Almost a decade ago, Apple released the iPod Classic. It featured a black and white screen and a 5 or 10 Gigabyte hard drive and the only operating systems compatible with the device are Mac OS X. The compatibility soon expanded to Windows almost a year after.
The iPod Classic invention revolutionized the music market. People started switching from Music CDs to MP3 and related file types. Apple started developing better iPods – such as the iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, and iPod Touch. Eventually, this lead to the iPhone that is so popular these days. If you go onto a public bus, there will be at least one person with an iPod or iPhone.
Last week, Apple Inc announced the Apple iPad. It is scheduled to be released in March 2010 for WiFi editions and April 2010 for 3G+WiFi editions. For most people, they just saw it as a 10-inch version of the iPod Touch. With all the rumours that have been going around prior to the announcement, I was disappointed when they announced its features. I have been a fan of Apple products – but this time they have let me down. Even my Blackberry or NetBook have more features than the iPad and it is more portable than the iPad.
The iPad is a portable device that features a 9.7-inches LED-backlit IPS LCD display. My MacBook is 13-inches and my Tablet PC is 12.1-inches. The whole iPad is 0.5-inches thin and is 1.5 pounds (1.6 pounds if you are opting for the iPad 3G). The device is almost as thin as the iPhone and heavier than the iPhone 3GS. The weight of the iPhone 3GS is only 0.3 pounds.
It runs in a 1 GHz Apple A4 Chip. A regular iPod Touch and iPhone has an 833 MHz Chip that is underclocked to 600 MHz. If you do not understand this, this means that the processing power of the iPad is almost twice as fast as in iPod Touch or iPhone. I have used my friends’ iPod Touch and iPhone before. When I operate those gadgets, I usually crash the device within an hour. The iPad will be able to run all the apps seamlessly without any lag. The best part about this is that it has a 10 hour battery life!
The iPad comes in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB solid state hard drives. The memory on iPods and iPhone are using Flash Memory technology. This means that the iPad will be able to read and write the data faster than the iPod and iPhone.
The iPad has every input feature that an iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3rd generation has, including: Multi-touch touchscreen display, headset controls, proximity and ambient light sensors, 3-axis accelerometer, digital compass
The iPad has the same WiFi connectivity feature as the iPhone 3GS, except for the fact that the iPad can connect to 802.11a and 802.11n. Just like the iPhone 3GS, the iPad has HSPDA technology on it thus it will be able to use the 3G features that Bell, Rogers, and Telus currently operate.
The iPad will have all the stores that the iPhone 3GS has, except that it will also have access to the iBookStore. Patrons of the iPad will be able to purchase books, novels and textbooks from the iBookStore.
Apple is not trying to make a Netbook. Apple is not trying to make a cellular phone either. What Apple is trying to do is to make an eBook reader – similar to the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle. Compared to the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle, the device is way better.
If you look at the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle, they only feature a black and white screen and the only task that you can do is read. Apple is making a similar device that allows you to also watch movies, play games and do some word processing. (You can purchase iWork for $9.99 per product).
If I were to buy a keyboard-less Tablet, I would wait for the HP Slate or Asus EEE Tablet to come out. The HP Slate is powered by Windows 7 and the Asus EEE Tablet is powered on Google’s new operating system, Google Android. I would much prefer the HP Slate as I know that Windows 7 supports multitasking, which none of the iPod, iPhone or iPad products support.
Usually Apple products do not have a positive feedback during its first generation release. I am expecting that Apple will release their second generation iPad next summer, with more features. If you are planning on buying the iPad, I would recommend you buy the HP Slate or wait till next summer to see what happens.
Edit: And one more thing, Apple has to be more creative in their naming process. The name “iPad” shows how out-of-touch they are with our society.
Here is a funny video to watch. If you get offended easily, do not watch!
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Well done!
I really like how you supported your idea with all the technical terms.
With the HP Slate coming out, I suspect that Apple will come out with a second generation or an OS update for iPad within the next year.
Also, I don’t like how Apple makes everyone hype about a simple product. Its not magical. Like you said, Blackberry is much more practical to have if one wants to use it as a portable internet/phone device.
Cheers,
Good review. I should probably point out that you can’t directly compare the clock speeds of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. The iPhone and iPod use ARM A8 processors, whereas the iPad uses Apple’s new A4. Their processor architectures are probably completely different, so you can’t directly compare their clock speeds. The iPad is probably much more than twice as powerful as the iPhone, especially since this processor was built specifically for the iPad.
Also, awesome video!