Techno Babble

The 2nd Generation Apple tablet computer is on sale from today in the US.

It should be available in a number of other countries including the UK on March 25th.

Slimmer than the original  at 9.5in x 7.31in x 0.34in (241.2mm x 185.7mm x 8.8mm)  and lighter too at around 1.33 pounds (600g) that’s 33% thinner and 15% lighter.

Powered by a custom designed 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 processor, with a 9.7 inch (diagonal) LED backlit multi-touch display providing a graphics resolution of 1024×768 pixels. The battery will allow up to 10 hours of use from a full charge.

New features include 2 cameras – a front facing camera providing VGA quality at up to 30 frames a second with audio, to support Apples’ FaceTime video calling facility and a back facing camera that allows recording HD images/video. The still back-facing camera provides 5x digital zoom. A 3-axis gyro, Accelerometer Ambient Light Sensor and Digital Compass are incorporated.

Available with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of storage in either Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi + 3G versions. Prices start from $499.

Notable accessories available (at extra cost) include:

The iPad 2 Smart Cover provides additional protection and can fold in just the right places to create a stand for holding the iPad.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/smart-cover/

Use the 30-pin to HDMI wow AV adapter to plug the iPad 2 into your HDTV, projector and display your iPad 2 screen so that everyone else can watch too

http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/mirroring.html

If you want to accurately model an iPod, then you need precise dimensional drawings

Last update 17 November 2011 – dimensional drawings for iPods, iPhones and iPads are available from the Apple Developer Center at

http://developer.apple.com/resources/cases/