iPad 2 UK Sells Out

Reports today are hinting that the iPad 2 has sold out in the UK and that stock will not be available for a few more weeks now. The Daily Mail says that within 24 hours, all iPad 2’s we gone. What we have found is that a few other stores (non Apple stores) still have a few left here and there. If you want to still get your hands on one in the UK, check the likes of Argos through the morning. We found that very occasionally, a particular model would be available for next day or 2 day delivery. Other than that, most places have little or no stock.

It isn’t known just yet how many iPad 2 units were sold in the UK, or across Europe for that matter. We expect Apple to publish a press release in the next few weeks telling us that they beat last years iPad launch. We also expect that we might need to wait for the 2 – 5 week wait for UK shipments to pass so those numbers can also be reported on. [Read more…]

iPad 2 Screen is Thinner but Breaks Less

When the first iPad 2 was taken apart, it was quickly noted that the glass was quite a bit thinner, 27% thinner to be precise. This led to some speculation that the iPad 2 would suffer with more screen breakages.

It seems though, after a bit of testing, that the screen could be just fine thanks to it being thin and a little more bendy than the original iPad 1 screen. The video below gives a demonstration of an iPad and iPad 2 screen being bent, beaten and generally used in a way not recommended by Apple. The second gen screen was just as tough as the original iPad screen in terms of breakages. [Read more…]

iPad 2 UK Shipping Begins in 2 to 3 Weeks

For those wanting to keep away from the iPad 2 queues tomorrow afternoon, it seems you’ll have an even longer wait than expected as the expected shipping time for the iPad 2 went online with in the last hour and the moment they went online, the dispatch time was 2 to 3 weeks.

Out of the 12 variations of the iPad 2 that are available, all of them have a shipping date of 2 to 3 weeks. Good news is that you can order now though and every model, black/white, 3G/WiFi only and all three capacities of each, is available to pre-order, but you’ll need to wait to get it.

It isn’t clear why Apple opted to open pre-orders on the early hours of the 25th other than trying to get more people in to stores, or perhaps due to known shortages of the new tablet device. [Read more…]

Subsidised iPad 2 Coming to T-Mobile UK – £199

Tomorrow is March 25, which also means that the iPad 2 will be going on sale at Apple stores in the UK. We now hear that T-Mobile will also be selling the iPad 2, on contract, for £199.

There are two prices for the iPad 2 on T-Mobile with the first being £199 and available to existing customers and the second is £229 for new customers. The only model available is the 3G 16GB with the 32GB and 64GB models not being sold through T-Mobile. [Read more…]

iPad 2 Pricing Official in UK

Earlier today, Apple confirmed that the iPad 2 was launching in the UK, along with 24 other countries this coming Friday. We heard rumors about pricing and now have confirmation that the iPad 2 is slightly cheaper than the original iPad at launch.

There are 12 variations of the iPad 2 coming to the UK and each will be priced as follows:

iPad 16GB WiFi (black/white) – £399 inc VAT
iPad 32GB WiFi (black/white) – £479 inc VAT
iPad 64GB WiFi (black/white) – £559 inc VAT [Read more…]

iPad 2 Coming to UK this Friday

Apple has announced that the iPad 2 will be launching in the UK this Friday (March 25) as expected. The launch is also happening in 24 other countries at the same time.

The new tablet will be going on sale at 1am this coming Friday where you’ll be able to place a pre-order. Apple will also be opening its doors in all the Apple stores at 5pm local time.

“While competitors are still struggling to catch up with our first iPad, we’ve changed the game again with iPad 2,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re experiencing amazing demand for iPad 2 in the US, and customers around the world have told us they can’t wait to get their hands on it. We appreciate everyone’s patience and we are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”

[Read more…]

iPad 2 3G Mic Seems to Have Issues

After a bit of testing, it appears that the 3G enabled iPad 2 microphone might have a few issues.

In particular, the problem reveals that sound echos a bit as well as sounds a bit muffled when using the 3G model. The reason is believed to be because of the change in location of the microphone. On the original iPad, the microphone was on the top left of the device about 8 – 10mm from the 3.5mm headphone jack. On the new iPad, Apple moved it to the middle top of the device and on the 3G version, it is embedded right on the black bar where the antenna is found. [Read more…]

Flickr for iPad Gets Photo Light Box

Although there’s no official Flickr App for the iPad, the company has decided to make a more friendly browser version for those using the said tablet.

The new version of the website has now improved the photo light box for those specifically using Safari on the iPad. When loading up a picture, the light box appears and provides full screen browsing of photos. To get it to work, you load up Flickr, tap on any photo and at that point, it opens up to full screen (where available), and lets you flick left and right between the remaining pictures in a set. [Read more…]

Angry Birds HD for iPad Updated – Annoys Downloaders

Rovio updated Angry Birds HD for the iPad last night and along with that, a number of new levels, 15 to be precise, were added. The updates normally go down very well, but this time around, version 1.5.3 was hit with some criticism due to Rovio putting ads in the paid version of the game.

I would have rated this game with 5 stars if the latest update didn’t have ads. I can’t get rid of them. I buy apps to get rid of ads not to get bombarded with more.

Added “News” section when paused- this impacts the time to restart the level and continuous fade-in animation is very distracting. Now we’re forced to wait until the news loads EVERY SINGLE time the game is paused before restarting. Serious players will now have to wait an extra second or so each time a level restart is required.

Come on, Rovio!! You’ve made spam more important than playability. Bad move.

[Read more…]

iOS 4.3 Personal Hotspot Passes GPS Details to iPad

Apple rolled out iOS 4.3 recently and with that came the ability to use the iPhone 4 as a personal wireless hotspot for up to 3 users (generally a paid extra on your contract). What we didn’t know is that when connecting up to the wireless hotspot with a WiFi iPad 1 or 2, the GPS data is shared with the iPad and allows you to pinpoint where you are on a map.

Prior to being able to do this, the regular WiFi iPad could not get GPS information due to the A-GPS module only being included on the 3G model. Having this feature bundled in is quite handy, especially for those wanting to see quickly where they are on an iPad. [Read more…]

Could ASUS Ship a $200 Netbook? Perhaps with the Help of Google!

Although it has never succeeded in getting prices down to $200, we now hear that ASUS are yet again attempting to get the netbook down to the $200 to $250 price point.

ASUS is attempting to drop the price due to competition from the new generation tablets such as the Galaxy Tab, iPad and Motorola Xoom to name a few. Since the launch of the iPad, netbook sales have slowly dropped as people seem to prefer the mobile phone type operating system on a 7 to 10 inch screen for “lazy time browsing”. By pricing a netbook at $200 to $250, it would position the 10 inch netbook at just below the price of regular tablets and in doing this, could help boost sales so that the company hits its 6 million goal this year. [Read more…]

US iPad 2 Shipping Dates Now 4 – 5 Weeks

Apple yet again saw success over the weekend with iPad 2 sales and due to this, there are now some significant delays for those buying any of the models on line.

Currently there are 18 different iPad 2 variations available and every single one of them is now has a shipping date of 4 – 5 weeks. [Read more…]