You know, I didn't even notice the new headphone jack design, but that's very clever. The iPad 2 is a very thin device; it's frankly amazing how they fit everything into this case. It might not be the most technically powerful device on the market but it's the feel of the device, not the specs, that are impressive. There is a bit of the headphone plug exposed when you have some plugged in, but touching it doesn't produce any sound issues, so I imagine this is a nonissue.
The specs aren’t technically unimpressive. I thought they would be, too, but Anandtech just started with their benchmarks and CPU performance is great [1], GPU performance leaves everyone in the dust [2]. This, together with best in class battery life makes me wonder why anyone would currently buy a competitor. (The cameras are horrible. I guess if you really love cameras – seriously love – then you might want to check out competitors.)
At the risk of being labeled an Android fanboy - I've bought three Viewsonic G tablets after owning an iPad 1 for a few months. There's this thing out on the web called "Flash" that quite a few sites seem to use that the Froyo on the G-Tab supports. With Dolphin HD I also have integrated Password and Bookmark sync with my desktop computers using LastPass and Xmarks. In Android I am able to do some very nice things with Live Wallpapers to keep me updated on weather, and give me a nice animation of the current conditions. Since the G-Tab uses a Tegra 2 it has similar CPU and GPU ratings (Fruit Ninja HD looks positively lovely). Oh, and it's WiFi, comes with 16 GB of RAM, a Micro SD slot, a USB connection (external keyboard or USB stick) and costs $359.
So, there might be a FEW reasons to check out the competitors...
Yeah, there are definitely reasons to check out the competition. I don't know why this has to be a competition between owners. I enjoy the device I own but I acknowledge it has limitations.
