Apple iPad 2 reviews: Release the fanbois!

Here's a roundup of reviews of the Apple iPad 2 -- in case you need to decide whether to get one Friday. Reviewers like the speed, thinness, and lack of weight, but some compare it with the Xoom, wishing it had a retina display, and stereo speakers.

By Richi Jennings. March 10, 2011.

If it's Thursday, it must be iPad 2 review roundup time. The reviewers have been released from their Apple embargoes, so let's see what they made of the new shiny. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers fan the fanboi flames.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention Seven Billion: Are You Typical?..
(AAPL)

What's important? Jason Snell says size and speed:

It’s awfully hard to follow such a massive success ... [as] the original model ... but that’s the task set out for Apple’s new iPad 2, which goes on sale Friday. ... [It's] faster ... thinner and lighter ... while retaining the $499 entry price. ... Apple shaved .17 pound off the Wi-Fi version and .26 to .27 pound off the 3G version. ... [It's] .16 inch thinner ... roughly two-thirds the thickness of the original iPad.
...
[It] uses a new Apple-designed processor called the A5. ... By all accounts, the A5 is a dual-core version of the 1GHz A4 chip that powers ... the original iPad. ... 512MB of RAM—twice that of the original ... 200MHz bus speed, likewise twice that of the original. ... When both devices were running iOS 4.3, the iPad 2 was 1.6 times as fast as the original in running the SunSpider JavaScript test.

 
This is how John Gruber rolls:

Every once in a while, Apple releases something brand-new. ... These ... tend to be minimal technically, but radical conceptually. Then ... Apple improves them iteratively. ... Apple got it right with the iPad 1 in almost every way, and the iPad 2 reflects that. ... If you liked the original iPad, you’re going to like the iPad 2 even better. ... I can imagine iPad 1 owners ... deciding to upgrade upon seeing Smart Covers in person.
...
The iPad 2 is a little lighter, remarkably thinner, and feels much more comfortable to hold. ... The display is identical to last year’s. ... [It] feels like the fastest iOS device I’ve ever used. ... Every little thing on the iPad 2 feels more responsive. ... We’re not going to see the iPad 2 truly show its stuff until game developers have time to write games that fully take advantage of it.
...
The iPad 2 is a solid second-generation iteration. Easier and more comfortable to hold, noticeably faster. ... It seems like technology from the near future.

 
And Rik Myslewski looks closely at iOS 4.3:

Safari in iOS 4.3 has been juiced by WebKit's Nitro JavaScript engine, which appeared in Safari [5] for the Mac last June. ... We noticed snappier performance on some websites, but frankly nothing to write home about.
...
iOS 4.3 also adds what Apple calls iTunes Home Sharing – a way to wirelessly stream media ... to iOS devices without having to physically move the files through syncing or file transfer. ... It worked just dandy, although setting it up involved a bit of trial and error.

 
But Mark Spoonauer takes issue,  comparing with Android and Xoom:

The bad news is that Apple didn't increase the resolution. ... The iPad 2 sticks with the same 9.7-inch screen with 1024 x 768 pixels. ... The Motorola Xoom sports a 10.1-inch panel with 1280 x 800 pixels. Still, we prefer the iPad 2's screen because it has wider viewing angles ... and does a slightly better job resisting fingerprints. ... It's still a mono speaker. ... [It] has plenty of audio oomph, but the Xoom's stereo speakers are more impressive. ... The camera quality isn't great. ... Don't expect great video quality ... You also don't get a flash, which the Xoom has.
...
iOS for iPad isn't as evolved as we would like. ... iOS 4.3 on the iPad 2 continues to present notifications ... as obtrusive pop-ups. Android 3.0 handles notifications better. ... Android 3.0 tablets such as the Motorola Xoom do a better job with multitasking. ... Our biggest complaint about FaceTime is that the service isn't available for Android ... or other platforms. Apple says it's interested in making its technology an open standard, but we'd like to see some proof.

Meanwhile, Omar Wasow thinks analysis like that is "wrong again":

Tech analysts are already complaining that ... the new iPad's triumvirate of thinner, faster, lighter is ... only incremental progress. ... What these critics miss, though, is that ... the original iPad was itself such a breakthrough that there aren't any major new features needed 342 days after the initial launch. "Thinner, faster, lighter" makes perfect sense.
...
Which is not to say that the iPad 2 is perfect. Power users will still want a laptop. People primarily interested in reading ... might prefer a cheaper, lighter e-book reader. Less tech-savvy folks might find even ... iOS too confusing.

 
And Finally...
Seven Billion: Are You Typical?
[hat tip: GraphJam]
 
 
Don't miss out on IT Blogwatch:

• Subscribe to the Computerworld Blogs newsletter
• Catch up with posts from the previous few days

Â

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com.

You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.