The big Apple iPad is out and people are chomping at the bit to know what it can do. Take a quick look at some of the features of this brand new device that is supposed to take up where smartphones leave off.
Well it is “big”, but “bad”; not so much. It has a super screen on it. You get a feeling not unlike getting a triple at Wendy´s if all you usually get is a double. Your eyes take in the real estate and say; “Wow!”. For specifications sake, it is HD-ready and measures in at a large 9.7 inches. That is 24.638 centimeters for all those readers who are using the metric system. It present all this and stays half an inch thick. It is also nearly ten inches high. This makes it about the size of many magazines. It weighs one and a half pounds ( 680 grams ).
Apple iPad
The screen is of the utmost importance and a major part of the Apple iPad. It is created to do what most smartphones can not do simply because they are small. Reading books is an easy task on the iPad. It is seldom ( if ever ) easy for a smartphone. The display is coated with an “oleophobic” ingredient that helps to clean up fingerprints. It is also used on the last model iPhone. The technology behind the screen is old-school LCD technology. It is a backlit screen instead of being an AMOLED. The screen is highly responsive to touch and has the Apple “feel” to it. It does the acrobatics of making a vertical screen into a horizontal one automatically. It also has multitouch, like the last iPhone. There is no manual keyboard of course and the spacious touch screen provides a marvelous typing experience in gargantuan size.
The iPad is sporting a fast processor. It races along at one gigahertz. It is specially created for the iPad. It does a good job of keeping up with programs so far. No one yet knows what a loaded up ( full memory ) iPad will do to the speed of the iPad, so check back for the news. The internal memory is rated at different levels ranging from sixteen gigabytes up to 64 gigabytes.
Camera capabilities are non existant. The iPad has no camera. That means no taking videos too. Video chats are out of the question. There is some noise in the pipeline that this will be available soon. For now, you will have to hook up with another unit to take pictures. If you think about it this one model sold 300,000 units on the first day. If enough people say they want a camera they will get one.
Apple iPad
The 3G capabilities of the iPad are great for those who are on the run a lot. It will also cost extra to have a 3G model, but AT&T are being nice and offering a nice plan for the iPad 3G users. The Wi-Fi crowd will be happy to know that the iPad can use the fast “N” mode. It is at least five to seven times faster than the older “G” mode of Wi-Fi. Can you say; “top dog” ?
The operating system is similar to that used on the Apple iPhone 3GS. The browser is made by Safari, and as you may have already heard, there is no flash capability. If you like flash sites you will need to look to your laptop or other device for those files. The battery is great, even wonderful in the iPad. It lasts a good ten hours and then some.
Overall, the Apple iPad is a great go-between for smartphones and laptops. Do not sell your MacBook just yet, though. While you are at it, remember that other screens are being developed that can kick this one out of town. It will be interesting to see how the iPad fares this year. For now, it has been most of what the hype said it would be.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
First off: no, it isn’t a portable computer replacement. If you expect it to be, you’ll only be disappointed. Nor is it just an oversized PDA despite claims to the contrary. Instead, it’s a robust adjunct to your main computer. It allows me to take most of my web browsing, game playing, email reading, etc. away from my desk. In large part, whether the Ipad suits your needs will depend on whether you can find apps for it that suit your needs. So far there’s a wide array of apps, so I haven’t found this to be much of a problem–but again, it’ll depend on your needs. It’s true that there are some things you just can’t do on an Ipad, like view Flash content on websites. I do find this occasionally annoying, but honestly, I just hope it convinces more websites to stop using so much Flash content. I’ve always found that it bogs down my machine and causes more problems than it fixes. In contrast, I’ve found that the apps on my Ipad load and run super-fast.
They’re streamlined to have a small footprint, and it shows. They load so fast that load screen tips in games often flash past before I can read them. They also take up a surprisingly small amount of memory; I’m amazed at how slowly I’m using up my 16G! The on-screen keyboard is actually pretty good, and suits normal finger size much better than that on the tinier iPhone screen, but it still isn’t meant for extended typing. I’m also addicted to the touch-screen interface. It feels so natural that I find myself trying to use my laptop as though it had one.
Since I do a lot of reading and reviewing, and I absolutely hate the other e-readers I’ve played with (the screen flash when turning pages would drive me batty before I finished a single book), the Ipad’s value as an e-reader was important to me. In this, it truly shines. You can download the Barnes & Noble reader and the Kindle reader for free. GoodReader makes a fantastic pdf reader (just import pdfs from the app tab when synching with your computer). iBooks, however, blew me away. As a book geek, I really like the experience of reading a book rather than a computer file. And iBooks looks the most like a book. I’m truly amazed by the screen quality, the speed of everything, the variety of apps available, and the utility of the Ipad as an e-reader. I can use it near-constantly for heavy-use things like gameplay and the charge lasts me a good 24 hours.
This is all very new to me and this article really opened my eyes.Thanks for sharing with us your wisdom.
I really, really wanted to LOVE the new Ipad. And I do, up to a point. It is a sleek looking gadget and using the calendar, e-mail and internet over wi-fi – pretty fabulous. The e-reader app, iBook, is really amazing (sorry Kindle, sorry Nook) – the pages turn so quickly, the library shelf interface is very appealing though the e-books are a tad more expensive the B&N e-books. The apps that work, work well, but the graphics on many apps appear pixelated because they were not designed for the Ipad. Maybe it will get better with time.