From the realm of sci-fi to Steve Jobs’s stage: The iPad is official. What is it? What can it do? How does it work? Here’s everything you need to know about Apple’s newest creation, all in one place.
It’s almost impossible to overstate the buzz leading up to this device. Immediately after the death of the Newton, rumours began trickling out about a follow-up from Apple; in the last five years, speculation and scraps of evidence about an Apple tablet have been a fixture in the tech media; in the last year, the rumours reached crisis levels. Today, Apple’s tablet has finally arrived, and we’ve got the full rundown, from specs, features, content and price to what it’s like to actually use one.
• Size and shape: The screen’s aspect ratio makes it seem a bit squat, but this is intended to be a bi-directional tabl – err, Pad. The bezel is a little fat, but otherwise, this thing is basically a clean slab of pure display. It’s just .5 inches thick, which is a hair thicker than the iPhone 3GS and measures 9.56 x 7.47 inches. Final weigh-in is 1.5 pounds (0.68kg) without 3G and 1.6 pounds (0.73kg) with.
• The Screen: The tablet’s multitouch screen measures in at 9.7 inches, meaning that it’s got a significantly smaller footprint than the smallest MacBook, but a much larger screen than the iPhone. (That’s 9.7 inches diagonal, from screen corner to screen corner.) The screen’s resolution is a dense 1024 x 768.
Here’s what it looks like on video:
• The guts: It’s a half-inch thick – just a hair thicker than the iPhone, for reference – and weighs 680 grams. It’s powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 chip, and has 16GB to 64GB of flash storage. From the looks of it, Apple finally got some use out of that PA Semi purchase, and built their own mobile processor. It’s also loaded with 802.11 n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, a 30-pin connector, a speaker, a microphone, an accelerometer and a compass. Video output runs through and iPhone-type composite adapter at up to 576p and through a dock-to-VGA adaptor at up to 1024 x 768. No HDMI, no DVI – not even a Mini DisplayPort.
3G is optional, and costs more, not less. Along with 3G, the upgraded models include A-GPS. (More on this below)
Oh, and there isn’t a rear-facing camera, nor is there a front-facing camera. This tablet is totally camera-less, which seems a bit odd.
• The battery: Apple’s making some INCREDIBLE claims about battery life: 10 hours for constant use, with a one-month standby rating. Ten hours of constant use includes video viewing, so you could conceivable watch about six feature films before this thing dies.
• How you hold it: You can hold it two different ways, and the software will adapt to both. Portrait mode seems like the primay mode, a la the iPhone while landscape mode – better for movies and perhaps magazine content – is a secondary mode. The Apple decal is oriented for portrait mode, so basically, just get ready for a whole bunch of HEY IT’S A GIANT IPHONE!! jokes.
Some models have Wi-Fi exclusively, while some have 3G as well. It’s with AT&T, and costs either $US15 a month for 250MB of data, or $US30 for unlimited data. With the plan, you get access to AT&T’s Wi-Fi hotspots as well. Best of all, it’s a prepaid service – no contract. You can activate it from the iPad any time, and cancel whenever you want. This sounds like a fantastic deal, until you consider how it’s probably going to brutalise AT&T’s already terrible 3G coverage.
The iPad itself is unlocked, so you can conceivably use it with any Micro SIM card . But what the hell is a Micro SIM card? For one, it’s not the same kind of SIM that’s in your iPhone, so don’t expect to just pop that in and surf for free. It’s a totally different standard, and the iPad’s the only device that uses it right now.
• The OS: The operating system on the tablet is based on iPhone OS, which is in turn loosely based on OS X. In other words, it’s got the same guts as the iPhone, as well as a somewhat similar interface. What this means in practical terms is that the UI is modal; you can only display one app at a time, and there aren’t windows, per se.
• The homescreen: It’s like a mixture between the iPhone and OS X: it uses the iPhone launcher/apps metaphor, but has an OS X-style shiny dock. It feels very spread out compared to the iPhone’s homescreen, though I suspect this is necessary to keep things from getting too overwhelming. For our full walkthrough of the new OS, check here.
