Apple announced the iPad2 this week.  I’d been following the rumors fairly closely, and as the launch neared, they went from wildly optimistic to pretty darn conservative.  In fact, by the day before the launch, prognosticators had the new product down to a half-version release with a more robust eye-catching version to be released in September.

I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but I decided to follow the launch.  Macworld was live blogging it, so I watched much of it live (until hubby decided he needed to fix the loose shingle on the roof of the garage, which meant he needed my help setting up the scaffolding — once that was done, I caught up with the announcement).

Apple decided to build slowly to the main event, but I think this version of the iPad will be worthwhile.  I’m basically happy with the first version, but I really wanted cameras on it — not for social photography (even I, queen of dorks, think holding up an iPad and crowing, “Say cheese!” to a group of people seems a little funky) but for capturing receipts, etc.

The iPad2 has cameras — VGA on the front facing camera and HD (720p) on the rear facing camera.  I don’t care about FaceTime or PhotoBooth, but I may use the PhotoBooth software now and then.  I don’t anticipate using FaceTime.  I’m not sure that justified upgrading from the initial version.

The iPad2 also has a dual core A5 processor, a slimmer form factor (it’s now thinner than an iPhone4), and lost two-tenths of a pound.  When it was only 1.5 pounds to begin with, that’s significant.  It did, however, retain it’s 10 hour battery life rating.  This, folks, is a winning package, especially since Apple retained the same pricing.

The screen is the same size and resolution.  It doesn’t have retina display.  I’m ok with that, but some people may want to hold out to get that.  I have not had any complaints with the original iPad screen.  It is HDMI capable (another dongle that connects through the dock connector port) for those who like to project to an external screen.

Apple took the time to devise a nifty cover for the iPad2.  While it looks nice and is an improvement on the original Apple design, it doesn’t look protective enough to me.  I’m more impressed with Speck Products, Candy Shell Wrap for the current iPad.  I’ve been pleased with the usability and durability of Speck’s cases.  (A little off-topic, one prime advantage to the newly released MacBookPro line of laptops their case dimensions did not change, so all the old MacBookPro cases still work on the new MacBookPro — case manufacturers must be thrilled!)

Am I going to get an iPad2?  Yes.  I plan to wait until I go to San Antonio in April and I’ll pick up a 64G WiFi model at the Apple Store.  I don’t plan to upgrade for several years, so I’ll get the extra storage on this model.