The iPad 2 is here! Are you surprised? Probably not. Apple is quite consistent with it’s product iterations. There’s nothing mind-blowing about the iPad 2, but it’s definitely set the new bar for tablets. Here’s the low-down:

Specs:

• iOS 4.3
• 9.7 inch capacitive glass screen with oleophobic (fingerprint resistant) coating @ 1024 x 768
• Dual-core Apple A5 CPU @ 1GHz
• Enhanced GPU that Apple claims is 9x faster
• 16/32/64GB memory options
• Forward-facing camera (with FaceTime support, naturally) @ 640×480 resolution
• Rear camera for up to 720p (1280×720) video recording
• Sensors: Gyroscope, accelerometer, light sensor, digital compass
• WiFi a/b/g/n & Bluetooth 2.1
• 3G & GPS (optional)
• 25 watt-hour battery
• White or black bezel options

Dimensions & Weight (and size comparisons):

The iPad 2 is 9.5 x 7.31 x 0.34 inches or 241.2 x 185.7 x 8.8 mm. That’s right, the iPad 2 is ridiculously thin, probably the thinnest tablet on the market. It’s even more thin than the iPhone 4 (9.3 mm).

Here is the iPad 2’s size visualized against two other 10 inch tablets, and the original iPad:

The iPad 2 is also a bit lighter than the original iPad: 1.33 pounds (601g) vs. 1.5 pounds (680g). Here’s how its weight stacks up to the competition:

Weight was one of my major complaints in my iPad review, so it’s nice to see that they’ve been able to bring it down somewhat. Still, as Chippy noted on twitter earlier, they fell short of the important 1 pound mark.

Design

The design of the iPad 2 isn’t far off from the original, though they’ve reshaped it to make it much more like the latest generation of iPod Touch.

Specifically, they’ve flattened the dome shape on the back of the iPad, but still let the edges taper up to the sides of the device. This eliminates one of the surfaces, so now you’ve essentially got just a front and back with a smooth transition between, rather than individual sides. Keeping the sides rounded means you’ll be able to get your fingers under the device to pick it up, but the overall width of the iPad 2 has been reduced over the original.

Thanks to Apple’s iPad 2 video, we got to see some cool shots of the device’s insides. Check it out below:

Continue reading on page 2 (Cameras, CPU, GPU, & Battery Life, Display Mirroring & AirPlay, iOS 4.3)…

The video below shows one of two designs for a 7 inch Oaktrail Tablet from ECS. Remember ECS design and manufacture devices for others so you might, if others are interested, see this reach the market under another brand. We hear that production is possible the May timeframe.

ECS are aiming for a sub 400gm weight and 6hrs of battery life and the following specifications…

More ECS Tablet images including the 10 inch and 7 inch designs in this gallery.

Shuttle already make a couple of tablets as an OED but there’s a few more on show today including two 10″ Tegra devices with different designs. Both of these are available to the OEM with a choice of processing platforms including Tegra 2. There’s a choice of screen resolution too. The new devices are due to be ready in May along with the 7″ device, a non working sample, shown in the image below.

Posted from WordPress for Android with the Galaxy Tab

I have a meeting with ECS tomorrow and will get some videos made of these Oaktrail-based 7 inch and 10 inch tablets but in the meantime I’ve uploaded a bunch of images. Both designs looks good. The 7 inch design is non working and the version I have in my hand is not the current industrial design as seem in the display cabinet images.

Full gallery here or click through from the images below.

Targeted for end of May with  a €499 entry price, this is the Asus Eee Pad Memo running dual-core, 1.2Ghz Snapdragon and showing the Bluetooth handset. Voice apps also feature on this device.

Posted from WordPress for Android with the Galaxy Tab

MSI have the Tegra powered Windpad behind glass here at CEBIT.

The images above show full sd card slot, mini-hdmi, mini-USB, one full-sized USB port and the same optical mouse as seen on the Windows-based Windpad 110w.

MSI say that this will be available in the Q2 timeframe and MSI are aiming for the Honeycomb OS.