• The keyboard: Input comes by way of an onscreen keyboard, almost exactly like the iPhone’s. Typing on it is apparently a “dream” and “almost lifesize”, by which he means the size of a full hard keyboard. Steve wasn’t typing with his thumbs, but with his fingers, as if it were an actual laptop keyboard. Navigation throughout the rest of the OS is optimised for one hand, though.
• The browser: The browser is essentially an upscaled version of Safari Mobile, with a familiar, finger-friendly title bar and not much else. It rotates by command of the accelerometer. From the looks of it, it doesn’t have Flash support, but we’ll have to confirm. UPDATE: Yup, none at all. You can get away with that kind of thing on the iPhone, sort of, but on a 10-inch tablet it’s a glaring omission.
• Email: Mail again takes its visual cues from the iPhone, but with a lot more decoration: you can preview your mailbox from any message with a pull-down menu, and preview any message from within the mailbox, with a pop-up window.
• Music: The music player is even more hybridised, styled like a mix between the iPhone’s iPod interface and full-fledged desktop iTunes. Interestingly, Cover Flow seems to have more or less died off.
• Maps: This one may be the most direct conversion from the iPhone, with a very similar interface through and through.
• Video: YouTube is available by way of an app, iPhone-style, which can play videos in 720p HD. iTunes video content plays back in a dedicated app, just like on the iPhone, and can also play back in HD. Movie codec support is otherwise the same as the iPhone, which is to say pretty limited.
• Calendar and contacts: The calendar app is desktop-like, until you open organiser mode, where it looks like a literal organiser. It’s beautiful, and dare I say a bit Courier-like.
• iPhone apps: This thing runs them! The iPad runs iPhone apps right out of the App Store, with no modification, but they’re either relegated to the centre of the screen or in “pixel double” mode, which just blows them up crudely. Any apps you’ve purchased for your iPhone can be synced, for free, to your iPad.
• New apps: The iPhone app SDK has already been expanded for tablet development, including a whole new set of UI elements and expanded resolution support. The raw iPhone app compatibility is just a temporary measure, it seems – any developer who wants their app to run on the tablet will develop for the tablet. Some of the early examples of adapted apps, like Brushes, are spectacular. More on the SDK here.
Apple’s pushing gaming on this thing right out of the box, demoing everything from FPS N.O.V.A to Need for Speed. It’s presumably running these games at HD, so the rendering power in this thing is no joke.
• Ebooks: Apple’s also opened an ebook store to accompany the iPad, in the mould of iTunes. It’s called iBooks.
It offers books in ePub format, and makes reading on a Kindle seem about as stodgy as, you know, paper.
• iWork: Apple’ also designed a whole new iWork suite just for the tablet, which implies that this thing is as much for media creation as it is for consumption. There’s a new version of Keynote designed just for the iPad, as well as new version of Pages, (word processor) and Numbers, which is the spreadsheet app. Here’s what Keynote looks like:
The interfaces are obviously designed strictly for touch input, but from the looks of it can handle every function that the old, mouse-centric version could, plus a few more. And man, they’re so much prettier. Each app costs $US10, and you can get them all for $US30.
Right away, Apple’s offering two main official accessories: a book-style case and a keyboard dock. (Ha!) The keyboard dock hooks up with the iPad when it’s in portrait mode, so you can type longer documents, charge, or both.
The iPad’s only really got one accessory port, and it takes an iPod dock connector. Apple’s solution for this? Adaptors! So many adaptors. There’s a Dock Connector to VGA adaptor, a USB camera adaptor (which gives you one plain USB connection, though it apparently only works for importing photos) and a USB power adaptor, which lets you charge by AC or USB, not unlike the iPhone charger.
It’s hefty. Substantial. Easy to grip. Fast. Beautiful. Rigid. Starkly designed. The glass is a little rubbery but it could be my sweaty hands. And it’s fasssstttt.
Brian’s detailed impressions in our hands on, right here.
The iPad ships worldwide in 60 days, but only in Wi-Fi versions. The 3G version will be another 30 days after that. Here are the prices:
Without 3G:
• $US499: 16GB
• $US599: 32GB
• $US699: 64GB
With 3G:
• $US629: 16GB
• $US729: 32GB
• $US829: 64GB
Apple will ship all the iPads in 60 days – the end of March – to America, and just the Wi-Fi models internationally. It’ll be another 30 days beyond that for 3G models to be available outside our shores; Apple says they’re still working on carrier deals.
