The iPad 2 has the same dock-connector port and power requirements as the original iPad, which means that if you have a charger or battery pack made for the original iPad, it should work just fine with the new model.
However, if your current charger or battery wasn't made for the iPad, the answer is a bit more complicated. As we , the iPad requires more juice than any iPhone or iPod, so power accessories made for those devices--in other words, those that don't sport the badge--won't charge the iPad as quickly as its own 10-Watt USB charger. High-power iPhone chargers, such as Apple's iPhone Power Adapter and some AC and auto chargers designed specifically for the iPhone, will charge the iPad more slowly, even while the iPad is in use. Other iPhone chargers and most chargers designed for iPods don't provide enough juice to charge the iPad's battery during use; you'll see the message in the iPad's menu bar. (These lower-power accessories will the iPad during use; they just can't charge the battery at the same time. When you put the iPad to sleep, the iPad's battery will charge, but very slowly.)
The situation is similar for external batteries. Most batteries made for the iPhone or iPod will charge your iPad's battery only during sleep, and even then, very slowly. A few higher-power iPod and iPhone batteries will be able to power the iPad during use, but won't charge its battery unless it's asleep.
Bottom line: If you want to be able to charge your iPad's battery quickly, you'll want a Made for iPad battery.
Like the original iPad, the iPad 2 doesn't ship with headphones, so you'll need to . The iPad 2 sports Apple's now-standard headphone jack, which means it supports the same types of headphones as recent iPhone, iPod touch, and Mac models: Any set of headphones with a 1/8-inch (3.5mm) miniplug will work fine for listening to audio, and if you have headphones with an Apple-style inline remote control, that controller will work with the iPad 2 just as it does with other Apple products--a single-button remote will let you control media playback, and a three-button remote will let you control playback as well as adjust the iPad's volume level. If the inline remote includes a microphone, that mic will also work (see the next item).
The microphone on any Apple-compatible inline remote/mic module will work as a mono microphone for making voice recordings in supported apps. It will also work in Skype and other voice-related apps.
Older dock-connector microphones for the iPod--including the --didn't work with the original iPad, and nothing seems to have changed in terms of compatibility with the iPad 2. However, , an iPad-compatible dock-connector microphone.
One alternative, which we , is a USB microphone. Although not officially supported, if you connect a USB microphone to the USB dongle of Apple's , the iPad will recognize the microphone and let you use it in any microphone-supporting app. The caveat here is that this direct connection works only with low-power USB microphones, such as . If you've got a USB mic that requires more juice, you can still use it with the iPad, but you'll need a powered USB hub, as well--you plug the into the Camera Connection Kit's USB dongle, then plug the microphone into the hub. We've tested this with and .
As with other iOS devices, Bluetooth stereo () headphones pair easily with the iPad 2; all audio--for example, audio from the iPod and Video apps, and sound from games--plays through the paired headphones. However, as with the original iPad, audio from the wasn't routed through the headphones in my testing, and for those Bluetooth headphones that include a microphone, that microphone did not work with Skype or audio-recording apps. (It did work for phone calls.)
When it comes to playback control, the iPad 2 is in better shape than the original iPad was when it debuted last year, as iOS now includes support for , the Bluetooth profile that allows full playback control via Bluetooth headphones and speakers. (This feature .) If you've got Bluetooth headphones with playback controls--Previous, Play/Pause, Next--you can use those buttons to control media playback on the iPad 2.
We tested the iPad with several Bluetooth mono headsets, and while we were able to pair some of them with the iPad 2, we were unable to direct any of the iPad 2's audio to the headset, nor were we able to use the headset's microphone with applications that accept microphone input.
However, these were all standard mono Bluetooth headsets. Some Bluetooth single-ear headsets, such as several from Jabra, support A2DP (stereo Bluetooth), despite being mono models. With the original iPad, you could pair these A2DP single-ear headsets and listen to music and other audio through the headset. We didn't have any mono A2DP-compatible headsets on hand to test, but we suspect this will hold true for the iPad 2, as well.
As with Bluetooth stereo (A2DP) headphones, Bluetooth speaker systems pair easily with the iPad 2 and, when chosen as the audio output, route all audio through the speakers. And thanks to iOS 4.1 and later, controls on the speaker system can be used to control media playback on the iPad.
Bluetooth accessories for streaming audio to your stereo, such as Belkin's , also work well, letting you watch video or play games on your iPad's screen while the audio plays through your big rig.
