Apple iPad Specifications and Price
Apple and Steve Jobs have released the much awaited Apple Tablet which is named Apple "iPad" there were a lot of speculations and gusses about the design of the device. But eventually it was out on 27th Jan 2010.
Steve Jobs unveiled it by his own hands.
The Apple iPad has the following Specifications:
Dimensions:
- Height – 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
- Width – 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
- Depth – 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
- Weight – 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model, 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G mode
- Screen: 9.7-inch LCD screen
- Resolution: 1024×768 pixels
Battery Backup:
- 10 hrs on full usage
- 1 month on standby
Location services:
- Wi-Fi
- Digital compass
- Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
- Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
Hardware:
- Chip - 1 GHz Apple A4 chip. They went in-house instead of going to Intel.
- Memory - Three models with 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB solid state hard drives.
Features:
Videos: The large, high-resolution screen makes iPad perfect for watching any kind of video: from HD movies and TV shows to podcasts and music video.
Images: Th Albums can be seen as a stack and one tap opens up the stack to show all the pictures.
iPod App: With the iPod app, all your music is literally at your fingertips. Browse by album, song, artist, or genre with a simple flick. To play a song, just tap it. iPad even displays album art at full size. Listen to your music with the powerful built-in speaker or with wired or Bluetooth wireless headphones.
iTunes: A tap of the iTunes store icon lets you browse and buy music, TV shows, and podcasts — or buy and rent movies — wirelessly, right from your iPad
App store: iPad runs almost 140,000 apps from the App Store. where you ca find Gaming apps also.
iBooks: It is a new native application for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad that allows you to browse, download and read e-books given presently by Penguin, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillian and Hachette and also McGraw-Hill.
Maps: See maps on the go with the help of the 3G version, where we can get the GPS facility whereas in the basic Wifi enabled piece we cannot enjoy the GPS facility.
Notes: Te massive screen makes it easy to jot down notes even in a class. Its the same as seen in the iPhone and the iTouch
Spotlight Search: helps you search each and everything present on the iPad in just one go.
Pricing:
$499: 16 GB, Wi-Fi only
$599: 32 GB, Wi-Fi only
$629: 16 GB, Wi-Fi and 3G
$699: 64 GB, Wi-Fi only
$729: 32 GB, Wi-Fi and 3G
$829: 64 GB, Wi-Fi and 3G
iPad is iFail
The much anticipated iPad was supposed to be the biggest release by Apple in the beginning of 2010, Everyone was stuck to the computers on 27 and it was finally "Released" from the hands of Steve himself.
There was a lot of Expectations form the device, but it let us down very badly. Lets see where the iPad went horribly wrong.
No Multi Tasking:
This device which is supposed to be a gadget built to fill in the gap between a smart phone and a Mac, does not support multi tasking, then how in the world can they say that it is something near to a laptop. Even a basic Smart phone supports Multi tasking. This is the major let down by apple they just copied the Features of the iPhone and elongated it into the iPad.
The least apple could have done is including Multi tasking into the iPad, to make it something worth giving a try.
The Design:
What can be told about the design, it is just a copy of Apple iPhone minus the curves. The Design is just taken from the iPhone and put into the iPad it is just an Elongated thinner version of the iPhone.
Apple could have done much better than just making it a taller brother of the iPhone, with the same central key and the Sleep buton on the top.
Does not Support Flash:
This is another disappointing feature, the iPad does not support Flash and this is the same taken from the iPhone, insted of correcting and including Flash Apple has just made it more worse by not including Flash atleast for the iPad.
This means that we cannot have Flash based games and the Flash based websites cannot be viewed to their full capacity.
No USB Slot:
There are no USB slots included in the iPad, which also adds to the misery of using this Tablet, we cannot transfer stuff from other computers easy and fast. The only thing which we can do is use this tablet as a Netbook and god knows why Steve made the statement that this is a device which will fill in the gap between Smartphone and Laptops, and it is just another Net book like the many other devices we can find out there.
No Camera:
There is neither a camera, the feature available in the iPhone is also absent in this.
The Same Apps as iPhone:
The iPad supports the same Apps as that of the iPhone, without any Flash even the Apps which support Flash cannot be used in this. The App developers are left helpless due to this and we have to suffer with the same 3rd party apps available in the App store.
