IPad2

Well I've had the iPad2 for 26 1/2 hours and it definitely is an improvement over the iPad1.

When I was in the queue in Newcastle Eldon Square at 3pm my partner asked me the simple but important question. "But why bother you've got the 'ipad'???

This made me actually sit down and think and evaluate why I actually had got a Bus into town to buy a piece of tech which I had already!?!? So I sat myself down (the queue wasn't moving and feet were hurting - trying to avoid Apple Deep Vein Thrombosis) and evaluated the pros and cons

Issues

The cons were clear. Price for a glorified YouTube machine (how partner has used ipad1) would be steep.

Still no USB port or Effective Microsoft office pack (keynotes etc are great but I'm thinking about those who will feel it is essential to have for compatibility issues.

The new cover at £35.00 is a bit too much of a gimmick at that price! Hunt around for a case. I've got a gimp case and found it to be great. Mind it doesn't offer the working stand support. I've found it a pain in the backside to get the apple one in the position i want so it's sat on a coffee table in my conservatory:(

Pros

The obvious pros with the ipad2 over the ipad1 are the cameras. They'll offer as an educational learning tool endless extra opportunities, e.g. iMovie a fantastic tool for creating a presentation with music, video transitions editing, blog pictures, videos, animations, fieldwork pictures, pictures to show students collaborating for display, evident collection to take pictures of good examples of work and bad ones to point out where to move on to with work etc etc

The speed compared to ipad1 is a very obvious improvement. I've held direct comparisons and have found going into YouTube and loading a video it takes about 4 seconds less. That doesn't sound that much but just count 4 seconds and imagine yourself sat there waiting for a website to load!

Download speed is again improved quite considerably about 5-10 seconds faster I've found.

The weight has definitely reduced so you don't get after an hour the feeling if 'oh I'd best put this down:(

I hope this has given you a bit of information on the pros and cons (limitations) of the new ipad2 compared to it's predecessor the ipad1.

Enjoy!