MacRumors

In January, Apple was rumored to be including NFC (Near Field Communication) hardware in the next generation iPhone and iPad to allow customers to use those devices to make purchases at retail stores.

Clearly, the iPad 2 was released without any NFC technology, and it seems now that the upcoming iPhone 5 won't be getting it either. According to a report from The Independent (via 9to5mac), Apple has decided it will not be including this "wave and pay" system in the iPhone 5 this year.

One source close to the discussions said: "The new iPhone will not have NFC, Apple told the operators it was concerned by the lack of a clear standard across the industry." Yet Apple is understood to be working on its own NFC proposition, which would link payments through iTunes.

Instead, Apple is said to be working on the technology for introduction "next year", which would presumably be introduced alongside the iPhone 6 (2012).

It's clear that Apple has been working on the technology over the past year or two. Apple has hired NFC experts and published a number of patent applications related to the technology. One patent detailed how the iPhone could be used to pay a bill at a restaurant with the NFC system.

For those who ordered the iPad 2 from Apple's Online Store, the first orders have started shipping overnight. The early shipment notifications seem sporadic and are primarily of Wi-Fi and Verizon models. Readers are reporting on their ship notifications in our discussion forum. The earliest arrival for the first orders seems to be March 17th.

Those who didn't make it in the initial wave of orders will now have to wait 3-4 weeks before shipments. Apple retail locations will likely continue to get stock on a daily basis if you are looking to pick one up sooner.

The iPad 2 launched on Friday to massive lines and quickly became sold out. Fortune reports on a surveys conducted by Piper Jaffray's Gene Muster surrounding the iPad 2 launch.

According to Munster's survey of 236 respondents in New York and Minneapolis lines, he found that 70% of iPad 2 buyers were new to the iPad. Assuming this survey can be generalized to the iPad 2 buying audience, Munster believes this high percentage of new customers as a positive sign for Apple's continued growth in the tablet market:

"We believe this shows Apple is expanding its base of iPad users, which is critical to maintaining its early lead in the growing tablet market. As the user base grows Apple's lead widens, and the company has a proven track record of building unmatched brand loyalty, which we believe will be a potent combination as the tablet market evolves."

Meanwhile, one of the reasons that the iPads were in such high demand on opening weekend was due to international resellers who were buying up as many iPads as possible to ship to other countries.

MICGadget profiles one such Hong Kong reseller who took orders for 200 units before the launch and prepared eight couriers in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles to stand in line and then hop on a plane back to Hong Kong. The reseller was marking up units to $1025 for the base 16GB Wi-Fi model and up to $1525 for the Wi-Fi/3G 64GB model.

ChipChick also was contacted by a couple of different Russian resellers who had a similar scheme with up to 8 line-holders in place in New York City to buy the early iPad 2 models.

Apple is expected to replenish stock on Monday to its retail stores. Online ordering is still available but new orders are currently seeing 3-4 week delays.

Anandtech has determined the iPad GPU to be the PowerVR SGX543MP2, a more advanced dual-core version of the PowerVR GPU found in the original iPad and iPhone 4.

Architecturally the 543MP2 has more than twice the compute horsepower of the SGX 535 used in Apple's A4. Each shader pipeline can execute twice the number of instructions per clock as the SGX 535, and then there are four times as many pipes in an SGX 543MP2 as there are in a 535.

They found that the new graphics processor offered over 3-5x the speed in simple geometry tests over the original iPad.

Anadtech then used the GLBenchmark 2.0 to provide a broader range of testing and included the recently released Motorola Xoom tablet. They found that in this overall benchmark, the new iPad 2 ran at 5.4x the framerate of the original iPad and 3.7x the speed of the Xoom.

Other benchmarks showed improvements ranging from 3x-7x the speed of the original iPad. Ultimately, this will mean that developers will be able to offer significantly higher graphics quality and performance on the new iPad 2 over previous generation devices. We've already seen some early results in Infinity Blade, but the changes should become more dramatic as developers have time to sit down with the new devices. Of course, the iPad 2 represents a small percentage of iOS devices, but Apple is widely expected to integrate the same CPU/GPU into their upcoming iPhone 5 and future iPod Touch product lines.

The iPad 2 launched to long lines on Friday and selling out in many locations. Based on reader reports, there are still pockets of stock in various locations, but a large number of locations are still sold out of the units. Part of the difficulty has been the large variety of models of the iPad 2 available. With 3 different storage capacities, 2 colors and 3 different wireless configurations (WiFi, Verizon, AT&T). Customers may have had trouble finding the exact configuration they wanted.

AT&T/GSM 3G models were in particularly high demand as many of the early purchasers were sending them off internationally to other GSM-compatible countries.

If past launches are any indication, retail stores will get almost daily replenishment of stock. Apple is not providing any online indicators which stores have stock. Meanwhile, BestBuy does have an online system that seems to reflect local store inventory.

