The iPad Cometh
Jan 28th, 2010 by Shawn
After much hype Apple announced the iPad, a tablet PC that looks like a large iPod Touch. At first glance I was not impressed with the product since it looked like a big iPod Touch. After watching the videos on the Apple website I am much more excited about the product. Aside from its horrible name the iPad packs some really awesome features. Some of its native applications like email, web browser, picture viewing, and calendar have all been made over to take advantage of the larger size touch screen. The way each of these applications is tailored to the multi-touch screen makes using them very intuitive and easy. It will be interesting to see how iPad developers create more applications for this specific device. All existing iPod Touch and iPhone applications will work with the iPad and it even will run them fullscreen. Seeing a game running on that size screen is pretty darn impressive! New with the iPad is an eBook reader. You will be able to purchase a book from the iBook store the same way you purchase music from iTunes. Although there is no keyboard attached to the device a full-size keyboard will popup similar to the iPod Touch. You won’t want to do word processing with this device, but you certainly can do email, browse the Internet, keep your calendar, read a book, listen to music, and watch a movie.
If I were in the market for a new netbook or a low-end laptop I would seriously take a look at the iPad. Most folks are looking for something that is easy to use. Having used netbooks with their clunky, small keyboards, their Windows XP, and their tiny screens I find nothing about them easy. For now I’m only going to be able to lust this device from afar. Perhaps when the second generation of the iPad comes out I will have collected enough pennies to finally hold one in my own hands!