Apple iPad

Calling it “way better than a laptop, way better than a phone,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled his company’s long-awaited iPad tablet-style multi-touch device Wednesday, with a starting price of $499 with Wi-Fi, or $629 with a 3G radio.

“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” Jobs said in a statement. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”

Apple has dubbed the iPad “our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbeatable price.”

Hardware

The device is 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds — lighter than any netbook, Jobs noted — and sports a 9.7-inch display. It also includes a 1GHz Apple-built A4 processor which includes the CPU and graphics.

“Everything is one chip, and it screams,” Jobs said at Wednesday’s keynote.

He also touted that device gets 10 hours battery life watching video, and has a one-month standby charge. It will come in capacities of 16GB to 64GB of flash storage, in models with and without a 3G radio.

The iPad features a 9.7-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology. It has a 178-degree viewing angle and sports a 1024×768 pixel resolution display at 132 pixels per inch.

The hardware has many of the same capabilities of the iPhone and iPod touch, including an orientation sensor for switching between portrait and landscape modes, and multi-touch capabilities. The device even looks akin to a large iPhone.

Size and weight

* Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
* Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
* Depth: 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
* Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model; 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

Display

* 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
* 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
* Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
* Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Wi-Fi model

* Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
* Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

Wi-Fi + 3G model

* UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
* GSM/EDGE (850, 900,1800, 1900 MHz)
* Data only2
* Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
* Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

Location

* Wi-Fi
* Digital compass
* Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
* Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)

Other features:

* 30-pin Dock connector (same as iPod and iPhone)
* 10-hours of battery life (Over one month standby time)’
* Full capacitive multi-touch interface
* 16-64GB of Flash memory storage
* 1 GHz Apple-branded A4 chip (developed in-house)
* Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
* 802.11n WiFi
* Built-in Speaker
* Built-in Microphone

In the Box:

* iPad
* Dock connector to USB cable
* 10W Power Adapter
* Documentation

Data

Only U.S. data plans with AT&T were revealed at Apple’s event Wednesday. Connectivity will cost $14.99 per month for 250MB of data, and $29.99 per month for unlimited data. It will also come with access to AT&T’s nationwide Wi-Fi hotspots.

To access a 3G network, a 3G-enabled iPad must be purchased. The 3G connected hardware costs an extra $130.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said there are no international plans to reveal yet, but the company hopes to have them in place by the June-July timeframe. The device will come unlocked and will have support for GSM micro-SIM cards.

Software

* Runs all iPhone apps
* App Store application included

Default applications:

* Safari
* Mail
* Photos
* iPod
* Calendar
* Contacts
* Notes
* Maps
* Movies
* YouTube
* iTunes Store
* App Store

Current iPhone and iPod touch applications will work on the iPad. With just a tap, existing applications can be run in full-screen mode.

Also introduced was “iBooks,” Apple’s e-book reading application. Jobs credited Amazon with pioneering the e-book market with its Kindle, but said Apple intends to improve on that model.

“We’re going to stand on their shoulders and go a bit further,” he said.

Jobs noted that the hardware is a “dream to type on,” and demonstrated how to read, view media and content and access applications on the hardware. It also includes a charging and docking station with an attached physical keyboard.

It includes calendar, address book, maps and music applications built-in. It also connects to the iTunes store.

“You can discover music, you can purchase it,” Jobs said. “Movies, TV shows, podcasts, iTunes University — everything built right in.”

It also has access to YouTube the streaming service’s high-definition streaming content.

“Using this thing is remarkable. It’s so much more intimate than a laptop, and it’s so much more capable than a smartphone,” Jobs said.

He then demonstrated browsing the Web on the device. Jobs sat on a couch on the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and bought movie tickets on Fandango.

Jobs also showed sending e-mail, reading content and flipping through photos. Places that photos were taken could be viewed through the integrated maps application. It also allows a photo slideshow that works much like in iPhoto.

The touchscreen keyboard takes up half of the screen when the device is used in landscape mode.

Jobs also demonstrated a calendar application that looks much like the Calendar app available on the Mac OS X desktop. He also showed off buying and listening to iTunes content on the iPad, demonstrating high-definition clips from movies like “Up” and “Star Trek.”

