iPad 2 Dreaming

The Apple iPad 2 is the long awaited (ha), much anticipated successor to the original iPad. The original iPad, loved by many (many=the millions of Apple fan boys/girls) was a hit, it began the trend of consumer tablets, what is now a huge market. Big hitters such as Motorala, HP, Lenovo, and HTC have just announced their very own tablets at the MWC 2011 but just how far can they go when Apple already has the tablet market by the neck and how popular will the iPad 2 prove to be? We'll have to wait for those answers but what I can tell you, or should I say speculate, is what the iPad 2 will be sporting.

Let's begin with the 'what' and 'why'. There have been rumours that iPad 2 will have not only one, but 2 cameras. A back facing 1 megapixel camera and a front facing camera of an undisclosed quality. The front facing camera will obviously be used for FaceTime as proven by screenshots of the 4.3 beta screenshots that the iPad 2 will assumedly be running (final, not beta). Apple are looking to continue the trend started by the iPhone 4 with the font facing camera and are no doubt wanting to push FaceTime harder onto consumers.

and here we have a screen protector with what looks like a hole for a front facing camera

Not much is known about how it's outer shell is going to look like. In my mind, the iPad 2 will look similar if not the same to the original except it will be lighter and maybe a little more compact. Rumours tend to suggest the same. The iPad 2 may be another case of the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Now onto the screen, will it be a large, beautiful Retina display? Computer says no...according to analysts the iPad 3 will have the display we've all come to love. Apparently it's too costly and difficult to produce at such large sizes. OK, what about a higher resolution? Nope, several pieces of evidence suggest that the the iPad 2 will be running at 1024x768 the same as the original iPad. You're probably screaming at the screen right now, it's OK, I understand your anger. Will a dual core ARM Cortex A9 clocked at 1.2 GHz help? Yes? Good. Keeping in line with many of the other mobile products currently on, or entering, the market, the iPad should be running the aforementioned processor with a whopping 512mb of RAM (I say whopping because it's double the original's amount). Plus, for all you gaming fanatics out there it is also rumoured to have Imagination’s SGX543, a dual core GPU and we're expecting 2/4x the graphics power than the original.

News about new iPad specific features in iOS 4.3 is few and far apart but this is what I've scraped together. There will be internet tethering, a switch on the iPad 2 will be used for either muting or rotation lock, multitasking gestures and the camera will use the full screen.

Finally, the when. When is this blasted machine going to be released, heck, even announced?! Just a few months ago many were saying Feb 14th, yes Valentines Day, but it came and went without so much of a hint. The general consensus is some time in April, so far that round-a-bout date hasn't been contested so I'll be waiting here, patiently, while getting all the more agitated waiting for news of it.

Omran, CeX UK Contributor.