Hasta La Gadget!

After nearly a decade of rumors and speculation, Apple’s finally unveiled the iPad. It’s a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display, and it’s running a custom 1GHz Apple “A4” chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It’ll come in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes, and it’s got the expected connectivity: very little. There’s a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, 802.11n WiFi and optional 3G, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. There’s also a keyboard dock, which connects underneath in the portrait orientation, support for up to 1024×768 VGA out and 480p composite out through new dock adapter cables, and a camera attachment kit that lets you import photos from your camera over USB or directly through an SD reader. The device is managed by iTunes, just like the iPhone — you sync everything over to your Mac. As expected, it can run iPhone apps — either pixel-for-pixel in a window, or pixel-doubled fullscreen — but developers can also target the new screen size using the updated iPhone OS SDK, which is available today. The 3G version runs on AT&T and comes with new data plans: 250MB for $14.99 and an unlimited plan for $29.99 a month contract-free. Activations are handled on the iPad, so you can activate and cancel whenever you want. Every iPad is unlocked and comes with a GSM “micro-SIM,” so you can use it abroad, but there aren’t any international deals in place right now — Steve says they’ll be back “this summer” with news on that front.

It starts at $499 for 16GB, 32GB for $599, and $699 64GB. Adding 3G costs a $130 per model, so the most expensive model (64GB / 3G) is $829. The WiFi-only model will ship in 60 days, and the 3G models will come in 90.

Hey, check out our first hands-on right here, and here’s all our additional coverage:

Live from the Apple ‘latest creation’ event
iPad powered by custom 1GHz Apple A4 chip
iPad can run all iPhone apps unmodified, new iPhone SDK out today lets developers tweak apps for iPad use
Apple’s iPad keeping Adobe Flash away from your couch
Apple reveals iBookstore and app for the iPad
Apple announces iWork for iPad
Apple iPad 3G service plans on AT&T, $30 for unlimited data
iPad has optional keyboard dock, camera connection kit and Apple-designed case
iPad vs. iPhone… fight!
Apple iPad first hands-on!
iPad vs. iPhone: what does 3G cost you?

Continue reading The Apple iPad: starting at $499

The Apple iPad: starting at $499 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, it looks like it’s not all just fun and games for Apple’s new iPad — the company has also just announced an edition of its iWork software suite for the device. That, of course, includes versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote that have been “completely reimagined for iPad,” which will be available individually for $9.99 apiece, and are each basically what you’d expect from iPad versions of the desktop applications. It’s iWork you can touch, if you will.

Don’t miss our hands-on coverage!

Apple announces iWork for iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s freshly announced iPad is a lot of things to a lot of people, but it appears that it’s not going to be the device that proves the appropriateness of Adobe Flash for enjoying rich media device on a mobile device. Better luck next time, Adobe!

Apple’s iPad keeping Adobe Flash away from your couch originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After years of rumors, speculation, and leaks, Apple today
announced its long-await tablet, the iPad. CEO Steve Jobs kicked off the
company’s launch event in San Francisco today, by highlighting the history of
the company’s mobile products “We’re the largest mobile device company in the
world,” he told the audience, showcasing the iPhone and the company’s line of
Macbook products.

“There is room for something in the middle,” he told the
crowd. “If there’s gonna be a third category, it has to be better at [Web
browsing, e-mail, photos, video, music, games, and e-book reader]–otherwise it
has no reason for being.” While netbooks have attempted to address the space,
he added, “netbooks aren’t better than anything…They’re just cheap laptops.”

The key, he insisted is the tablet–a new device the company has
christened the “iPad,” one of several rumored names, including the “iSlate”
and, simply, the “Apple Tablet.” The iPad features a 9.7 inch full capacitive
multi-touch IPS display, weighs 1.5 pounds and measures 0.5 inches thick–“thinner
and lighter than any netbook,” according to Jobs.

For the chipset, the company went in-house, designing a 1GHz
Apple A4, contrary to rumors that the device would be powered by an Intel or
Samsung chip. The iPad comes in three capacities–16-, 32, and 64GB. It features
built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, an accelerometer, company, speaker, microphone.

According to Jobs, the device gets 10 hours of battery life.
“I can take a flight from San Francisco
to Tokyo and watch video the whole
time.” It also features a month of standby time on a single charge. 

Live at the keynote in San Francisco, Steve Jobs reveals the iPad.