iPad (now with wings)

[texta]

Yeah. Flipboard is great. The official twitter app is pretty awesome too.

[StorminNorman]

I also grabbed The Age app, just to see what the future of newspapers will be. It's kind of cool being able to read The Age like that, but in the end, it's just a digitally scanned newspaper, so not exactly setting the world on fire.

Maybe it'll get more interactive in future versions.

Apparently it's a lot cooler than the Herald-Sun app, which is just a frontend to their website.

[nintendo]

Yeah that fake iPad I played with was utter crap. It ran android 1.6 or something. I guess it's ok for the gf to use to read the net in bed though.

So 4hrs till apples conference. Anyone else excited? I kinda hope it isn't an incremental upgrade, with the major upgrade happening in September like some people have been saying. Mainly because I'd be pissed if I had to buy 2 of these god damn things in one year.

[Natrak]

You don't have to buy them, you know.

[nintendo]

Nah man. Totally do. Even I'll admit that it's a ****ing stupid waste of money. But I can't really stand not owning shit that's mad.

I'm lucky I'm in the iOS camp though and not the android camp. I'd be buying a new phone 2-3 times a year if I was. Although I did buy a new phone 2-3 times a year before I got myself the iPhone lol. So Im already saving money kinda....

[StorminNorman]

iPad 2. (http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/03/ipad-2-faster-thinner-lighter-same-battery-display-resolution.ars)

15% lighter, dual-core Cortex A5, and apparently "9 times" the graphics power.

[Xanafalgue]

How much will it be? Launching so close to the 3DS was a ****y move.

I would like one but I'm strugging to come up with a use for it other than playing around with stupid apps.

[texta]

Same price as the old one. $499 for the basic model, increasing to about $1000 I think. US prices.

[Space_Monkey]

I was really hoping for a retina-display-style screen and a drop in price. That Apple didn't include these is good in a way, it means I'll be less likely to completely wreck my budget and pick one up.

[Cubby]

God the pricing is ****ed. Sure $500 for a base model... but then $100 for a piddly little 16gb upgrade? Then another $100 on top of that to go to 64? This isn't 2009.

I'm not buying the 9x better/faster GFX either, not in 1 year.

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

It's easy to believe if you consider they crippled it in the first one.

[Pauly]

I think they could justify those prices with a retina display. But yes pretty big jumps for this day and age.

[Cubby]

Apple gimp all their shit. I completely believe that the pad1 was gimped, but I'm guessing this one will be too. So the 9x is still BS.

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

iPad 2 doesn't have a flash?

WE GOTTA SAVE SOMETHING FOR THE NEXT ONE!

[StorminNorman]

I'm not buying the 9x better/faster GFX either, not in 1 year.

Believe it. Rumour has it that it's the same basic GPU as the Sony NGP (a PowerVR SGX543). The iPhone 4 uses a PowerVR SGX535, which was originally launched in 2007. The 543 is about four to five times faster than the 535, and Apple are using a dual-core version, which, coupled with the faster RAM and CPU, would make the "9 times faster" claim seem quite realistic, possibly even an underestimation.

And yeah, the gap between the two GPUs is more like three years.

[Cubby]

Then the pad1 was behind the times, even for an apple product.

[StorminNorman]

Not really. The 235 is used in a lot of mobile devices from the past year or so.

Mobile manufacturers tend not to use the "latest and greatest" unless there's a very good reason to. When the 235 was announced, the iPhone had not long launched, and the demand for powerful GPUs in mobile devices hadn't really been shown to exist yet. Two years later, and manufacturers were scrambling for something cheap yet powerful to put in their devices, and the 235, despite being a generation behind at the time, was ready to go.

Keep in mind that the Cortex A9 that forms the iPad 2 CPU is a couple of years old now, too.

[Lazlow]

God the pricing is ****ed. Sure $500 for a base model... but then $100 for a piddly little 16gb upgrade? Then another $100 on top of that to go to 64? This isn't 2009.

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/1986/donx.jpg

[SOX]

$500 for the base model has my interest piqued. Only thing stopping me from grabbing one without hesitation is that low res screen.

[Rambo]

If they put the res higher, you wouldn't get as much battery life.

[SOX]

Iphone says no

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

iPhone is angry at you

[texta]

The retina screen is actually incredible and not easily reproduced at x4 size. If they'd gone with that I think we would have had a decent four digit price tag if we were lucky.

[SOX]

There is no doubt in my mind that next year they'll slap a new screen on it for the same price.

[Xanafalgue]

I really want one, I'm not sure why, but I really do.

[Xanafalgue]

But then that Motorola tablet looks good too. But then the iPad will have better support than Xoom. But then Xoom is more android-based...

This is like PS1 vs. Saturn all over again.

[StorminNorman]

There is no doubt in my mind that next year they'll slap a new screen on it for the same price.

Apple execs already said as much off the record at the event. iPad 2 is just a stopgap, and iPad 3 is where it's really at.

[Knuckle Children]

Apple execs already said as much off the record at the event. iPad 2 is just a stopgap, and iPad 3 is where it's really at.

Before iPad 4 comes out.

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

In September.

[tau]

So I want an iPad 2. I already have an iphone 4 with 2gb/month of data that I've never even used 1/10th of ever, let alone a month.

Anyone know if I can get a deal with optus so I don't have to go on yet another plan just to get data when my iphone isn't even using a pre-existing allocation? Thinking of using a cheap 3GS jailbroken to be a wifi hotspot and just getting a wifi only ipad.

Thoughts?

[Ashmaran]

iPhone OS 4.3 + iPhone 4 lets you share your 3g internet to up to 3 wifi devices no jailbreaking required...

[tau]

Yeah i know that, but kinda want to get rid of my iPhone 4 anyway. Barely use any of its features over a 3GS.

[nintendo]

A 3GS with iOS 4.3 will let you tether via wifi as well

[Lazlow]

But then that Motorola tablet looks good too. But then the iPad will have better support than Xoom. But then Xoom is more android-based...

This is like PS1 vs. Saturn all over again.

If it helps the iPad2 gpu is 6 times more powerful than the Xoom.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Various/iPad+2/news.asp?c=28286

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

Apple said Yes (http://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/18/ipad-2-wife-says-no-but-apple-says-yes/).

[tau]

I love my iPad 2.

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

I was reading a daringfireball post the other day that was just pointing out all the jokes Apple got for having "pad" in the name, when they could have used slate, tablet etc.

Now there's like 7 competing products coming out that use pad in their names to.


Reminds me how everyone started adding "wii" into their competing consoles after Nintendo made it big.

[tau]

iPad 2 jailbreak live. <_<

[dimorphic]

Just discovered the Kindle app (I know, I'm an idiot for taking so long. This combined with iBooks means I'm never reading a paperback again. I prefer iBooks to Kindle though so it's my first port of call.

[Space_Monkey]

So the iPad 3 is up. It's got the usual more power/better camera/new software but the big news (although unsurprisingly) is the new Retina display. Can't wait to check out that high-res screen in the flesh, it's going to look boss. :)

http://www.apple.com/au/ipad/

Lack of 4G support in Australia is disappointing though...

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

You mean the new iPad?