'dumb pipes', but that's the direction Apple's pushing them. I bet Apple would love to commoditize carriers...
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
educationtalk Updated - 2nd Mar 2011
Maybe I would enter the garden if I could actually take my stuff out, or at least access it from another device.
0 Votes
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FAIL
shane@... 2nd Mar 2011
You idiots will take these crumbs and call it a new ipad? Wow.. Have fun with that.
0 Votes
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By that "logic"
ego.sum.stig@... 2nd Mar 2011
You'd have to call Linux, OS X, Windows, z/OS all the phone OSes and all the hardware underneath epic fails. After all, they've just progressively had a few crumbs tossed out for the unwashed masses to get all excited about until they toss a few more crumbs about.

Do you take bitterness pills or are they unnecessary in your case?
0 Votes
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You have learned the ways of...
james347 2nd Mar 2011
...copy and paste well I see.
0 Votes
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bappa1101
bappa1101 2nd Mar 2011
Gizmodo's new version of IPad ,IPad 2 is an advanced version
from apple on : http://fms.nu/fKiL5p

It really helps thing to get easier...
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
bappa1101 2nd Mar 2011
Gizmodo's new version of IPad ,IPad 2 is an advanced version
from apple on : http://fms.nu/fKiL5p

It really helps thing to get easier...
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
mjardeen@... 2nd Mar 2011
Bottom line -- similar specs, better price, more software, better usability, better price, nicer screen, better price, access to your iTunes music, movies, better price, better....
0 Votes
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
birumut Updated - 17th Aug
Well done! Thank you very much for professional templates and community edition
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0 Votes
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RE: Apple announces the iPad 2; declares 2011 Year of the iPad 2
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 11th Oct
Respectable submit. I fully concur with many of the stuff china nfl jerseys you might have printed.

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