If you haven't the slightest clue about it, you may have been living under a rock as Apple's amazing new gadget, the iPad, hits the worldwide market after months of speculation. It's basically a blown-up version of the iPod which comes with a 9.7-inch touchscreen, memory from 16 to 64 GB, and can run nearly all of the iPhone apps in the App Store. It can sync with a Mac or PC via a USB connection, play high-def videos, function as an ebook reader and so much more.
Robust features
The Apple iPad is essentially a tablet computer which features internet connectivity, music and video playback, and gaming. It has a 24.3 cm x 19.0 cm x 1.3 cm dimension and is powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 system-on-chip processor. This tablet computer runs a modified version of the iPhone operating system and comes with a lithium-ion polymer battery.
The iPad tablet comes with an accelerometer, much like the iPhone, which automatically aligns the view according to the device's orientation, and a smudge-resistant LCD screen made of scratch-resistant glass. This device is equipped with a photo sensor which equalises the screen's brightness to correspond to the ambient light. The 25-cm touchscreen displays up to 1024 x 768 pixels (132 pixels per inch) resolution.
Killer applications
The iPad can download applications you need from Apple's App store. Apart from the 140,000 downloadable applications readily on hand from the App Store, 12 apps were programmed specifically for the Apple iPad. The 12 mentioned applications have multi-touch features and runs on both portrait and landscape views.
The apps available for the device include a made-over edition of iWork designed just for the iPad. This newer iWork version allows users to create documents with Pages, presentations with Keynote, and spreadsheets with Numbers. Using the iBooks app, you can search for reading materials from major and independent publishers on Apple's iBookstore. You can buy and read the ebook you bought on the iPad.
USB connectivity will allow users to synchronise their iPads to their Macs or personal computers. Same as other Apple devices such as the iPod Touch and the iPhone, the iPad will sync music downloads to iTunes.
Knockout price
Whilst the iPad comes with a range of great features and functions, its knockout feature by far is its price. Whilst many anticipated a £700 price tag, the introductory price of the Apple iPad is only around £342 for the basic 16 GB unit. In comparison, Amazon's Kindle DX, an ebook reader with a 9.7-inch screen, sells for around £334, lower by £8 than the iPad.
The Apple iPad has two connectivity options - the Wi-Fi only and the Wi-Fi with 3G version. The Wi-Fi only version sells at around £342 to £479 depending on the memory capacity, whilst the Wi-Fi with 3G ranges from around £431 to £568. The device comes in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB versions.
The iPad's lack of multi-tasking capability and camera earned some scathing evaluation from disappointed reviewers. Whilst these reviewers were focused on what's lacking on the iPad, most applauded it for what it provides.
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