At today’s highly-anticipated media event, Apple confirmed all the rumors when they announced the iPad tablet device, featuring a 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 display and 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB capacities. Now we all can pretend we’re on Star Trek Voyager using futuristic notepads while watching the new Star Trek movie.
Carrying a custom 1 GHz “Apple A4″ chip, the iPad weighs in at 1.5 pounds and is .5-inch thin. The iPad will be priced at $499, $599, and $699 for the varying capacity models without 3G, and $626, $729, and $829 with 3G. Wi-Fi only models are scheduled to ship in 2 months, with 3G-capable model shipping in 3 months.
Whats up with the cringeworthy name “iPad?” Apple Tablet would have been so much more elegant. All I can think of is feminine products.
I still think $500-800 in price is a bit high for a tablet, when their low end laptops go for $1000-2000. This is what Apple considers a “low” price?
Here are some interesting aspects of it:
Here is Apple hunk Jon Ive (designer of the original iMac and iPod) talking about the new device:
Do I want one? Hell ya. I’d love to have one on an airplane (with in-flight WiFi) and of course lounging around catching up on my favorite Deven Green videos. What are your thoughts? Will the iPad revolutionize publishing the way the iPod and the iTunes music store did?
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6 Comments
Comments
I must admit, i’m a little disappointed with it’s design and features.
It’s basically a large iphone/itouch, which is nice, but it doesn’t feel like much of an innovation. If you’re a total technology noob, and never used an iphone or similar then yeh, maybe.
I can see it being nice to have around the house to quickly check email, photos, read, surf etc, (specially if you don’t have an iphone).
I was really expecting something bigger, slimmer, and sexier. I really wish they’d removed those ugly thick borders.
Why they didn’t go with an OLED screen? It’d be lighter and the battery life would increase.
It would’ve been good if they included a built in camera like on their laptops. Could’ve been a potential step towards portable video calls (via 3G or wifi).
It kinda feels like apple’s playing it safe. I just hope at the very least i can use my iphone’s SIM.
Made by the Taiwanese OEM Faxcoon in Shenzen. Thanks to modern slave factories the manufacturing expenses are very slow like for the Iphone or Ipod.
I meant low.^^
Not low enough. They really need to get cracking on those lazy slaves.
Hmmm! I will wait and see… but of course, I was an iPhone skeptic too. LOL!
Its got the usual Apple wiz bang consumer appeal but i wonder about a few things:
For book reading, isn’t the glowing screen going to create eyestrain, something the “flat” light of the kindle addressed? What about the glowing screen when you’re in a low light space like an airplane at night?
The Apple Battery problem – looks like it will be the usual, you can’t replace the battery easily so when the battery dies, so does the iPad, you’ll have to buy expensive extended warranties with some clever apple name as an insurance policy for replacement or just buy a new unit. I think this element more than anything always shows me that Apple has built in obsolescence taken to a new level, they cater almost exclusively to their slobbering open mouthed hypnotized masses and apple heads who will line up for any new Apple device. Apple will upgrade this thing in 6 months and all the same people in line this week will be back in line then.
Can I only watch movies I buy from Apple? What about my extensive DVD/BluRay collection?
And MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL. Where’s the PORN? Will the apps be restricted as they are now for the phone? I don’t know if Apple got the memo, but the internet, it’s for PORN.
If it’s anything like the itouch or iPhone, you can convert (to .mp4) and upload any video you want. That includes porn.
You’re not forced to buy any content from the stores.
The only restrictions I’ve found are if you’re an App developer; Apple doesn’t allow adult content on their Store.
You should be able to change the screen brightness in settings.
Yes the battery things is a bit of an issue.
Also, i get the feeling that this product isn’t wooing their “slobbering open mouthed hypnotized masses”.
Most of the people it’s thrilling are non apple product users.
Oh I forgot- AT& fucking T? Really? WTF? This kind of anti-consumer choice, anti competitive stuff is far more harmful than the BS browser “monopoly” talk that sent Microsoft to court for anti competitive practices. At what point is paying more and more for web access for every device in your life going to be prohibitiuve for people especially in this economy?
And what about this app restriction stuff, isn’t that sniffling innovation and creativity if every app has to be distributed through iTunes and meet a narrow moral code established by Apple? This seems far more restrictive to actual user experience, cost, and impact on competitors and businesses who have no connection to Apple but rely on broad consumer access to their products (any adult company or hook up site) via the web to be competitive in the marketplace, than the whole browser stuff was. If as some people posit the trend will be to these kind of portable devices being the primary web access device for consumers, isn’t in the best interest of the marketplace that apps not have to meet these narrow moral restrictions?
Lol, yeh that’s pretty stupid. I think there are laws against that kind of thing in most countries.
How could you resist Jon Ive !?!