There’s no shortage of speculation about the iPad 2. Wishlists and predictions abound—but I’m going to add my own as well. In addition to telling you what I’d like and what I think is likely, I’ll give you my take on what other people think is likely.

Release Date Februaryish Apple has had the iPad 1 out long enough to justify an upgrade, but they aren’t going to release it right after Christmas, they’ll wait a couple months.

New Specs Probably higher resolution: I’m not sure if the resolution of iPad 2 will match the iPhone 4, that would be ideal, but that would also be quite a feat (though Apple is prone to exceed expectations).

Front and rear-facing cameras I’m not the only one who is sure that iPad 2 will have a couple cameras, it’s practically a given.

Thinner While I couldn’t care less if  version 2 is thinner than version 1 (I think it’s already pretty good) I’m pretty sure it will be at least a third slimmer than its predecessor.

Processing Speed There’s some speculation that iPad 2 will have better processing power; if so, I doubt it will be significant. One of the key characteristics of the iPad is that its battery lasts a long time. Faster processing power will retard the battery life and so I don’t think that significant increase in processor or ram specs is likely. While adding processing power will increase the functionality of the device, that defeats the purpose of the iPad. The iPad is for basic operations: surfing the web, checking your email, reading and editing a short document. The iPad isn’t for major things (they’re not trucks) image editing, lots of writing, and programming weren’t the intended purpose of the tablet device although I think that could be a use of future tablets, just not the iPad, at least not any time soon.

Screen Size I don’t think that Jobs will allow a smaller iPad to be made, even though there may be some market for it. I hope I’m wrong when I think that Apple isn’t going to increase the size of their iPad screen, though it would be really nice.

Battery Life I wouldn’t put it past Apple to improve the life of the battery even if it is thinner, they just do stuff like that.

Online Storage Backup Also not likely, though someone should do it.

Apple iDonate to Mahon Program Also not likely.

What do you think will make it to the next iPad? What do you hope is in the next iPad?