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Video selection screen on the iPad. Credit: CNET
It walks and talks like an iPod touch — only it has a much larger screen, which will entice you to do more with it.
At least that seems to be the hopes of Apple and Steve Jobs, who announced the much-anticipated iPad Tablet today in San Francisco.
The iPad, which features a capacitive 9.7-inch touchscreen, will be available in prices ranging from $499 to $829 depending on storage size and Wi-Fi/3G wireless networking capability.
The 16-, 32- and 64-GB models with built in Wi-Fi will be $499, $599 and $699, respectively, while 3G of the same sizes are $629, $729 and $829 (not including data plans).
Look for Wi-Fi models to start shipping in 60 days and 3G models in 90 days, according to CNET.
The iPad appears to have all the functionality of an iPod touch, with the same slick navigation, access to open-architecture applications, touch keypad and more. Only the iPad has a 9.7-inch screen, which obviously makes activities like web browsing and e-reading much more palatable.
Jobs wondered if there was room for “a third device” in people’s homes and hands.
“In order to create a new category of devices, they have to be really good at doing some important things. That includes web browsing, e-mail, photos, watching video, listening to music, playing games, and reading e-books. Some people have thought that’s a Netbook, The problem is Netbooks aren’t better at anything. They’re just cheap laptops. We think we have something better.”
Activities demonstrated throughout the announcement included high-resolution video from YouTube and MLB.com, a Facebook app, Internet browsing, e-reading from The New York Times and a virtual bookshelf, gaming applications and more. Familiar iPod touch functionality like swipe scrolling and portrait/landscape were also shown.
Because of the larger screen — and for Jobs we certainly won’t call it a netbook — the iPad does more to mimic Mac-like functionality than an iPod touch. Applications such as iTunes and iPhoto interface like they would on your iMac or PowerBook, and you can download and watch movies and TV shows similarly.
But, of course, the rub is that this device is sleeker and slicker. It’s only 0.5-inch thin and weighs 1.5 pounds.
We’ve seen cool color touchpanels from Crestron, AMX, Control4, and Savant, to name a few of the big home control companies that act as mini-hubs. As a tabletop and portable controller (and we know control apps abound for iPod touch to use with your home systems and as a remote control), this could be a more mainstream entry to easily commanding your home’s A/V and other systems.
Apple must be thinking the same thing.
Here are some more images, credit to CNET:
This is NOT a replacement for the netbook, definaltly not a laptop replacement. This device is for consuming media you already have on your IPhone, or ITouch.. Add to it all of the aps that work on the IPhone/Touch many of theses aps will be much enhanced with the bigger screen. Thats not even counting aps developed specificly for the IPad, I have a Touch and as much as I love it, I bigger screen would defiantly make my old eyes happy. Every is pre-judging I device thats barely been announced much less released.. The final judge will be the consumer who buy this and find new ways to use it. The IPhone and ITouch have already gone far beyond what was first envisioned.
For more ideas on the Ipad, and tech and media see my blog;
When I first saw this I thought this is another winner from Apple and will probably kick the Kindle off the shelves. However, looking at it as a Netbook, I do have some issues with it. First of all, its not something that you can just prop open on your lap and watch movies on a train with. Who is going to sit there holding the screen up for an hour? Am I missing something? And why not allow you to make phone calls from it so that you dont have to pull your Iphone out? I’m afraid its just one too many devices for someone like me. I dont use my computer for business so I really have no use for it despite the coolness factor. I also think its a bit pricey if you go for the 3G.
I think the iPad is perfect for what MOST people use their laptops and smartphones for… Email, music, pics, web surfing and playing games. It is going to give you all of that and give you a richer reading experience with iBooks. The Kindle is dead. As far as multi-tasking - it’s not that big of a deal. If I need to do a few things at once then I’ll jump on my desktop or laptop. I intend to have maybe two of them in the house for easy web access without being tethered to my desktop or lugging around a laptop or looking at my iPhone’s small screen so much.
Does anyone know how this handles heavy flow?
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My feelings are not that this is worse than the Iphone, just no better minus the larger screen. I would not lug this thing around when I travel, I already carry a laptop and my phone. For home use, I could see this as being a neat toy, but a toy nonetheless. There are better touch panel controls on the market, netbooks give you more flexibility, and without multitasking, I am limited with what I can actually do on it. This is a toy. Plain and simple. Apple has been milking the ipod/iphone craze as much as they possibly can and this is just another gimmick to get more sales. I appreciate what the iphone did for smartphone technology. Without it, I probably would not be enjoying my Google device.