A New York Times reader was also demonstrated, with officials saying they wanted to capture the “essence” of reading a newspaper. The design on the iPad looks like a traditional newspaper front page.

Games were also given a major focus at the event, with Gameloft’s “Nova,” a new ESPN-licensed title called “Snocross,” and EA’s “Need for Speed” shown running on the iPad.

Also demonstrated was a Major League Baseball application that allows users to track live games, watch video highlights and view player statistics. The software will be integrated with MLB.com to view player “cards” and track standings.

Starting Wednesday, developers will be able to access a new SDK that will allow them to test their iPhone applications with a “simulator.”

Accessories

iPad Dock: Powers the iPad, connects to a computer, and allows use for accessories through the Camera Connection Kit.

iPad Keyboard Dock: A dock for charging the iPad, integrated with a full-size keyboard. The dock has a rear 30-pin connector, which lets you connect to an electrical outlet using a USB Power Adapter, sync to your computer, and use accessories like the Camera Connection Kit. And an audio jack lets you connect to a stereo or powered speakers.

iPad Case: Protects the iPad and can be used in various positions. Users can type, look at photos and slideshows or watch movies with the case attached.

iPad Camera Connection Kit: Gives two ways to import photos and videos from a digital camera. The Camera Connector lets you import your photos and videos to iPad using the camera’s USB cable. Or you can use the SD Card Reader to import photos and videos directly from the camera’s SD card.

iPad USB Power Adapter: The 10W USB Power Adapter lets you charge your iPad directly through an electrical outlet. And the 6 foot long power cable allows you to charge it from an even greater distance.

Pricing

The 16GB model, without a 3G radio but with Wi-Fi, will cost $499, with 32GB and 64GB models priced $599 and $699, respectively. Models with 3G radios will cost an extra $130.

Just Wi-Fi:

* 16GB – $499
* 32GB – $599
* 64GB – $699

With 3G radio:

* 16GB – $629
* 32GB – $729
* 64GB – $829

Availability

They will be shipping in 60 days with worldwide availability for Wi-Fi models. 3G models ship in 90 days.

iPad Environmental Checklist

* Arsenic-free
* BFR-free
* Mercury-free
* PVC-free system
* Highly Recyclable

By AppleInsider Staff
appleinsider.com

Apple’s newly announced iPad features a number of native applications like those available on the iPhone and iPod touch, but with new features, capabilities and design tweaks that make them different.

Safari

The large Multi-Touch screen on iPad shows Web pages one whole page at a time. Sites can be viewed in portrait or landscape modes, with a size that’s “actually readable,” Apple said.

“And with iPad, navigating through the web has never been easier, or more intuitive. Because you use the most natural pointing device there is: your finger.

“You can scroll through a page just by flicking your finger up or down on the screen. Or pinch to zoom in or out on a photo. There’s also a thumbnail view that shows all your open pages in a grid, to let you quickly move from one page to the next.”

Mail

Landscape mode offers a split-screen view, showing both an opened email and the messages in your Inbox. To see the opened email by itself, you just turn iPad to portrait, and the email automatically rotates and fills the screen.

In any orientation, users can scroll through your mail, compose a new email using the large, on-screen keyboard, or delete messages, with a tap and a flick. If someone emails you a photo, you can see it right in the message.

Users can also save the photos in an email directly to the built-in Photos app. And iPad will work with all the popular email providers, including MobileMe, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.

Photos

The new Photos app displays photos in an album as though they were in a stack. Tap or pinch to open the stack, and the whole album opens up. Then you can flip through your pictures, zoom in or out, or watch a slideshow.

The iPad can also be used as a digital photo frame while it is docked or charging. Photos can be imported through sync from a computer, download from an email, or imported directly from a camera using the Apple Camera Connection Kit.

During Wednesday’s keynote, Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed how locations that photos were taken could be viewed through the integrated maps application. It also allows a photo slideshow that works much like in iPhoto.

Video

The iPad’s high-resolution screen makes it ideal for watching HD movies, TV shows, podcasts and music videos. Users can move between wide-screen and full-screen with a double-tap.

With one big screen and no buttons to distract, the picture fills your line of sight.

