Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2010 > April > 01
Thursday, April 1, 2010
iPad Day is almost here
On Saturday, the clouds (if there are any) will part, the sun will shine and Texas fire ants will evacuate their mounds and run far away, afraid to toil too closely to the awesomeness of Apple’s new device, the iPad, which will hit stores (in its initial Wi-Fi-only version).
At least, that’s what I gathered will happen from Newsweek’s just-a-bit-hyperbolic cover story, “Why the iPad Will Change Everything,” written by Daniel Lyons (better known as “Fake Steve Jobs”).
But even if you don’t believe that the iPad is the holy grail of holy tablets (or the holy tablet of holy grails), you still might be curious about what’s in store for buyers on Saturday and whether you might want to be one of the people who will stand in line when Apple Stores open at 9 a.m.
Here’s some of what you might want to know:
The basics
The iPad version due out is the Wi-Fi version — the 3G-version that is compatible with AT&T’s network won’t be out until late April or early May. The Wi-Fi version comes in three denominations, 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB for $499, $599 and $699 respectively. Web surfers and light users will likely opt for the $499 model while people who plan to store lots of high-def movies (which can eat up as much as a gigabyte of space each) and their music libraries on the iPad may want to go for more storage.
The 3G version, when it goes on sale, will cost $629, $729 and $829. 3G service will cost $14.99 a month for 250 Megabytes of downloading or $29.99 for unlimited data per month. You won’t have to sign up for a long-term contract with AT&T to use the 3G service.
Online pre-orders have already sold out for the initial batch of Wi-Fi-only iPads (though if you order now, you could get it in the mail as early as April 12), but there will be devices for sale at both Austin Apple Stores as well as most Best Buy stores on Saturday.
There’s a slim chance that some Austin-area Apple Specialists may have some as well. They may not be able to give you a straight answer until Saturday.
An Apple rep told me today that Apple Store buyers will be offered a free one-on-one training session at the store to get set up on e-mail and to configure the iPad to their needs. There will also be workshops on the iPad throughout the day.
Here’s an NPR blog post I did about iPad news leading up to the launch and an on-air segment for All Things Considered about the device.
What it has, what it doesn’t
The iPad has a 9.7-inch multitouch screen and is structured like a large iPod Touch; it has a home button at the bottom, weighs 1.5 pounds, is half an inch thick and has a non-removeable battery.
It lacks a camera that you’d find on an iPhone and the Wi-Fi version has no true GPS (though it uses triangulation to figure out approximately where you are in apps that use location).
It has a small microphone and speakers that are said to be surprisingly robust.
The iPad is is expected to run all existing iPhone/iPod Touch apps (though augmented reality apps would be pretty useless without a built-in camera). They’ll run at their original size in the middle of the screen or can be zoomed in to twice their usual size to better fit the iPad screen.
About 1,000 iPad apps are expected to hit the App Store on Saturday and from what we’re hearing, they’ll be typically more expensive than iPhone apps (about $3.99-$4.99 compared to the usual 99 cents-$2.99 for many of them).
Apple’s “iWorks” software will be available as apps for $10 each. “Keynote,” “Pages” and “Numbers” will be out on Saturday. I don’t know a single person who’s been able to answer whether there will be a way to print from these apps. Edited to add: several printing apps are now available for the iPad in the App Store. You have to pay for them, though>
The iPad will include iBooks, an app for downloading and reading e-books, as well as Apple apps for e-mail, Web surfing, YouTube and others. Missing are the iPhone apps for stocks and weather. iPad apps are now live on the App Store.
The iPad does not come with earbuds, but does include a sync cable and power supply. Adapters to plug in an SD cards or USB cameras will be sold separately, as will a dock to sync and hold up the iPad, a protective leather case and a keyboard. You can expect a huge flood of other accessories and add-ons to be available from other companies.
The iPad, like the iPhone, can’t play Flash-based content on Web pages, but many content developers, media Web sites and entertainment providers (Hulu among them) are expected to offer iPad apps and iPad-friendly versions of their Web sites to get around that limitation.
The reviews
The embargo on reviews of the iPad seems to have lifted last night. The New York Times’ David Pogue and Walt Mossberg offered their expected takes on the device.
USA Today also reviewed the iPad as did Andy Ihnatko for the Chicago Sun-Times. Bob Levitus (“Dr. Mac”) offered his take as well. Ihnatko did a live video review of the iPad last night as well as an unboxing.
The reviews are mostly positive and you can get a gist of them in this roundup.
One odd bit: last night’s “Modern Family” episode was largely about Phil’s desire to get an iPad for his birthday. I thought it was brilliant at first (especially given that my own birthday is on Monday), but I found the show’s ending pretty cringeworthy. I wasn’t the only one, apparently.
Why aren’t we reviewing it?
We were not among the select few media outlets to get an iPad early enough to review it before launch (and we probably won’t get our hands on one for a few weeks for review).
My wife is interested in buying one for herself, but plans to wait until after the launch to see if there are any problems or bugs with the initial batch of iPads.
We do plan on following up the launch with reaction from Central Texans who pick one up. If you plan to get an iPad this weekend, let me know — I’d love to talk to you about it.
We’ll be doing a live chat on Monday, April 5 at 1:30 p.m. here on Digital Savant to talk about the iPad. Come join us with any questions or comments you have (especially if you plan to get one on Saturday).
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