Mobile phones & tablets thread

[race aficionado]

Anyone have any thoughts on the IPad 2?

I don't know any details about it but for sure more "goodies" will be added and I personally think that these features could have been added on the first one but that's the way Apple marketing works.
Those that can afford it can jump on what is offered and then purchase the upgrades as they come.
In my case, I just wait for the version that will make me want to purchase it.
i don't have one yet, let's see what they come up with on this version.

mokin:

[Jag_Warrior]

I have been pondering buying an iPad as a gift for a little while now. Seeing as Apple usually have around a 1 year life cycle before they release a new model I've done a little googling and the rumours are that the iPad 2 is due to be unveiled in the next couple of weeks with a release date in April. This timescale seems to tie in with Apple announcing and launching the iPad last year.

Anyone have any thoughts on the IPad 2?

I was all set to get my MacMafia girl an iPad for Christmas. But then the rumors started to come out that the iPad2 would have front & rear cameras - she and her sister have become FaceTime junkies... and pulled me and my lil iPod Touch in with them. So I decided to wait for the release of the new one - and was forced to do what I never do: buy a girlfriend jewelry for Christmas (that usually starts the Armageddon clock a ticking ).

But most of the rumor sites have put lighter, faster, dual cameras and possibly a USB port as very likely. I have my doubts about the carbon fiber case, but we'll see. And there will most likely be an unexpected feature or two that will "Wow!" the crowd, and at the same time, keep the competition behind the 8 ball. Until RIM can get their battery life issue figured out on the Playbook and Android can prove itself on a tablet form factor, I figure the iPad remains about the only game in town. But the others will eventually get it right... and then Apple will move the bar again on them.

So yeah, I'll wait to get gal-pal an iPad2, and there's a MacBook Pro in my immediate future (loaded with Windows as a secondary OS).

[race aficionado]

So yeah, I'll wait to get gal-pal an iPad2, and there's a MacBook Pro in my immediate future (loaded with Windows as a secondary OS).

Life is good then . . . .
mokin:

[Jag_Warrior]

Life is good then . . . .
mokin:

Assuming the iPad2 lands in time for her birthday, hopefully! If not, then I'm going to have to get really creative so that I can stay away from the jewelry store. I need the boys & girls at Apple to be good elves, work some overtime and not let me down on this one.

[Mark]

At minimum I would expect it to have the same features that are present in the iPhone 4, forward facing camera (maybe not rear facing, but who knows!), improved GPS and the same dots per square inch as the iPhone, as the present iPad has only very slightly more res than the iPhone, despite a far bigger screen.

[AndySpeed]

With phones as they are these days, what need is there to buy a new phone or upgrade from your existing one (unless it breaks)? Surely you're just fanning the flames of consumer capitalism and disposable technologies...

Sorry to put a damper on the thread

[Mark]

With phones as they are these days, what need is there to buy a new phone or upgrade from your existing one (unless it breaks)?

It depends if the new version has a technology or way of doing things you find better than your current model.

Surely you're just fanning the flames of consumer capitalism and disposable technologies...

You say it like it's a bad thing?

[AndySpeed]

If it's genuinely better and will help you out then I can't criticise that - after all, I have just bought a new camera body to replace my old one just because it's better.

It just seems some people buy and replace just because the marketing material tells them to. Honestly, hand-on-heart, I refuse to change my Sony Ericsson C905 until it breaks or the battery goes dead. When it does I shall rever to my even older K800i until that breaks. Unless in the meantime I get a job that requires me to read emails in the field...

I hope you understand my point - so many people upgrade their phone just to keep up with the trends created by marketing (or, perhaps, to make themselves appear more like those busy professionals checking their email on their phone every 5 minutes, wishing they were themselves in such a good job....).

[Dave B]

Anyone have any thoughts on the IPad 2?

There'll be so many Android and Windows tablets on the market in the next few months that the iPad2 will almost certainly be an overpriced underspecced waste of time. Apple need to pull something spectacular out of the bag, not merely adding features that should have been on the original iPad (camera, decent screen resolution, better connectivity etc).

Plus I'm not convinced that a 10" screen is the way to go. Once you get to that size you might as well buy a netbook for half the price which does twice as much. 7" seems to be becoming a far more popular screen size, and far more transportable. I suspect that for all Jobs' posturing over screen size, Apple will release a 7" nano-iPad before the end of the year.

[Daniel]

Plus I'm not convinced that a 10" screen is the way to go. Once you get to that size you might as well buy a netbook for half the price which does twice as much. 7" seems to be becoming a far more popular screen size, and far more transportable. I suspect that for all Jobs' posturing over screen size, Apple will release a 7" nano-iPad before the end of the year.

and it'll be a triumph and it'll be magical and so on and so forth.