iPad2: Not That Big Of A Deal?

Eyewitnesses claim to have seen a prototype. Some say it has several new features, others say they weren't blown away... Tags: iPad, Apple, mobility, wireless, iPhone, February 03, 2011

Just like photos of the iPhone4 were "mysteriously" released on the web a few months before the Apple gadget hit the market, pictures of the iPad2 have just surfaced online.

Mac repair shop iFixYouri posted the photos, which it says are of an iPad 2 sent from China. So what's new? Cue drum roll...

...Well not that much, apparently. The site says the second-generation Apple tablet will have a slightly thinner LCD screen - a difference of about one millimeter. It will also have a lighter display and a slightly different cable connector -- but the same resolution as its predecessor.

"Honestly, we were hoping to be blown away, but we're not ... " iFixYouri said in the post.

But wait a second, maybe there is more to it than meets the eye.

 

A Reuters employee claims to have seen a prototype of the device at Rupert Murdoch's launch of "The Daily," NewsCorp's digital newspaper, in New York City yesterday.

The iPad2, the staffer says, has a front-facing camera at the top edge of the glass screen. Meanwhile, manufacturing sources have said it will have two cameras - one in the front and one in the back - enabling users to make video calls. Apple is offering no comments.

The next version of Apple's popular tablet computer is expected to be announced in the next few months.

The original iPad was released in April and sold nearly 15 million units by the end of the year.

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