Black Friday deals on tablets (Android, iPad 2)

Thinking about buying a tablet this Black Friday? NewEgg.com has some refurbished Android tablets that are a great deal!

These are each $369.99

SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab 10.1 Refurbished Tablet - Metallic Gray NVIDIA Tegra 2 1.00GHz 10.1" Wide XGA 1GB Memory 16GB Storage HDD NVIDIA ULP GeForce

MOTOROLA XOOM with Wi-Fi Refurbished Tablet NVIDIA Tegra 2 1.00GHz 10.1" Wide XGA 1GB DDR2 Memory 32GB Flash HDD NVIDIA ULP GeForce

You can also get a Refurbished iPad 2 with Wi-Fi 16GB for $449.00 from the online Apple Store.

ZAGGfolio iPad 2 Folio

Are you looking for a keyboard/case combo for your iPad 2? The ZAGGfolio iPad 2 Folio could be what you need. I've used a number of different ZAGG products in the past and this thin multi-function iPad folio case looks very impressive. I currently use the ZAGGmate with keyboard for my original iPad.

The removeable iPad keyboard works in combination with the built-in stand to give you the most flexibility of use.

You can learn more about the ZAGGfolio iPad 2 Folio here.

iOS 4.3.2 update will fix connection problems on the Verizon iPad 2

There are some iPad 2 users on the Verizon Wireless network who have been experiencing connection problems. Apple will soon release the iOS 4.3.2 update that should fix those problems, so stay tuned!

The iPad 2 dissected

Watch the iFixit team dissect the new Apple iPad 2! As you can imagine, there is a very large (but flat) battery in the iPad 2.

View the "iPad 2 Wi-Fi Teardown" (I think I'd rather call it a dissection). 

Further thoughts about the iPad 2 and the rest of the competition

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

Well, this is the week of the iPad so I had to get a post in of my own to talk about it a little bit and try not to cover what's already been covered on our blog here and here. I know that we have discussed in depth the upcoming competitors to the iPad, but now that the iPad 2 is official, it seems fitting that we give it a real comparison. Personally, I think the iPad 2 looks great, but will probably not change the mind of those who are against certain things it lacks (click the third "here" above)--it really didn't pick up any of those. And for those of you with iPad 1's, unless you plan on doing a lot of video editing or video outputting via the new HDMI accessory, you may just want to wait until the iPad 3 or 2.5--it might be here sooner than you think.

But, to that comparison I was talking about. Lifehacker put up a great table today comparing all the major players. Take a look here and judge them for yourself.

Here's what the iPad 2 is still missing

There's no doubt that the iPad 2 is a significant upgrade from the original iPad. However, there are several features I would have really liked to see (and that will probably be found on the iPad 3):

• LED flash for the rear camera. You don't really need this on the front-facing camera, but this is almost a standard feature on most devices now.
• 4G wireless. 3G is so 2010...
• USB port
• SD card slot (or at least a microSD card slot)

I'm going to hang onto my current iPad and wait for the iPad 3 (which will probably have some of these features).

By the way, you can now get the original iPad for a great deal!

Will the iPad 2 charge via standard USB?

If you have an existing iPad, you may have noticed that the iPad indicates that it doesn't charge when it's plugged into a standard USB port. In reality, it's receiving a low, trickle charge that slowly charges the iPad when the screen's off (but you would have no way of knowing that it's charging).

The specs on the iPad 2 indicate:
Charging via power adapter or USB to computer system.

It doesn't specify high-output USB ports, so does this mean that the new iPad 2 will actually charge on a standard USB port - even when you're using the iPad 2?