Steve Jobs surprised the crowd at Apple’s event in San Francisco today by appearing despite having been out of action recently. His actual announcement — the second generation iPad — was not so surprising. Officially known as the iPad 2, the new tablet is faster, thinner, and has a new design.
The iPad 2 will carry a dual-core A5 processor and has “up to 9X faster graphics.” As expected, it has a front-facing camera (paired with FaceTime video conferencing support) to go along with the rear-facing one and is much thinner — down from 13.4mm for the original iPad to 8.8mm. It’s also lighter; it’ll weigh 1.3 pounds rather than the first iPad’s 1.5 pounds. It also now has a gyroscope and, with a $39 accessory, the ability to output 1080p video through HDMI. Angry Birds HD on a big HDTV?
Apple also showed a screen cover/case that protects the screen but can then be pulled back and folded to act as a stand. It connects and auto-aligns itself with magnets and will wake the device up and put it sleep when it’s taken off and put on. With five different color options, these will be available in polyurethane for $39 and leather for $69.
