Isaiah's Tech

Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance introducing the iPad 2 today. After talking about how great and magical the iPad is they talked about all of the copcats launching tablets this year. Oh yeah, they've sold 100 million iPhones so far. Getting on to the good stuff, the iPad 2 features a new dual-core A5 CPU (probably supplied by Samsung again), a rear-facing camera, a front-facing camera, a gyroscope, an HDMI output (cable costs $39), and an 8.8mm thin body (thinner than the iPhone 4) that weighs just 1.3 pounds. Battery life is still 10 hours and that's great considering how thin the device is.

Of course, since it has dual cameras you're able to FaceTime whoever you want and you'll be able to launch Photo Booth as well so you can make them look as silly as you want them to. Display stays at 9.7-inches and has the same 1,024 x 768 resolution display. Basically, if you already have the first iPad, this might not be worth the upgrade unless you really want the dual cameras.

Thankfully, Jobs also mentioned that this will be available in black and white starting on day one. Prices will stay the same as the current model so that's amazing. The iPad 2 will be launching on March 11th in the US and it'll be launching in 26 more countries, including Canada, on March 25th. Models will be available on both AT&T and Verizon in the US so that's some pretty good news as well. Don't forget that the iPad 2 is bringing iOS 4.3 along with it. Anyways, I'd still rather get a WiFi-only Motorola XOOM.

Update: Engadget has just mentioned that the iPad 2 has just been spotted at the FCC. This includes all models: WiFi (A1395), GSM (A1396), and CDMA (A1397).

[Engadget]