, initially added in iOS 4.2 and , lets you send media wirelessly from your iOS device to an AirPlay-enabled speaker system, receiver, or media player. Since it's running iOS 4.3, the iPad 2 can send all audio to any . Once you've switched audio to an AirPlay system--for example, by using the AirPlay menu in the iPod app--all audio is send to that system until you switch audio back to the iPad itself. You can also send video from the Videos app, and photos and video from the Photos app, to a .
A year ago, we noted that few ""--speaker systems with a 30-pin dock-connector cradle--fit the iPad, as most use , which is intended for iPods and iPhones. Sadly, that hasn't changed much, despite the popularity of the iPad. Only a few vendors, including , , and , have released docking speakers with a cradle large enough for the iPad.
The other issue is, as noted above, power. If you manage to connect an iPad to a speaker dock designed for an iPhone or iPod--we did so using --the iPad's audio plays through the speakers, and any on-speaker playback controls work as expected; however, the system won't be able to charge the iPad's battery while the iPad's screen is on--an AC-powered system will generally be limited to keeping the iPad's battery level steady, while a portable speaker system running off battery power may not even do that. (An iPhone/iPod speaker dock charge the iPad's battery, very slowly, if you turn off the iPad's screen during music playback.)
If your speaker dock has an auxiliary-input jack, you can instead connect the iPad using that jack (see the next item). The drawback to this approach is that you lose any on-speaker controls that require a dock connection.
As with any device with an audio output, the iPad works fine with or any standard stereo system with line-level inputs. You just run a cable from the iPad's headphone jack (or, for better sound, the line-out jack on or a third-party audio adapter such as those from and ) to one of the audio system's inputs. If you use a dock or adapter, you may also be able to connect the iPad's own charger to get fast charging, as well.
Most iPod and iPhone FM transmitters, especially those designed for in-car use, are actually a combination of an audio accessory that grabs your player's audio-out signal via the dock-connector port and a charger that provides power via that port. As with the original iPad, we found that recent dock-connector FM transmitters are able to successfully grab the audio signal from the iPad 2 and transmit it over the chosen FM frequency. However, unless a transmitter was specifically designed for the iPad, its charging circuitry suffers from the same issue as other iPod and iPhone chargers--the accessory isn't able to charge the iPad while the iPad is in use, causing the iPad to display the message. (As with docking speakers, dock-connector FM transmitters designed to charge an iPod or iPhone should charge the iPad, very slowly, when the iPad is asleep, and even while the iPad is playing music with the screen turned off.)
FM transmitters that simply grab the audio from your device's headphone jack will of course work fine with the iPad 2.
If you're looking to get video out of your iPod and onto another display, Apple offers four different options: the $39 , which lets you output HD video from supported apps as well as mirror the iPad's display, via HDMI; the $29 (formerly the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter), which lets you output video over a VGA connection--at 1024-by-768 resolution with a 720p scan rate--from ; the $39 , which outputs video from compatible apps at 480p or 576p resolution; and the $39 , which works with compatible apps to output video at 480i resolution. (The Digital AV Adapter provides audio output via HDMI; the Component and Composite AV cables include left/right analog audio cables. For outputting audio while using the Apple VGA Adapter, you'll need a separate audio cable that grabs the audio signal from the iPad 2's headphone jack.)
Note that to watch higher-definition iTunes (rented or purchased) video on an external display, you'll need to use either the Digital AV Adapter or the Component AV Cable. This is because iTunes' HD videos include and require an HDCP-compatible connection, which these two accessories provide. If you don't have the Digital AV Adapter or Component AV Cable, you'll need to sync to your iPad the standard-definition versions of your iTunes-purchased videos; the SD versions will play over the VGA Adapter or Composite Cable.
You can also use third-party video accessories that include the necessary Apple-approved circuitry, which should include most Made for iPad-, Made for iPhone-, and Made for iPod-certified video accessories made in the past few years. These accessories should let you output video to TVs via component or composite connections, along with stereo audio.
Apple's $29 , which debuted last year, makes it easy to transfer photos from an SD card or directly from your digital camera to the iPad; the kit works with both the original iPad and the iPad 2. There are also on the market, but we haven't tested them; if they worked with the original iPad, they should work fine with the new model.
Unfortunately, Apple's for particular iPod models doesn't work with either iPad generation.
