Update 3: My iPad 2 Review
Posted on May 15, 2011, under Personal.
Here goes my new iPad 2. I just bought it few days back at Machines store and it was of the third batch of its release in Malaysia. I did went for a queue early in the morning and thankfully it was not that crowded since it was already the third batch of selling in City Square JB.
So I’m going to do my first review of my first iDevice ever, the iPad 2 review is typically for Malaysian here. I would like to make it in FAQ form so that it’s easier for you to read.
Charging the iPad 2
1. Is it thin and light?
It is indeed very thin but not that light for a typical dimension of it. When you hold it for a long time you will feel ache on your biceps. While for those who want to compare with the iPad 1st gen, I didn’t own it but truth to say the iPad 2 is lighter and thinner based on the information given by Apple’s site. By the way, through days of experience it the mass of it is acceptable and you will soon get used to it especially when using smart cover for long time and later don’t use it so you will find it light. In physics term, density of iPad 2 is high!
Ipad 2 and included accessories
2. Is it worth it to buy?
Basically in Malaysia, the prices of iPad 2 models are one of the cheapest iPad sold in current worldwide sales. The price is even cheaper compared to Singapore. While for other PC Tablets are way laggy and not that responsive and even more expensive which can cost you about RM2000 and above like Motorola Zoom and HTC’s, for the iPad 2 the price starts from as low as RM1499 which is cheaper RM50 than the first gen sold last time. So basically it is worth it if you like it.
3. Does iPad 2 lag?
Erm basically it is not lag but being a complex OS built into it, some lag is inevitable but it is less than 1% occurs in my own usage. Sometime, the app will crash but not as terrible as my Xperia X10 smartphone. It crashed in a nice way without having to wait for the moment it crashed.
4. What model should I go for?
In memory part, it depends on your usage, if you would like to store many photos and videos or musics then you may have to go for 32 or 64 GB. While for only the purpose of apps and limited musics and photos stores 16GB is more than enough. Paid apps consume more memory usage so you have to pick the 32 or 64GB models.
While for Wifi or 3G part it would basically see whether you need your iPad to be connected anywhere you go or just in Wifi zone. Think yourself and you should know what you need.
5. Why you don’t have photos of iPad in this post?
I’m posting from iPad now. I will try to upload some photos of it sometime.
6. How does the touch sensitivity?
It’s pretty responsive if you have an iPhone you should know well, for Android users out there you will love the touch experience and for newbies switching to touch, you will have pretty good impression towards touch. Android tablets or phones so far don’t have such responsive, sensitive and good multitouch screen like iDevices currently.
7. How about the apps in app store?
For the Angry Birds fan, it’s sad that you have to pay in order to enjoy all the levels unlike in Android it’s free to have so many levels played. Most of the apps feel good in quality when using it and you have variety of apps to choose, most of them are fun and useful apps or game, but you will have to pay for it.
8. What do you like about iPad 2?
A. It’s indeed thin.
Box front cover, show off its thinness!
B. It has a long battery hours. I prefer to use it to suft net rather than a laptop or netbook because of the legendary long battery life and the device won’t get hot when using it.
C. The price is reasonable for me.
D. Touch is responsive as said earlier and the performance is awesome.
E. The display is nice in wide angle and even under the light you still can read it clearly.
I bought 16GB WiFi model
9. What do you dislike about it?
A. It’s heavy for me.
B. The iOS should have better user interface. It looks boring when you see it for a long time.
C. It doesn’t support flash. But in fact you should know the ecosystem of Apple that they don’t like flash before buying it.
D. The cameras is basically useless. Which means having cameras built in this tablet are like putting something won’t work. Low quality photos and videos taken (even in 720p).
E. The back side feels easier to get scratch and smooth which can cause you to drop the device, so get ready for a cover. You really need it.
F. The multitasking seems to be useless and when I shift to the other app the app before it will be restarted again in fact I have noticed that the background app will freeze in order to save the power consumption and sluggish experience from occurring. It basically needs more RAM I can say.
E.g. While you’re waiting for the YouTube video to load, most people will shift to the other app for the video to load in the background, the video doesn’t load and started load when you shift back to it. It doesn’t work in the background for some apps.
10. White one or Black?
Well, I bought black one because when picking the accessories for my iPad it is easier to have a better compatibility in color radiance. If white one, it’s hard to find a case that suit the white one. Also, when the device is in standby mode, black screen plus the white stripe corner looks weird. All in all, it’s absolutely up to you.
11. How long to charge it to 100%?
4-5 hours, considered fast I think. Just the supplied wire of the charger is rather short so it’s hard to enjoy working with your iPad while charging.
12. Should I have a smart cover?
I owed one and it’s ok for me. But you have to buy a plastic or whatever cover for the back as it’s prone to scratches. Up to you. I only use smart cover when I would bring it out as I need to protect the screen.
More to come if I can think something later and please drop your questions in the comment box, I’ll reply you as soon as possible.
Thanks for dropping by.
Tags: Ipad 2 review, malaysia ipad 2