Apple unveils the iPad 2

Apple’s iPad 2 announcement was nothing short of awesome. Steve Job’s enters the stage and a standing ovation for the man behind the success of Apple. In a nutshell… the iPad 2 is thinner, faster, and serves us up HDMI out. Don’t forget the camera on the new iPad 2!

They are calling it “2011 – The year of the iPad 2”.  They really pushed the envelope of technology and served up a tasty piece of tech that the world will get to get their hands on starting March 11th.

They started off with some stats…

100 Million Books downloaded last year.

200 Million Apple ID’s

$2 Billion paid out to apple developers

Lastly… the 100 millionth iPhone was shipped.

“Our most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.”  The original iPad sold 15 million copies in 2010, more than any tablet ever. They made $9.5 billion in 2010 and took 90% of the market share! Currently there are over 65,000 apps for the iPad… Honeycomb – 100. Ouch!!

The iPad 2 has an all new design. Starting with the processor, the all new ‘A5’ is what they are calling it. Dual-core processors, up to 2x faster CPU and up to 9x faster graphics! It has the same low power as the A4 and it’s the first dual core tablet to ship in volume.

They  iPad two now has a front and rear facing camera. Attached with home made software to really make it shine. From photo booth to, of course, Face Time.

The iPad is now 33% THINNER than the iPad, its even thinner than the iPhone 4! What’s to come with the new iPhone is my real question… Its now at an astounding 8.8mm thick and weighs in at 1.3 pounds! I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these. Did I mention that they have a white version?!!  Its also going to have the same 10 hour battery life and over a month of standby.

Here are your prices… Wifi Only: 16gb $499, 32gb $599 and 64gb $699. WiFi + 3G: 16gb $629, 32gb $729, 64gb $829.

The HDMI out is mirrored video output. Scales up to 1080P and it works with ALL apps. It supports rotation and no setup or configuration is required! Plus… you charge the iPad at the same time at the cost of $39.

The case they designed is pretty amazing. It has 4 flaps that cover the front of the device. It can be folded in various ways to support the iPad in various positions. There are no screws, glue or clips to hold this on. They are using magnets! The magnets grasp and auto-align it. It has a micro-fiber lining that cleans the screen and when you put in on it sleeps the iPad and when you take it off it wakes it!

With the new iPad comes the new iOS. iOS 4.3.  They upgraded Safari performance with Nitro JavaScript Engine, iTunes home sharing lets you share all your content over wifi. They have also included AirPlay improvements and a preference for iPad switch to either Mute or lock rotation.

I’m pretty excited about this… the iPad two now has video editing!! iMovie will be available for $4.99 and you can edit all your movies and show them off in full HD right on the iPad 2.

GarageBand is the next greatest app to hit the iPad with Touch instruments, guitar amps and effects, 8 track recording and mixing, 250+ loops and you can email the AAC file of your song . Its 100% compatable with the Mac version.

I’ve only really touched on all the features but regardless… its going to be an amazing product and getting your hands on one of these is going to be a delicious treat!