3G comes by way of AT&T, who’s offering the service without contract, for $US15 a month (250MB of data) or $US30 a month (unlimited). That’s why, unlike the iPhone, the iPad is actually cheaper off-contract.
Here’s Apple’s full press release:
Apple Launches iPad
A Magical & Revolutionary Device at an Unbelievable Price
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today introduced iPad, a revolutionary device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books and much more. iPad’s responsive high-resolution Multi-Touch™ display lets users physically interact with applications and content. iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds- thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook. iPad includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for the iPad, and will run almost all of the over 140,000 apps in the App Store. iPad will be available in late March starting at the breakthrough price of just $499.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100127/SF44883)
“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”
iPad features 12 next-generation Multi-Touch applications. Every app works in both portrait and landscape, automatically animating between views as the user rotates iPad in any direction. The precise Multi-Touch interface makes surfing the web on iPad an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer. Reading and sending email is fun and easy on iPad’s large screen and almost full-size “soft” keyboard. Import photos from a Mac®, PC or digital camera, see them organized as albums, and enjoy and share them using iPad’s elegant slideshows. Watch movies, TV shows and YouTube, all in HD or flip through pages of an e-book you downloaded from Apple’s new iBookstore while listening to your music collection.
iPad runs almost all of the over 140,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®. The iTunes® Store gives you access to the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 11 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 8,000 films including over 2,000 in stunning high definition video. Apple also announced the new iBooks app for iPad, which includes Apple’s new iBookstore, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device. The iBookstore will feature books from major and independent publishers.
Apple also introduced a new version of iWork® for iPad, the first desktop-class productivity suite designed specifically for Multi-Touch. With Pages®, Keynote® and Numbers® you can create beautifully formatted documents, stunning presentations with animations and transitions, and spreadsheets with charts, functions and formulas. The three apps will be available separately through the App Store for $9.99 each.
iPad syncs with iTunes just like the iPhone and iPod touch, using the standard Apple 30-pin to USB cable, so you can sync all of your contacts, photos, music, movies, TV shows, applications and more from your Mac or PC. All the apps and content you download on iPad from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to your iTunes library the next time you connect with your computer.
iPad’s brilliant 9.7-inch, LED-backlit display features IPS technology to deliver crisp, clear images and consistent color with an ultra-wide 178 degree viewing angle. The highly precise, capacitive Multi-Touch display is amazingly accurate and responsive whether scrolling web pages or playing games. The intelligent soft keyboard pioneered on iPhone takes advantage of iPad’s larger display to offer an almost full-size soft keyboard. iPad also connects to the new iPad Keyboard Dock with a full-size traditional keyboard.
iPad is powered by A4, Apple’s next-generation system-on-a-chip. Designed by Apple, the new A4 chip provides exceptional processor and graphics performance along with long battery life of up to 10 hours.* Apple’s advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology deliver up to 1,000 charge cycles without a significant decrease in battery capacity over a typical five year lifespan.**
iPad comes in two versions-one with Wi-Fi and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G. iPad includes the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the 3G versions support speeds up to 7.2 Mbps on HSDPA networks. Apple and AT&T announced breakthrough 3G pre-paid data plans for iPad with easy, on-device activation and management.
Continuing Apple’s dedication to designing and creating environmentally responsible products, each iPad enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy-efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. iPad contains no brominated flame retardants and is completely PVC-free.
Apple today released a new Software Development Kit (SDK) for iPad, so developers can create amazing new applications designed to take advantage of iPad’s capabilities. The SDK includes a simulator that lets developers test and debug their iPad apps on a Mac, and also lets developers create Universal Applications that run on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
Pricing & Availability
iPad will be available in late March worldwide for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model, $699 (US) for the 64GB model. The Wi-Fi + 3G models of iPad will be available in April in the US and selected countries for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. International pricing and worldwide availability will be announced at a later date. iBookstore will be available in the US at launch.
*Apple tested wireless battery life by browsing web pages and receiving email over an AirPort® network, never letting the system go to sleep during the test, and keeping the display at half brightness. This is a typical scenario of use on the go, resulting in a battery performance number that is very relevant to mobile users.
