Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)

Doesn't it get over 35 degrees in the summer in Switzerland sometimes even?

of course, he didn't exactly give a definition of what exactly "in volume" means. Right now, it's not shipping at all.

Perhaps, when mentioning how expensive all the competing products are, he should also mention that it sells for such a low price because they cross-subsidize each and every sold iPad by tying it to the proprietary App Store.

Anyway - I'm sure it's a nice tablet but it still runs on iOS and it still has massive usage limitations - something you won't find in an Android tablet.

Peter, who's looking forward to his Xoom, once it ships in "volume" :-)

You think so?
The average user has a couple of apps for maybe 20-40 CHF altogether - and 70% of that goes to the developer. How much can that contribute to the price-difference between the iPad and the rest of the market?
It's cheaper because Apple pre-orders and pre-pays parts and material for billions of dollars - and thus negotiates suppliers into very favorable terms.

Apple fanboi here just to remind everyone that it all comes down to the apps. Unlike the iPhone, which lost its edge to Android, Apple will try to keep the collection of iPad apps under lock. I suppose they've learned their lesson.

Number of apps today.
iPad: 60,000
Android 3.0 Tablet: 16

Google will have to address this issue shortly. Until then, Android tablets aren't really worth buying.

you're not serious, right? Most of the around 200'000 Android apps work perfectly well on tablets because they were designed to scale to bigger screens from the get-go. There are WAY more apps for Android tablets than there are for the iPad. Of course, behind the reality-distortion field, there are only 16 apps for Android tablets.

yupp, and I'm not the only one: http://www.macnews.de/ipad/ipad-klei...-stores-130045

Oops! Today, with the addition of USA Today, there are now 17 native apps.

http://www.electronista.com/articles...just.fraction/

I suppose if you count web page ports, Android ports and such, it can claim a lot more..... millions even.

ok, now you're just trolling.

I don't think all the apps can support the bigger screen size compatibility offered with honeycomb.

Thinner! Nice! So is the improved CPU, while maintaining battery life. But best to wait for independent confirmation on that score, although Apple are usually quite accurate with those claims.

The cover looks cool. You can roll it up and use it as a stand.

Front and rear cameras. One of which does HD movies. The other is for Facetime. And Skype no doubt.

Claim up to 9x graphics improvement.

There's a gyroscope in it.

There are now two promo videos over at apple.com.

Comments on the first one:

iLife is still ho hum. Basic, functional.

4:09 The proprietary dongle to HDMI looks a bit clumsy, but functionality is good. A wireless version of that would be nice.

4:28 The Apple person utters the utterly stupid neologism "new innovation".

they all work, not all look great. From what I've read on Galaxy Tab forums, Around a third will look awkward. However, the apps don't need to be completely rewritten as on the iPad to make them fit the bigger screens. And Google doesn't make the developers wait a month for the approval of new versions.

Wow, you boys really have got a chip on your shoulder over this haven't you? Is it really worth getting so bitchy about?

Anyway, as a long-time Apple customer this looks like a fairly nice update to me, but not enough to make me bother buying one. I'll stick with the first-gen for now.

you're right, it isn't.

I think what angers me about the whole thing isn't the product itself (I couldn't care less, really) and it's not the comments here, either - it's the freaking flood of fanboy-"reviews" from the press that have been inundating my google reader tech feeds, all the Swiss newspapers etc. bazonline was featuring the iPad 2 more prominently than the crisis in Libya last night.

To make things short: I find it worrying how Apple fandom more and more turns into some sort of socially accepted sect, or national sports. It's a bit like soccer: if you don't like it, you're an idiot social outcast (and by calling it "soccer", I guess I just outed myself as such).
I guess I made it my own personal quest to counteract these tendencies when it comes to Apple - by publicly drawing comparisons to alternatives.

Oh I can definitely see where you're coming from there, the Apple marketing department have got the world's press dancing to their tune.

On the sect vs. social outcast thing, when I first switched to Mac I completely underestimated how viscious the juvenile "mine's better than yours" catfights could get. After a couple of flame wars in the first few months I decided it was an utterly pointless argument and walked away from it.

That's why I get disappointed when I see that kind of thing creep onto this board, it'd be nice to have a place where it can be avoided. Of course, I realise that's hopelessly naive - I've never yet come across a online discussion of Apple products which doesn't end up in mud-slinging, it just seems to be the way of the world. Shame though.

except for all devices smaller capable of playing video. including: iphone, small form-factor PMPs, ipod touch, various android phones, my old E71, etc. etc.

i'm usually pretty good with spotting tech trends. but sometimes i think i'm just getting old when i "don't get" twitter etc.

The iPad does have a certain je ne sais quoi about it, the fact that they managed the seemingly impossible feat of cramming in two cameras, dual core CPU whilst making it lighter, thinner and with the same industry leading battery life says a lot about Apple as a design and R&D company. As much as I want to break away from their shackles and try Android, I now start to feel a little underwhelmed by the competition. The Samsung Tab and the Moto Xoom look so generic and dare I say, here today, gone tomorrow as compared to the iPad 2.

One thing for sure though, its great that we have so much choice, when I pre-ordererd my iPad in May last year there was nothing like it.

last year's model was an entirely different story.
However, as for "here today, gone tomorrow": Apple will release the next iPad in about half a year, so the iPad 2 is definitely not here to stay. They only released it so the Android crowd wouldn't out-spec them until they come up with something better.
What's underwhelming by the competiton? Most of them have better specs (better cameras, SD-slots etc.) and within a year's time, Android will be dominating that market segment as well.

The reason why Apple devices seem to be less "fleeting"? The very long release-cycles Apple is choosing. I have the feeling, however, that they'll need to re-think that strategy very soon, if they don't want to be out-paced by the general development in this technological field.

In all honesty if I had to buy a tablet right now it would be an iPad 2 in a heartbeat. Well it wouldn't be right now but I'd wait until the 25th of March.

But in reality, I'm going to wait until October to see what to do. The grapevine says they will be doubling the resolution then, which will look great. But would still only be 4:3 which is annoying for watching movies.

I don't see them ever going 16:9 on the iPad. Won't all the iPad apps need to be re-compiled for that?

It really annoys me when an Apple fanboy goes around spouting that the iPhone was the first touch screen mobile phone.

By saying this dual core malarkey, he is just misleading his legions