Apple tablet- rumor to reality for the iPad

We have all been hearing the rumors about the Apple tablet computer for months. Today Steve Jobs introduced the Apple iPad to a packed house in San Francisco. How does it live up to the rumors?

The answer is that it lives up to the rumors and then some.  How does the hardware stack up? The size is pretty much what we had been led to expect. The whole package weighs just 1.5 pounds and is only a half an inch thick, with a 9.7-inch IPS display. The display has the same capacitive multi-touch process as the iPhone, but with a full QWERTY touch-screen keyboard. The processor was described as a 1GHz Apple A4 chip, which Jobs called “our own silicon” which is something a lot of people had given up on. It has up to 64GB of flash storage, right on target with the rumors. Battery life was a question in the rumor mill, and Jobs announced that the iPad would go 10 hours on a single charge, and offer a month of standby time. Like the iPhone, it has a built-in compass and accelerometer, microphone and speaker connectors, and Bluetooth. There is an accessory port that will accept the charger and a full-sized Apple external keyboard. So far the rumors were very close to the reality.

What about the software? The rumor mill said it would run all of the current iPhone apps, and it will, both at their regular iPhone size and in full-screen. All you need to do is plug it into iTunes and download your apps onto the iPad. We were told that the iPad would be an e-reader extraordinaire, and Apple showed today what it can do with newspapers, magazines and books, and what it can do is a lot, including an iTunes-like bookstore called iBooks. Once again, the rumors were right on about media, including music, video, and print. Better yet, graphics seem to have come up a notch, including the app Brushes, built anew for the iPad. Games are close to the heart of Apple, so we can be sure that games will be a big part of the iPad. The iPad even has a version of iWork all its own, at just $10 an app! Parts of the software package are even better than anticipated by the rumors, though we are still on the iPhone OS and not Snow Leopard.

Connectivity is, of course, key. How does reality stack up to the rumors? All iPads will have Wi-Fi, but upscale models will have 3G wireless mobile. Best of all, unlimited data is only $29.99 per month. The shocker here is that Jobs touted a “breakthrough deal with AT&T.” There is no contract for this data service. Prepay it each month, cancel at any time. It sounds good, but what happened to Verizon?

The price is where the rumors fell short. Base model iPads, 16GB wiith WiFi only, are $499. That’s much less than expected. On the top end, with WiFi, 3G, and 64GB of Flash memory, the price goes up to $829, still less than the pundits expected for that much tablet computer. Steve Jobs was very obviously beside himself with being able to offer so much for so little. And all of that tablet computer will be available in 60 days for the WiFi only models and 90 days for the 3G models. There are a few shortfalls in the perfection area. There is no true multitasking so far. Nothing was said about phone calls, but VIOP + 3G + Skype + Bluetooth will turn it into a telephone quickly enough.

Then there are the small things that no one talked much about at the rumor stage. The screen changes orientation just like the iPhone or Touch as you rotate it. The screen is large enough to do a good job reading a newspaper. The keyboard is actually large enough to type on in either orientation, and is full QWERTY. All of the functions that we’ve come to expect from the iPhone are there, only bigger and faster. Jobs even demoed photo Places using Google maps. The iTunes app is large and friendly, and very familiar. The interface is familiar, the gestures from the iPhone work. Video seems to be clean and perfect, with no hitches.

The era of the tablet computer has officially begun.

Thanks to Engadget for their live feed.

• 

• Apple tablet – real or rumor?
• Apple tablet headed for Verizon network?
• Apple rumor says the touchscreen iMac is still alive
• iPad gets holidays FaceTime here, WiFi for China
• Apple to add CDMA iPad 2 to lineup for Verizon?