iPad 2 Hands-On and Unboxing [World Record Entry]
Welcome to the world record video of yours truly opening up the iPad 2. This is the world record for amount of time between the purchase of an iPad and the opening of the box, or it was supposed to be, but I couldn't last past 23 hours (24 hours is the world record as held by Don Johnson of Miami.) Thusly, here's the second place to the world record for iPad 2 box openings, as presented to you by me on behalf of SlashGear. Enjoy the heck out of it.
What you're going to see here is the iPad 2 16GB Wifi version, aka the least expensive version of the iPad 2 that you can purchase. It was approximately a 1 hour wait in line at the Mall of America plus about 45 minutes before the door opened until the line before this iPad was delivered to my hands. They certainly did not sell out that day of this particular model there at the Apple Store at the MoA, but the AT&T and Verizon models were sold out about 10 mints before [AT&T] and after [Verizon] I received the golden ticket for this one.
On the presentation table in the video you'll see the magnificence of the backpack Apple bag, the one with two nice straps for easy mall carrying. Inside you'll find a lovely new 16GB Wifi Apple iPad 2 along with the official vinyl gray colored Smart Cover. The Smart Cover is what's opened first, it revealing a cool transparent plastic front, white and printed card back, and a nice little hitch to keep them connected. The cover itself is study, smooth to the touch, full of magnets, and appears as though it'll deflect any bombardment.
The printed iPad 2 box was interesting in that we were definitely not impressed by the printing quality on the top (or the front, however you look at it,) and/or the photography job. It's one of the two, or perhaps the graphic design job, as it appears that in their effort to make the iPad 2 look small, they made it look out of place. Instead, in my own grand opinion, they should have stuck with the straight-on sideways view like they've done with the current line of laptops. Those look nice and fabulous. The printing around the sides of the box is of course perfect, the design impeccable, as it just shows the "iPad" mark written in Apple's Myriad Pro and the Apple logo stamped in silver on either side. The back is blank white save for some tiny copyrights at the bottom as well as some stickers telling what's inside as well as showing off the barcodes needed to purchase.
Inside the box, under the hood, is a thin layer of padding to protect the tablet. The tablet itself sits right on top once the box is opened, a layer of plastic surrounding it, protecting it from scratches. Let me tell you here that you don't want to be mailing this box with the iPad in it anywhere without at least putting a bunch of bubble wrap around it to pad it inside a second box. No way in heck this'd get through the mail without a cracked screen. Below the tablet is a package holding instructions, a card with a guide, and stickers. Below this package is the USB connector cord, and to the side you'll find the USB-converter wall plug for power.
The actual iPad 2 unit is lovely. The only thing I believe I might say about it that's anything different from anyone else who's held this device is that I might regret having purchased the white version. While white might seem like the cool choice, especially considering how long we've been waiting for the iPhone in white, black just acts as a better pallet unto which lovely content can be contained. Will I return it and switch for black? Nah. If I'd held a white one and a black one in my hands before purchasing, would I have chosen black? Probably yes.
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The rest I'll leave to the actual review. The perspective I'll be offering in the review of this iPad 2 is one of an Android addict. I've currently got a lot of my focus as a member of the R3 group pointed towards Android Community which affords me many close looks at amazing Android products. I've got a XOOM sitting right here, an ATRIX 4G over there, an Inspire 4G in the drawer, and so on. Thusly you can rest assured I'll be putting this tablet through the paces from a perspective not oft seen in the blogs of Apple lovers anonymous. Seeya there!
