At a special October event Apple unveiled the new fifth-gen iPad which the company is calling, iPad Air. The new 9.7 inch tablet will be available on November 1.
iPad Air features an all-new design which has been inspired by iPad mini. The new tablet has thinner bezel and reduced thickness which makes it lighter and thinner. The 16GB WiFi model weights just 1 pound which is 20% lighter, 20% thinner and 24% less in volume when compared with the previous generation model.
While the retina display remains the same at 9.7 inch, the new iPad Air is smaller in height, width and depth. With a thickness of 0.29 inches it is as thick as the iPad mini. Apple has a known obsession to make its newer products thinner and refining the production process to the extreme.
The man behind this obsessive simplicity and manufacturing precision, Jonathan Ive, continues to evolve the existing product line up and make them look fantastic year after year.
iPad Air features the same diamond-cut chamfers and anodised aluminium body as the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s and the iPad mini. It is not just an all-new design but it also features the latest 64-bit that Apple introduced in the iPhone 5s. iPad Air runs on A7 chip that makes its CPU and GPU performance twice as fast as its predecessor. It also includes M7 motion coprocessor which enables optimal battery performance. Even with a 64-bit iPad Air continues to provide 10 hour battery life.
Apple did not update the camera sensor in the fifth-gen iPad. It continues to feature 5MP rear camera and FaceTime HD Camera which is a 1.2MP sensor.
This year the company has added support for even more LTE bands as they prepare to launch the new device in China on the same day as the rest of the countries.
iPad Air is available in WiFi andWiFi+ cellular versions with storage capacities ranging from 16GB to 128GB.
There had been a few rumours about fingerprint Touch ID being part of the feature set however, it seems that we’ll have to wait for iPad Air 2 (?) for that.
Are you excited about the new thinner tablet from Apple? Will you be upgrading your tablet this holiday season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Apple’s iPad media event has just gone live. The company will be providing a live video coverage of the new iPad keynote event. The event is being held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
Apple CEO, Tim Cook, will take the stage to announce new product launches and updates for this year before we enter the holiday season. The email invite sent out to the media suggests that the company will “cover” many product announcements.
Rumors and reports published in the past provide enough evidence to expect new iPad 5 (fifth gen) and second gen iPad mini. We could also get new Haswell MacBook Pro models, final release of Mac OS X Mavericks, new iLife and iWork software updates and more.
iPad 5 is widely expected to feature a thinner and lighter design inspired by the advancements made with iPad mini. Hardware specifications are expected to include new 64-bit A7 chip, improved camera and possibly new Touch ID sensor.
There have been many conflicts reports about a second gen iPad mini with retina display. It is unclear if Apple will introduce the new smaller iPad with a high resolution display.
During WWDC Apple showcased a sneak peek at the new Mac Pro. Apple could use today’s event to announce shipping date for the high end Mac for the professionals.
This year Apple is offering a live video feed of the iPad launch event. Live video stream of the event is available on Apple’s website. In order to view live video streaming of the October iPad event you’d require Safari 4 or later on OS X v10.6 or later, Safari on iOS 4.2 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later.
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Apple is rumored to announce the fifth-gen iPad (5) during a keynote event later this month. Photos of various leaked parts of the new iPad suggest that the design will be inspired by the iPad mini.
The new iPad 5 (fifth gen) is expected to be lighter, thinner and feature a smaller bezel. Back panels of the rumored device have previously appeared online but now Sonny Dickson has published high resolution images of the design.
We recently reported on a rumor published by AllThingsD that speculates Apple’s next iPad event to be held on October 22nd. The company is expected to unveil the new lineup of iPads for the holiday season.
Fifth gen iPad will be available in silver and space gray finish just like the iPhone 5s. Technical specifications of the new iPad could include A7 64-bit and an improved 8 megapixel camera.
Apple has been struggling with the production rate of Touch ID sensors on iPhone 5s due to high demand. It is unclear if the company will introduce fingerprint sensor technology in the new iPad. There has been no physical evidence of Touch ID being incorporated in the new iPad as yet.
During the iPad keynote event the Cupertino, Calif., based company will also unveil the new iPad mini. The second gen iPad mini is rumored to feature retina display.
Apple hasn’t sent out any media invitation for the iPad event as yet. If the event is indeed scheduled for October 22nd then the media could expect the invite email early next week.
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Apple is rumored to hold another special keynote event to announce the next gen iPad lineup on October 22. According to AllThingsD’s sources Apple will unveil iPad 5, second gen iPad mini, release OS X Mavericks and could share an update on Mac Pro’s availability.