No Full GPS:
The Wi-Fi-only versions flat out have no GPS support whatsoever. The basic versions have to compensate of GPS. The 3G versions have Assisted GPS, which makes use of the cellular connection to help pinpoint your location.
No SD Slot:
The absense of an SD slot makes the iPad memory very costly, with 15$ for 250 MB we have to shell out a lot of money to get to the higher end version of the iPad.
The Pricing is based on the memory:
For a Tablet i think this is just a lame thing to do, by placing the pricing based on the memory and that too by giving 250 MB for 15$ is such a shame.
Overall looking at the Device we can say that, iPad is not living up to its expectations. There were way too high expectations on the device and it has got nothing near it.
"We can say that iPad is just and Elongated iTouch"
Apple Media Event Jan – 26, 2010
Apple has announced a Media event to release its products in its typical and trademark manner, hope we can see Steve Jobs again in his Blue jeans and Black tee, and bring out another Gadget of the decade for the next 10 yrs.
As read in Appleinsider.com
"Apple has reportedly scheduled a media event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on Tuesday Jan. 26, 2010, for a major product announcement."
The expected announcements for the 2010 Media event are:
- The most anticipated Apple Tablet.
- The subscription plan for video content on iTunes.
- The release of the new Gen iPhone with 4G.
- The upgrade of the iPhone camera to a much needed 5Mp along with a much needed Flash.
- Full Screen Versions of the Apps available on iTunes for a January Demo.
"Apple reportedly wanted software to scale beyond the 320x480 pixel size of the current iPhone and iPod touch screen, but said that applications that can accommodate the larger screen size will run "just fine" on the new device" (Source: Apple insider.com)
So be ready for the Apple Media event and keep an Eye in this space for more updates related the the Event.
Apple iPhone 4G packed with 5Mp camera ??
The next generation iPhone which is mostly expected to be announced in the summer by Apple is going to have a 5 Mp camera much to the relief of all the iPhone fans.
Apple which has neglected on the camera section in the last two iPhones, has finally took the right step, as it has apparently ordered 40-45 million camera units from OmniVision Technologies for 2010.
There are some high expectation with the Media Event scheduled for Jan 26.
- The next generation iPhone has to have some changes in :
- The cam
- And a flash to support the awesome camera, hopefully in the Apple sign which will make it a masterpiece.
- The Hardware
- The Overall look has to change (getting bored looking at the same thing all these years)
And what else can we say everything else is just so perfect in the iPhone.
So looking forward to the release and the official announcement for the next generation of the iPhone.
iTunes updated to 9.0.2
Apple once again updated iTunes by releasing its all new 9.0.2 version, this release comes soon after the updated version of Apple TV was announced.
I think Apple has released this iTunes version to cope with the new and updated Aplle TV.
Some of the features includes
- Enables users to choose a dark background for Grid View and improves accessibility.
- You will need the iTunes update in order to use all the new features in Apple TV.
So update to the new iTunes to enjoy the new and enhanced View and if you have purchased an Apple TV recently then you have update it compulsarily.
You can download the iTunes 9.0.2 here.
Wordpress 2 For iPhone
Wordpress 2 is now live for iPhone users, now the users of iPhone and especially Bloggers like me can have a better and enhanced user interface to manage the blogs more easily and faster.
The Version 2 of Wordpress for iPhone brings :
- A new, more efficient user interface that makes it faster to switch between comments(with Gravatars and the author URL), posts, and pages.
- Passwords are now stored in the keychain
- Posts are now automatically saved and restored if network connection is lost during publishing
- Added persistence, so the app re-opens in the blog you last used
- Added an interface for manually entering the XMLRPC endpoint for non-standard setups
- Fixed rotation-related visual glitches
- Fixed edge case where local drafts were sometimes not saved
- Fixed the order of photos so that they’re displayed in the order they’re uploaded
What i like most about this new update is the presence of some interesting features like 'Keychain storage of passwords' and the 'Posts are saved when the App is closed due to some problem'
Palm Pre Updated – But doesnot Sync with iTunes
Palm released webOS 1.2 this week, which is the latest update for the Palm Pre the iPhone competitor.
