Apple Announces the iPad

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 | Personal | by

It’s finally here.  No more rumors / guessing.  Apple has finally announced the iPad.

This afternoon Steve Jobs announced the upcoming launch of the iPad at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.

First a few basic facts about the iPad:

  • 9.7″ LED-backlit, IPS (in-plane switching) Display – almost double the resolution as current iPhones – running at 1024×768 pixels, 132 pixels per inch
  • 9.56″ x 7.47″ x 0.5″
  • 1.5 pounds (1.6 pounds with 3G)
  • 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive
  • 1 Ghz Apple A4 custom lower power system on a chip
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
  • Can have optional 3G data only (not voice)
  • Digital Compass
  • Assisted GPS
  • Accelerometer, Ambient light (just like iPhone)
  • Audio Playback (of course)
  • Dock Connector supports video output (576p, 480p, 576i, 480i depending on cable)
  • Runs 720p at 30 fps
  • 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery (claims to run at up to 10 hrs on continuous use)
  • Charge via power adapter or USB
  • Microphone
  • 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
  • Built-in speakers

Those are the technical stats. According to the announcement the iPad will be available in 60 days (90 for the 3G version).  The price will be according to the model (of course), starting at $499.

The Wifi only model will be:

  • $499 – 16GB
  • $599 – 32GB
  • $699 – 64GB

If you want 3G connectivity it will cost a little extra:

  • $629 – 16GB
  • $729 – 32GB
  • $829 – 64GB

The 3G data plan will be $14.99 / month for up to 250 MB data, or $29.99 for unlimited data (with AT&T).  Interestingly it will be a month to month plan and NOT require a contract.  Does it sound like Apple is slowly severing ties with AT&T?  It does to me.

Finally you can see a video of the presentation below:

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2 Comments to Apple Announces the iPad

Phil
January 27, 2010

I’m still not sure how I feel about this new device. Part of me really sees the appeal, especially when it comes to viewing content such as websites, notes, books, picture, etc. It’s much handier to have it in a pad format than slugging around a laptop. For example, I’m just thinking how nice it would be to have something when I’m cooking where I can just pull-up a recipe while i’m in the middle of cooking. Or, want to show a bunch of pictures to some friends w/out needing to pull out a bulky laptop.

However, there are some deal breakers for me, at least right now.

1. No built-in support for usb and/or sd cards.
2. 3G is still tied to AT&T. nuff said

Ok, maybe its just 2 deal breakers and I don’t even really see a need to have the 3g on this anyway. So i guess I’m still “meh” at this point.

You getting one?

seangw
January 27, 2010

I’m with you. As it is, I pull out my iPhone for a recipe when I’m cooking (infrequently) — and I’d love to have a tablet like this. I think I would have been all for it if it included expandable memory (like you said) and a front facing camera for video conferencing. I can imagine having the tablet next to my computer on a video call, or taking the tablet out when I’m on vacation to show family / friends what’s going on. It’s just not that big of a stretch, don’t know why it isn’t included.

The other is, why can’t we sync over the air yet? This would make a big difference if it automatically sync’d over wifi to my iTunes on my main machine.

All in all, eventually I may get one — but I’m not aching to buy one. I have an iPhone that handles most of the tasks well, and have a laptop for the other parts. There is also no way I’d buy an AT&T bundled product. Especially not now that a switch to Verizon seems looming over the horizon.

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