The iPad focused event had been rumored to be held in October earlier. Apple announced the iPad mini in October last year and the iPad product lineup had been due for a refresh. The fifth generation iPad is widely expected to share the design language of iPad mini which could result in a thinner and lighter design with slimmer bezel. The new 9.7 inch iPad could run on 64-bit A7 chip that was first introduced in the iPhone 5s. Sources familiar with the matter believe that even the second gen iPad mini could feature the A7 chip.
Apple introduced Touch ID in iPhone 5s this year to encourage more customers to set a passcode and yet find it easier and very intuitive to unlock their device. It is not clear if this fingerprint technology will make it to the iPad. However, it is possible that the new iPad 5 could feature the Touch ID.
Second gen iPad mini has long been rumored to feature a retina display and many leaks in the recent past suggest that second gen iPad mini will finally feature the high resolution display.
The time and venue of the event is still unknown. AllThingsD has a good track record of predicting dates for Apple events. While there has been no official confirmation it is very likely that the iPad keynote event will be held on October 22, 2013.
]]> https://touchreviews.net/apple-unveil-next-gen-ipad-lineup-october-22/feed/ 0From their discussions with top grossing iPad developers, and some obsessive watching of the App Store placings of the three apps that make up the iWork suite (Pages, Numbers and Keynote). Business Insider has managed to work out some rough daily sales figures, and extrapolate from there.
The figures make interesting reading for those interested in where they should be aiming for stellar sales, regardless of your interest in Apple’s fortunes.
Basically a top ten app for the iPad, in the iTunes App Store should get about 7,500 downloads on each day of the weekend. And 2,500 downloads each week day. Or thereabouts. Those figures in themselves are interesting. It seems that online sales of apps follow the ingrained habit we have for hitting the Mall, virtual or otherwise, on days off.
In total, for the whole week, that makes around 27,500 downloads.
Even with one app, at $1.99 that would be a healthy sum. But for Apple that’s for three apps, each priced at a premium of $10. Which subsequently makes $825,000 per week in revenue for them.
Business Insider have made a few assumptions about all apps in the top ten selling at the same volume, but at that level of sales what’s a thousand here or there anyway, right?
Spread that out over a year, and not even allowing for a potential explosion of iPad sales globally, that puts Apple on track for over $40 Million in sales for iWork on the iPad alone.
Do you think Apple will make more or less from iWork this year? Do spreadsheets still sound boring to you? Let us know in the comments.
[Business Insider] ]]> https://touchreviews.net/apple-sale-40-million-iwork-ipad-keynote-pages-numbers/feed/ 1
Apple WiFi iPad available for pre-order on March 12th. In store pickup on April 3rd. US Only initially.
Since the day Steve Jobs appeared on stage for the Apple Special Event 2010 to announce the iPad there has been a lot of buzz about it’s availability. Many rumor blogs suggested that there might be minor delays in production and that could possibly lead to shortage in the number of devices available at launch.
Today Apple has officially announced the pre-order, ship and Apple Store availability date, of the first iPad model to be released. This is the WiFi only version, and is initially only for the US market. The pre-order date is roughly two days after we reported that Apple Store staff are rumoured to be getting their hands on the devices for training. So that makes sense. The date you can pick up your ‘Jesus’ tablet in store, or have it delivered to your door has slipped slightly to the 3rd of April.
3G versions are supposed to be available in late April.
Apple originally stated that WiFi iPads would be available at the end of March, so they are not too far off their original ship date.
These dates are US only dates at the moment. So it should be noted that if you are outside the US the WiFi model will not be available to you until late April. But both WiFi and 3G versions should be available at the same time elsewhere though.
So which one are you getting? Anyone planning a pilgrimage to the US to get a ‘Jesus’ Tablet early? I did for a Newton, back in the day. So don’t be shy, let us know in the comments.
]]> https://touchreviews.net/ipad-wifi-launch-april-3-preorder-apple-online-store-starting-march-12/feed/ 1Flurry is a San Francisco-based analytics company that concentrates on the mobile space. They’ve recently released numbers indicating a sudden jump in iPhone OS development. Flurry tracks deployed and in-development applications through developers who incorporate their analytics package, a Neilsen system for apps if you will. According to a recent blog post entitled, Flurry Smartphone Industry Pulse, January 2010:
Flurry tracks over 20,000 live applications and over 2 billion user sessions each month. Applications that include Flurry Analytics have been downloaded to more than 80% of all iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices.
So if anyone has the pulse on the course of mobile application development its Flurry.
