Apple has just released the much anticipated tablet computer called the iPad. From a first glance, it looks really like a giant iPhone. It has a 9.7 inch (compared to iPhone 3.5 inch) multi touch screen and the familiar Home button. The whole iPad is just 0.5 inch (0.48 inch for iPhone) thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds (4.8 ounces for iPhone). The whole user interface is the same as iPhone except that it is much bigger (1024×768 pixel vs 480×320 pixel).
Apple created iPad to fill in the gap between smartphone and notebook as Apple does not believe netbook is the answer. iPad is targeted to do tasks like surf net, email, contacts, calendar, photo, video, music, games and books. It can access iTunes Store, App Store and the to be launched iBook Store. All the existing applications from the App Store can run on iPad without any modification. On top of that, Apple released new SDK specifically for iPad to take advantage of the bigger screen. Apple also completely re-designed iWork for iPad. All iPad come with WiFi and there is option for 3G model.
So you can see that it is more than a giant iPhone. In my opinion, the disappointing feature in iPad is the camera for taking photo, video and video conference. But I am confident that Apple will add it in the next version. And very soon I, like all iPhone fans, will also become iPad fan.
