January 27, 2010 1.5 pounds, 9.7 inches - $499 iPad
Watch for a string of followups.
This story suggests some questions to ask when the hype fog lifts:
An Apple tablet will be hampered at the start by “unsatisfying” 3G broadband networks, short battery life, and people’s yen for a flexible device that can be rolled up and stuffed in a pocket, according to Gaines.
“I just don’t think this will be the killer device just yet,” Gaines said of what Apple has in store. “It will certainly point the way. It’s all coming.” - AFP/Breitbart
Frank@OBOW
Jobs has grown a beard.
Frank@OBOW
Engadget says it the iPad. Groovy.
Frank@OBOW
Whoops, already shaved it.
Frank@OBOW
Frank@OBOW
“The iPad is optimized for Web browsing, email and multimedia applications, Jobs said, unlike a netbook, which is not optimized for anything in particular.” - Doug Olenick, TWICE
ENGADGET: “It’s a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display, and it’s running a custom 1GHz Apple “A4” chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It’ll come in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes, and it’s got the expected connectivity: very little. There’s a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, and 802.11n WiFi, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. As expected, it can run iPhone apps — either pixel-for-pixel in a window, or pixel-doubled fullscreen — but developers can also target the new screen size using the updated iPhone OS SDK, which is available today.”
Frank@OBOW
Can’t argue with the battery life. It’s the netbook/reader for Apple geeks. Don’t pass judgement til the book/reader info is out. That may be it’s most important app.
The newly unveiled Apple tablet computing device, the iPad, is being released in two versions; one will have WiFi while the other comes with both WiFi and 3G connectivity. - gadgetrepublic.com
Frank@OBOW
Engadget hands-on reveals: no camera, no multi-tasking, fast processor. “The ebook implementation is about as close as you can get to reading without a stack of bound paper in your hand. The visual stuff really helps flesh out the experience. It may be just for show, but it counts here.”
Reader Comments (15)
If Apple allows for a decent word processing program, the this, along with an external keyboard might be suitable replacement for a netbook. If they add in decent handwriting recognition, then you will have a winner.
PUBLIC LIBRARY
whoops, excuse me while I go pay those overdue fines!
The cover and keyboard accessories look interesting, the cover providing a viewing a stand while on a tray table, and the keyboard providing a good input device.
1. It needs to be compatible with a real keyboard. And it is from the beginning.
2. It needs to have video out for presentation. It has a VGA support via dongle for 1028x768 resolution.
3. It needs to be light. It is the lightest thing out there with this performance. 730g for the 3g model with 10h battery life. There is no bloody PSU brick. YEAH! This means that the Ipad complete with PSU, keyboard and video adapters will weigh about 1.1kg all together. The only thing that can kind of beat it but has a noticeably smaller screen and only 3.5 hours of battery life is the Sony Vaio P. This then doesn't have a full keyboard and you will need to carry the PSU more often because it has a short battery life. The Sony is actually more expensive than the Ipad.
Here are links for tech specs
http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644608896#specifications
This makes it ideal for travel purposes. I am sure in October they will come out with a refresh with 128GB solid state memory. 64 is a little low. I don't mind that it doesn't have multi-tasking but it would be nice if it had a word editor. On the other hand Documents-to-go already does that. I don't know whether it has something like a My Documents folder. Strangely enough they don't talk about that. But I am pretty sure that solutions should be available. One will most likely opt for a service like Sugarsync or Dropbox and those come with folders on the device, too, if I am not mistaken.
Now, these are just my personal uses and remarks. On a cultural scale, I think this is the future of publishing, content access and advertising. If I owned a paper mill I'd be very worried right now.
No Multi-tasking
No Flash
Overpriced. Especially if you want more memory and 3G.
Ugly bezel
The whole thing is DRM
Lousy name. I'm sure you've heard the jokes already.
Books look expensive, but perhaps that will come down.
iPhone operating system, rather than OSX.
Perhaps it'll turn out to be a good way to read books, but will it actually be easier to hold and easier on the eyes than the e ink devices?
No camera
This thing is basically an over sized iPhone. What's so revolutionary and ground breaking about it?
Oh, I'm sure they'll sell a bunch solely because it's Apple. The fanboys and koolaid drinkers will be lined up. But I think a lot of people were disappointed today when they actually started looking at the specs and what it could and could not do.
I think it's a huge bag of fail.
On the positive side, the battery life looks fantastic.
For Dropbox on the iPhone, I can use the native viewer applications when I "open" a PDF from dropbox but wouldn't be able to open Dropbox docs in Documents to Go. Would be handy if I could.
Steve, the name is not lousy at all. I heard the jokes and whoever came up with that and finds that remotely funny has the intelligence and maturity of a third grader. The name is logical. Iphone, Ipod, Ipad. It's a semantic family almost. I plus one syllable word that starts with a P. It was clear it would be Ipad not Islate or even Itablet.
I am a bit disappointed, too, that it's not OSX and that there is no multi-tasking. That said, the Iphone OS is not a dead-end. It can develop and be built on. I hardly miss the multi-tasking on the Iphone. What I do miss is the My Documents folder and the possibility to edit stuff. I bet DTG will develop that even more for the Ipad and if freecia's info is right we might see a My Documents folder.
The 4:3 screen format is very good. This actually is still the more versatile format. Using 16:9 for everything just doesn't make sense. 4:3 is much easier to work with for viewing a webpage, a book page or a document page than 16:9. this shows you that those are intended uses for the Ipad. Had Jobs intended to make it a entertainment/video device first and foremost he would have given it a 16:9 screen. The 4:3 particularly makes sense if you have it in landscape format and the keyboard appears. On a 16:9 you would only have a tiny sliver of screen left on the top. This way you have half of the screen.
I am a bit disappointed that there is no direct USB access and no direct video out but that you need to go through a dongle. Probably to keep the curve on the edge. They had the same problem with the MBA.
And just to set that clear, I use a self-built PC on a daily basis. The thing is very reliable and for many things I actually find it easier to use than my Macbook, especially for photos! So I am not a Mac fanboy at all.
Regarding iPhone OS and a file system: I have heard from a couple of developers that the new SDK sports a sort of common file system directory. Nothing has been confirmed but that might indicate the first inklings of a shared file space.
The bezel supplies a safe structure for the large glass multitouch area.
There is a keyboard accesory which comes with a dock. This accesory apparently only allows you to work with the iPad in vertical orientation because of the dock connector.
In addition, bluetooth has been opened up so you can use Apple's existing BT keyboard. You'd still need a 3rd party device to prop the iPad up. This alternative might allow one to use the iPad in horizontal.
> The whole thing is DRM.
What do you mean the whole thing? iBooks works with ePub, an open ebook format. MP4 videos and MP3 files can still be used for video and audio. If your point is that Apple wants to get you to use iTMS to purchase music, apps, books, movies, well, yes, but if you want to bring over your own MP4s and MP3s, you're welcome to do it. If your point is that it doesn't support DIVX, etc. that's a fair point but again there are options and Apple, as is logical, is trying to keep revenue up as high as possible like all profit-making companies.
> No flash or multitasking
That's a legitimate complaint. Don't know where Apple is going in that regard. iPhone OS will get updated this year. Maybe multitasking will appear then.
http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplatform/2010/01/building_ipad_apps.html