Palm in its new update gives:
- Enabling access to the Amazon MP3 Store
- The ability to download files in the Web browser
- And filtering of e-mails by search
- You can now tap a phone number in a calendar note to dial it (so you can get to the joy of music-on-hold for your conference calls even faster!).
- Pause a podcast and, by default, you’ll pick up where you left off when you unpause
- Web pages and emails are now cut-and-paste-able.
All the inclusions are fine but what happened to the Palm and Apple fight ???
Has Palm given up its fight against Apple as the new upgrade Does not Sync the Palm Pre with iTunes 9.
Hope the new Palm Pixie will come with a new OS and it will be able to access iTunes.
Apple planning Multi-Touch Surface ??
Apple has disclosed plans of a multi-touch surface that could accommodate two full hands and distinguish between palms and individual fingers for typing, gestures and more.
This information has been gathered from the new patent application (filed by Morrison and Foerster LLP in Los Angeles in June 2009 on behalf of Apple) Apple has put forward.
The Details which are revealed from the document are:
- Integration of typing
- Resting
- Pointing
- Scrolling
- 3D manipulation
- Handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.
The described system in the Documents say that we can:
Individually detect all ten fingers and separate palms on a person's hand.
With this feature you can type, write, draw and interact with a device large enough to support multiple hands (Which again leads to the Tablet alone which can accommodate both hands)
Via Appleinsider.com
Key points of the invention, as described in the application, include:
- Integrating and distinguishing different types of input, such as typing, multiple degree-of-freedom manipulation, and handwriting, via different hand configurations that are easy to use and recognize.
- Includes an electronic system which minimizes the number of sensing electrodes to allow easier understanding of a variety of hand configurations.
- Provide a multi-touch surface that is contoured to be comfortable and ergonomic under extended use.
- Provide tactile key or hand position feedback without interfering with a hand resting on the smooth touch-sensitive surface.
- Provide images of "flesh proximity" to a variety of sensors that can distinguish hand configuration.
- Understand when the user wants cursor motion, and ignore commands when deceleration by the user is detected.
- Understand the movement of two or more hands to allow manipulation of two-dimensional electronic documents, like rotation and scaling of photos.
“Apps for everything” Page Appears on Apple.com
In Apple.com there is a new page which has appeared out of no where which says "Apps for Everything" in this page you can see the apps arranged in the an organized manner with 12 major categories and each one having 8 to 24 programs and each one has got a brief description stating what it is about and why it is present there.
I think that this is just an attempt to get the >85000 apps in an organized way and make life easy for app hunters who are in search for a suitable app for their need.
Here is a list of the 10 Categories listed in the Page:
- Apps for Cooks
- Apps for Keeping Current
- Apps for Great Outdoors
- Apps for Music
- Apps for Moms and Dads
- Apps for Work Out
- Apps for Going Out
- Apps for Managing Money
- Apps for Travelling
- Apps for Fun and Games
Have to try it out and see how well it stays up to it's name.
You can see the page here: "Apps for everything"
Unlock released for Firmware 3.1 for iPhone 3G
Apple has upgraded its iPhone Firmware to 3.1 sometime back and for the people with Jailbroken iPhone 3G phones who accidentally upgraded their phones to the new Firmware 3.1 can unlock their phone using this Pwnage tool and Ultrasnow Softwares.
But can the Dev team be far behind, it has released Pwnagetool 3.1 only for Mac.
Careful not to use this on your iPhone 3GS as it does not unlock your 3GS it is useful only on the 3G.
Steps to a Successful Unlock:
- Upgrade your Apple iPhone 3G firmware to 3.1 OS.
- Then Download the PwanageTool 3.1 for Mac [Download Link]
- Connect your upgraded iPhone to your Mac
- Then follow the steps. (Almost the same steps as the previous versions)
Now is the most important part of the process, here you have to follow these steps carefully:
- Installation of Ultrasn0w completed.
- Restart your iPhone.
- Then go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings and the Phone Restarts.
- Then go to Airplane mode, switch it on and off once
- Then go to the main screen and wait for a couple of minutes and the signals would appear with your network name on the right to it.
And you can enjoy with your iPhone 3G with 3.1 Firmware unlocked.
Note: This is at your own risk.