My take on Apple iPad

Now that the dust has unsettled on the iPad and more anxiety is being generated :), I decided to write my two cents.

Apple is known to be an innovative company and they have done exactly that with this device, however they could do better. What they seems to have done is just zoomed up the iPhone :), guess Mr. Jobs is getting old :).

Apple realised that people liked the iPhone but found the screen size too small, so why not make it bigger while everything else remains the same.  Good strategy because you can use all your iPhone apps, bad one because it still has the limitations of the iPhone.

Here is what I liked:

• Nice 10 inch Screen which is sufficient for most work and entertainment.
• 1024X768 resolution which is decent for all apps.
• Slim .5″ and light weight 1.5 Pounds (700 grams).
• Option for WiFi or 3G (3G may be locked to service providers as this is common Apple Strategy.)
• Huge collection of applications, as all iPhone apps work.
• 10 Hours of Battery life.
• Flash storage (SSD).
• eBook reader, so you can use it as a ebook reading device, however dedicated eBook readers are easier to read because they don’t emit light.
• Orientation sensor, so you can use it vertically or horizontally.

What I don’t like:

• No expandable storage, as there is no memory card slot.
• No USB either so you cant add any peripherals or storage either. You need to purchase additional accessory (Camera Connection Kit).
• No Phone, who would want a 10 inch phone? But we also don’t want to carry so many devices. So phone capablity via bluetooth would be nice.
• No Camera? you got to be kidding. How the hell are we going to use this for our our Skype Videos? Note: Apple has filed a patent for in-screen camera, so this may show up in iPad v2.

Pricing:

This is attractive and offers a good alternative to Netbooks.

Full specifications:

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 Service

• 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

There is surely a market for devices between a phone and a laptop. The phone has a tiny screen, while the laptop is too big to carry around, so the iPad fills the space well. This will trigger many other OEMs to come up with similar devices, (Dell/HP/Acer are you listening?).  The competition should give us more choices and yes similar functionality can easily be achieved on a Linux platform.