Everything iPad

The Apple iPad has arrived. Centered around a 9.7-inch 1024 x 768 IPS multitouch display in a unibody brushed aluminum chassis, the Apple iPad runs the iPhone OS on a custom 1GHz Apple A4 chipset of the company’s own design. Physically the iPad measures 9.56 x 7.47 x 0.5 inches and weighs 1.5 pounds, complete with a battery good for ten hours use or a month on standby.

Standard iPad connectivity includes WiFi a/b/g/n, a 30-pin Dock connector, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microphone. An optional unlocked Apple iPad 3G model will include a triband UMTS/HSDPA (850/1900/2100 MHz), quadband GSM/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) data modem; Apple have partnered with AT&T in the US to provide 3G data service for the iPad. Other hardware includes stereo speakers, an accelerometer, digital compass, A-GPS and an ambient light sensor for automatically adjusting the iPad’s screen backlight.

Internal storage for the Apple iPad starts with a 16GB model, with 32GB and 64GB iPads also available. Each iPad can be specified with 3G. Connecting the Apple iPad to a Mac or PC with iTunes synchronizes it just as with an iPhone or iPod touch, transferring all contacts, calendar entries, music, video, TV shows, bookmarks and – new to the iPad – iBooks ebooks. Apple have partnered with Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, MacMillan and Hachett Book Group, and iPad ebooks can include color and B&W content, together with images and video.

In addition the Apple iPad has Maps, iTunes, Calendar, Contacts, Notes and Spotlight Search, all used with a large on-screen QWERTY keyboard that operates in portrait and landscape orientations. The wallpaper on the Apple iPad can be changed, and the desktop icons rearranged and split over several pages, just as on the iPhone. All of the applications are interlinked, so tapping an address in the iPad’s Contacts app will automatically open up Maps for directions and Street View.

The Apple iPad has decent environmental credentials as well, with arsenic-free glass and a mercury-free LCD used for the display, while the whole tablet is BFR- and PVC-free. The aluminum and glass used in the Apple iPad are both recyclable.

The Apple iPad is expected to go on sale in late March or early April. It will be priced at $499 for the 16GB Apple iPad, $599 for the 32GB Apple iPad, and $699 for the 64GB Apple iPad. Adding 3G to each iPad model will cost $130, and in the US data will be provided via one of two pre-pay, contract-free AT&T packages: $14.99 for 250MB or $29.99 for unlimited data.