(Customer Reviews)

By P. Colin McGraw “AV, Computer & EnviroTech Nut”

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Apple iPad 2 MC769LL/A Tablet (16GB, Wifi, Black) NEWEST MODEL

The first iPad really defined the tablet market and while a trickle of competing tablets were released, none of them has matched the critical acclaim of the iPad 2. The consensus of CNET, Engadget and most other tech reviewers is that the Motorola Xoom is the closest competitor, but falls just short of iPad.

This latest version of iPad sports a thinner design, front and back camera for casual filming and FaceTime/Skype video calls, a gyroscope, better speaker and, of course, a dual-core processor and 9x faster graphics capabilities. You still get the 10 hour battery life, but it’s all wrapped up in a nicer package. That said, it doesn’t seem drastically different than the original iPad and it feels like this version is simply an iPad with cameras, and the cameras don’t perform especially well.

Granted, the increased graphics capabilities do make a noticeable difference in the handful of games that take advantage of the increased speed (“Infinity Blade”, “Real Racing 2 HD”), but most of the apps I use most frequently – e.g. CNN for iPad, Netflix, ABC Player, iTunes Video, iBooks, Pandora, SiriusXM, Apple Remote – don’t feel like the user experience changed much beyond the increased volume coming from the speaker.

My big disappointments with the iPad 2 are that the cameras aren’t great, though that’s forgivable since I’d use them mostly for video calling anyway, and that the screen didn’t increase in resolution from the first generation iPad! I want my Retina display!

However, overlooking the faults of the iPad 2, it’s still the best tablet on the market, in my opinion.

My kids love the educational apps (“Monkey Preschool Lunchbox”, “First Words Animals”, “Shape Puzzle HD”, “Talking Larry”, “Peekaboo Barn” and “Garage Band” are all highly recommended), and I think they’ve gone a long way in teaching even my mildly autistic daughter memorization and puzzle solving skills!

I also love that I can get paid content from apps lie Netflix, (Comcast) Xfinity TV and Hulu+ and even free content like on-demand “Bachelor” episodes and other shows from the free “ABC Player” app. There’s just so much capability available to the device through apps and certainly, the wealth of apps available in the App Store is one of the iPad’s biggest strengths vs. competitors!

It’s also a great device for checking email and casually surfing the web, as long as the site you view doesn’t require Flash, which is still unsupported. I used to have a netbook that took 5 minutes to boot, then had an awkwardly small browser window and slow response, but you see nothing but instant-on capability and smooth navigation with iPad. I’d definitely prefer this tablet to a netbook!

Also, a couple of other miscellaneous tips for those interested:

1. The new magnetic Smart Cover from Apple is a must-try! The automatic wake and sleep on opening/closing the cover is more handy than you might first think, as is the ability to roll the cover into a stand for the iPad! We watched Netflix from bed while my wife nursed our baby recently, and it would have been a pain without the handy stand!
2. If you buy an AirPort Express or Apple TV, you can wirelessly stream music (and video in the case of the Apple TV) to a remote set of speakers using AirPlay or the Apple Remote app! It’s cool to be able to listen to my iTunes content from my kitchen with the iPad as remote control!
3. If you’re debating whether to buy the WiFi-only or the WiFi/3G iPad, it’s worth noting that by paying for the WiFi hotspot capabilities on an iPhone 4, you can not only get data, but location services for your iPad 2, so you can save a couple hundred dollars on hardware and future-proof your connection speed since you can buy a new phone instead of a new iPad to take advantage of increased network speed.

In summary, I highly recommend the iPad 2 if you’re in the market for a tablet. Its apps are highly entertaining, portable and easy/quick to launch a play, and it just may change the way you surf the web and check email! Even your kids will love it!

The few innovations this model sports aren’t what they could have been, but are nonetheless compelling.

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