Contrary to rumors across the Apple blogs, Cupertino opted Wednesday to go for the jugular, completely redesigning the iPad and including a dual-core A5 chip inside, providing about nine times the graphics performance of the original iPad. As expected, the device will ship with front and rear cameras, and will come in at two-thirds the thickness of the original device.
At a thickness of 8.8mm, it is actually thinner than the iPhone 4, a jovial (and obviously healthy enough) Steve Jobs boasted on stage in San Francisco. It would also come in a smidge lighter than its predecessor: 1.3 pounds versus 1.5 pounds for the first one.
And not willing to repeat the white iPhone 4 disaster, Apple says the iPad 2 will ship in two colors — white and black — from day one. It will also bring in more of the technologies from the iPhone that have made it such a successful development platform, such as a built-in gyroscope.