Screen and Input
The original iPad in its black case. For the iPad 2, Apple sells a Smart Cover rather than a case.
The iPad's touchscreen display is a 1024 × 768 pixel, 7.75×5.82 in (197×148 mm) liquid crystal display (diagonal 9.7 in (246.4 mm)), with fingerprint- and scratch-resistant glass. Steve Jobs backed the choice of screen size, saying a 7-inch screen would be "too small to express the software" and that 10 inches was the minimum for a tablet screen. Like the iPhone, the iPad is designed to be controlled by bare fingers; normal, non-conductive gloves and styli do not work, although there are special gloves and capacitive styli designed for this use.
The display responds to other sensors: an ambient light sensor to adjust screen brightness and a 3-axis accelerometer to sense iPad orientation and switch between portrait and landscape modes. Unlike the iPhone and iPod Touch's built-in applications, which work in three orientations (portrait, landscape-left and landscape-right), the iPad's built-in applications support screen rotation in all four orientations, including upside-down. Consequently, the device has no intrinsic "native" orientation; only the relative position of the home button changes.
There are four physical switches on the iPad, including a home button near the display that returns the user to the main menu, and three plastic physical switches on the sides: wake/sleep and volume up/down, plus a software-controlled switch whose function has changed with software updates. Originally the switch locked the screen to its current orientation, but the iOS 4.2 changed it to a mute switch, with rotation lock now available in an onscreen menu. In the iOS 4.3 update, released with the iPad 2, a setting was added to allow the user to specify whether the side switch was used for rotation lock or mute.
The original iPad had no camera; the iPad 2 has a front VGA camera and a rear-facing 720p camera, both capable of still images and 30fps video. The rear-facing camera has a 5x digital zoom for still images only. Both shoot photo and video in a 4:3 fullscreen aspect ratio, unlike the iPhone 4, which shoots in a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Unlike the iPhone, the iPad does not support tap to focus, but does allow you to tap to set auto exposure.[61] The cameras allow FaceTime video messaging with iPhone 4, iPod Touch 4, and Snow Leopard/Lion Macs.
iPAD 2
The iPad 2 is thinner and lighter than its predecessor, and is available in black or white
Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad 2, the second generation of the device, at a March 2, 2011, press conference, despite being on medical leave at the time. About 33% thinner than its predecessor and 15% lighter, the iPad 2 has a better processor, a dual core Apple A5 that Apple says is twice as fast as its predecessor for CPU operations and up to nine times as fast for GPU operations. It includes front and back cameras that support the FaceTime video calling application, as well as a three-axis gyroscope. It retains the original's 10-hour battery life and has a similar pricing scheme.
The iPad 2 has been available for purchase, depending on stock availability, since March 11, 2011, at Apple retail stores in the United States, as well as to United States customers shopping online at Apple's retail website.] The iPad 2 was released internationally in 25 other countries on March 25, 2011, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom, but not Japan as originally scheduled due to the earthquake and tsunami.
