The Apple “iPad” is here!
Posted on | January 28, 2010 | 2 Comments
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard by now that Apple presented their new tablet device. Or maybe, you just have a well-balanced, social life that you haven’t bothered reading up on all the latest tech news (you know, the kind that we nerds voraciously devour). In any case, Apple finally showed off their masterpiece yesterday, and on the whole, I have to say, they did a fine job with the device. They are calling it the “iPad” after months of speculation that it might be called “iSlate,” “iTablet,” “TabletMac,” or something-else.
Overall, the product looks like a giant iPhone (or iPod Touch). When it’s turned on, it provides a similar screen with various app icons and four main icons at the bottom. The device is 0.5 inch thick and has a 9.7 inch IPS display. Without going into technical details, the IPS display is just an LCD display that allows wider viewing angles. The tradeoff is that it tends to use more power to accomplish this. The iPad only weighs 1.5 pounds, making it highly portable. The battery is fully enclosed (cannot be swapped out) and provides 10 hours of continuous video and a month of standby! Similar to the iPhone, the iPad had bluetooth and Wifi with different versions also providing 3G access through AT&T (they appear to have beaten out Verizon). Also, the iPad has the same speaker/microphone and accelerometer/compass features as the iPhone.
Concerning the hardware, perhaps the most interesting thing is that the iPad is powered by a 1Ghz Apple A4 processor. This chip is described as a system-on-a-chip (SOC) that integrates the main processor, graphics silicon, memory controller, etc. all on once piece of silicon. It is also very frugal with power. Compare this with the estimated 600 Mhz chip on the iPhone 3GS.
Another interesting hardware is an accessory: In addition to the regular dock, a keyboard dock is also available which will allow for easier typing. This is something the iPhone needs.
What these various hardware specs allow is some very good multimedia capabilities. The demos that Steve Jobs and others showed all seemed to work smoothly with no hiccups. Animations and graphical transitions, fades, etc. all seemed smooth and polished. All of the standard apps including web browsing, contacts, email, maps, pictures, HD videos were super smooth. One of the bigger category of apps to note were the games. Apple is apparently making a clear statement that the device is a great environment for games. They allowed a few different vendors to demonstrate some very cool-looking games, all running smoothly with no hiccups. Overall, Steve Jobs indicated that the iPad will provide another golden opportunity for developers to cash-in on new apps (just as with the iPhone and iPod Touch).
Of the most anticipated capability of the new device was the ability to read newspapers and magazines in ditial print. And here, the iPad didn’t disappoint overall. They showed examples of viewing the New York Times in a “native”-type format (replicated the look of the newspaper). Of course, with the digital format, things like embedded videos are possible. With the iBooks app, one can use the iPad to read books just like Amazon’s Kindle and other e-readers. The app also allows you to store digital books on what looks like a wooden shelf (nice!). Although they didn’t go too much into details, you can supposedly change the size and fonts of each book’s texts. So far, they have lined up 5 publishing partners: Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachett Book Group. Books can be purchased through the new iBook Store.
Of Course, iTunes is also built-in. So, you can purchase and download music and videos just as you can on the iPhone and iPod.
Finally, I was very heartened by the fact that they included iWork. Each component of iWork can be purchased separately for $9.99, just like any other app through iTunes. As they were demo’d, these apps looked very impressive with a new user interface providing a lot of options. The addition of iWork should go a long way to making the Tablet a hit in the business arena. It will take other business apps and perhaps some other hardware suppport, but this is the first stepping stone.
So, although it didn’t have everything (e.g., camera), the iPad overall was another milestone in Apple’s legacy. It’ll likely be another runaway hit, much like the iPod and iPhone have been. There aren’t a whole lot of new things in the iPad, but what it has is the Apple commitment to quality and ease-of-use that people will gravitate toward. Well done, Apple!
Tags: Apple Tablet > iPad > iPhone > iPod > iWork > Magazine > Newspaper > Tablet
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January 28th, 2010 @ 5:47 am
[...] Apple iPad is going to be a hit. It is one slick-looking device with some neat capabiliites. Although not a [...]
February 5th, 2010 @ 10:32 am
[...] In any case, Apple finally showed off their masterpiece yesterday, and on the whole, I have to say, they did a fine job with the device. They are calling it the â iPad â after months of speculation that it might be called âiSlate,â …Click Here [...]