iPad 2 review

Updated: Apple's new tablet is the best of its kind, but is it really good enough?

 Just under one year ago, Apple shocked the computing world with a 9.7-inch touchscreen tablet that few truly expected.

Some called the original Apple iPad a large-format iPhone. Others berated the name and made jokes that were not remotely funny.

The early reviews were marginal at best – we handed the device a solid four stars. Technical folks decried the lack of Adobe Flash and the missing cameras.

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Now, 60,000 apps later (according to Apple, who counts every conceivable option) and just a few weeks after the first real Android 3.0 tablet contender hit the streets (Motorola Xoom), the iPad 2 has sauntered onto the playing field.

Some expected pure gold: a tablet that runs as fast as a laptop and weighs less than a newspaper
Yet, the reality with the iPad 2 is that Apple has taken an iterative approach. In many ways, the iPad 2 is a crowd pleaser because it does not rock the boat.
At 241mm tall, 186mm wide, and 8.6mm thick, the iPad 2 is just a hair smaller than the original iPad and it's thinner than the iPhone 4. It has a curved edge that makes it look a bit more 'space age' and, surprisingly, easier to grasp because you can curve your fingers more easily around the bezel.



The most dramatic change is the weight. At 680 grams, the iPad 2 is 80g lighter than the first iPad. That is about the same weight as a juicy red apple (curious, eh?). Yet, in using the device, it feels strangely lighter than it really is.
Apple has made a second-gen iPad that feels lighter and more nimble, and its newfound mobility means it has lost the annoying heft of the original model.
Meanwhile, the Motorola Xoom, at 730 grams, now feels like the tank that it is. (More about that later, because we do prefer the speedy processor on the Xoom that handles 3D maps and games.)


One other observation about the design: compared to the iPhone 4, the iPad 2 feels a bit more like a plastic plate (the back is actually metal) as though it really needs a protective case. Part of the reason for this 'cheap plastic' impression is that the device is one-third thinner than the original and 15 per cent lighter.
Overall, the design is a stunner – it's brilliant. The aesthetics are much improved, although not everything about the iPad 2 is so equally impressive.

iPad 2 UK pricing starts at £399 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only model, and jumps up to £659 for the 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G edition.
Other models are priced as follows: 32GB Wi-Fi only at £479, 64GB Wi-Fi only at £559, 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G at £499 and 32GB Wi-Fi + 3G at £579.

Features

On paper, the iPad 2 is 'twice as fast' as the original iPad, running the brand-new dual core A5 CPU built by ARM.
In practice, it might not be that obvious that the processor is faster. Many apps, such as the Safari browser and the iPod media app, start about as fast as the original iPad. But as we'll see, apps like iMovie and GarageBand do run much faster.

We tested the 64GB version W-Fi-only iPad 2 (our iPad 2 3G review is on the way!). With the Xoom, there is only one model with Wi-Fi and 3G.
The iPad 2's 64GB of storage is twice that of the Motorola Xoom, although Motorola plans to update the device to support the built-in microSD slot.
Curiously, the iPad 2 screen is the same size and resolution as the original model, running at just 1024 x 768 pixels.

The Motorola Xoom, at 1280 x 800 pixels, is notably superior -- especially for viewing videos, flicking through high-def photos, and using the Android 3.0 interface itself. That's one of the early findings with the iPad 2, that the screen itself is almost indiscernible from that on the iPad.
That said, the iPad 2 's screen still has a better viewing angle than the Xoom or Samsung Galaxy Tab 7-inch.

 

Most of the power on the iPad 2 comes from the A5 processor, and our early tests show that this dual-core chip does provide some new-found speed, especially in apps like iMovie. (On the original iPad, iMovie tends to stutter a bit.) Interestingly, the iPad 2 starts up much faster than the Motorola Xoom

In fact, we started the iPad and browsed to a few websites before the Xoom even got to its home screen.
In another test, we loaded up the iPod media player on both the iPad and the iPad 2 with the same music and movie files.
Here, we saw another noticeable speed difference – the iPad 2 finishes loading about a second faster. Those speed gains meant clicking on Arcade Fire's latest album to play music just a hair faster.
Several other specs, which we'll cover in their proper section, are also new or improved:
The two cameras, one for photos and one for video chats; the faster graphics engine, which will made games more bearable; the HDMI-out capability at HD resolution that also lets you mirror whatever you see on the screen. Apple now offers a 30-pin to HDMI cable that could make movie night easier.

Even with the faster processor and better graphics engine, the iPad 2 still lasts about ten hours – or roughly the same as the Motorola Xoom. Apple has also added a new gyroscope similar to the one on the iPhone 4.

 This chip, in conjunction with the existing accelerometer, will help make the iPad 2 more sensitive to motion, especially in games but also when you change the orientation.

Interface and performance

The new iOS 4.3 release adds several improvements and makes the iPad 2 easier to use (the update is also available for the original iPad).
Finally, you can decide whether the switch on the side locks the screen orientation or mutes the audio. This was a 'gotcha' on a previous release for those who were accustomed to using the switch to lock rotation, because the iPad tends to switch at inopportune times.
Performance of iPad 2 vs Motorola Xoom and original iPad...







However, the software setting is not as important now: the iPad 2 actually does a better job judging orientation than the first iPad thanks to the new gyroscope.
With the iPad, you sometimes had to convince the screen to rotate by rocking the device forward or back (almost like a fan), but that issue seems to have gone away.
We'll test the 3G version of the iPad 2 in the coming weeks, but iOS 4.3 does not let you use Personal Hotspot to share the carrier connection like the iPhone 4 does even though they both use the same iOS 4.3 release.
This is disappointing because it's something tablet users might want to do, and it's supported on the Dell Streak and the Motorola Xoom.
In a side-by-side comparison between the iPad and iPad 2, we tested several apps for speed including the iPod media player, Safari browser, the iTunes app, and the Maps app and found there was little difference. However, the iMovie and GarageBand app worked much faster on iPad 2 and without any delays.

Interface and performance

The new iOS 4.3 release adds several improvements and makes the iPad 2 easier to use (the update is also available for the original iPad).
Finally, you can decide whether the switch on the side locks the screen orientation or mutes the audio. This was a 'gotcha' on a previous release for those who were accustomed to using the switch to lock rotation, because the iPad tends to switch at inopportune times.

However, the software setting is not as important now: the iPad 2 actually does a better job judging orientation than the first iPad thanks to the new gyroscope.
With the iPad, you sometimes had to convince the screen to rotate by rocking the device forward or back (almost like a fan), but that issue seems to have gone away.
We'll test the 3G version of the iPad 2 in the coming weeks, but iOS 4.3 does not let you use Personal Hotspot to share the carrier connection like the iPhone 4 does even though they both use the same iOS 4.3 release.
This is disappointing because it's something tablet users might want to do, and it's supported on the Dell Streak and the Motorola Xoom.
In a side-by-side comparison between the iPad and iPad 2, we tested several apps for speed including the iPod media player, Safari browser, the iTunes app, and the Maps app and found there was little difference. However, the iMovie and GarageBand app worked much faster on iPad 2 and without any delays.

This has to do with how the A5 dual-core processor works: when we added several tracks in GarageBand using the original iPad, a message would appear occasionally about "optimizing performance…" but when we switched to the iPad 2 – recording the exact same acoustic guitar parts and vocal tracks – the app ran smooth.
One issue with the iPad 2 overall is that it's an iterative release - the interface is starting to look a bit dated, and we ended up preferring the more colorful, animated, and technically-minded Android 3.0 OS on the Motorola Xoom.
For example, on the iPad 2, you can view open apps by double-tapping the Home button, but this is a bit clunky. On the Xoom, you can press an icon to see a thumbnail of all open apps.
The iPad 2 also still does not support widgets. On the Xoom, you can add weather panels, e-mail preview screens, and mini-audio players that make it easier to control the device.
The iPad 2 is restricted to showing just the standard icon rows. As on the iPhone, you can drag and hold icons, then drop them into groups/folders.