Finally, those hoping to pick up an iPad 2 from the online Apple Store will now find that the wait for online orders has extended to 3-4 weeks. Online customers are organizing in this discussion thread to see when shipments are being sent out.

Engadget points out that some iPad 2 owners are experiencing excessive levels of light bleeding or leaking out around the edges of the screen, most notable when viewing a dark image/video. This is not the same issue as the Yellowing seen on some screens that may go away with time.

MacRumors' own discussion forum has a lengthy thread with more example photos from people who are affected. It's not clear if the issue is common to most iPads or if it's isolated to a subset of devices. The degree of bleeding appears to vary from unit to unit.

TiPb offers this nice comparison video showing the improvements in the iPad 2 web browser over the original iPad. The original iPad came with only 256MB of RAM as compared to 512MB found in the iPhone 4. This relative lack of ram was considered one of the reasons why the original iPad's browser would have to completely reload pages when moving from one page to another.

As shown in the video, the new iPad 2 is able to cache these additional pages so you can jump back and forth without delay. The new iPad 2 also seems to scroll/redraw each page faster than the original iPads as well. Note that the video's narrator speculates that the iPad 2 may have 512MB or 1GB of ram, but based on software testing, we know the iPad has 512MB of ram, same as the iPhone 4.

Besides additional RAM, the iPad 2 also has an improved dual-core A5 processor as compared to the original iPad's single-core A4.

Touch Arcade has been putting the new iPad 2 through the paces, testing out what few iPad 2 specific games that have been released so far. On Infinity Blade, they post an extensive comparison gallery between the original iPad and iPad 2.

Some things to look for in these screen shots include how smooth the edges are on the iPad 2, as well as how high resolution the textures are in comparison. We have this kind of image quality, while everything runs at a much higher frame rate.

We've pulled just two of the screenshots for comparison here. Click on each image to get a larger version.

A full gallery is available on TouchArcade. Even with the improvement in textures, Infinity Blade for the iPad 2 runs at a higher frame rate than the original iPad. The new iPad has a dual-core A5 processor as well as an enhanced graphics chip that Apple claims to have "9x faster graphics".

Several other games have also been updated to support the iPad 2 including Real Racing 2 HD, Dead Space, and Asphalt 6 and TouchArcade provides a quick look at those titles as well.

A few readers have noticed a yellow tinting on their brand new iPad 2 screens. The color changes are reminiscent of a similar issue that appeared on early iPhone 4 shipments. At the time the issue was described as follows:

Apple is using a bonding agent called Organofunctional Silane Z-6011 to bond the layers of glass. Apparently, Apple (or more likely Foxconn) is shipping these products so quickly that the evaporation process is not complete. However, after one or two days of use, especially with the screen on, will complete the evaporation process and the yellow "blotches" will disappear.

The issue seemed to resolve itself over a couple of days for the iPhone 4 based on reader experiences. With any brand new launch, Apple seems to be shipping the units as quickly as they are manufacturing them, preventing the required time for the bonding agent to set. We'll know for sure in a few days.

The iPad 2 has only been out for about an hour, but the folks at iFixit already have a 16 GB Wi-Fi model in hand and are tearing it down to see just what's inside the revamped version of Apple's popular tablet device.

While iFixit has only just gotten the new iPad open and has yet to get into the details of what's inside, we'll be watching to see what they find and updating this post accordingly.

- The iPad 2 seems to use essentially the same Broadcom touch controllers and Wi-Fi chip found in the first-generation iPad and other recent iOS devices.

- The A5 system-on-a-chip carries manufacture dates of January/February 2011, but iFixit has yet to offer a deciphering of other codes found on the packaging. In particular, it has yet to be determined whether the package is being manufactured by Samsung or TSMC.

The A5 processor has manufacture dates of late January and mid-February 2011. Production was clearly ramping up through the last minute. It looks like the A5 processor is the APL0498, replacing the A4/APL0398 seen in the iPad 1 and iPhones.

-The three-cell 25 watt-hour battery offers only slightly more power than the 24.8 watt-hour battery found in the original iPad, and comes in a much flatter form factor to help Apple achieve the significantly thinner design for the tablet.

- Despite the redesigned speaker grille, the actual speakers remain very small, and appear to almost be an "afterthought".

- Overall, iFixit finds the iPad 2 to be very densely packed on the insider, but very "neat and tidy". There is very little empty space inside the body, unlike the original iPad. Apple has also chosen to use significant amounts of glue to hold parts together as opposed to screws.

The first customers have received their iPad 2s after standing in line for much of the day. Some of the first photos from an unboxing are provided here:

PCMagazine also had a good unboxing and review video of the iPad 2 based on a review unit they had received:

We've started a forum discussion thread for readers to post their first impressions of the iPad 2 and photos.

