Predicting new Apple product is always a fun thing to do, and when you’re talking about existing models getting a refresh, the fun is amplified ten-fold. Let’s face it: A lot of the stuff analysts and pundits come up with is pie in the sky, unicorn kind of dreams that may be a year or more away in real life, so we’re all bound to be at least a little disappointed when our favorite wish doesn’t come true.

Of course, that won’t stop us from throwing down the gauntlet now and issuing a directive to Cupertino on the awesome stuff we want to see in the next iPad. Without further ado, let’s bust a move and commence with our list of 25 demands for the iPad 2...

Front-Facing Camera

Considering that the FaceTime technology first introduced with last year’s iPhone 4 has already made the leap to both the fourth-generation iPod touch as well as camera-enabled Macs, we figure that Apple has no choice but to bend to our will and stick at least a VGA-resolution camera on the front of the next iPad. After all, Apple CEO Steve Jobs promised like a bajillion FaceTime-compatible devices in the near future, and the iPad 2 has got to be one of them. (Oh, and don’t hold us to that “bajillion” figure… that’s just an estimate.)

Rear-Facing Camera

Rumors have been flying fast and furious that the iPad 2 will feature not one but two cameras -- one front and one rear,  with the rear camera capable of the same 720p HD video recording found on the current iPod touch. That particular camera is a hair less than one megapixel, so it’s not exactly as high-quality as the rear camera on the iPhone 4, but beggars can’t be choosers -- especially when we’re not likely to record as much video on a 10-inch tablet as we are on our handheld iPhones.

iMovie for iPad

Of course, having a couple of cameras on our iPad 2 means we’ll need something to quickly edit together all that awesome video we’re going to shoot -- so our list of demands has to include an update to the iOS iMovie app, allowing it to work natively on the iPad. While we’d prefer a universal app, we’ll take what we can get -- but we’re salivating over the possibility of plugging our iPhone 4 into the iPad 2, importing our video footage and then merging it with some iPad 2 video to make the most awesome video ever made. Trust us, it will be.

iPhoto for iPad

Likewise, Apple will no doubt want to succumb to our next demand and port the popular iPhoto desktop app to the iPad 2. Sure, there are already plenty of great third-party image editing apps for iOS, but something tells us that Apple will make one that truly raises the bar on how you can handle photos on tablet devices. So, get to work on that one, too, guys and gals in Cupertino.

Retina Display

It will, it won’t, it might, it can’t -- stop this crazy rumor train, we want off! Who cares if it’s feasible, practical, cost-effective or even technically possible: We want some kind of Retina Display for the iPad 2, regardless of whether that’s something that quadruples the current 1024x768 resolution or just something in-between. Come on, admit it -- since the iPhone 4 was released, you wince just a little bit looking at the display on the iPad. You really think Apple doesn’t feel your pain?

Drop the Camera Connector

Don’t get us wrong -- we’d rather have the iPad Camera Connector accessory than nothing at all. But in our heart of hearts, we’d rather have a plain old USB 2.0 port, which would be infinitely more usable (assuming that Apple lets us use it for whatever we can dream up). Since we don’t want to drag a USB cable around with our digital camera, we’re also going to need that rumored SD card slot as well, which has become pretty much a standard feature on competing tablets these days.

GarageBand for iPad

Since we listed iPhoto and iMovie earlier on our list of demands, it would seem inappropriate to leave out the other major component of the iLife trio, GarageBand. Once again, there are plenty of slick music apps already available for the iPad, but we think Apple could be the ones to really kick things up a notch -- and our big dream would be some kind of inexpensive dongle that can attach to the dock connector (or even the USB port we hope to soon have), which doubles as both a MIDI controller as well as SD card storage for additional patches and loops. Assuming, of course, that Apple chooses not to give us that SD card slot we demanded earlier. Le sigh...

File Browser App

This one doesn’t have to be iPad-specific, it could work on the iPhone and iPod touch as well. Android has a file browser app, so why doesn’t iOS? Of course, Apple will never let us root around inside system folders, even if there were some kind of file browser app, but that doesn’t mean it won’t come in handy for browsing files on our SD cards or external hard drives -- after all, sooner or later Apple will kneel before us and admit that would be a pretty awesome thing to do on your iPad.

Streaming from iTunes

AirPlay is one of Apple’s coolest iOS features since the iPhone was first introduced in 2007, but its limitations have been widely documented across the internet. From what we can tell about the iOS 4.3 beta, we’ll soon be able to stream from third-party apps as well as Apple’s own media player, but why stop there? Most of us have a packed iTunes library just sitting there on our home computer, so it would be nice to skip the need for syncing and simply stream that content right to the iPad. This is already sort of possible thanks to third party apps such as Air Video, but oh how we wish Apple would listen to our pleas and make it “just work” out of the box.

3G, Shared

We’ve already seen the Mobile Hotspot feature which is coming to the Verizon iPhone 4 next month, and it looks to be part of everyone’s handset when iOS 4.3 is released. So what about the iPad? Granted, AT&T’s currently measly 2GB data plan for $25 per month doesn’t give you much to share with others, but here’s hoping that not only will AT&T get more generous with that data for the iPad 2, but that we’ll be able to turn the tablet into a Mobile Hotspot with it as well. Oh, and while we’re at it, lose the Wi-Fi only models and make 3G the standard, too.

Integrated 3G Data

There has been speculation that there will be three additional models for the iPad 2, for a total of nine (!!). For those of you playing the home game, that’s three Wi-Fi only models in three different storage capacities, plus three with AT&T’s GSM-based 3G data and three more for Verizon’s CDMA-based 3G. Why not keep that to the existing six variations and integrate both GSM and CDMA into the 3G models? That would allow us to take advantage of Verizon 3G in areas that AT&T doesn’t cover, but still have access to the faster AT&T 3G network when appropriate. Apple, your retail partners will thank you -- fewer SKUs equal less confusion.