Internet and browsing

Apple has touted the Safari browser on iPad 2 and it's improved JavaScript Nitro engine, saying performance is twice as fast. In our tests, that claim is a stretch.
In fact, the same websites appeared much faster on the Motorola Xoom browser. In some cases, testing sister sites GamesRadar.com and PhotoRadar.com, the iPad 2 took up to a minute to open the sites on a 2Mbps broadband connection.

However, we had much better luck with sites that use HTML5. One site, Sarahsilverphotography.ca, loaded quickly and formatted images correctly, as did many other websites we tested at html5gallery.com.
In most cases, web apps like iPaint did not work because of the touchscreen interface, however. Sites that make heavy use of Adobe Flash, such as Presonus.com, failed to load and did not substitute static images by sensing the iPad 2's lack of Flash support.


Predictably, Flash video sites only loaded in parts and did not play videos. Google sites like Maps and Google Videos did load quickly and were formatted correctly. Maps.google.com also found our GPS location quickly.
Of course, the iPad 2 uses the Internet in many ways other than through the Safari browser.
We tested Tweetdeck which runs at about the same speed as on the original iPad.
We also tested LogMeIn Ignition, which lets you connect for a remote session to your desktop PC. Once again the app ran at about the same speed as it does the original iPad without any dramatic speed improvements, especially for watching videos on Hulu.com (which tended to chug along) on the PC's Chrome browser.
Overall, Internet browsing was definitely not a reason to upgrade to the iPad 2: it runs at about the same speed as the original iPad. With the Xoom, you get tabbed browsing and the promise of Adobe Flash support eventually.

Media capabilities

Apple wins hands-down for media availability compared to other tablets.
You can rent or buy just about any TV show or Hollywood movie, find albums from just about any indie artist on the planet, and set the iPad 2 to automatically download audio and video podcasts without any trouble.
In fact, this is the one stronghold that Apple has over other tablets, because they have licensing arrangements for so much content. You can't even rent a movie on the Xoom, at least not until Blockbuster releases their app in the US.

Yet, the iPad 2 does not really improve on media viewing itself. The screen resolution ast 1024 x 768 just can't match the quality of the Xoom.
That means, for the high-def videos we tested, including the movie Miracle at St. Anna and several home movies shot using a Canon 1D that can record 1080p video, the iPad 2 still leaves room for improvement.

Coupled with the inadequate built-in camera, the video capabilities on the iPad 2 are still not up to par – although the iTunes Store ecosystem certainly is.
In a side-by-side comparison with the Xoom, our test movies in particular looked more colorful, played smoother, and looked sharper on the Xoom than the iPad 2. Brightness level between the two tablets was about the same, however.
The news is not all bad, though. Apple has included several new features with the iOS 4.3 release which the iPad 2 uses to full effect.

Home Sharing is one of the new features. Essentially, it means you can stream music, movies, and TV shows from your computer over Wi-Fi. The catch of course is that you still need to obtain the content – you can't stream media directly from the Internet unless you use a third-party app like Netflix.
In our tests, several episodes of Modern Family streamed smoothly from a MacBook Pro.
One of the most impressive features on the original iPad involved streaming content form the device to an HD television. You had to use an Apple TV as an intermediary device, and this is still true, but the iOS 4.3 adds the ability to stream videos you have recorded yourself to the Apple TV from the camera roll.
You can now also play iTunes preview clips. A new Apple Digital AV Adapter lets you connect directly to an HDTV using an HDMI cable and mirror whatever is on your iPad 2.

Video compatibility is hit or miss. We had great success with "Apple sanctioned" video formats like H.264 MPEG-4, and found that, predictably, formats like Windows Media did not work.
The popular open-source HD format MKV did not work in iTunes or when we tried e-mailing a 3MB test file to the iPad 2.
You'll need a third part app like VLC to run those files for the time being.
Curiously, we had trouble loading video files into the new iMovie app. Apple seems to restrict this app to use videos you have recorded using the iPad 2 or at least recorded with an iOS device.
However, we did find a workaround: we couldn't load QuickTime files through iTunes but when we e-mailed them to the iPad 2, we could then save the clips locally and they appeared in the iMovie video bin.

