The iPad is a tablet computer designed, developed and marketed by Apple primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. At about 1.5 pounds (680 grams), its size and weight fall between those of contemporary smartphones and laptop computers. Apple released the iPad in April 2010, and sold 3 million of the devices in 80 days.[14]
According to a report released by Strategy Analytics, the Apple iPad had gained a 95 percent share of Tablet PC sales at the end of the second quarter of 2010. During the second quarter of 2010, Apple sold 4.19 million iPads around the world.[15]
The iPad runs the same operating system as the iPod Touch and iPhone—and can run its own applications as well as iPhone applications. Without modification, it will only run programs approved by Apple and distributed via its online store.
Like iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad is controlled by a multitouch display—a departure from most previous tablet computers, which used a pressure-triggered stylus—as well as a virtual onscreen keyboard in lieu of a physical keyboard. The iPad uses a Wi-Fi data connection to browse the Internet, load and stream media, and install software. Some models also have a 3G wireless data connection which can connect to HSPA data networks. The device is managed and synced by iTunes on a personal computer via USB cable.
Media reaction to the device has generally been neutral or positive, with more positive reaction after the device was launched.
source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad
Monday, February 21, 2011
8 Things That Suck About the iPad
A lot of people at Gizmodo are psyched about the iPad. Not me! My god, am I underwhelmed by it. It has some absolutely backbreaking failures that will make buying one the last thing I would want to do. Updated
Big, Ugly Bezel
Have you seen the bezel on this thing?! It's huge! I know you don't want to accidentally input a command when your thumb is holding it, but come on.
No Multitasking
This is a backbreaker. If this is supposed to be a replacement for netbooks, how can it possibly not have multitasking? Are you saying I can't listen to Pandora while writing a document? I can't have my Twitter app open at the same time as my browser? I can't have AIM open at the same time as my email? Are you kidding me? This alone guarantees that I will not buy this product.
No Cameras
No front facing camera is one thing. But no back facing camera either? Why the hell not? I can't imagine what the downside was for including at least one camera. Could this thing not handle video iChat?
Touch Keyboard
So much for Apple revolutionizing tablet inputs; this is the same big, ugly touchscreen keyboard we've seen on other tablets, and unless you're lying on the couch with your knees propping it up, it'll be awkward to use.
No HDMI Out
Want to watch those nice HD videos you downloaded from iTunes on your TV? Too damned bad! If you were truly loyal, you'd just buy an AppleTV already.
The Name iPad
Get ready for Maxi pad jokes, and lots of 'em!
No Flash
No Flash is annoying but not a dealbreaker on the iPhone and iPod Touch. On something that's supposed to be closer to a netbook or laptop? It will leave huge, gaping holes in websites. I hope you don't care about streaming video! God knows not many casual internet users do. Oh wait, nevermind, they all do.
Adapters, Adapters, Adapters
So much for those smooth lines. If you want to plug anything into this, such as a digital camera, you need all sorts of ugly adapters. You need an adapter for USB for god's sake.
Update: Why stop at 8? Here are more things we are discovering that suck about the iPad.
It's Not Widescreen
Widescreen movies look lousy on this thing thanks to its 4:3 screen, according to Blam, who checked out some of Star Trek on one. It's like owning a 4:3 TV all over again!
Doesn't Support T-Mobile 3G
Sure, it's "unlocked." But it won't work on T-Mobile, and it uses microSIMs that literally no one else uses.
A Closed App Ecosystem
The iPad only runs apps from the App Store. The same App Store that is notorious for banning apps for no real reason, such as Google Voice. Sure, netbooks might not have touchscreens, but you can install whatever software you'd like on them. Want to run a different browser on your iPad? Too bad!
[This post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of others at Gizmodo]
SOURCE : http://gizmodo.com/#!5458382/8-things-that-suck-about-the-ipad
Big, Ugly Bezel
Have you seen the bezel on this thing?! It's huge! I know you don't want to accidentally input a command when your thumb is holding it, but come on.
No Multitasking
This is a backbreaker. If this is supposed to be a replacement for netbooks, how can it possibly not have multitasking? Are you saying I can't listen to Pandora while writing a document? I can't have my Twitter app open at the same time as my browser? I can't have AIM open at the same time as my email? Are you kidding me? This alone guarantees that I will not buy this product.
No Cameras
No front facing camera is one thing. But no back facing camera either? Why the hell not? I can't imagine what the downside was for including at least one camera. Could this thing not handle video iChat?
Touch Keyboard
So much for Apple revolutionizing tablet inputs; this is the same big, ugly touchscreen keyboard we've seen on other tablets, and unless you're lying on the couch with your knees propping it up, it'll be awkward to use.
No HDMI Out
Want to watch those nice HD videos you downloaded from iTunes on your TV? Too damned bad! If you were truly loyal, you'd just buy an AppleTV already.
The Name iPad
Get ready for Maxi pad jokes, and lots of 'em!
No Flash
No Flash is annoying but not a dealbreaker on the iPhone and iPod Touch. On something that's supposed to be closer to a netbook or laptop? It will leave huge, gaping holes in websites. I hope you don't care about streaming video! God knows not many casual internet users do. Oh wait, nevermind, they all do.
Adapters, Adapters, Adapters
So much for those smooth lines. If you want to plug anything into this, such as a digital camera, you need all sorts of ugly adapters. You need an adapter for USB for god's sake.
Update: Why stop at 8? Here are more things we are discovering that suck about the iPad.
It's Not Widescreen
Widescreen movies look lousy on this thing thanks to its 4:3 screen, according to Blam, who checked out some of Star Trek on one. It's like owning a 4:3 TV all over again!
Doesn't Support T-Mobile 3G
Sure, it's "unlocked." But it won't work on T-Mobile, and it uses microSIMs that literally no one else uses.
A Closed App Ecosystem
The iPad only runs apps from the App Store. The same App Store that is notorious for banning apps for no real reason, such as Google Voice. Sure, netbooks might not have touchscreens, but you can install whatever software you'd like on them. Want to run a different browser on your iPad? Too bad!
[This post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of others at Gizmodo]
SOURCE : http://gizmodo.com/#!5458382/8-things-that-suck-about-the-ipad
If you’re in the market for an iPad — and you know you are, because it’s killer — you’re probably wondering which model to buy.
Naturally, you’re looking at the cheapest $499 iPad, which has Wi-Fi only, but you’re thinking you might also want 3G. After all, you can pay-as-you-go for data, and who knows when you might need it? And what about storage?
I’ve though it through, and concluded that most people should buy the 32GB iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G, including the wireless keyboard. Here’s why:
1. You’ll Need 32GB: The cheapest $499 Wi-Fi iPad looks like it’ll do, but in a few months you’ll wish you had more storage. Sporting 16GB, the $499 model will be good for a modest music collection, a couple of movies, a bunch of files and some podcasts. But you’re going to spending like crazy on all kinds of crazy iPad media that will be coming out, and that 16GB will dwindle fast. Do you need 64GB though? As a general rule, you should always get as much storage as you can afford — and 64GB offers some future proofing. But practically, I’m pretty sure 32GB wil do for most people. I’ve yet to fill up my 32GB iPhone 3GS. Plus, you can use your Mac as a external storage device. Put your iTunes music and movies on the Mac, and share it wirelessly over your home network. Better yet, invest your money in a NAS (Network Attached Storage Device) and put all your media on that for the whole household to share. The Synology Disk Station DS209 is great; and so is the StorCenter ix2-200 from Iomega. If you already have a big external drive, put it on the network with a Pogoplug or Iomega’s new iConnect Wireless Data Station.
2. 3G: You may not want the 3G now, but you will. It’s an investment in the future. I guarantee there will come a time when you when you’re out and about, miles from a Wi-Fi hotspot, and you’re kicking yourself for not getting the 3G. You don’t have to use it if you don;t want to, and you can pay-as-you-go when you do.
3. GPS: Same with GPS. The 3G models have built-in GPS, which the Wi-Fi only models do not. Think of those killer, big-screen navigation apps that will be coming out in a few months. Plus all the location-aware features Facebook, Yelp and others will be building for the iPad.
4. Accessories: You’ll want the wireless keyboard. No brainer. I’m predicting that you may not actually use it very much, but best to have it handy in case you need it. There probably are going to be occasions when you’ll want to quickly bang out a bunch of text. Best be prepared. The carrying case also is a serious consideration. It acts as a stand, and you’ll want it for watching movies. And if you get the case, you can safely ignore the desktop dock. But consider the desktop dock for a future purchase. Give yourself a week or two using the iPad to see if you really need it. Same with the extended charging cable.
So all in all, the best bet is to get the 32GB iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G. After all, the $499 iPads are likely to sell out.
SOURCE : http://www.cultofmac.com/which-ipad-to-buy-get-the-32gb-ipad-with-wi-fi-3g-heres-why/33423
Naturally, you’re looking at the cheapest $499 iPad, which has Wi-Fi only, but you’re thinking you might also want 3G. After all, you can pay-as-you-go for data, and who knows when you might need it? And what about storage?
I’ve though it through, and concluded that most people should buy the 32GB iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G, including the wireless keyboard. Here’s why:
1. You’ll Need 32GB: The cheapest $499 Wi-Fi iPad looks like it’ll do, but in a few months you’ll wish you had more storage. Sporting 16GB, the $499 model will be good for a modest music collection, a couple of movies, a bunch of files and some podcasts. But you’re going to spending like crazy on all kinds of crazy iPad media that will be coming out, and that 16GB will dwindle fast. Do you need 64GB though? As a general rule, you should always get as much storage as you can afford — and 64GB offers some future proofing. But practically, I’m pretty sure 32GB wil do for most people. I’ve yet to fill up my 32GB iPhone 3GS. Plus, you can use your Mac as a external storage device. Put your iTunes music and movies on the Mac, and share it wirelessly over your home network. Better yet, invest your money in a NAS (Network Attached Storage Device) and put all your media on that for the whole household to share. The Synology Disk Station DS209 is great; and so is the StorCenter ix2-200 from Iomega. If you already have a big external drive, put it on the network with a Pogoplug or Iomega’s new iConnect Wireless Data Station.
2. 3G: You may not want the 3G now, but you will. It’s an investment in the future. I guarantee there will come a time when you when you’re out and about, miles from a Wi-Fi hotspot, and you’re kicking yourself for not getting the 3G. You don’t have to use it if you don;t want to, and you can pay-as-you-go when you do.
3. GPS: Same with GPS. The 3G models have built-in GPS, which the Wi-Fi only models do not. Think of those killer, big-screen navigation apps that will be coming out in a few months. Plus all the location-aware features Facebook, Yelp and others will be building for the iPad.
4. Accessories: You’ll want the wireless keyboard. No brainer. I’m predicting that you may not actually use it very much, but best to have it handy in case you need it. There probably are going to be occasions when you’ll want to quickly bang out a bunch of text. Best be prepared. The carrying case also is a serious consideration. It acts as a stand, and you’ll want it for watching movies. And if you get the case, you can safely ignore the desktop dock. But consider the desktop dock for a future purchase. Give yourself a week or two using the iPad to see if you really need it. Same with the extended charging cable.
So all in all, the best bet is to get the 32GB iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G. After all, the $499 iPads are likely to sell out.
SOURCE : http://www.cultofmac.com/which-ipad-to-buy-get-the-32gb-ipad-with-wi-fi-3g-heres-why/33423
Comparing the hardware and software features of the iPad, iPhone 4, and iPod touch is relatively easy. Comparing their costs is another matter, though. It's not just a matter of the price tag - it's also the cost of wireless service over months and years.
These less-obvious costs can make a device that looks like a deal very expensive over the long-term or something that seems pricey now look affordable.
This chart compared the costs of the three devices over two years to give you a fuller picture of what owning them will truly cost.
SOURCE : http://ipod.about.com/od/ipadcomparisons/a/costs-ipad-iphone-touch.htm
These less-obvious costs can make a device that looks like a deal very expensive over the long-term or something that seems pricey now look affordable.
This chart compared the costs of the three devices over two years to give you a fuller picture of what owning them will truly cost.
Comparing Costs: iPad, iPhone 4, and iPod touch
| iPad | iPhone 4 | iPod touch | |
| device cost | $499 - $829 | $199 - $299 | $229 - $399 |
| minimum monthly 3G/MiFi plan | $14.99 | $44.98 | N/A |
| maximum monthly 3G/MiFi plan | $50 | $94.99 | N/A |
| required contract? | No | Yes | N/A |
| contract length | N/A | 2 years | N/A |
| minimum total cost of contract | N/A (3G is optional) | $1,439.76 | N/A |
| minimum total cost of device over 2 years | $499 | $1,638.76 | $229 |
| maximum total cost of device over 2 years | $2029.99 | $3,778.76 | $399 |
SOURCE : http://ipod.about.com/od/ipadcomparisons/a/costs-ipad-iphone-touch.htm
The Apple iPad: What Does It Do, and Why Would I Want One?
A couple of days ago, I wrote a short piece for this site about what I expected the then-mythical Apple “tablet” to be. In a nutshell, my prediction was that this would be not an earth-shattering device but rather a familiar, logical, and surprisingly handy compliment to your existing technology setup. And that you’d want one. Well, I wasn’t far off.
One of the biggest surprises turned out to be Steve Jobs’s acknowledgement of the feverish rumors surrounding today’s announcement. Upon taking the stage at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, and following a brief introduction covering Apple’s iPod sales and recent rise to $50 billion status, Jobs displayed a giant slide depicting Moses and his tablets, accompanied by a quote from the Wall Street Journal’s Martin Peers: “Last time there was this much excitement about a tablet, it had some commandments written on it.” Thanks to 250 million iPod sales, the huge success of the iPhone, and the fact that most Macs sold today are notebooks, Jobs was able to claim that Apple is now the largest mobile device company in the world. “Bigger than Sony, bigger than Nokia, even.” Today, he said, it would take that a step further.
So what exactly is the iPad, and why might i want one?
