Quite a lot gets made of specs in tech reviews. Does this new gadget have this dawdle? Does it have that thingamajig? Will it drive my car for me and change my kid’s dirty diaper? Will it take the in-laws out to dinner so I don’t have to? At a certain point in tech reviews, the spec list begins to sound a lot like the litany of magical things in the old Tom Waits song “Step Right Up.”

So I’m naturally a little resistant to all the adjectives heaped upon new products like the iPad2. Not that I don’t cover all the rumors and news about new hardware releases like an addict. I do. I’ve got technolust like the millions of others who’ve stood in line at the yearly cultural-commercial oddities that are iPhone or iPad releases. Still, I try to have a little bit of perspective about it.

But this post by Nick Bilton in yesterday’s New York Time Bits blog has me both dubious and fascinated. If you’ve been paying attention to the iPad phenomenon and its latest release, you know that the new hardware offerings are limited but substantial: the thing now has cameras (both rear and front-facing); it has a sleeker, thinner design and comes in black or white; it has a new dual core processor which makes it a lot faster; and it’s lighter.

And yet, oddly enough, the thing about the new iPad that’s stealing the show in reviews is not the device itself but a certain accessory called the Smart Cover. It’s magnetic and sticks to the tablet in just the right places, has some sort of high-tech upholstery that removes smudges from hours of “iPadding,” and when you open it the iPad comes on instantly.

It’s this last feature that Bilton says makes the iPad a truly revolutionary or transcendent piece of technology on the order of the invention of paper or moveable type:

To me, after using the iPad 2 for the past few days, the instantaneous start-up changes the game. And the main reason is that it makes using an iPad more like reading a book.

In many ways, the first generation iPad, along with every other e-reader and tablet available today, is trying to compete with the ancient technology of paper. People use these devices to read news, digital magazines, e-books and mail, all experiences that were once confined to the printed page.

Before the Smart Cover, getting to print-like content on an iPad took longer than it takes with its analog counterpart. You don’t have to press any buttons when opening a print book or magazine. You just pick it up, open it and begin reading.

The technology behind the Smart Cover enables the same swiftness as print, with the additional features of digital.

I’m personally a tad incredulous but intrigued nonetheless. And I am curious: what do MobyLives readers think about the iPad2’s list of new features? Are these the kinds of features that will make you hop off the fence and buy a tablet? Have these incremental feature updates changed the way you view the technology–to the point you might put it on a level similar to that of paper and print? Please let us know what you think in the comments.