As everyone on the planet reported when the iPad 2 was announced, the rear-facing and front-facing cameras on the iPad 2 are a handy addition, but not that useful for any real photography or for high-def video chats.
It's unfortunate, because if the quality had been higher, the iPad 2 could have become an excellent chat tool.

First, for photography, the rear-facing camera records video at 960x720 but, in our tests, looked grainy, washed out, and almost unusable.
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Worse, the 0.7-megapixel camera is almost laughably bad. That's problematic for another reason: holding the iPad 2 (or any tablet) in landscape or portrait mode and trying to hold it steady for a photograph is not an easy process.
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Most test images looked slightly blurry.
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The front-facing VGA-resolution camera is not any better. You can capture 0.3-megapixel still images, but it's nearly impossible to use it for anything other than grainy-looking self-portraits.
In a FaceTime video chat with a friend across town, the video quality looked remarkably similar to the iPhone 4, but not in a good way.

Amazingly, Apple does not offer any extra control over photos: setting a custom white balance, or selecting a scene. It's just plain vanilla shots.
Other multimedia
The iMovie and GarageBand apps provide some exceptional multimedia capabilities, though. In many ways, they add a whole new level of usefulness to the iPad form factor.

That said, the iMovie app is fairly limited: you can chop in video clips and add a quick dissolve or spotlight effect, but you can't add titles or other transitions.
GarageBand is a marvel, though. The app includes countless pianos, guitars, drums, and other instruments. Most importantly, these instruments, particularly the piano and drums, respond to soft touches and hard finger presses accurately.
And the iPad 2 also has an excellent built-in microphone: our test tracks recording an acoustic guitar sounded richer than we expected. Once again, the A5 processor helped make both apps enjoyable to use and handled processing tasks without any hiccups.

Apps and maps

App availability on the iPad 2 is an interesting story. For starters, there are about 60,000 apps available, according to Apple.
Many of these are re-purposed iPhone apps and some are just newspaper apps that feed content a different way.

In fact, there are really only a handful of notable apps that seem designed specifically for the iPad 2 as a device in its own right.
We've covered iMovie and GarageBand. Real Racing 2 HD is another one that benefits from the iPad 2's new gyroscope and better handheld gaming mechanics, providing fluid control over your vehicle.
As a side note, the game Need for Speed Shift actually controls better on the Motorola Atrix in terms of how you rotate the phone to steer.

Dead Space HD, a horror shooter, and Infinity Blade, a role-playing game with sword-fighting, both look colorful and run smoothly on the A5 processor and benefit from the iPad 2's powerful graphics engine.
That said, the games Fruit Ninja HD and Angry Birds HD all played a bit faster on the Xoom than they did on the iPad 2. In Fruit Ninja HD, the Xoom kept pace with our rapid fire finger slices, while the iPad 2 sometimes chugged very slightly.

There's also some good and bad news about the Apple store: we've learned to like the Android system where you can load an APK file to your device just by copying it over or even e-mailing the file to yourself. The Apple store is ideal for those who want one obvious way to obtain (and, of course, purchase) apps.
We used to think there were a couple of glaring omissions on the iPad. For example, Google seemed to reserve their best apps, like Sky Map, for the Android OS. There's now a Star Walk app that does the same thing.
Also, some apps, like Google Talk, are conspicuously missing from the Apple Store, but there are any number of third-party clients for iOS that provide (in some cases) a better portal into that service.
Maps on iPad 2

Mapping on the iPad 2 works about the same as it does on the original iPad.
The iPad 2 does not appear to have a faster or more sensitive GPS chip, although some mapping functions, such as zooming in on a map, worked faster on the iPad 2 than they did on the Xoom.
Performance of Maps on iPad 2 vs Motorola Xoom

However, there isn't a 3D rendered side-angle view on the iPad 2 that is on the Xoom, although that feature only works in major cities.
One noticeable difference: the Xoom provides voice navigation for directions. You can still get navigation using the Maps app on the iPad 2, but not guided by voice.
It's also worth noting that there are still only a few dozen Android 3.0 apps for the Xoom. In terms of smartphone apps running in a small window: both the iPad 2 and the Xoom have that covered, even if it really doesn't make much sense.