**A properly maintained iPad battery is designed to retain 80 percent or more of its original capacity during a lifespan of up to 1,000 recharge cycles. Battery life and charge cycles vary by use and settings.
John
January 28, 2010 at 7:08 AM
not so great rather keep my laptop nothing new, this is a chance for microsoft to come out with something that can really upstage this itouch oh sorry ipad.
Report PermalinkMDolley
January 28, 2010 at 7:29 AM
I wake up, get on Gizmodo and the first two pages are just posts about a big iPod touch. I am sorry but there is no revolution here, just a big iPod touch. All of the speculation and rumours had me starting to believe that this was going to change the world, instead we get a big iPod Touch
Report PermalinkH
January 28, 2010 at 7:34 AM
WoW, No GPS ?
Pity it seems to be missing the GPS, otherwise it could have almost been an iphone replacement. I think i’ll wait for the next version where they will hopefully integrate a GPS chip.
Report Permalinknik
January 28, 2010 at 8:18 AM
The wi-fi +3G model has Assisted GPS.
Report PermalinkMichael
January 28, 2010 at 8:58 AM
Yeah a full non A-GPS chip would have been a nice feature.
Report PermalinkKevin Russell
January 28, 2010 at 10:17 AM
You do realize that A-GPS is a lot better then normal GPS? ‘Assisted’ means it receives help from cell phone towers to get a faster lock on the satellites.
Report PermalinkGreg
January 28, 2010 at 11:27 AM
@Kevin Russell
You do realise assisted GPS has nothing to do with cell phone towers?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS
Report PermalinkStevoTheDevo
January 28, 2010 at 1:26 PM
You realise your link proves you wrong?
Report Permalink“Accurate, surveyed coordinates for the cell site towers allow better knowledge of local ionospheric conditions and other errors affecting the GPS signal than the cell phone alone, enabling more precise calculation of position. (See also Wide Area Augmentation System and Cellhunter)”
cak
January 28, 2010 at 1:54 PM
Oh come on, a stand alone GPS chip is way better than AGPS, since it can work anywhere in the world, not just in those locations where there are cell towers. But AGPS is great for little devices, and works really well in cities, so very useful.
Report PermalinkDavid Anderton
January 28, 2010 at 2:38 PM
cak i believe AGPS can work outside areas with mobile coverage its just not as fast.
Report PermalinkJoshua Ehmann
January 28, 2010 at 3:20 PM
funny stuff city dwellers!
no, assisted gps cannot work without MULTIPLE mobile towers. it needs more than one to triangulate your location otherwise you get pretty crazy data that is seriously incorrect.
Report Permalinkklaw81
January 28, 2010 at 5:30 PM
Assisted GPS is BETTER than stand-alone GPS. It uses assistance from external sources (and there’s several different types) to make it find your location faster. Almost all A-GPS chips can function fine without any assistance, it’s just to speed up the time to first fix.
Report PermalinkWilliam Irving
January 28, 2010 at 8:52 PM
thats pretty much it. my omnia takes about 3-5 min to get signal and start tracking on it own out in the country. then with the assist on it takes about 60seconds in cell reception areas.
having said that its both true and untrue to say that AGPS is better then non AGPS. a full GPS unit something like a garmin nuvi is more versitile then the much smaller a-gps chips put in phones. they can be more accurate and faster in all locations. its not that a big gps is has a superior chip the designs are very similar but its pure size and power and focus on gps make it unnessisary to have assistance.
AGPS is realy helpful on mobile devices because they are smaller less powerful chips to start with so the assistance makes a big difference for it to work out where it is.
having said that the size and power of gps chip needed to get a fast lock on its own is impractical for mobile devices and its impractical to require cell towers to get a fast lock on a dedicated GPS unit. so its apples and oranges realy
Report Permalinkbruce
January 28, 2010 at 7:48 AM
Cool! can’t wait to get my hands on one.. good to see apple hasn’t come up with their own ebook format, but is going to follow the likes of sony and BeBook with their Epub support! 10 hours battery life! that’s a good start! they will give a new dimension to web-browsing!
Report Permalinkwhatiris
January 28, 2010 at 7:49 AM
I’m thoroughly unexcited. No multitasking- that’s just simply ridiculous. No Flash cripples the web. It’s a big iPod touch. I certainly don’t regret picking up a netbook now, and I’m usually a horrible Apple fan.