In the same blog post Flurry reveals they tracked 1600 new iPhone application starts in January. That doesn’t seem remarkable taken by itself. However, they tracked only 600 new application starts in December. That’s almost a threefold increase in application starts in the course of one month. The explanation, of course, is iPad anticipation.
Any successful person knows that to be successful you don’t merely follow the crowd, you lead it. The huge increase in new application starts just goes to show that not only were foresighted developers anticipating the iPad, they were actively pursuing the opportunities it brings. The coming months should see a new, virtual gold rush as developers move on the opportunities the iPad brings. The primary participants? At this point I think the developers really delving into the iPad will be those creating games, eBooks, and content delivery platforms. Those are the three areas really targeted by the iPad. Others will follow but these three areas will be the real veins initially mined in this new gold rush.
Will the iPad bring a new boom of development for the iPhone/iPad platform? Will this boom bring a noticeable stratification between iPhone and iPad applications? Will you be participating in the gold rush? Leave us a comment and give your thoughts.
By: Erin Peterson
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One of the first things things that was shown off during the razzle and dazzle of the Apple iPad launch (all you need to know) were the games. Many of the successful developers of the the App Store were there showing off how their games looked and played on the iPhone’s big brother. The fact that the iPad will be able to run the vast majority of the existing App Store games is a huge boost to potential iPad purchasers because as soon as the un-box their sparkling new iPad they’ll be able to fill their new toy with their favorite apps and games from the App Store, and more importantly for free!
But while many of the existing games will continue to be a success on the iPad it will be the games that are built specifically for the larger interface of the iPad that will push handheld gaming forward. But will these games just be re-workings of the same old games or can we expect a plethora of new and unique titles?
One of the major challenges for the iPhone games running on the iPad will be the controls especially the titles that utilize virtual controls in the form of a d-pad and virtual buttons. Even with the game blown up to full screen reaching the buttons in the bottom corners with your thumbs on a bigger screen is not going to feel as comfortable and as natural as it does on an iPhone or iPod Touch. The other option would be to place the iPad on your lap or a table top while playing and that won’t feel as ergonomic and will certainly remove the option to play using the accelerometer.
I know that the existing range of games will still be fun to play on an iPad but for me, I’m excited about the titles that are built specifically for the iPad, utilizing it’s major unique selling point the size of it’s touch screen. So what titles and types of game will sell for the iPad?
Some of the existing genre’s that the iPhone has brought life to will thrive on the iPad and one of these will be the line drawing style games. Games like Flight Control, Harbor Master and Fare City could be huge on the iPad, both literally and metaphorically. Just think of the size of the airport and the number of planes you’d could be in control of in Flight Control and the same could be said for Harbor Master. Even multiple airports and harbors to look after at the same time. And as for Fare City, playing that in a city that could fill the whole of an iPad screen would be a real challenge and a lot of fun.
Games like Rock Band and Tap Tap Revenge 3 could also be big winners on the iPad. With the added real estate that the iPad offers all sorts of information, instruments and options could be added. Both titles would certainly benefit in the two player mode on a single device as would any other game offering that option.
Personally I’m excited to see what game developers can do with sports sims and sports management games. Madded or and American Football game could provide a unique game style on the iPad, control individual players may not be so easy but having more detailed control of all of your players routes by drawing them directly on the screen would be great or how about having a split screen or picture in picture option so you can see the game from multiple angles.
For any sports management game where the premise is more on stats, options and preparing your team before sending them out could benefit massively from the amount of space that all these options could be placed in and being able to change the options by directly touching the screen could provide a deep management simulation with great functionality. And talking of sims, what about a title along the lines of the classic Microsoft Flight Simulator. On the iPad it could still provide the depth of options, the great looking environments but also benefit from the accelerometer too.
The final type of game that I think could benefit from the iPad’s interface are RPG’s and MMORPG’s, again games like this could look even better on the iPad’s large screen and yet also benefit from being able to provide easy and direct access to all of the multitude of options that these types of games need too have. In fact perhaps the biggest tittle on an iPad could be a version of World of Warcraft. Technically that maybe a lot to ask but a MMORPG like that could be the must have application on the new Apple iPad.
The iPhone and iPod Touch have pushed mobile gaming to a whole new level and I’m now very excited to see how far developers can push the limits of the iPad, I for one am looking forward to the ride.
