After it’s all been said and done, let’s check how my predictions turned out.
1. Whoops. Thinner, lighter design and a white version.
2. On the money concerning storage. They did upgrade the processor with the A5. No info on the ram yet, but I’ll stick with my earlier guess that they would only update one or the other.
3. On the money.
4. Right about the front facing camera. Wrong about the rear camera. I’m still not convinced the form factor makes sense for using as a camera.
5. On the money.
6. On the money.
7. Right about same battery life, but the energy savings are hardware side it seems.
8. They did show iOS 4.3 and some new apps, namely iMovie and Garageband. The demos were pretty impressive. A perfect example of the possibilities with IOS devices. Incredible.
9. On the Money.
10. Whoops. But there are some cheaper refurbs out there now.
So, about 6 out of 10, if I give myself part marks for where I was half right.
All in all, it’s an awesome update that is more than I really expected, especially with the A5 chip bringing in all those improvements. The redesign is nice and should alleviate a lot of the complaints about the iPad being to heavy for long holding sessions. Like I tweeted, Apple has really thrown down the gauntlet with this device(and their desktop class apps), responding to their competitors who haven’t even shipped anything yet, save for the Galaxy Tab.
Definitely getting one when the budget allows.