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On the very day Rimm announced availability (April 19th) and pricing (16GB -$500) for its BlackBerry tablet, Apple counters with its own press release stating that the iPad 2 will go ahead and push into 25 more countries without delay on Friday, the 25th of March. This is what is called a ball-breaker! Apple will essentially have global distribution of the iPad 2 before the Playbook is even released in the States – Check & Mate!

Are you living in a lucky country? Have a look:

“…iPad 2 with Wi-Fi will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK on March 25 for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model, $699 (US) the 64GB model. iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G will be available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad 2 will be available in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and additional countries in April, and in many more countries around the world in the coming months. Further international availability and pricing will be announced at a later date….”

One thing is for sure, don’t expect such low prices, especially for my brothers living here in Europe. Higher tax rates and import duties have sealed our faith and our price points but for the die hard iPad fans, I’m sure you’ve already sold your first born.

Source: Apple.com

This last Friday marked the first day Apple’s iPad 2 became available and four days into Jobs “third post-pc era”, we’re beginning to get some user reviews. From comments I’ve read across the blog-o-sphere, people seem to be very satisfied with the overall speed, thinness and graphics performance but one thing or should I say, “two things,” people are getting worked up about are the cameras. That’s right, Jobs & Co have placed two extremely low quality cameras (front/back) in their next gen tablet.

How bad are these cameras? Well, so bad that Apple didn’t even make mention about their specs at the iPad 2′s unveiling, nor can you find anything on Apple’s website. The chatter we’ve heard goes like this: The back side camera is upscaling 720p (like the 4th gen ipod touch) and the front facing camera (you know, the one meant for facetime) is less than 1 megapixel. If you want to sell us the full package Apple, go the distance – we don’t like foreplay.

So, first we had the iPad 2 tear down, courtesy of ifixit and now we have the heavy hitter – Anandtech’s graphics benchmark test for Apple’s new Tab. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand the results – The Cupertino Tab destroys the competition handedly. So where is this raw power coming from? Jobs and Company bragged about the iPad’s graphics prowess during its unveiling on March 2nd, stating that it had 9x the graphics horsepower of the first gen iPad but nothing was said in terms of where/how/why.

Enter AnandTech! It looks like the massive performance boost came from the PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics core used by Apple, as part of their custom SOC – i.e. A5 processor. Apple has been using custom PowerVR chips from Imagination Technologies for years and their massive graphics power, combined with the custom ARM Cortex A9 (Dual Core 900Mhz) processor make Apple’s SOC A5 the heavy weight champ in mobile computing – because seriously, these are becoming very powerful mobile computers.

Ok, so if the iPad 2 beats the crap out of the first gen ipad and its main competitor, the Motorola Xoom, why didn’t Apple exploit this little fact at their March 2nd unveiling? Seem only logical…..right? Well, maybe the wanted third party benchmarkers to do the bragging/dirty work for them? Jobs did plenty of finger pointing and dissing during the event – why over state your position, when someone else can unbiasedly praise your Tab! HP, bring the heat!

Source: Anandtech.com

“If you build it, they will come.” Apple released the iPad 2 to the world on Friday and by limiting pre-orders, has generated lines at many of its retail locations – was this premeditated by Jobs & Company for the line-less Verizon iPhone 4 launch? Regardless, the faithful and non-believing lined up early Friday for their slice of the slate. Many organizations are already predicting 600,000+ ipad 2 sales just for this weekend, Apple’s stock price…..up 4.82 as of this article.

Source: BGR.com / Image Source: Cnet.com

Source: Colbertnation.com

Source: Engadget.com

Everyone was waiting, speculating and predicting but Apple made it so at 10am Wednesday morning at their San Francisco iPad event. iPad 2 is official and what an update it was! Same display 9.5in x 7.31in but only .34in thin – dual cameras – AT&T and Verizon versions – 16GB/ 32GB/ 64GB Storage Versions – A5 Dual Processor – 10 Hour Battery Life – 1080p Video Out - Video Mirroring & Video Out Support & so much more..

720p video recording at 30fps from the iPad 2′s back camera with still camera 5x digital zoom – yes please. Front camera does video recording, VGA up to 30 frames per second with audio; VGA-quality still camera. That not enough, how about having your iPad essentially turn into an Apple TV – throwing audio/video from your TV to the iPad and from the iPad to the TV. Huge!

While storage stays the same 16GB/32GB/64GB – the new A5 dual processor is twice as fast and has 9x the graphics power. That’s perfect for the new iMovie, Photo Both, Garage band and ibooks apps coming in with the new iOS 4.3, which will ship in 11 days, when the iPad 2 is available. Still not that impressed and just want the first iPad, you’re in luck, especially since the price has dropped to $399 for the 16GB wifi model. Check out the full specs at Apple.com – just click here.

Source: Apple.com