By: Craig Willis
]]> https://touchreviews.net/ipad-games-what-does-the-future-hold/feed/ 1It’s been barely a month since the iPad launch that created a whole new personal computing niche. As the dust settles, the first serious contenders are starting to step forward and test the waters. While many tablet computing systems have emerged over the past year, a great many of them during CES, there are really only two that stand out as potential contenders to the iPad. Those two are the JooJoo and the Google Tablet.
You may know the JooJoo from Fusion Garage about the controversy around its inception. Supposedly originally envisioned as the CrunchPad, a dispute erupted just days before it was revealed to the public around the ownership and development of the product. Fusion Garage, who was developing the hardware and operating system, took ownership of the product and revealed it as the JooJoo. Although the ownership dispute will work its way through the court system, the JooJoo is very real and available for pre-order.
The JooJoo differs from the iPad in some very important ways. The first thing critics of the iPad will point to is its screen size and flash support. Whereas the iPad has a 9.7″ screen, the JooJoo screen is 12.1″. The JooJoo also sports full Flash support against the iPad’s total dismissal of it. The JooJoo is also a full pound heavier than the iPad and lacks the option for 3G connectivity. The real disadvantage the JooJoo is at though in relation to the iPad is the lack of development ecosystem. Out of the gate the iPad has over 140,000 applications available to it through the App Store and a whole network of developers working feverishly to supply iPad-specific applications. The JooJoo has no such network. Fusion Garage has announced it will release a development API but who will develop for it? It has to attract developers whereas Apple already has thousands in place.
The other potential contender to the iPad is still only a concept. This week the Chromium open source development group released mock ups of a potential tablet running an as yet unreleased version of Chromium OS. Although there is no direct connection between the Chromium group and Google, many are touting the design concepts as the Google Tablet since the Chromium open source projects are the basis of Google’s Chrome browser and Chrome OS. Gizmodo reported back in January that Google and HTC were partnering on a tablet device. The release of the Chromium concepts seem to confirm these reports.
Although no technical specs have been released on the rumored Google device, I think it would be safe to infer what it is for what the iPad isn’t. That may seem a bit cynical but these days Apple’s real competition isn’t Microsoft, it’s Google and Google is going to do its best to hit Apple where it hurts. Any Google Tablet will run Chrome OS which essentially means an experience defined by the Chrome browser. That means full Flash support in a full featured browser. If HTC is indeed developing the hardware the device will be as sleek with a finished industrial design rivaling the Nexus One.
Google’s distinct disadvantage of course is the Chrome OS. Chrome OS, as demonstrated, is a pure browser-based environment. That means no apps or add-ons that run locally outside of the browser. If you’re looking for a pure cloud-based computing experience this might not be that bad but stacked up against the iPad it falls woefully short. The iPad is positioned as a content consumption and gaming appliance with a vast ecosystem of applications. The best a Chrome OS-based tablet could be is a web browsing appliance. Which, I suppose, would be interesting but not as interesting or versatile as the iPad.
Will the JooJoo and Google Tablet be contenders to the iPad or pretenders to the throne? Only time will tell as the tablet computing market matures. I think either have a lot to do out of the gate to catch up to where the iPad is. What do you think? Leave us a comment and let us know.
By: Erin Peterson
Introducing the iPad
Chrome OS Tablet Concept
Fusion Garage JooJoo Tablet Hands-On
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Taylor Swift may have won the Grammy for Album of the Year Sunday night but the real winner at this year’s Grammy Awards was clearly Apple. In one of the ultimate product placement stunts of all time, Stephen Colbert used an iPad as a prop during his presentation. And although it seemed like a little bit of comedic relief mixed with tech buzz, it also demonstrates one of the central points about the iPad everyone seems to have missed; that the iPad is about finally integrating tech into our lives. That the iPad is ultimately about effortless ubiquity.
Technology has been an everyday part of our lives since the mid 1980s and constant connectivity since the mid 1990s but technology has never been everywhere in an effortless manner. The PCs and Macs of the 1980s represented a massive evolution in personal computing but access to the nascent Internet was expensive, unreliable, and slow.
The Internet revolution of the mid 1990s gave us stable access with decent speeds but the hardware lacked portability. During the 20 year evolution in tech in our everyday lives, either the device or network access has lacked that element to make it a ubiquitous part of our everyday life. Even the smartphone evolution of this previous decade had its shortcomings; expensive network access coupled with devices that were still hard to use. It’s hard to experience the Internet on a 3.5″ screen.
