So I got a chance to play with the iPad 2 a lot this weekend.
Picking it up wasn't too bad. I got to Best Buy at about 3:15 to a line of ~50. By 5 the line was to at least ~250 and wrapped around to the back of the building.
The thing is crazy thin. Feels really, really good to hold. Love the cover.
I have come to realize that this is how video chat is done. It's not done on a phone where you have to hold your arm up. For some reason when doing Facetime on a phone it almost feels awkward, kind of like someone is in your personal space because all you see is their face. On the iPad, I set it on my coffee table using the cover as a stand and it gets a view of most of my couch. When doing facetime with friends its like we are all in the same room... Coolest feeling ever. We find ourselves turning it on and hanging out for an hour at a time, chatting about the previous night etc. Maybe the luster will wear off some, but I honestly don't think so. It really FEELS like you're with the other person.
Garageband is the coolest app of all time. Amazing implementation. Intuitive. Hours and hours of fun.
The apps look great. I downloaded one app optimized for iPad2 called Real Racing HD 2 (look it up), and the graphics are stupid good. There is 16 person online multiplayer that I haven't tried yet, but it looks fun.
All in all I'm loving the device. The hardware is fast, but like I've said before, it isn't about hardware as long as apps run with fluidity. It's about apps - that is ALL it is about. You don't buy this thing to do nothing on it, you buy it to run apps, and Apple has a shitload of them.