YouTube

The YouTube app organizes video, making them easy to see and navigate. To watch one, tap it. When watching in landscape, the video will automatically play in full screen.

It also plays YouTube videos that are available in high-definition.

iPod

Browse by album, song, artist, or genre, with a flick. To play a song, tap it, and the now playing screen will show the album art at full size.

Listen to music with either the powerful built-in speaker, or with wired or Bluetooth wireless headphones.

iTunes

Tap on the iTunes Store icon to browse and buy music, TV shows, podcasts — or buy and rent movies — wirelessly, right from the iPad. Like on the desktop and via the iPhone, users can preview songs before purchasing them.

The iPad syncs with your existing iTunes library on Mac or PC via a USB cable.

App Store

Runs almost 140,000 apps from the App Store: Everything from games to business apps, and more. In addition, new apps that have been designed just for iPad are highlighted, making them easy to find.

iBooks

Download the iBooks app for free from the App Store, and you’ll be able to buy everything from classics to bestsellers from the built-in iBookstore.

Purchased books are displayed on the iPad’s virtual Bookshelf. To read it on the high-resolution, LED-backlit screen, tap on it and it opens up.

Maps

See more of the world with high-resolution Satellite and Street View images. View topography with the new Terrain view.

Search for a nearby business type (for example, “Restaurant”) and then tap on that business to see the route and directions from your current location.

Notes

In landscape mode, users get a note-taking page and a list of all your notes, with the current note circled in red. It utilizes the device’s full-screen virtual keyboard.

Calendar

iPad displays Day, Week, Month or List views of your calendar. That way, you can see an overview of a whole month, or the details of a single day. iPad will even show multiple calendars at once, allowing work and personal calendars to be edited in the same place.

Jobs did a live demonstration of the Calendar app, which looks more akin to the Mac OS X software.

Contacts

The Contacts app includes a new view that lets you see both your complete contact list, and a single contact, simultaneously. Tapping a contact’s address opens it in Maps.

Home Screen

The Home Screen allows one-tap access to everything on iPad. The Home Screen can be customized by adding your favorite apps and websites, or using your own photos for the background. And you can move apps around to arrange them in any order you want.

Spotlight Search

Spotlight Search allows users to search across iPad, and all of its built-in apps, including Mail, Contacts, Calendar, iPod, and Notes. It can also search for apps downloaded from the App Store.

The big question before today’s Apple event was how the company would deliver a tablet-sized product that any significant number of people might want to buy. On stage, Steve Jobs provided a lot of answers, but the most powerful answer required holding the new device in your hands.

Great expectations

Jobs framed the new iPad as being in between its iPhone and MacBook products. But in order to succeed, he pointed out, it would need to do some things better than either. Today’s netbooks don’t do anything better; they’re just cheap and small notebooks, he said.

It was widely expected that Apple would release a 10″ iPod touch, and that’s essentially what the iPad is. However, that’s really only the case in hardware. The iPad’s larger screen, which melds the MacBook’s beautiful IPS LCD display with the iPhone’s multitouch sensitivity, provides so much extra room that it enables iPhone apps to grow up in sophistication from being mostly information browsers to being full blown desktop apps driven primarily by a multitouch interface.

This introductory video shows a 360 degree view of the iPad, along with a look at how it presents home screen apps just like the iPhone. Its actual apps are more like desktop Mac apps however, and in some cases seem even better, particularly the beautiful new multitouch Calendar app.

iPad initial surprises

In person, the first and biggest surprise of the slim new tablet-sized device is that it works vertically. Most fan art conceptualized the device to be used in landscape mode. While it works in both, most of the time (some apps favor one or the other; Keynote is landscape-only, for example), the vertical orientation is what you use in the dock. It’s also the primary way Apple pictures it on its site, just like the iPhone and iPod touch.

This begins to make sense only when you use it. Suddenly, the preconceived idea of a tablet being a laptop without a keyboard evaporates and you find yourself looking at iPad as if it is a digital pad of paper. We don’t typically use spiral-bound notebooks sideways.

