APPLE 's newest gadget , the iPAD (I don't like the name, iTABLET would be better), will be out in April 2010 in North America. The price is lower than expectation but still expensive in my opinion like any other APPLE products. Price starts at 499US and will vary depending on the amount of flash drive storage (16 , 32 and 64 GB) and connectivity. All models come with Wi-Fi (802.11n) connectivity. It costs 599 US for the 32 GB model and 699 US for the 64 GB model. If you want 3G wireless (maximum speed upto 7.2Mbps) , it costs 130 US more. The 3G service is provided by AT&T (North America). There are two non-contract plans: 15 US for 250 MB of data monthly plan or 30 US unlimited data monthly plan.
The brain of the iPAD is the A4 SOC processor running at 1GHz.
The device is 0.5 inch thick with a 9.7 inch (diagonal) LED back-lit screen with a 178 viewing angle. It weighs about 1.5 lb and with the Lithium Polymer battery technology, its power lasts for about 10 hours. With the multi-touch technology, you can do flicking through photos, zooming , etc.
Besides the on-screen keyboard, there will be an external keyboard dock which also holds the iPAD vertically.
iPAD is slightly curved on the back so that it can be picked up easily when it is placed on a flat surface.
Wireless peripherals (like wireless keyboard or headphone ) can be connected to the iPAD via Bluetooth 2.1.
The 30 pin connector is used for charging the iPAD as well as connecting an external keyboard dock, camera.
Next to the 30-pin connector, there is the built-in speaker.
Other connectors are for the microphone and 3.5mm head phone jack
Video:
VGA: 1024 x 768 (dock connector to VGA adaptor)
Apple component A/V" 576p and 480p
Apple Composite: 576i , 480i
H264: 720p, 30 frames / second
Main profile level 3.1 with ACC-LC audio upto 160kbps at 48kHz.
m4v , mp4 and .mov file formats
MPEG4 upto 640x480 pixels , 30 frames / second
Language support:
US/UK English
French (France , Canada)
Dutch
German
Spanish
Italian
Japanese
Chinese (Simplified only , how sad!!)
Russian
Operating temperature range:
0C to 35C ( a bit too low )
There are already 140 software applications available for iPAD.
Steve Jobs unveils iPAD.
