It's been about a year since the first iPad was released by Apple. With the release of the iPad by Apple, both consumers and computer manufacturers took a new look at the tablet PC market. Tablets are now in their own class, and are being thought of as the device in the middle; filling the gap between smart phones and laptops. While the iPad wasn't the first Tablet PC, it was the first one with an Apple audience built in.

After 12 months of good numbers, Apple is still in the lead but is slowly being caught by the competition. With this growing threat, they have decided to release the iPad 2. Once again, Apple's devices are heavily anticipated and in light of this, here are a few of the differences between the iPad and the iPad2, to help consumers choose the right product.

With every new Apple product released, you can bet the new product is better than anything the market has seen before. There are even times when the contents are a complete overhaul. This is one of the reason Apple holds such a large market share in hand held devices. While other manufacturers are catching up with the iPad on a technical level, the iPad2's slick look and feel should give them an edge in the market.

While Apple is known for their advances in appearance and style, the iPad2 looks prety much like the original iPad. The appearnace of the iPad2 is thinner and sleaker than the original iPad. The advances in the new iPad2 can be traced back to the Macbook Air, which was designed to be as this as possible. With this thinner appearance, the iPad 2 is also relatively lighter than the original by around 0.2 pounds.

The new iPad2 includes these internal upgrades. The processor has been revamped, with Apple now using an A5 dual core chip instead of the old A4, which had only a single core. Randon access memory has been increased from 256MB to 512MB. Apple also added a gyroscope, so that the iPad understands your orientation, even when lying down.

One of the few drawbacks about the new iPad is that they didn't improve the screen. On the plus side, Apple promises that the device will use a new and improved graphics engine which can provide a faster refresh rate and better graphics than the previous one.

So, the question of the day is, old iPad for $200 off of eBay, or new iPad2 for $900 with all the bells and whistles from the Apple store?

Greg Anliker blogs about phone service online, and owns http://www.calling-plans.com. Click here for more comparisons between the iPad and the iPad2.