The iPad itself takes the design concept of a slate and boils it down to pretty much the bare minimum. Measuring 9.56 x 7.47 x 0.50 inches and tipping the scales at 1.5 pounds, the front is basically all glass and the back all brushed aluminum. Apple has always been for paring down ports and hardware controls, but the iPad is perhaps a new extreme. Up top there’s a 3.5mm headphones jack, a discrete microphone hold and the power/lock button, while the volume rocker and a switch to freeze automatic screen rotation are on the right edge. The small speaker and standard 30-pin proprietary Dock Connector are underneath, while an ambient light sensor lurks almost invisible under the glass fascia.

1-inch black bezel surrounding the 9.7-inch, 1,024 x 768 capacitive touchscreen, with plenty of questions as to why Apple didn’t opt for an edge-to-edge display. The answer – as any slate-format tablet user has been saying, and as becomes plainly clear once you actually have the iPad in your hands – is that it gives you a place to actually grab and hold the iPad, without your fingers accidentally touching the edge of the screen.

Early benchmarks from the device show that the iPad is about twice as fast as the iPhone 3GS when running native applications. The speed up appears to be entirely focused within Apple’s A4 processor, as it appears the iPad shares the same PowerVR SGX 535 GPU and same 256MB RAM found in the iPhone 3GS. Early hardware teardown reports had claimed 512MB of RAM but these have later been corrected. 256MB of RAM also corresponds to the available RAM the system reports to apps.

iPad Pros and Cons

[pro-player]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2YsmATUP0Q[/pro-player]
Apple iPad Technical Specifications

Apple iPad Review is a post from: My MacOS X

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 (0.68 kg) Wi-Fi model; 1.6 pounds (0.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

Display

• 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
• 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
• Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
• Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Capacity

16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive

Processor

1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip

Battery and power

• Built-in 25-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery
• Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
• Charging via power adapter or USB to computer system

Sensors

• Accelerometer
• Ambient light sensor

Input and output

• Dock connector port
• 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
• Built-in speaker
• Microphone
• Micro SIM card tray (Wi-Fi + 3G model only)

Audio playback

• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
• Audio formats supported: HE-AAC (V1), AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
• User-configurable maximum volume limit

Wireless and cellular

Wi-Fi model

• Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

Wi-Fi + 3G model

• UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• Data only²
• Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

External buttons and controls

TV and video

• Support for 1024 by 768 pixels with Dock Connector to VGA Adapter; 576p and 480p with Apple Component AV Cable; 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable
• H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

Mac system requirements

• Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
• Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later
• iTunes 9.1 or later (free download from www.itunes.com/download)
• iTunes Store account
• Internet access

Windows system requirements

• PC with USB 2.0 port
• Windows 7; Windows Vista; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3 or later
• iTunes 9.1 or later (free download from www.itunes.com/download)
• iTunes Store account
• Internet access

Location

• Wi-Fi
• Digital compass
• Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
• Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)

Mail attachment support

Viewable document types: .jpg, .tiff, .gif (images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); .key (Keynote); .numbers (Numbers); .pages (Pages); .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf (rich text format); .vcf (contact information); .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)

Languages

• Language support for English, French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Russian
• Keyboard support for English (U.S.), English (UK), French (France, Canada), German, Japanese (QWERTY), Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese (Handwriting and Pinyin), Russian
• Dictionary support for English (U.S.), English (UK), French, French (Canadian), French (Swiss), German, Japanese, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese (Handwriting and Pinyin), Russian

Accessibility

• Support for playback of closed-captioned content
• VoiceOver screen reader
• Full-screen zoom magnification
• White on black display
• Mono audio

Environmental requirements

• Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
• Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
• Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
• Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

In the box

• iPad
• Dock Connector to USB Cable
• 10W USB Power Adapter
• Documentation

Apple iPad Technical Specifications is a post from: My MacOS X

In terms of standard connectivity, the iPad offers Wi-Fi (802.11n) and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, with 3G models also offering cellular data connectivity. All iPad models have an accelerometer, compass, speakers, a microphone, and a 30-pin dock connector. The iPad also offers a claimed 10 hours of battery life for viewing video, with 1 month of standby battery life.
Accessories will also be available for the iPad, including a dock with a mechanical keyboard that will accommodate the iPad in portrait orientation and a case with a built-in stand for video viewing. Prices on these accessories were not announced. The iPad also supports Bluetooth keyboards.

At the end of the event, Jobs described the iPad as the company’s “most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.” He also pointed out that there are over 125 million iTunes accounts with credit cards and that using the iPad will be second-nature for the more than 75 million iPhone and iPod touch users.

Apple Releases iPad is a post from: My MacOS X