Battery life - how long does it last?

As expected, the iPad 2 battery life is about ten hours, although that figure depends greatly on how you use the device.
If you watch three movies in a row, the iPad 2 might not last much longer than six hours. In our tests, the iPad 2 lasted 9.5 hours from a fully charged state performing typical functions such as checking e-mail occasionally, browsing the web etc.

We didn't notice any speed-up in USB charging over the original iPad, which is a pity.
This 'all day' battery life is just about ideal for a tablet because it means you can use the iPad 2 on a whim: checking sports scores, playing a few songs, checking back later in the day to watch a TV show.
One issue we had with the iPad 2 though is that, the new curved bezel design does not work well with docking stations and alarm clocks like the iHome gear.

The 30-pin connector on the iHome does not fit quite right into the slot on the iPad 2. That's not just a problem for music playback, but the docks are the easiest way to charge the device. We think Apple might have purposefully decided to reinvigorate the iPad 2 dock market.
Battery saving features
We prefer some of the battery saving features on the Xoom. For example, you can adjust brightness level in just two clicks: once to access settings, another to change brightness. On the iPad, it is more like three clicks: double-tap on the Home button, slide left to access the brightness controls, then adjust for battery savings.
On the Xoom, you can also adjust the screen timeout interval as low as 15 seconds. Overall, the Xoom and iPad 2 last about the same amount of time.

Apple iPad 2: Verdict

The lighter design, A5 processor, cameras, gyroscope, and other enhancements increase the iPad 2's value over the iPad... at the same price.
But the original iPad is now £100 cheaper and Apple has had a full year to innovate further without really delivering much.
We really wanted to see some jaw-dropping new features. In actual real-world speed tests, the most common apps don't perform any faster... yet. Maybe that will change when developers start to optimise apps for the iPad 2's hardware. But for now, only a few apps truly benefit.
So where does that leave the iPad 2?
We liked:
When pressed into a corner, we have to admit that the new design is attractive enough to make anyone want to upgrade. It's simply gorgeous, and retains the solid, premium feel of the original iPad.
The lighter styling means more mobility, and even less reliance on a laptop. Steve Jobs talks about a post-PC world – we're not there yet, but the writing is most certainly on the wall.
The speed improvements for GarageBand, iMovie, and several games are noteworthy. As with Android 3.0 tablets like the Xoom, the iPad 2's best days are certainly ahead of it.
Will developers start to produce games and apps that make the most of the A5 chip inside the iPad 2? We'd like to think the answer is yes – but those same developers will not want to forget about about the 15 million people out there who already have a first generation iPad – so the extent to which games and apps will be optimised is unclear.
Will the limitations of the first iPad hold the iPad 2 back? Probably. How much, we'll have to wait and see. But this is almost certainly one of the reasons behind Apple's reluctance to really innovate with the iPad 2.
We disliked:
One thing's for sure - the iPad 2 is still not a great multi-tasker. As far as that particular feature goes, Android 3.0 has iOS 4 beaten hands-down. To even say that iOS supports multitasking is stretching it if you ask us.
The lack of widgets is also a drawback, and we can't see Apple introducing them to iOS any time soon.
The cameras are also very poor – and that's an area Apple could easily improve upon, but chose not to.
And that leads us into the real negative feature of iPad 2 - simply its lack of innovation. This is a refined iPad, with a few extra hardware features and a more powerful CPU.
Verdict:
For all the negatives, for now we think the iPad 2 is still the best tablet around.
It is much better for consuming media, has more compelling apps (especially for the larger tablet size), has a better app store ecosystem, and is light and useable.
Maybe the Xoom or some other Android 3.0 tablet can keep up…or maybe not.