iPad Guide

Using the iPad

Syncing is via the standard 30-pin, iPhone/iPod connector cable.  I wonder if you’ll need a specific iPad accessory if (like me) you want something longer than the standard part supplied by Apple.  I have a 2m charging cable that I bought from the US for my iPhone so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Various accessories, like the keyboard stand, plug into this port but – as so many have pointed out – the device lacks any USB connectivity. Personally, I think this could be one of the important omissions even though enabling USB would go a long way to breaking the walled garden ecosystem that Apple has created around iTunes and the App Store.  Time will tell.

Typing detailed messages on an iPhone or iPod Touch is very difficult for anyone over the age of 12.  I can’t wait to get my hands (or rather fingers) on the full sized virtual keyboard that springs open whenever you use an app where character input is required – e.g. entering URLs, completing forms, writing documents (there are iPad versions of the Apple iWork suite), inputting numbers and updating social networks.

Display photos and movies on a gorgeous 9.7 inch, 1024 x 768 LED-lit screen (perhaps OLED will come in a future version), with in-plane switching technology to allow for wider viewing angles and clearer, cleaner images.  1,024 x 768 isn’t a true, 16:9 widescreen format, however, so movies will have black bars across the top and bottom or be cropped at the edges.  Of course, the screen supports the multi-touch gestures and pinch-to-zoom commands with which we are all familiar from the iPod Touch and iPhone.  How easy it is to navigate and manipulate windows on a screen with so much more real estate remains to be seen.  I expect that using the iPad will require a slightly different set of skills just because it will be almost impossible to drag or pinch across the entire width of the screen.

Will I be able to use my SIM card for 3G? Alas not, because the iPhone does not use a regular SIM card.  Apple has opted for the micro-SIM format (which almost no one supplies today) although in the US, customers are not tied to a specific contract as with the iPhone raising hopes that the 3G market could be more competitive once a critical mass of installed base users develops.  The other thing that Steve Jobs “made clear” in an email exchange with an Apple enthusiast is that you won’t be able to tether your iPad to your iPhone’s internet connection.  That means two separate data plans and potential extra cost.

Ebooks are one of the fastest growing media markets and the iPad is seen by some as the perfect device to send sales of electronic books into overdrive.  It may be a bit early to write off specific reading devices like the Kindle, however, because the iPad’s LED backlit screen may not be so comfortable for long reading sessions as the e-ink technology used by Amazon and others.  That said, the full colour IPS display is likely to revolutionise the experience of reading news and magazines in shorter bursts – some of the concepts and app previews that have been released are stunning – but reading ‘Bleak House’ on the iPad may be a challenge for both mind and eye.  The format Apple has adopted for its iBookstore is the international open EPUB standard, supported by most e-reader devices – except the Kindle.

Specifications

SIZE AND WEIGHT

WI-FI MODEL

• Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

WI-FI AND 3G MODEL

• UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• Data only via separate plan
• Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n)Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

For complete technical specs, visit Apple.