After almost 5 years of speculation Apple’s tablet computer is finally here. The buzz and hype surrounding the launch of the so called revolutionary product was unprecedented, in fact leading tech blogs like Gizmodo and Engadget covering the launch live were crawling due to the heavy traffic. Coming to the iPad (yes, Apple has drawn a lot of flak for the name) it is basically a bigger iPhone with a much faster processor. The iPad is basically a huge multi-touchscreen, 9.7 inches to be precise and it supports a resolution of 1024 x 768. Coming to the size it is a wee bit thicker than the iPhone 3GS and measures 9.56 x 7.47 inches while weighing in at 1.5 pounds. It packs in a 1GHz Apple ARM A4 chip and offers 64GB / 32GB / 16GB of onboard flash memory. Like the iPhone it has an accelerometer, compass, 802.11 n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 30 pin iPod dock connector, a speaker and a microphone. There is no HDMI, DVI or a camera and 3G comes optional at an extra cost.
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Coming to the software it has a new app named ‘iBook’ which is somewhat similar to iTunes but instead of multimedia content you can access and purchase books. Other applications include Maps, Video, iTunes, App store, Photo library, Safari and E-Mail which are similar to the iPhone but just tweaked for the iPad.
The onscreen keyboard is again very much similar to the iPhone but a lot bigger and lifesized which makes punching the keys a bit easy. Plus the iPad will support Apple’s Bluetooth keyboards.
Apple promises a battery life of 10 hours with constant viewing and a standby time of one month. The iPad has three accessories for now a book-style case, dock and a keyboard dock.
The Wi-Fi iPad will ship worldwide in 60 days but the 3G version will hit the States in 30 days. Apple has also released the SDK for the iPad which will allow developers to take full advantage of high-res screen and the increased processing power.
Without 3G:
• $499: 16GB
• $599: 32GB
• $699: 64GB
With 3G:
• $629: 16GB
• $729: 32GB
• $829: 64GB
[Gizmodo]