The Apple iPad: It’s Here, But Is It Ready To Change The World?
January 27, 2010 by Troy
7 Comments
iPad: First Look
For the past couple of years, since the dawn of the iPhone, the internet has been eagerly anticipating Apple’s foray into the tablet category. Fast forward to [January 27th,] 2010 and Apple finally pulls the curtain on its secret multi-touch tablet and calls it the iPad.
So what is an iPad? Do you set it on the floor to capture your dogs pittle? Do you take it with you to use as a cushion at Friday night’s game? Does it breed golden unicorns for the sole purpose of taking us the Apple Store? There’s been lots of speculation — some good, some out of this world — but we all know one thing, it was supposed to be the next-generation of touch screen computers.
Now, theoretically, you could use it for all of the above (minus the unicorns, of course), but what is it actually made to do? Well, according to Steve Jobs at todays Apple Event:
“[...] they have to be far better at doing some key tasks… better than the laptop, better than the smartphone. What kind of tasks? Browsing the web. Doing email. Enjoying and sharing pics. Watching videos. Enjoying music. Playing games. Reading ebooks.”
So, does the iPad live up to Job’s description? Until we get our hands on it we won’t know for sure.
From a brief look at things and no hands-on time, it obvious they get browsing the web. I think everyone can agree even the web experience on iPod is somewhat amazing. Email? Well, we’re not too sure about that. Sharing pictures on an iPhone or iPod has always been great so there’s no doubt it’ll be the same on the iPad. Watching video’s is something I have a hard time doing on my iPod, so the larger screen is a huge plus. But, will it be better than watching (and hearing) the college music video for “I Gotta Feeling” on my large 24-inch screen? With my Bose speakers nonetheless? Mmmh, I have my doubts. Finally: games and ebooks? Oh, you know Apple’s got this down.
The iPad looks almost exactly like an iPod or iPhone, but there’s one obvious change, the border is much, much thicker. Honestly, my first opinion was “wow… this looks nothing like anything Apple would make.” With as many fake iPads and mockups as we’ve seen on the net, well, I’ve kind of become accustomed to nicer eyecandy. And when I say eyecandy, I mean no borders (or at least it wasn’t as substantial).
What about price? My boss forked over $699 for my iPhone 3G back when it first came out, so this iPad “thing” must carry a pretty hefty price tag, no? Not really. Here’s what The Steve had to say at today’s event.
- $499.00 – 16GB iPad
- $599.00 – 32GB iPad
- $699.00 – 64GB iPad
- $629.00 – 16GB iPad w/ 3G
- $729.00 – 32GB iPad w/ 3G
- $829.00 – 64GB iPad w/ 3G
Really, that’s not that bad.
With all the great new features, iPad does fall short in some. Here’s my quick rundown:
- No multi-tasking (a HUGE letdown).
- No camera (front-facing or not).
- You must connect to your PC or Mac to sync your music, photos, etc. Really, Apple?
- The massive black border is uber ugly.
- QWERTY keyboard. Numerous sites have been covering this and all agreed that Apple needed to rethink the QWERTY keyboard. Unfortunately, they didn’t…
- The name iPad. Seriously.
- No Flash in the web browser.
I think we can all agree that multi-tasking is a huge deal in not only the mobile space, but regular computers as well. Hell, it’s why we love computers in the first place. I don’t understand why Apple keeps beating around the bush on this issue.
Conclusion: the iPad is in no way a revolutionary device. It’s just a big iPod Touch. Granted, I’d rather have a large iPod Touch than my regular-sized one, but I think I might hold off until it actually provides me with something, um, new. Now, on the other hand, if I didn’t have the iPod Touch I’d totally run out and get me one. Wait — who am I kidding? At $499 I might just buy one.
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- iPad: First Look
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- iPad Home Screen
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- iPad iBookstore
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- iPad Keyboard
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- iPad Maps
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- iPad Photos
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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“I think we can all agree that multi-tasking is a huge deal”… NO SHIT! Helllllllooooo Apple! With a 1Ghz processor behind the iPad Apple shouldn’t have thrown multi-tasking out of the picture. This is nothing but a big iPod. And I COMPLETELY agree about the name. Look! I can hear the jokes now… MaxiPad.
Heres the deal… we’ve all had the greatness that is iPhone and iPod Touch. The iPad is an extension of that with someething we’ve all dreamed of… a bigger screen. Why should apple give in and add more to something thats already perfect? The iPad is for casual browsing at home and watching videos alone. Its much easier to do this on the iPad screen than an iPod/iPhone screen. I dont think the design sucks and it fits right in with all the other skinny eReaders out ther.
The iPad looks ghey.
Agreed.
The price is nice and will be the single reason this thing sells (if it does). I think the consensus on the internet is that the iPad, with all the bells and whistles as it might have, it comes off somewhat ugly. Still… i’ll probably grab one to. I feel like it’s much easier to grab my iPhone to search things quickly on the net rather than booting up my computer or laptop.