Posted from WordPress for Android with the Galaxy Tab

While the Intel N450 version of the Viewpad 10 isn’t bad (I have a Tegatech Tega V2 based on the same hardware here) it gets a little more interesting when you move to the N550 CPU; Especially when it’s paired with Windows Home Premium and 2GB of RAM.

Having tested a few N550 devices over recent months I know that the combo lifts Windows 7 into a much more usable space where the UI smooths out nicely, mutitasking is closer to the desktop experience, 720p playback works and even a touch of H.264 video editing is possible. At 0.85KG it is the lightest Atom N550 PC in the world!

OK, the required keyboard and a stand would take you up over 1KG, possibly 1.5KG if you want a 10hr+ solution with a battery pack, but you’ve got quite a bit of flexibility there. What a shame it doesn’t have a docking station; It could have been one of the best value hot-desktops going.

The price? Under 500 Euros. Availability is looking like EU only within the next 4 weeks but we’re checking with Viewsonic Europe.

Via Geizhals, Netbooknews

Many of the large U.S. based computing websites got a Xoom to test under embargo recently and obviously there’s been a quick rush of content out of the door as the embargo lifts today. (List of reviews below)

More images in our Gallery

Our Hand-on Here.

Full specs, review links and more videos here.

Of the Honeycomb tablets we saw at MWC the Xoom was clearly the best in terms of UI-feel but both Samsung and LG still have time to optimise their software before launch. Interestingly, the Xoom is looking very vanilla in terms of applications and that’s probably because this is a project that Google have been heavily involved with as the launch product for Honeycomb. Expect both the Samsung and the LG tablets to have different angles with Samsung likely to go for a heavily enhanced software package and LG using their 3D technology to make a difference.

Back to the Xoom though and it’s difficult to get a real feel from what looks like a 2-day hands-on before the ‘reviews’ were posted but there’s already unanimous agreement that the UI is good, it’s fast (we measured the fastest Sunspider/Android result ever on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 which uses the same hardware and software.)

There’s also a widespread worry about the lack of Honeycomb/Tegra2 optimised software (although the Google applications suite does look to be well designed) and obviously a question over the $799 price. That, however, is likely to drop fairly quickly as soon as market competitors launch.

Image via Slashgear

Battery life reports are positive as are thoughts on the camera quality and software. It remains to be seen just how many will be using it as a photographic device but there’s some interesting virtual reality use-cases that shouldn’t be forgotten.

One element of the software suite that I’m interested in is the video editing software. Without even looking at it I can’t see how it can be that fast at processing 720p video for overlays and fades; processes which take huge amounts of CPU power. We must not forget that the Tegra 2 platform is still in the sub-netbook performance category. Engadget report that Movie Studio is ‘ inchgenerally sluggish. inch Laptop Magazine, however, calls it a “fairly robust editing app. inch but then goes on to talk about how the Xoom started to get “bogged down inch when previewing and editing.

Flash support is missing along with support for the Micro SD card slot but Motorola are promising a software update to enable those features.

There’s a feeling that Motorola might not have been 100% ready for the launch of the Xoom but have gone ahead and taken the risk anyway. We would expect the first firmware updates in just a few weeks an at that point it’s probably worth re-visiting updated reviews to see if some of the holes have been patched.

At $799 the Xoom is not quite worth its money in its current state and with competitors like the Iconia Tab, Galaxy Tab 10.1, LG Optimus Pad and, potentially, an iPad 2 it would pay to wait. Certainly don’t go committing to a 2-year contract today!

A list of current reviews is show below and we’ve selected some YouTube videos for the product database page. Tip us here if you see any other good reviews.

Motorola Xoom Review Roundup
Motorola Xoom Review – PC Magazine
Motorola Xoom Review – Laptop Magazine
Motorola Xoom Review – Mobile Crunch
Motorola Xoom Review – Cnet
Motorola Xoom Review – JKontheRun
Motorola Xoom Review – Android Community
Motorola Xoom Review – Engadget
Motorola Xoom Review – Slashgear

Also check the Xoom Questions List before you buy.