If you are reading this iPad review, you are probably still wondering if you should spend $499 or more on an iPad, and you are looking for answers. In this post, I will try to tell you what the iPad does (or does not), and how good (I think) it really is. Many aspects of the iPad are covered: design, display, books, videos, cool apps, productivity, gaming, web, battery life… you name it. After reading this, you should have a good idea of whether or not the iPad is for you and what it will really bring on the table. If not, well… you can leave a comment! Let’s dive in…Specifications
The Apple ipad features a 9.7 inch diagonal LED backlit glossy widescreen multi-touch display, with IPS technology and a 1024 x 768 resolution and the screen is designed to be fingerprint resistant.
Processing is provided by a 1GHz Apple A4 custom designed high performance, low power processor on a chip, there is also a built in accelerometer and an ambient light sensor.
The battery is a built in 25Whr rechargeable Lithium-polymer battery that will give you up to ten hours of usage, whilst browsing the web, watching a video or listening to music over WiFi.
It features an Apple dock connector so you can hook it up to your PC or Mac, built in speakers, a microphone, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a SIM card tray on the WiFi + 3G model.
The iPad measures 9.56 inches tall by 7.47 inches wide by 0.5 inches deep and weighs in at just 1.5 pounds for the WiFi model, and 1.6 pounds for the WiFi and 3G Model.
Design
The design of the iPad is exactly what you would expect from Apple, it is very slim measuring just 0.5 inches thick, although when I first picked the iPad up my first impressions was that it was quite heavy, but this is something you get used to, it isn’t actually that heavy weighing in at 1.5 pounds.
The screen on the iPad is sharp and it features a very similar design to that of the
iPhone, the back of the iPad is encased in curved aluminum, and it looks great.
On the front of the iPad there is a home button, which works exactly the same way as the
iPhone, at the top you get a 3.5mm audio jack and an on off button, on the bottom there is the standard Apple dock connector, and you get an up and down volume button on the side as well as a home screen lock button that stops the iPad switching from portrait to landscape mode when you move it around.
Overall the design on the iPad is very slick, and it definitely feels like a well built product, I love the aluminum on the back, it looks much more stylish than the back of the iPhone.
User Interface
The Apple iPad shares the same user interface and operating system as the iPhone, if you already own an iPhone or have used one in the past picking up the iPad will feel very familiar.
The iPad features a virtual keyboard which can be used with the majority of applications on the iPad, having a larger screen than that of the iPhone makes everything so much easier, especially with tasks like email and surfing the web.
The virtual keyboard is very good, it is a lot easier to use than the one on the iPhone, that is obviously down to having a larger screen and a larger keyboard, navigation on the iPad is simple, you just swipe through the various home screens with your applications on them.
Apple iBooks
One of the most touted feature by Apple since they announced the iPad is their new iBooks platform. iBooks lets you read electronic books on the iPad, and it seems to work pretty well.
If you are a book lover who uses a Kindle or another electronic book reader, then you will like the iPad, and Apple are expanding their library of books, although there are around 60,000 books at the moment, this compares to around 450,000 books on the Kindle platform.
The Pros of the Apple iPad
Perfect Starting Price - You can get in on the ground floor of a 16 gig iPad for only $499. This is by far a great deal maker. Most everybody expected the iPad to start close to $1,000. You also have the option of the 32 gig for $599 and the 64 gig for $699.
Light Weight and Sleek Design - The iPad only weighs 1.5lbs, gives you a display of 9.56 in (24.3 cm) × 7.47 in (19.0 cm) and is only 0.5 inches thick. These dimensios couldn't be any handier and puts the iPad in a class of its own.
iPad Applications - Straight out of the box the Apple iPad has over 140,000 apps that you can download and use. On the bigger screen these apps are much easier to use and read. there is also going to be an enormous number of Apps that are specifically designed for this fantastic little creature.
iBooks: This is going to be one of the major components of this device. You'll be able to download your favorite books at half the cost with the tap of a finger. They have a bookshelf that is personally catered to your liking. As always, in Apple style, with a tiny tap the book will open up for you.