The next surprise is that this isn’t just an iPod touch with a big screen. The apps Apple bundles, as well as some early third party apps that a select few developers produced over the last couple weeks, are all redesigned to take full advantage of the screen in new ways and with increased sophistication and depth; they don’t just spread out to consume more space.

Calendar, Notes, Mail, Photos, and other apps are all enhanced with what feels like an injection of elements of the desktop Mac experience into the familiar iPhone interface (below). Rather than the iPhone’s menu-per-page convention, apps like Settings present multiple tiers of menu levels at once. Mail shows you both your inbox in an iPhone-like view as well as a message preview, all on the same screen.
Things that aren’t practical on the iPhone due to its small size are natural and almost magical on the iPad. The Photos app incorporates elements of iPhoto, adding finger-based navigation through albums, as well as Faces and Places organization. Apple’s iWork suite is now three cheap $10 apps that each provide most — if not all — of the features of their desktop counterparts, but are fully controlled via intuitive multitouch gestures.

Make a mistake and you can use the Undo button. Toolbars and search features are reminiscent of Mac apps, while popup menus look like iPhone screens. If you’re familiar with either, you also know how to work the iPad.

At the same time, the iPad also runs pretty much all of the 140,000 iPhone apps available. It can run them natively at the same size they’d be on the iPhone, or double them to present the same app across most of the screen. Some apps, such as Facebook, look a little pixelated and stretched on the iPad’s big new 1024×768 screen, but existing games looked awesome. In fact, I had to ask several reps if the iPad was doing any re-rendering; even with pixel doubling, iPhone games looked great and played smoothly.

Developers will be able to create customized versions of their existing apps to work with the iPad, and Apple demonstrated what some of these might look like. With more screen real estate, the things developers can do with games and other apps is simply mind blowing.

Missing features

There are a few things some observers expected that didn’t turn up in the final design. The most obvious is a lack of support for any providers other than AT&T in the US or GSM/UMTS providers overseas. There’s no CDMA version for Verizon Wireless, and it doesn’t support T-Mobile’s 3G frequencies (although it apparently could be activated on T-Mobile’s slow GSM network, but that might not be cost effective).

The new machine uses microSIM cards and is only sold completely unlocked, with no contact subsidies and complete home activation. There’s also a WiFi-only version that starts the price at just $499, much less than anyone imagined.

There are no cameras, killing any hopes that it would be used as a video conferencing device. However, most people don’t like to be on camera, which is why we never had a clamoring market for videophones despite having had the technology for decades. And while its very handy to snap pics with your smartphone, it makes less sense to expect to take pictures with a tablet-sized device.

There’s no provision for running multiple third party apps at once, outside of the bundled Apple apps that can work in the background, such as iPod. That, some have speculated, may be a feature of iPhone 4.0 this summer. The iPad was shown running iPhone 3.2 software.

There’s currently no demonstrated way to attach the iPad to a Mac to use it as a multitouch input device, although this may be possible with third party software; if nothing else, developers could use network commands to relay touch gestures to a desktop app.

More hardware surprises

There are two docks designed for the iPad: one is a simple stand to allow recharging while playing videos or touching the screen at a near vertical position for $29, and a second dock option offers an integrated physical keyboard for $69.

The keys are nearly identical to Apple’s other keyboards, although it adds a home button, a search button, a lock button, and a key to bring up the virtual keyboard on screen so you can type any foreign or special characters (or say, bring up a number pad or the Chinese touch input) without hitting some special chord sequence of keys. It will also be possible to use the iPad with an external Bluetooth keyboard, according to Apple reps in the hands-on area. Hopefully that feature will also make it into the iPhone and iPod touch.

With its HD-resolution display and Keynote, the iPad begs for video output. You can use the existing iPhone video output cables to deliver component or composite video, but you can also now use an iPad-specific cable to attach it to a VGA projector (or other display) at its native 1024×768 resolution. And while your presentation progresses, you can not only control it, but also highlight using a virtual laser pointer you move with your finger. You can also paint on the screen John Madden style to emphasize things as you speak. This will sell iPads to every conference room in America.

In addition to the VGA dongle (sold separately), there’s also a USB and SD card reader adapter package for $29 that makes it easy to upload photos from your digital camera, although there wasn’t any demonstration of the devices in use.