As of 5pm Eastern, Apple has started selling the iPad 2 in retail stores along the east coast. Based on reports, there have been lengthy lines for the iPad 2 across the country at Apple Retail stores, but lines at 3rd party retailers such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart have been mixed.

Forum readers are coordinating in our meetup forum and iPad forum.

We expect the first iPad 2s to be in hand momentarily; please send any photos/reports to webmaster@macrumors.com

With shipping estimates for new iPad 2 orders having already slipped to 2-3 weeks just hours after they began, more potential customers may be heading out to their local stores to try to snare one of the popular tablet devices when they go on sale at 5:00 PM local time in the United States.

We're hearing of long lines at many Apple retail stores with a little over two hours to go until the iPad launches at locations in the Eastern Time Zone, although they haven't yet approached the magnitude seen for the iPhone 4 release last June. Lines are reportedly significantly shorter if not non-existent at many third-party retailers such as Best Buy, Target, AT&T, and Verizon, although we're also hearing that stocks may be very limited at these locations.

As noted by Fortune, a woman who had been camped out first in line at Apple's flagship Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan since Wednesday afternoon this morning sold her spot for $900. BGR also has a recent photo gallery from outside the Fifth Avenue store, where hundreds of customers have lined up.

Additional photos being posted on our Twitter stream, send any additional photos to webmaster@macrumors.com

Electronista over the weekend noted a growing thread in the Apple Discussions forum regarding flickering issues being experienced by users of the new MacBook Pro paired with a 24-inch LED Cinema Display. A couple of users in our own forums have also reported the issue.

Both the 13- and 15-inch models, and likely the 17-inch model, produce intermittent flickering, brief blackouts and other periodic but noticeable flaws when attached to the out-of-sale screen. The built-in notebook display is unaffected.

Users have already tried some of the more common tricks, such as resetting the SMC, but haven't had any initial success. It also applies whether or not the AMD or Intel graphics are being used.

The Apple Discussions thread has continued to grow in the days following the original report, with at least one user reporting experiencing the issue with a 17-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple support staff are reportedly investigating the issue, having swapped out one user's affected machine specifically to examine a unit known to be experiencing problems.

Well, it appears Apple is aware of the issue. An Apple Discussions Host called me a few days ago after seeing one of my recent posts. He offered to swap my MacBook Pro for a new one so Apple Engineers can get their hands on a known bad unit. I shipped it off last night and anxiously await my replacement.

Apple officially discontinued the 24-inch LED Cinema Display last July alongside the introduction of a new 27-inch model, but the company did continue to sell off its remaining stock for some time after the discontinuation.

Update: French site MacGeneration has posted a video showing the issue. The flicker occurs at about 1:45 in the video.

Just hours after online orders for the iPad 2 went live in the United States, Apple has already extended shipping estimates for new orders out to 2-3 weeks for all 18 models. Those estimates would put new orders on par or even after Apple's scheduled March 25th launch for the iPad 2 in over two dozen other countries.

Apple is likely offering conservative shipment estimates at this time as it seeks to balance its existing stocks and incoming shipments against the surge of orders, so customers may see new orders ship before that timeframe. Regardless, Apple is clearly seeing high demand relative to its launch supplies. Several analysts are predicting debut sales of 500,000-600,000 units, nearly double the 300,000 units sold in the first-day launch of the original iPad.

The Apple online store has updated early and is now offering the iPad 2 for order. Estimated shipping date for iPads are from March 18 - March 25th. There is only "standard shipping" available.

Online sales were scheduled for 4am Eastern but appears to have started early. Apple is also selling the iPad 2 at their retail stores across the country, as well as Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart. We've outlined those options in a previous story.

With the iPad 2 about to launch, a couple of App developers are taking advantage of this time to launch new iPad 2 optimized versions of their apps.

Australian developer Firemint has just launched Real Racing 2 HD, which is the iPad version of their popular racing game. Besides supporting the original iPad, the new version of the game also supports the iPad 2 specifically:

- For iPad 2, full-screen anti-aliasing, fully-modeled vehicle interiors visible through translucent windows, high-detail objects and surfaces and enhanced reflections
- Full support for iPad 2's gyroscope for precision steering

The iPad/iPad 2 version of the game is available now for $9.99. [App Store]

Meanwhile, ChAIR / Epic Games has announced that Infinity Blade will see an updates on Friday bringing iPad 2 optimizations to their game.

One of the most popular gaming apps released to date, the ground-breaking Infinity Blade will be updated tomorrow with new optimizations specifically for iPad 2. Taking advantage of the processing power of iPad 2, Infinity Blade looks and plays better than ever and is the ultimate show off your iPad 2s graphics prowess" app!

Infinity Blade is based on Epic's Unreal Engine 3 and has been an impressive example of what's possible on Apple's iOS devices. The iPad 2 update has not yet been released, but the original version remains available for $5.99. [App Store]