Another option enabled by the iPad 2 is direct playback to an HDTV or projector via HDMI, using . When connected, the TV mirrors what’s on the iPad. However, I was surprised to discover that tapping the Play Full Screen button on the Projects page does not use the entire television the way playing a movie from the Videos app does. Instead, you get what’s mirrored on the screen: widescreen playback limited to the resolution of the iPad’s screen with bars at top and bottom. To get the full screen effect, you need to first share the movie to the Camera Roll, and play it there.

One other item in the sharing list is Send Project to iTunes. The idea is to be able to export an editable version of your project, for sharing with other iOS devices running iMovie or for creating a backup (other than the backup that’s automatically made when you sync your iPad). It’s the same mechanism used for transferring documents between the iPad and the computer, only in this case, alas, you can’t open the project in .

I hoped that I could use the feature to transfer a project directly from my iPhone to the iPad using a sync cable and Apple’s Camera Connection Kit USB adapter—that’s one way to transfer source movies and photos between devices. But Send Project to iTunes really means iTunes on the desktop: The feature makes a copy of your project (including the entirety of the source video files used, even if you’ve included just a few seconds of each in the movie itself) and stores it on the device; the next time you sync, it becomes available in the Apps pane of iTunes when the iPad is selected in the sidebar. From there you must save the file to somewhere on your computer, connect your destination iOS device, and add the project file to the File Sharing section in the same Apps pane. Then, finally, open iTunes on the device, go to the Projects screen, and tap the Import button.

The process works, but it’s cumbersome. If you do some editing and want to send the project back to the original device, you must perform all of those steps again, plus be willing to put up with duplicate source clips (because the incoming project now includes all that footage, too). Fortunately, I don’t foresee many people going to all that trouble.