Report PermalinkCraig
January 28, 2010 at 3:42 PM
A bit of an anti-climax. There is no compelling feature to this device that would prompt me to part with my cash. I had hoped it would have the goodness of Mac OSX. I already have an iPhone, I don’t need a comically larger version of it.
Disappointed.
Report PermalinkDarcy
January 28, 2010 at 7:52 AM
I agree with the other commenters. It doesn’t seem to be anything much more than an iPod touch. Dissappointing
Report PermalinkFrogztar
January 28, 2010 at 8:10 AM
Three full pages of article on only one thing… really Gizmodo? I expected better of you. Might as well change the name of the blog to iPuke
Report PermalinkDave
January 28, 2010 at 8:12 AM
I don’t think it has managed exchange, that’s disappointing as it would otherwise be good for office emails and calendar.
Report PermalinkTjeerd
January 28, 2010 at 8:19 AM
Finally, good laptop replacement. I will use this and replace my laptop.
Report PermalinkWon’t use it for reading though. My wife has a BeBook ereader and I am getting The new BeBook Neo. You can read for days/weeks before the battery is empty and it reads as good as paper. No sore eyes and she reads even in sunlight.
But I will also get this iPad. :)
VacantEngaged
January 28, 2010 at 8:20 AM
Did they mention anything about the iPhone 4.0 software at this event?
Report PermalinkJuice
January 28, 2010 at 8:34 AM
The iPad is something that Apple is trying to fill a grey area with. Its meant to cover being a tablet and a netbook at both which it verges away from any current product on the market. It’s trying to be an oversized iPod touch with some more functionality of a Mac.
But it fundamentally fails to breach what this device should do. It lacks any true support to be a real competitor to a windows based tablet and it will be a shortcoming in my opinion. It’s hybrid OS just doesn’t seem to server its purpose quite right..Its not a full fledged OS nor is it as useful as an iPhone or iPod touch.
It seems a bit bi…not sure of what it should be. Owning both a MacBook and an iPhone it somewhat combines both but lacks the ideal use for each product. I agree it is a nice product but it’s in a bit of a niche market of its own.
Report PermalinkWilson Cheng
January 28, 2010 at 9:01 AM
AU$699? Are you kidding? given the Aussie gadget tax for other product, I should be around $899
Report PermalinkSteven Wright
January 28, 2010 at 9:04 AM
it’s a want, but not a need
Report PermalinkRobert Tilt
January 28, 2010 at 9:07 AM
mmm, somewhat of an anti-climax, but proof will be in the pudding. Now to wait for the MS Courier! Is it an ‘iPad killer?’
Report PermalinkPinballLes
January 28, 2010 at 9:28 AM
Well it’s hardly revolutionary is it. Like everyone else is saying, it’s just a big iPod touch, or if you get the 3G version, a big iPhone minus features.
Where apple has really gone wrong is that:
1) It cannot operate as a stand alone device, it needs to be synced with a computer through iTunes to be functional
2) It’s closed, you can only use it the way apple has imagined you using it, and
3) You cannot create anything, it’s about consumption, it’s all about being locked into apple and buying consumables (books, music, apps) from apple.
I was hoping for something more like an electronic sketchpad, something that might revolutionize the way people use computers to create content.
Report PermalinkPinballLes
January 28, 2010 at 10:05 AM
Re-reading the features, the third problem mentioned in my previous is should be: Creating content seems to be a secondary feature, kind of like a last minute add on, and it relies on developers creating brand new apps to for you to create content. Even then, the kind of content you can create is going be limited by the apple apps approval process which limits the types of apps you can use, the lack of multitasking, and the lack of a file manager; how do you keep anything you create organized?
Report PermalinkJoey-Jo-Jo
January 28, 2010 at 9:49 AM
Be nice if it had a camera on the front to… but…
Report PermalinkMichael
January 28, 2010 at 9:58 AM
The lack of Mac OSX, multi-taking and flash are huge weaknesses. I mean where no Flash on the iPhone is annoying the lack of it on the iPad seems ridculous. I was really expecting it so run somthing like Mac OSX-Lite.
