Mirror, mirror on the HDTV wall, the iPad 2 can do it all!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 03 March 2011 11:10

Your IT - Home IT

At long last, the iPad 2 has ceased being a rumour and has become reality at last, with a range of rumours coming true and surprises like full mirroring of what's on the iPad 2's screen finally being able to be sent to an HDTV, albeit via an add-on HDMI connector, giving plenty of great reasons spurn the droids and plonk down the cash for an iUpgrade iNstead!

Google may have been hard at work creating Android OS 3.0 for tablets and its hardware partners hard at work creating 'droid 3.0 hardware but there's certainly something to be said for being in charge of the whole software and hardware stack, as is the case with Apple and its devices.

It's a lesson Microsoft learned when crafting the Xbox and then the Xbox 360, but refuses to learn when it comes to its Windows Phone 7s or Windows 7 tablets, and a lesson that HP has learned through its US $1.2 billion purchase of Palm's WebOS.

With the iPad 2 finally here and the endless rumour-mongering now able to be laid to rest, the biggest surprise for me, beyond the triumph of Steve Jobs himself doing the launch of his latest iBaby, wasn't the following:

It wasn't the fact a dual-core A5 processor is thankfully now standard, promising double the performance of the previous single-core model.

It wasn't the fact that Apple hasn't told us whether the iPad 2 has 512MB of RAM or more, thus leaving us all to speculate a bit further for the time being.

It wasn't the fact that the speaker grille turned out to be a speaker grille, and not a cover for an SD slot or built-in USB slot, neither of which have appeared.

It wasn't the fact that Apple was indeed able to make the iPad 2 thinner than even the iPhone 4, or even around 10% lighter than the original iPad.

It wasn't the fact that Apple is bringing out both a Wi-Fi only model, a Wi-Fi + 3G model and a Wi-Fi + CDMA model (but no Wi-Fi + 3G + CDMA all-in-one model).

It wasn't the fact that Apple is making the world wait three more weeks before a raft of countries including Australia would start seeing huge lines outside Apple stores in anticipation of the March 25 in-store availability date.

It wasn't the fact that there are finally two cameras on the iPad, with the rear able to take 720P, 30fps, HD video and FaceTime video, or a front VGA camera for photos and FaceTime.

It wasn't the fact that some of the rumoured iLife apps have made it to the iPad 2.

It wasn't the fact that the rumoured white version would indeed arrive alongside the expected black version.
It wasn't the fact that Apple has managed to maintain the same battery life as the previous model despite more powerful hardware.

It wasn't the fact that the screen resolution has remained the same as the original iPad.

It wasn't the fact that a three-axis gyro has been included for better gaming.

It wasn't the fact that Apple sadly left out a second dock connector which would have enabled both the horizontal and the current vertical docking of the iPad.

It wasn't the fact that iOS 5.0 is still to come, with the nevertheless improved iOS 4.3 the OS for now.

No, for me at least, it was the fact that Apple has finally made full mirroring of the iPad 2 screen, including the home screen, finally possible via a separately available HDMI connector, giving users the ability to do what Steve Jobs has done since he first showed the world the original iPhone: see everything you can see on the iPad 2's screen on any HDMI-equipped external monitor.

There was much complaint over the lack of this feature in the original iPad, especially from educators, those in business and those who wanted to play iPad games on an even bigger screen, despite the availability of a VGA adaptor and video-out capabilities for selected apps and games where those developers went to the trouble of including special video-out code, something that took months for some apps to perfect.

What does it all mean, then, and what of other cool features, including the new iPad 2 'covers', which seem quite revolutionary all on their own? And what about local pricing, is there any chance we'll see a cheaper iPad 2 thanks to the strong Aussie dollar? Please read on to page two!