There's been plenty of rumors about all of the new features that will be included in the next generation of iPad, but news today may be some of the first real evidence of what the device will look like and what kinds of enhancements it'll feature. The image above is claimed to be a case for the iPad 2 and, as you can see, there's a curvier frame and a cut-out for a rear camera that will accompany the rumored FaceTime-enabling front-facing cam. There's also an opening on the left side for a mute switch and volume rocker and openings on the bottom where the dock connector and speaker are located on the current iPad. Another image of purported iPad 2 cases was leaked, which you can see below, and has many of the same openings as the first case. What's most interesting about the pair of cases, though, is that the image mentions an SD card slot. Whaaaa?
I know what you're thinking: "Apple would never include an SD card slot in the iPad" I thought that at first, too. But Apple does offer a Camera Connection Kit for the iPad that allows users to plug in an SD card and transfer photos to the device. Perhaps in the next iteration, Apple is going to cut out the middleman and allow us to simply plug the card into the iPad itself. It certainly would make transferring photos easier and cheaper. Just don't get any crazy ideas about using the SD card to add more storage for music or films, because that's one area where Apple is unlikely to tread.