I think the success of the iPad will hinge on games and books. It would be an awesome devices to play a decent RTS on, like command&conquer. If it was able to be wirelessly mutilplayer that would be even better.
Books could be a huge success, especially with apple doing it. But I must say I hate reading screens.
I see it as somehow an intergration between a PMP and a PSP.
I would seriously consider getting the cheaper model one if it could play some decent games.
That said it still seems to expensive for what you get, especially at the top end. Where your looking at a half decent laptop for the same price.
I think the 2nd generation will much more succesfull (as with the iPhone). It’ll prob be cheaper, faster and once the iPad has found its niche more orrientated to it.
Also whats with the lack of calculator app? I mean stock was shit and weather wasnt much better, but the calculator was pretty good.
Report PermalinkHuge Cane
January 28, 2010 at 11:03 AM
Well said Michael!
Report PermalinkOllie
January 28, 2010 at 9:59 AM
The iTouch despite missing lots of iPhone type connectivity seems to be flying off the shelves, i can see this doing it too…possibly… though maybe it’ll take a few price cuts.
Report PermalinkJyse
January 28, 2010 at 10:04 AM
i’d rather keep the portability of my iphone. This thing sh0ould be renamed the iFail!
Report Permalinkp0c1
January 28, 2010 at 10:06 AM
Is it a mobile phone…? No..
Is it a computer…? No..
Is it a GPS…? No..
Is it useful…? maybe..
Is it something we should buy right now…? No ..
Does it have a BIG potential… Depends..
Report PermalinkSteveM
January 28, 2010 at 10:20 AM
Yea remember how Steve Jobs said famously that they don’t know how to make something that isn’t a piece of junk for $500?
Turns out he wasn’t lying… this thing is a piece of junk. And it starts at $500.
Report Permalinklu77
January 28, 2010 at 10:22 AM
does this mean no iPhone 4? they may not want to upstage this new product line, in which case i’m going to be sorely disappointed.
The iPhone OS is fine for a little portable device that sits in your pocket and replaces all the various little devices we had to carry – cameras, phones, mp3 players.
But a iPad, will never replace those things, it’s bigger, therefore more effort to bring with you, therefore it needs to do everything your computer can do, and from experience of the iPhone, it wont. It’ll be a handicapped device designed to sell more apple products like Apps.
as for the peripherals, anyone like me who’s had a G4 cube knows, you can make a computer as small as you want but if it’s got poor connectivity and few internal features, it’s just a pain in the ass.
Report PermalinkShane
January 28, 2010 at 10:25 AM
The device has definite potential, but we will see ourselves continuing to be constrained and frustrated by the user model dictated to us by apple.
Why no iphoto?? What about multi tasking support?? I don’t want to be continually starting and stopping apps to move data between them (or look things up for my wife)…it would be better to be able to “move” an app into the background (and gien Apple’s experience with OSX, it shouldn’t be hard to reduce it’s overhead on the hardware) and then bring up a second or third app as I need…
Better interoperability would also be nice, so when dealing with “content” I can choose how to export it and where to.
I guess we will need to wait and see about streaming content, this could be a great opportunity to bet the ATV into the lime light.
For me, it represents a remote browser for my XBMC and comic book reader.
I can see myself getting tech books on it as well. Be nice to read “how to program the ipad” on the ipad :P
No GPS…not sure if this is really a show stopper or not, but could you imagine a in car dock for this thing!! What a turn by turn replacement!! Maybe we’ll see this as an accessory in the short term.
As for flash, I think Apple might be waiting for HTML5 so it can skip over the need.
With the built-in blue-tooth, I’d like to see a PS3 remote and multiplayer gaming support!
Report PermalinkJeff
January 28, 2010 at 10:27 AM
The only thing this will be good for is sitting on the Dunny and reading the new.
But when your finished you cant roll it up and throw it in the corner.
Report PermalinkJoe
January 28, 2010 at 10:35 AM
So i have to hold this thing while watching a movie… damn my arms will be sore, doesnt look like it will stand on its own. At least i can lie down in bed with my laptop on my belly!
Report PermalinkBoony
March 11, 2010 at 9:23 PM
Hey stop nagging pay an extra 30 $ for a case which can stand if you look at any of the accesories. the ipad is a great new jump into our new touch future…
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