27 Jan 10 The iPad: Apple’s Latest Creation
After months, if not years of speculating, Apple has officially announced their first tablet device. Many names have been rumored, including the iSlate, and iTablet, but Apple has gone with the ‘iPad”. I’m not too fond of the name personally as it too similar to the iPod. I’m sure females have an entirely different reason to not like the name. But who cares about the name, it’s all about functionality. The iPad appears to take the best qualities of existing mobile devices and wraps it into a super sleek package.
Apple iPad Features
- Capacity: 16, 32, or 64GB
- Display: 9.7″ LED-backlit widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology (1024 x 768 resolution)
- Processor: 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power SOC
- Connectivity: 802.11n WiFi (and 3G for cellular models), Bluetooth
- Full App store support
- Audio/Video: MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, H.264 (up to 720P), MPEG-4
- Battery Life: 10 hours, A month of standby time
- Dimensions: 9.56″ x 7.47″ x 0.5″
- Pricing: $499, $599, and $699 respectively, plus $130 more for 3G models
- Data Plan: 14.99 a month for 250mb of data, or $29.99/month for unlimited data
- Availablity: Coming in two months
If someone asked me to summarize the iPad in five words or less I’d tell them “it’s a giant iPhone”. While It uses a similar OS, and supports all of the same apps, chalking it up as a supersized iPhone wouldn’t be a fair assessment. Graphical designers will appreciate the multitouch IPS display. Ebook readers will love the new iBooks app (and support for the epub format). Even browsing the web looks better than doing so on a netbook or mobile phone. I’m not sure I’d call the iPad a revolutionary device, but it’s certainly an evolution in mobile computing in many respects.
Check out the Official Demo:
