In what has to be the biggest surprise of the year, Apple has finally revealed their first proper attempt at a tablet computer. The iPad is promised to be Apple’s “most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price”. While at first glance it looks like a steamrolled iPhone, from what I’ve seen, it certainly has the potential to be a worthy addition to Apple’s product line.
Specs wise, it’s been quoted as being “a generation faster than the iPhone 3GS” by utilising the new in-house 1Ghz A4 chip from Apple’s recent acquisition of P.A. Semi. It also has a 9.7” 1024×768 IPS LED-backlit LCD display (translation: kick-ass screen) with a 132 ppi, which despite not being as sharp as the iPhone’s 160 ppi, is supposed to look pretty damn good.
As expected, the initial reaction in the tech community is one of questions, after reading so much about this revolutionary device that’s supposed to have “facial recognition technology”, “OLED displays” and “revolutionary video conferencing capabilities” and just being left with hardware that isn’t dissimilar from what you’ll find in your typical smart phone. Even the software is just a modified iPhone operating system with the obligatory “best web browsing experience ever” that seems to appear on every product Apple makes, and once again lacking support for Flash.
We’ve seen this before, remember. As with the iPhone, features lacked from the start: MMS, copy/paste, third-party applications, etc… All of those are now a reality thanks to software driven updates and most of them are even available on the first generation iPhone that released back in 2007. People were annoyed. It was supposed to be the most amazing phone ever – it didn’t do copy/paste, picture messaging, bluetooth, removable batteries, applications, expandable memory, or document support. Those are all basic functions of a mobile phone that even the cheapest bargain-bin handsets have.
All I’m saying is that the iPad, yeah, of course some people are disappointed – everyone overhyped it. The media have been talking and speculating about this thing for about 20 years now. If they crammed everything everyone wanted into it, they wouldn’t be able to get it out at $499. So it’d be realistic to think that if you buy an iPad when it releases in March, that there’s gonna be a steady stream of new updates and features waiting along the line.
The iPad’s similarities with the iPhone and the iPod touch leave me thinking – well, why didn’t you just call it an iPod and slap an ‘XL’ on the end? Yeah, sure it’s a larger device and does a whole lot more than an iPod, but it runs the same core OS (iPhone OS 3.2 in fact) and as we learnt tonight, the same apps. Shuffle. Nano. Classic. Touch. XL. It just makes sense, right?
There’s a good reason why the iPad was designed to be similar to the iPhone and iPod touch. In fact there’s over 75 million reasons why. Everyone has an iPhone now and if you don’t, I bet you know someone who does. Apple have designed a product that’s built on the iPhone’s framework, maintaining its ability to be picked up by anyone and used effectively. If you’ve ever tried to use a netbook to browse the web, check your email, look at photos or even watch a movie, you’ll know that the experience is lousy because the software wasn’t built for that environment – Desktop Operating Systems suck on a 7 inch screen.
It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway – the user interface on the iPad is nothing short of gorgeous. Apple have redesigned applications like iPod and Calendar from the ground up along with new applications like iWork and iBooks, the new Apple eBook service, making use of delicious and innovative 3D-like interfaces.
The iPad is set to ship in March with a Wi-Fi only model for $499 (£310) at 16GB with capacities going up to 64GB. If 3G’s your thing, it’s $130 (£85) more with a slightly weightier body, plus an additional prepaid data plan from the network of your choice and an extra month of waiting time. International plans and partners have yet to be announced but O2 and Orange have placed orders for the proprietary microSIMs that the iPad uses suggesting that they could be involved.
