iPad 2 rumours: cameras, gyroscope, USB ports, and more
Possibly a coffee maker, wings, and a petting zoo as well
If years of precedence with Apple’s other annually updated products are anything to go by, the Cupertino company’s slick tablet could see its successor early next year. A next generation iPad is expected any time between January and April 2011.
But what will this fabled gadget do that its predecessor couldn’t? What sensors, gizmos, ports, and buttons will it have to make Apple fans cough up another few hundred pounds? According to these juicy rumours, a whole lot.
Sources speaking to China’s Economic Daily News say the device will have two cameras: one on the back and one on the front, just like the iPhone 4. DigiTimes reports that Largan Precision has been awarded a contract to make camera lens modules for the iPad 2. They’re the same guys who made snappes for the iPhone 4.
Sources say the new tablet will sport a spiffy Retina display screen, meaning super-high resolution visuals. But other sources say a 9-inch Retina screen would be far too expensive for Apple to produce. Instead, sites like KitGuru have heard that the iPad 2 will be a Galaxy Tab-sized 7-inch jobby, with Retina display.
Steve Jobs, however, says otherwise. “7-inch tablets are going to be DOA -- dead on arrival,” the Apple bossman told investors.
Other titbits include a gyroscope for better motion-sensing capabilities (the EE Times corroborates this rumour) and a USB port for more media uploading. Analyst Brian Blair thinks the iPad 2 will have a CMDA-GSM chip, meaning it’ll get online anywhere in the world. He also reckons it will be thinner, and made from one piece of metal.
Other upgrades are pure speculation. Pundits expect the iPad to have a faster processor and much more memory. The 256MB of RAM (same as the fourth-generation iPod touch, but half the iPhone 4) sometimes struggles with iOS 4.2’s multitasking.
We’ll know for sure next year. Sources with China’s Economic Daily News say April or May in 2011, to directly compete with Blackberry’s tablet, the PlayBook.
What do you want in your next iPad? Let us know in the comments.