02-handson.jpgThe rumors were true: it’s essentially a giant iPod touch, allowing you to use all your existing “apps,” a movie and music player, a photo display device, and a rich e-book reader. The latter will likely be the much-expected “game-changer,” since it takes the e-book, made famous by Amazon’s Kindle reader, into the 21st century.
iBooks, as Apple is calling them, are sold and downloaded directly onto the device through the iBook Store, whose interface is nearly identical to those of its iTunes and App Store sisters. Purchased books live on your personal bookshelf, wood effect and all, and when a full-color cover is touched, the iBook opens—literally the cover opens up—onto your screen to the first page. As if you hadn’t realized by now, this is a long way from the Kindle’s dull black-to-gray flashing screen. The pages of the books even have an off-white coloring and a visual representation of paper texture. Fonts can be scaled up and down for easier readability, and the typeface itself can be changed to your taste, should you be dying to read Stephen King in Helvetica. Rotating the iPad into landscape view, utilizing the famed accelerometer also found in the iPhone and iPod touch, brings up a two-paged view of the book, complete with a shadowed seam down the middle. A simple touch turns the page, or you can search content, look up a word in the dictionary, or flip to the contents page and back again. It’s simple yet clever, and I’m eager to see a magazine interpreted in a similar fashion. I had the opportunity to speak to Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Phil Schiller, as to whether we could expect magazines to appear on the iPad soon, and whether they'd be in the iBook Store or through stand-alone apps. His simple and expectedly vague answer was simply: "We're focusing on books right now."
Obviously, the iPad is more than just a glorified e-reader. A standard iPod connector allows you to attach an external keyboard, route video to your HD TV or projector, and upload photos from your iPhone. Web browsing is fluid and simple, although, like the iPhone and iPod Touch, there’s no support for Adobe Flash. The battery life sounds sturdy: “typical use” will grant your 10 hours of life from a full charge, and up to a month of standby time when not in use. As Jobs said in his presentation, “I can watch movies non-stop from San Francisco to Tokyo and not run out of battery.”
The iPad will sell at an entry price of $499 for a Wi-Fi model with 16GB of internal solid-state storage. Storage may be doubled to 32GB for $100 extra, and then doubled again to 64GB for an additional $100. If you’d like to use it outside of a Wi-Fi zone, each model has the option of 3G connectivity, for $130 more. Data plans will be served by AT&T (an announcement met with groans from the event attendees) for $14.99/month for limited use, and $29.99/month for unlimited use.
The event concluded with Jobs claiming Apple is motivated by its position at “the edge of technology and the liberal arts,” understanding the way we consume media, striving the enrich that experience. The reception among the events attendees seemed wildly positive, and most of those assembled seemed to feel that there really is a place for a device sandwiched between smart phones and laptops. A hands-on fingerprint-frenzy followed, attended by Jobs, Phil Schiller, Jonathan Ive (the iPad and iPod’s industrial designer), and even Twitter’s famous son Stephen Fry. Handling the device was almost underwhelming, because it’s so intuitive and familiar. I felt at home with it right away.
That said, I did overhear someone asking if it will come with a mouse—perhaps not everyone thinks the future is at his fingertips.
SOURCE : http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/01/the-apple-ipad-what-does-it-do-and-why-would-i-want-one.html
So, what’s an iPad? iPad is half inches thin with 1.5 pounds weight and 9.7 inch IPS display. Its exactly in between a laptop and a multimedia digital mobile phone device or precisely to say in between an iPhone and an Apple MAC Laptop. You can browse the internet, manage and store your photos, watch movies, listen songs, access iTunes, download apps and games, play games, browse websites, watch YouTube videos and lot more. The best thing about iPad is that you can do these all things and more better then you do these at any Laptop or mobile phone. Because its not smaller like a mobile phone and not bigger like a laptop. But its in between these two yet still thin and light weighed. Safari, internet, mail, photos, videos, youtube, iTunes, AppStore, iBooks, maps, notes, calendar, contacts, search and lots more are the key features of an iPad. Its all in here.
iPad comes with a high-resolution, 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS display which is remarkably crisp and vivid. The Multi-Touch technology on iPad has been completely reengineered for the larger iPad surface, making it extremely precise and responsive. With its lithium-polymer battery iPad can be used for up to 10 hours while surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos, or listening to music. iPad will run almost 140,000 apps from the App Store. So you can use all those incredibly fun and useful apps – including everything from games to productivity apps – right out of the box. iPad is starting at $499.
iPad comes with a high-resolution, 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS display which is remarkably crisp and vivid. The Multi-Touch technology on iPad has been completely reengineered for the larger iPad surface, making it extremely precise and responsive. With its lithium-polymer battery iPad can be used for up to 10 hours while surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos, or listening to music. iPad will run almost 140,000 apps from the App Store. So you can use all those incredibly fun and useful apps – including everything from games to productivity apps – right out of the box. iPad is starting at $499.
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