The Cupertino based Apple leverages its computer savvy and the technologies of its legendary iPhone with the new Apple iPad. With features that have won instant markets worldwide, the iPad has just defined a new mobile gadget genre that some pundits say sits somewhere between the smartphone and the laptop.
But if Apple's CEO Steve Jobs were to be believed, it's actually "way better than a laptop, way better than a smartphone." Having more affinity with the popular Kindle and earlier tablet computing gadgets, the iPad has been endowed by Apple with features that put it above the smartphone and the laptop.
Better Than a Laptop
If the Kindle has won the hearts of millions because of its electrophoretic monochromatic LCD screen, the Apple iPad is sure to bring the same appeal but with more functionality. With a 9.7-inch full color LED backlighted in-plane switching (IPS) LCD screen with XGA (1024 x 768) resolution, you not only can read pages of a book, but skim through color illustrations and images as well as videos that a Kindle can never do.
Powered by a 1Ghz Apple A4 SoC (System on Chip) processor with 16, 32 and 64GB model choices and running the Apple iOS 4 platform, the iPad may not entirely beat even an entry level laptop, but if you're just interested in online surfing and emailing, social networking and an engaging multimedia experience of images, sound and video, the iPad wins hands down.
Its 1.5 lb weight is just half of the lightest laptop out there, has a smaller footprint with a half-inch thickness and gets 10 hours of video from its lithium polymer battery that's more than twice any laptop on the market can deliver.
Better than a Smartphone
Multitouch capacitive touchscreen never got it so good than with an expansive 9.7-inch display. You just have to play with it and you won't want to go back to your iPhone. You get a better 3-axis accelerometer that basically makes the iPad viewable in any orientation while the iPhone only has 2 axes.
It has the same ambient light sensor and magnetometer for its java-run digital compass. In addition, just about all the data connectivity technologies are on the Apple iPad. You have WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v21 with EDR and A2DP, USB 2.0, a 30-pin docking port for a keyboard, a 3.5mm audio port and an SD card reader. It comes with a model that has 3G with HSDPA, 2G with EDGE and GPS functionality with A-GPS support.
While the Apple iPad is not meant to replace a mobile phone, you can have a headset or use its built-in speakers and microphone over 3G to place and receive a call or even over WiFi for VOIP calls. Like the iPhone, the iPad synchs seamlessly with iTunes on either Windows or Mac and gets access to the App Store. Apart from 10 hours of video, no smartphone or laptop matches its 140 hours of non-stop music listening or a month's standby time on a single charge.
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