The iPad 2 is thinner and lighter than its predecessor. People who have been following Apple's product designs will not be surprised by this. What's interesting is the effect this has on the "grippability" of the product. The original iPad was one of the most solid pieces of hardware we've seen from Apple, but the combination of its weight, thickness, and the curve of its backplate made it a bit hard to hold--and made a case pretty much necessary.

It's much more comfortable to hold the iPad 2 in one hand. The slight decrease in weight helps, no doubt, but it's also the thinness--and most notably the fact that the back side of the device tapers to a flat surface in a much shorter distance than its predecessor.

In terms of materials, the iPad 2 and the iPad are cut from the same cloth (figuratively speaking): There's a glass front and an aluminum back. The device still seems solid, though palpably thinner. The big difference when looking at it from the front is that you can't see the edge of the aluminum frame, which is quite noticeable around the edge of the original iPad when viewed from the front.

The reduced thickness of the iPad 2 means that we can't say the iPad's buttons and ports are on its side--there really is no side, unlike on the original iPad. There's a front and a back, really, with a very small amount of curved space on the back where it meets the front piece. That's where the buttons and ports are. It's a very different feel from the original iPad. However, the buttons and ports are in more or less the same places as they were on the original iPad.

Beyond the device's physical redesign, the major outward difference in the iPad 2 is the addition of a pair of cameras: one on the front and one on the back. As on the latest iPhone and iPod touch, these cameras can shoot pictures, record video, and be used for FaceTime video conferencing. However, they're definitely of lower quality than the iPhone 4's 5 megapixel camera, and more in line with the cameras on the current-model iPod touch. The test images we shot in the hands-on room were grainier and with more evident jagged edges than those shot with an iPhone 4. Even a FaceTime conference with an Apple rep across the room looked a bit soft, though some of that could have been the result of heavy Wi-Fi traffic.