It’s finally announced, the device that was hot in the rumor mill for a few months is coming to us within 90 days. Will you be an early adopters or wait for the next model? It is definitely an excitement to watch live blogs together with live cast update of the event to see Apple’s latest creation, iPad.
The device is amazing, ridiculously thin, it takes iMac aluminum casing, runs a modified iPhone OS, has a great battery life and of course some features are missing.
As of all Apple’s products, the design is absolutely beautiful and the UI is totally improved for even better experience.
Now the technical specifications (you can take a look at more details at Apple’s site along with more pictures):
- 9.7″ LED-backlit, multitouch screen with IPS technology
- 0.5″ thickness and weigh 1.5 pounds
- 9.56″ x 7.47″ in dimensions
- 1024 x 768 screen resolution
- 10 hours of battery life
- optional built-in 3G modem (tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band GSM/EDGE)
- WiFi 802.11n
- Bluetooth 2.1
- 1 GHz custom Apple processor, named A4
- Accelerometer
- Compass
- Assisted GPS
- Ambient light sensor
- Dock connector
- built-in mic and speaker
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- available in 16/32/64Gb in capacity
From the specifications, it is more or less similar to what an iPhone 3Gs has. Apple invent this iPad to bridge the gap between the iPhone and the full MacOS X experience, but I still think lots of features are missing. It’s kind of feel like when the original iPhone was released and a year later there will be an update, don’t you think? One feature that is not included is the built-in front facing camera for video conference, which is what I least expected to have if they want to replace netbooks. Some wanted multitasking but as we all know, Apple thinks it’s a waste of resources but I bet the certain multitasking on iPhone will also available on the iPad.
From the design, I think the black frame along the screen is too wide, Apple should trim it down just enough to fit a front facing camera in the future. If you have seen the images floating around the web for the event, the usage is mostly done in landscape mode which bring me to confusion why not place the home button at the bottom in landscape orientation together with the dock connector, I mean that’s how we use laptop or netbooks, right? Why make the default view similar to the Amazon’s kindle? Since that’s how we use all our laptops and netbooks except maybe some complain a tight space for the keyboard and netbooks are already popular in the market so I don’t think we would mind, do you?
Now, let’s talk about the apps. Since the iPad runs on a modified iPhone OS, it runs every single app that’s currently available at the App Store and I believe that we won’t need to purchase the apps that we’ve already owned for our iPhone, which is the next great thing about it, they demoed iPhone games and apps run straight out once you grab it from the App Store, though they never mention about the home screen page limit and how many apps can be installed. The lack of multitasking is kind of making me to have second thoughts of purchasing the iPad. I definitely would like to replace my netbook with iPad but the thought of not being able to multitask is just not acceptable at the moment, but apps like IM+ (by ShapeServices, @implus) definitely a great start since it’s an all-in-one IM which include twitter and has in-app browser (only lacks multiple tabs capability), this makes me hope that IM+ will get an update to add more features to fully utilize the power of iPad. The two pictures above show you the calendar and mail app, it’s beautiful and I already can think a lot of apps will make use the two column layout and it’s going to be awesome.
Other than the apps we already know that’s available on the iPhone, Apple also introduce two new apps, first is the iBook (included for free), which is obvious by its name, it’s an ebook reader and it has its own dedicated book store, the second one is iWork for iPad, it has Pages, Numbers and Keynotes, all available separately for $10 each.
Next, accessorize your iPad, what’s an Apple product without the accessories, right? Apple announced a keyboard dock and a case that double as a placement support for watching movies. For the keyboard dock, you can only use the device in portrait mode. You can use (probably Apple’s) bluetooth keyboard, it would work great with the case shown in the second image.
Last but not least, the price of the iPad. It starts at $499 for 16Gb model, another additional $100 for each higher capacity or another $130 if you choose the 3G option.
There you have it, the latest creation of Apple, the iPad. Some adores it, others hate it for lack a few features but I have to admit the UI is amazing and definitely improved for better user experience. Would I buy it? As I’ve mentioned, I got the feeling it’s like when the original iPhone is released, lacks of certain things and will be patched in the next model, so I am having second thoughts about it. I barely even use my netbook anymore because of the iPhone and this iPad doesn’t offer as much as I would like it to, it’s not that I don’t want to use it, I really do want it, but will I want to carry an additional device and use it as much as I use an iPhone, I doubt that and not having a front facing camera is just so not like Apple, even the latest cinema display has it. I can only hope there will be an update next year to bring more awesomeness to the table. If I am going to buy it, I will probably get the base model iPad with 3G.
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