The Apple iPad tablet computer was announced last week with models launching in the next couple of months. On iPadTabletpcReview.com we’ll look at what the iPad and other tablet PCs do, what features they offer and some predictions on how this will impact on how we’ll use these devices in the future. We’ll also look at e-readers and other new portable pc options. iPadTabletpcReview.com will attempt to cut out the jargon and get to the detail of the pros and cons of the iPad and what tablet PCs can do for you in layman’s terms.
First up let’s look at what the initial thoughts are around the web…
Update 1st March 2011 – Check out the latest iPad 1 Review.
The Apple iPad Tablet Computer
Image courtesy of Apple
What is the Apple iPad?
The iPad is a basically a large iPod Touch. Highly portable at 1.5 pounds, a 9.7 inch screen (measured diagonally) and 0.5 inch thick it is roughly the size of a mouse mat.
Designed with Apple’s usual style as a sleek and highly usable device for playing videos and music, viewing photos, playing games, surfing the web, using various applications and reading books, news papers and magazines.
Apple describe the iPad as “Our most technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price” – big talk given the success of their previous products.
What’s the iPad screen like?
LED-Backlit IPS Display – this means a 9.7 inch display screen (measured diagonally) designed so you can watch video and view photos in all their glory. You also have a large enough screen to browse the web with ease. It’s also designed to work in portrait or landscape mode so you hold it in the orientation you want and it will reformat the content to match you.
The IPS stands for in-plane-switching which basically means you get a good view of what’s on the screen even if you’re looking at it from an acute angle.
Multi Touch Screen – if you’ve played with an iPhone you know what the touch screen is like. Basically you control what the iPad does by tapping or pressing on the screen. It will respond depending on your finger gestures. Getting the hang of this is pretty easy as it’s designed in an intuitive and user friendly manner. Initial feedback is that this is extremely responsive and this is one of the reasons that those who have actually used it, have raved about it.
What are the key features of the iPad?
10 hours of battery life – a lot of laptops will usually run out of power after 2-3 hours so 10 hours use before it runs out of power is clearly desirable.
Wireless – if you have a wireless network set-up at home or you are in a public wireless area then it will find these for you. Then you are able to browse the web, access files, download apps without linking it up to a pc.
3G more expensive models will also allow you to browse the web wherever there is a 3G mobile connection (you will also need to pay for a plan with a mobile network to use this) so if you’re out and about you then wouldn’t need to have a wireless connection to surf at high speeds.
The iPad uses a the A4 chip and is available in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB models depending on what you want to pay. Basically the more you pay for, the more storage space you’ll have for music, videos and photos.
What’s the iPad audio like?
Built in speakers and a headphone jack provide the options to listening to your music or the sound of a movie. There’s also a microphone built into the iPad. I’d assume external speakers delivering an improved audio experience will be available as an accessory.
How do I browse the internet on the iPad?
The Apple tablet includes the Safari browser which works in a similar way to any other browsers on your pc such as Internet Explorer. You use the multi-touch screen to navigate as you would on the iPhone which is by far the best mobile browsing experience on the market. You can zoom in and out and scroll around pages.
The only missing here is the Adobe Flash plug-in that Apple have purposely left out. There’s a bit of debate around why this is – ranging from the impact of Flash on stability of the experience to the Flash plug-in’s potential to undermine Apple’s app store business model. The impact of this is that some adverts on websites or animation produced in Flash won’t work on the iPad. There’s a bit of a conflict here as Flash is a pretty integral part of the web these days – Flash based games for instance.
There is some speculation that Flash will be included in future releases of the iPad but if this article from Wired on why the iPhone doesn’t support Flash is correct then don’t expect this to happen soon.
How do I read my emails on the iPad?
Again similar functionality as the iPhone but expanded further to make more use of the larger screen. It’s quick and easy to set-up your account (i.e. Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc.) and then you can scroll through email, compose email, retrieve and send photos etc.
How do you type on the iPad?
A virtual keyboard can be pulled up on the screen when you need it and then tap on the screen to type. It’s expected to be very responsive and Apple achieved this with the iPhone so they’ve proved themselves here. The larger screen should improve further but I suspect this will need a bit of time getting used to. The auto-correct mechanism used in the iPhone is used again and this is pretty good at tidying up any errors via mistyping.
Can I view Photos?
The initial view of photo viewing looks pretty funky with a great navigation through your photo collections with a preview option and you use finger gestures to select photos, zoom in and out and move them around. A few commentators were a bit disappointed that a camera is not available on the iPad itself. To be honest, I just can’t see how this could be practical anyway as you’d have to be standing with an iPad pointing at the subject of a photo and I don’t fancy holding an expensive piece of kit in front of me in the street as I doubt it would look very impressive and is opening the door for someone to grab it and run.
What about watching movies and TV downloads on the iPad?
There’s a high-resolution screen on the iPad so videos look like they’ll be good on the iPad. You can download HD movies, TV shows, screencasts and music videos from iTunes.
The YouTube Application
The YouTube app allows you to watch want you want from YouTube and navigating YouTube to get what you’re looking after is going to be easy if this is the same as the app available to iPhone users.
Will the iPad allow me to listen to my music?
The iPad will allow you to listen to your music collection just as you would on your iPod so you’ll have to rip your compact discs to iTunes to make this happen which can be a very slow process if they’re not already in iTunes.
Other iPad Applications?
Use iTunes and you can get into the App Store to get access to around 140,000 apps with various functions. All these apps are built around the iPhone or iPod touch though so may look clunky on a bigger screen – no doubt developers will quickly be launching many iPad specific apps though.
Can I read e-books on the iPad?
The iBooks app lets you download books directly to the iPad. It’s hard to say how this work until we see it in action, the colour screen will clearly be better than other e-readers on the market visually but may be more straining on the eyes – time will tell on this.
What other iPad features are there?
Maps – High resolution maps allow you to find your way and get directions – all using Google services.
Other included apps include note making functionality, an app to store your contacts, and a calendar.
image courtesy of Apple
Where can I buy an iPad?
Apple has announced that the iPad will be available in the next couple of months. For UK users, latest news is that Apple has announced that they will launch the Wifi iPad in March in the UK and the 3G version in April. There’s no further UK pricing information at this point and there’s no confirmation on what network providers will offer the 3G version or their prices yet.
How much will an iPad cost?
Prices start at $499 for the basic model as follows:
WiFi 16GB = $499
WiFi 32GB = $599
WiFi 64GB = $699
WiFi + 3G 16GB = $629
WiFi + 3G 32GB = $729
WiFi + 3G 64GB = $829
Prices outside of the US are yet to be announced.
That’s it so far, I’ll post some more pictures soon and some links to other reviews around the web.
Update 1st March 2011 – Check out the latest iPad 1 Review.