A special neoprene-like case protects the iPad like a standard book cover, but also reverses into a triangle to convert the tablet into either a freestanding TV orientation, or lays down to become a full screen mini-laptop. The case is soft but makes the device seem ruggedized, although you probably still won’t want to drop it.

There’s a mic and a headphone jack (it’s not clear if it also supports mic-integrated headphones), so there’s at least the potential for VoIP applications over WiFi. There wasn’t a bundled version of the Voice Memos app on the prototype models, nor a version of the iPhone’s Voice Command, but there’s no reason either couldn’t be added by Apple by the time it ships.

The iPad is even designed to do something when it’s doing nothing. With the device at its unlock screen, there’s a button to start a slideshow configured to your preferences within Settings (below). This turns the thing into a nice animated slideshow picture frame of your selected photo album as it recharges.

Revolutionary evolution

The iPad seems like a gigantic leap and a small step at once. It isn’t a ballsy leap of faith by Apply by any means; it is an enhancement to its existing blockbuster SDK and App Store, not an entirely new platform like the Newton Message Pad once attempted to be.

It already runs all manner of iPhone apps, while also creating a vacuum that developers will rush to fill with new custom apps. It also syncs with Mac files for iWork, iTunes, and anything in Mail.

It isn’t a single purpose device like the Amazon Kindle or Android Nook; while it serves as a capable e-reader, it is far more functional even at that, supporting embedded color graphics and video within book titles, something e-ink displays simply can’t manage.

Despite that, it still has a tremendous battery life and looks great, leaving users no reason to buy a dedicated e-reader instead. It also offers fast, flicker-free page turning (or animatedly slow, if you like it that way), immediate navigation, and a choice of font styles and sizes.

Unlike stylus-based tablets like Microsoft’s Pocket PC or Tablet PC devices, the iPad is fully hands-on with no pen to lose. There’s no incorporation of handwritten recognition anywhere visible, just a dynamic keyboard that changes to suit the task at hand (something that is particularly prominent in Apple’s Numbers spreadsheet app, where you might bring up a number pad or a full keyboard or some other specialized input system).

It’s also unbelievably fast and smooth, making even the iPhone 3GS look a little slow. I witnessed the iPad cold boot within about fifteen seconds. However, you don’t need to wait for it to boot because it remains on in standby for days (Jobs said a month on a single charge).

Apple has no reason to advertise its internal specs (since it isn’t currently trying to market its processor to other makers), but the fact that the company is building its own custom System on a Chip called the “A4″ suggests a similar fate for this year’s iPhone and iPod touch (will they use the A2?). Apple’s custom new ARM CPU core and I/O and video chip appears to be extremely fast and highly customized for the needs of the iPad in terms of efficiency.

A tough act to follow

Apple isn’t hiding the fact that there are advantages in developing your own battery technology and processor savvy and touchscreen expertise. The unstated fact is that no other company has the resources to match what Apple created. As Jobs pointed out, his company is now the largest mobile device maker in the world in terms of revenues. But the iPad isn’t just about hardware. Even if somebody duplicated it, they’s still need a software ecosystem.

Apple has not only demonstrated that it can think up and create phenomenal apps of its own, but has also demonstrated impressive stuff from a few iPhone developers who only had a few weeks to whip something up. Once Apple’s army of iPhone developers hit their stride, the array of apps available for the iPhone will look rudimentary in comparison. The iPad truly supports real desktop style apps with even more sophisticated multitouch input that the iPhone.

Even with all their hardware partners, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile haven’t been able to attract the same kind of attention from developers or software buying users. Apple’s new iPad is unique on many levels, and demonstrates a formidable new challenger in a the formerly lackluster tablet computer market. For competitors to match it, they’ll need to catch up not just in hardware but also in media distribution, in developer tools, in customer base, and in raw component technology, and all at a tremendously aggressive price.

It appears iPad launches Apple as far ahead of its peers as the iPhone did at its unveiling. It remains to be seen if the market will respond and buy up this $500 tablet revolution as quickly as it snapped up the similarly priced iPhone and iPod touch.

By Daniel Eran Dilger
appleinsider.com