The iPad's onscreen keyboard can only take you so far; sometimes you want a real, physical keyboard. With the debut of the original iPad, Apple introduced the , which combines Apple's standard aluminum keyboard with a weighted dock that holds your iPad upright while typing and provides ports for charging, syncing, and audio output. But the Keyboard Dock doesn't fit the iPad 2--the shape of the iPad 2 is just different enough that the tablet can't dock properly in the Keyboard Dock's cradle--and Apple hasn't announced a new version for the iPad 2. (The word on the street is that the Keyboard Dock didn't sell well. Which, if true, wouldn't surprise us--while it's a very nice keyboard, its dock cradle is too heavy and bulky for easy packing, and an iPad keyboard is, for many people, most desirable when you're on the road.)
The same fate befalls many ""--which combine a physical keyboard with a protective case--made for the original iPad. Because the iPad 2 is thinner and has a different shape on the back and edges, many of these keyboard cases simply don't fit the new iPad (see the section on cases, below), even if their keyboards, which are usually Bluetooth, work fine with it. A number of keyboard-case vendors have announced that iPad 2 versions are in the works.
Standalone Bluetooth keyboards fare better. Any standard Bluetooth-wireless keyboard can pair with the iPad, letting you type on real keys in any app where you can enter text--the iPad 2 hasn't changed anything in this respect. However, as I , a standard Bluetooth computer keyboard will be missing iPad-specific special-function keys, such as the many found on the iPad Keyboard Dock. If you're in the market for a Bluetooth keyboard, consider one that includes these keys, such as .
What about wired keyboards? When the original iPad debuted, we . Unfortunately, iOS 4.2 seems to have , and one result of that change is that USB keyboards, even low-power ones, no longer work with the original iPad. That change seems to have carried over to the iPad 2 and iOS 4.3, as none of the wired keyboards we tried with the iPad 2, via the Camera Connection Kit, worked. (We haven't tried the powered-USB-hub trick, mentioned above when discussing USB microphones.)
Accessory vendors have , but what if you've already got a case for the original iPad? Or what if you've found a great deal on older iPad case on clearance? Will it fit the new model? Maybe.
Due to the iPad 2's new shape--a flatter back with more-tapered edges--and thinner profile, form-fitting cases such as and most made for the original iPad won't fit the iPad 2. On the other hand, existing and fit the new iPad just fine--you don't really notice the bit of extra room, front-to-back, since sleeves already tend to fit loosely. And, of course, made for the original iPad also accommodate the iPad 2.
As for new, iPad 2-specific cases, we've already received a few----and most fit the new iPad well. Unlike with the original iPad, where some of the early cases seemed to have been based on educated guesses about the iPad's dimensions, it appears that many case vendors had detailed dimensions of the iPad 2 well before it was released.
We'll be reviewing bags and cases for the iPad 2 to help you choose the right one, but here are a few quick tips, adapted from last year's guide: First, if you're shopping online for an iPad case, check the bag's specs with Apple's , or e-mail the vendor, to confirm that the shipping product actually fits the iPad 2. (Some vendors are retooling their bags and cases now that the iPad 2 is officially available.) Second, as you may have already deduced, if you see a form-fitting case that claims to fit both the original iPad and the iPad 2, be skeptical. Third, a good number of bags out there are advertised as "iPad/netbook" models, but few are a good fit for the iPad--the iPad is much thinner than the typical netbook and ends up swimming around in the computer compartment.
The other option for protection is a protective film, either for just the iPad's screen or for its entire body. Last year, our PCWorld colleagues and found that the device's screen was "scratch-proof," even when editors attempted to etch the glass with a nail. The iPad 2 appears to use the same glass, so you'll probably be OK without a protective screen film. In addition, we tested a number of iPad screen films over the past year, and with a few exceptions, such as , we were disappointed--many reduced screen clarity or added glare, and some picked up far more fingerprints than a bare screen. Similarly, we've had bad experiences with most "anti-glare" screen coverings for the iPad ( being one of the exceptions).
As for full-body films, both and have announced new versions for the iPad 2. We've tested both products on the original iPad, and we've been impressed by the anti-scratch protection they provide. NLU has also debuted the , which protects the back of the iPad 2, and you can get similar backside protection--with more artistic flair--from .
If you have any other accessory-compatibility questions, let us know in the comments. We'll of course be reviewing lots of iPad accessories in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned for more information on specific products.