Bigger, Better, and Faster Photo Viewing - What's even more amazing is you can do everything with photos that you can do with an iPhone touch with a much larger canvas.
The iWorks Apps Work on Mac Too - For the low price of only $9.99 you can utilize the iWorks apps which will make things much more convenient. Package deals will ultimately make this feature much more appealing.
Traditional Keyboard Accessory - The virtual keyboard is as big as a real one. Some people are totally against virtual keyboards therefore Apple has integrated an optional wireless keyboard to those that are more comfortable using it. This does make it a bit less portable but for many it's mandatory.
Battery Life - Apple claims that you can run the iPad for 10 hours straight without a charge. We'll have to see how true that is, especially when it comes to gaming.
No Cellular Contract: Finally! No cellular contract is required for the two options of the 3G. The 250 mb plan is available for $14.99 and the unlimited data plan is only $29.99.
The Cons of the Apple iPad
Adobe Flash Player - Flash files make things a bit slower and they do have limits. This is understandable with the smaller iPhone but for the iPad it' should be better. The blue question mark when there is no flash players is annoying for anyone. Honestly, nobody can have a great Web surfing experience without Flash. Apple needs to sort this out with Adobe ASAP or find an alternative with iPad 2.0 sooner than later.
Multitasking - Your not able to multi task. iPads have raised our expectations and multi tasking is a must for everyone these days. With such a powerful processor, apple should have been able to incorporate multitasking on iPads easily. You can't listen to music while surfing the web unless the station is streaming on Safari. We can put up with the battery life getting shorter, but definitely not without multitasking.
HDMI Out - There isn't any wireless or HDTV connection to a TV. I have no idea why Apple hasn't thought of connecting the two most important appliances that everyone needs. Undoubtedly these features will have to be added in the 2nd generation iPads or this device will be left on the shelves.
Camera Option- There is no camera. This seems foolish especially with the great photo options this machine has. A camera will make it very popular with every generation. I'm sure it has to do with the price but a camera option is a must, period.
Widescreen Option- You can tap on a movie to see it in either fullscreen or widescreen. It is not as wide as most widescreen formats, but it doesn't make a big difference watching movies either way you view it.
AT&T only for 3G- It is great to have no cellular contracts for 3G but the current AT&T's service hasn't been the best experience for current iPhone users. This is only going to clutter the network with more devices trying to connect through it. In my opinion, Verizon could be a better alternative for us all or better yet open it up to all carriers.
We all know that there is no device that is perfect with it's first generation release and it is surely likely to improve and have added features on the wish-list. Overall the iPad rocks and I plan on making it my best friend, especially for books.
Conclusion
The iPad is a great device, it does exactly what it says on the tin, it isn’t designed to replace your
computer, instead it is designed to make certain tasks very easy.
Personally I found the iPad great for surfing the web and email, these are daily tasks which I have to complete quite regularly, and being able to just pick up the iPad and get on with things is great.
If you are the sort of person who uses a computer for browsing the web and email, then you will like the iPad, if you want to use it for more complicated tasks, at the moment, until we see what multitasking is like you may be better off using a laptop.
The iPad is a great entertainment device, good for watching videos, looking at photos , playing games, catching up with your friends on Facebook and Twitter, surfing the web and email.
When Apple launched the 1st iPhone, it hardly had any of the features it does now, if Apple can manage to keep moving the iPad forward the way the did with the iPhone with regular software updates and new features it could end up being one of their most popular gadgets to date.
If you mainly use your computer for entertainment, rather than work, we would definitely recommend checking out the Apple iPad, it is a really fun device to use, it won’t replace your notebook or computer just yet.
We have tested out both the WiFi and 3G models, the WiFi model was a 16GB version, whilst the WiFi and 3G model was a 32GB version. I would recommend that you check out both models, if you do a lot of travelling then the 3G version is the one to get.
