Apple iPad Round Up

You’ve got to hand it to Apple. The Cupertino-based company knows how to create excitement in anticipation for a device that was all but a figment of our imagination only last week. For the last two weeks there has been non-stop speculation by industry experts on Twitter, blogs, forums and even just general chit-chat about an Apple device resembling a Tablet PC which would change the computing world forever.

Well Apple managed to pull it off yet again by announcing the latest addition to their product range, the iPad. It’s said to fill the gap between laptops and smart phones, and will change the way you browse the internet, read emails, view photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games, and read eBooks on the go. The iPad features an LED backlit 9-inch multi-touch screen, with storage ranging from 16GB to 64GB and packs a powerful 1Ghz Apple-branded processor, with multi-thread capabilities to ensure that your Apps always run smoothly.

It’s also a lightweight, weighing under 700 grams and is 1.3cm thick. The battery is said to give 10 hours usage and have a standby time of over a month.

There are two distinct models available, both feature Wifi (802.11N) but 3G is only available on select models.

The iPad runs the same software as what is used on the iPhone, but has been tweaked to take advantage of the bigger, higher resolution screen.

Apple’s hugely popular App Store is preloaded to the iPad giving you access to over 140 000 apps for the iPhone. It also has the ability to transform the image size from that of the iPhone to fill the entire screen.

Some noticeable Apps for the iPad

• iBooks which gives you access to eBooks from various large publishers



• iWork has been redeveloped for the iPad making use of the new GUI



• iTunes is also preloaded to the iPad and brings the convenience we have grown accustom to on the iPhone and iPod touch



• Electronic Arts has shown off the iPads gaming ability with Need For Speed Shift

Unknowns

Even though the iPad looks great and boasts some great features there are some unknowns which should be cleared up over the next few weeks.

• Phone Calls; will the 3G models be able to make and accept phone calls over the GSM network? A Bluetooth headset will be available from Apple which might hint towards it doing so.



• iBook Store; does Apple have plans on making the book store available worldwide or will it be limited to certain regions?



• Supply and demand; With the device being in huge demand, will Apple be able to keep everyone happy with stock readily available?

Cons

Not everything can be perfect, and the downside of the iPad are noticeable.

• The iPad uses a new type of sim card known as a micro sim card (3FF sim), most service providers around the world do not offer this yet. At this point only T-Mobile USA has confirmed that it will be adopting this format imminently. This limits the possibility of using the device internationally, albeit that the device is not locked to a specific carrier.



• Camera, most devices these days have at least one camera (most smart phones two) but the iPad is short in this department and would prohibit you from making video calls via Skype, Google Talk or any other similar service.



• Just like the iPhone the iPad is not able to run multiple Apps at once. This is rumored to be sorted out in the next version Of the software.