I Think I Saw the iPad2 Today

Hey Everyone,

For folks who are interested, I THINK I saw an iPad 2 on the subway today. A fellow had an ipad in a plastic case which he was using on the subway. There was a hole on the top of the ipad where the camera is supposed to be on the new model. I did not see much more than that. The 'Home' button was still definitely on the unit. I had read that it is allegedly being taken off of the ipad. This one thing make me think that it is possible that either I was mistaken or that it is a prototype (or, that the information is incorrect and that the home button is staying on the next generation ipad).

When I asked the gentleman about it (lol, I am nosy), it was quickly put away and told it was just a regular iPad.

James

One more thing. I was able to ask the gentleman a question about what I thought was a camera phone. I was told that the hole was a 'sensor' and that I was mis-perceiving it to be a camera. As many of you know, I own an iPad and there is no such sensor where the hole in the shield was located. It looked like a device from a camera phone - though again, I am certainly not willing to bet the farm on this.

James

Hi James:

I'm sure you are correct. It must have been a prototype & what you thought was a camera probably was just that, a built in web cam.

Jim

I wish I had not been such an idiot and thought quickly enough to take a photograph of the thing while the fellow was using it. I had my Pen E-P2 with me, so it would have been easy enough. I just did not think QUICKLY enough.

James

Maybe we'll know on Feb 9.

I am waiting for news on the iPad II , because I am going to get one... I do not own one at present and am very excited about it. I'm one of those girls that traded in wanting diamnonds and gold for tekkie toys about 12 years ago! I hope Apple has it out in April...

iPad 2 in production... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704364004576132643125168876.html

thanks for that linl... I can't wait for April to see if it is available!

So, I guess that nothing new has been heard, eh?

James

Well - following all of the announcements today, and having seen the recent ipad photos, I am 100% convinced that what I saw a couple of weeks ago was the ipad 2.

For folks who have not seen all of the stats:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/0...ns-answered.ars

The only thing that is missing? How much memory does this thing actually have? The ipad only has 256 megs. The new xoom has 1 gig. Where does the ipad 2 fall?

Thanks
James

They were asked that question and they answered that they preferred to talk about the 9x increase in graphics and 2x increase in speed rather than the technical capacity of a chip. I'm paraphrasing... They kinda have a point.

I'm sure there will be a teardown as soon as they are shipped.

LOL, per your Photographers with Ipads page, it is 512 megs of ram - same as the iphone 4. I am still ambivalent about upgrading. The changes seem so incredibly incremental - and that xoom looks really sweet, so I can only imagine that the ipad 3 will be really (really) impressive.

Having said that, I will probably unload the money when I get back from Death Valley - assuming I have any money left. :P

James

I think the strength of the Apps for the iPad is greatly underestimated. I'm finding the Apps for a site are a way better experience than the browser experience. Banking..eBay..craigslist..CNN..not to mention the business apps and photography specific apps.

I handled a Xoom today at Costco. I did NOT like the product at all...though the fact that it had a USB port and HDMI were nice features. I had thought - briefly - that perhaps the Xoom was going to be the product to beat...LOL, at which point I would have to start 'Photographers with Xooms' on Facebook. Having said that, it looks like if we upgrade the ipad it will be to the new 2.

James

I won't be upgrading any time soon. I really enjoy the one iPad I have left, but I'll probably skip a generation.

I am, however, looking at the possibility of four Mac Book Airs for travel to shows.

Wouldn't 4 cheap notebooks go a lot farther?

James

I've got a deal for you on a Toshbia netbook that I haven't booted up since I got my iPad.

Preston,

How are you using your ipad as a viewing station? Are you shooting RAW? How are you converting once you get done with the shots??

James

At the moment I'm not using it as a viewing station. I'm using an old laptop. The netbook was too small for people to see. I still have high hopes of using the iPad when the software catches up.

I do always shoot RAW + Jpg so that I can show the JPGs immediately. I'm trying to figure out if Home Sharing is going to help, but it looks like it will only work on Macs.

If you set up WAMP / MAMP and a website, you can connect the iPad to the IP address given by WAMP and view that way.