What the iPad represents is the first device to marry useful hardware (both in screen size and processing power), with a familiar user experience, and constant network access. Some may point to Microsoft’s Tablet PC adventures in the 2000s and say that was it but anyone that’s had to lug around one of those earlier devices knows the iPad is a light speed jump forward. And while it may have seemed a bit hokey and arrogant for Steve Jobs to pronounce the iPad as a new class of device, he was actually being truthful. The iPad is the first device in the computing revolution to finally be able to come close to the promise of the always-on Internet; effortless ubiquity.
So while Stephen Colbert got some cheap laughs teasing Jay-Z about not getting one in his gift bag, he also demonstrated how the iPad will come in time to fit into our life with little or no notice. Just like the PC sneaked into our lives in the 80s, the iPad will suddenly appear everywhere this decade.
What do you think? Is the iPad the first stop on the road to effortless ubiquity? Will it so totally integrate into our lives that we won’t even know its there? Leave us a comment and tell us what you think.
By: Erin Peterson
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Since Apple’s launch of it’s ‘revolutionary device’ last week there has been much debate about it’s features, looks and especially it’s name on websites, blogs, twitter and the traditional press. Some of it positive, but a lot of it negative, it doesn’t multi-task, it doesn’t handle flash, it looks like a big iPhone to name but a few so why will I be lining up to get one on it’s launch date.
Let’s deal with those negative points first as those are the ones that seem to be repeatedly churned out as the reason why the iPad won’t succeed.
1. It Doesn’t Multi-task – When I’m at work I have to multi-task. I have more work to do than there are hours in the week so not only do I need to multi-task but I also need a computer that will too. If every time I checked my email at work my Google Chrome, Excel, Word and other applications closed down I would become extremely frustrated and possibly see my computer flying across my cubicle before the froth on my Cappachino had dissolved.
However, when I’m relaxing at home I don’t want to multi-task, I want to relax and to be honest the only things that I’m going to be doing is check my email, Twitter, Facebook, a little surfing, watch some TV and that’s it, and none of those tasks is important enough to demand that. And if we consider that the benefit of not multi-tasking is a level of speed and responsiveness not matched by any other product I’m sold.
2. There’s No Flash – Isn’t it always the way that it’s the things we can’t have we want the most and it’s no different with Flash on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. OK, so without flash you are restricted from accessing some pretty good content, but seriously, it’s not like it’s the end of the world. And with the uptake of HTML5 that will enable the rendering of various addon’s without the need for them to be installed on your weapon of choice it will soon be irrelevant anyway.
3. It Looks Like a Big iPhone/iPod Touch – Big deal, so it looks like one of the most iconic products of the last 4 years, if it’s not broke why fix it?
In fact all of the negative remarks I’ve heard about the iPad are the same ones that can be leveled at the iPhone and iPod touch and the last time I looked it hasn’t held them back at all.
4. And then there’s the name, the iPad. OK, I don’t have an argument on this one. We all know what it sounds similar to but most of us aren’t 12 anymore so after we’ve all had our little chuckle we should get over it. I would have preferred iSlate but it’s not a big enough deal to not want one.
The reasons I will be buying one are as follows:-
1. It’s already compatible with my original investment of all the apps that I’ve brought for my iPod Touch.
2. It will take up considerably less room than my laptop.
3. It will ‘boot’ much quicker than my laptop or any alternate tablet PC that has to load a whole OS.
4. It looks great.
5. Easy access to music, books, apps, games (as long as you sign up to the iTunes Store).
6. Newspapers and Magazines in an electronic form but that you can still hold in your hand.
7. The price.
The current US price range’s are so aggressive it makes it possible for a lot of people to buy one who aren’t even 100% fully sold on it yet and with the choice of Wifi only or Wifi/3G customer gets options as to what is right for you. For me the Wifi only will be more than enough. I don’t plan to take it out and about with me, I have a cell phone for that so I personally will only need it to access my local wifi. And even the 3G option requires no contract which is a great step forward.
I can’t wait for iPad 2.0, but while I wait the iPad 1.0 will just about hit the spot.
By: Craig Willis
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As is often the case with Apple products, the iPad seems to have polarized the tech world a day after its launch. A quick scan of the blogosphere will display two prevailing feelings about the device, sheer love and devotion and utter contempt and disgust. But what can you expect after an Apple launch?
Those that come down on the contempt and disgust side have a very singular voice. They argue the iPad is just a glorified and oversized iPod touch. They argue that it doesn’t address any of the common complaints against the iPhone OS; no multitasking, no USB ports, no SD card slots, no removable battery, and the list goes on and on. They argue the netbook so widely slammed by Jobs during the keynote yesterday has twice the versatility at half the price.
Those that come down on the love and devotion side have a fairly singular voice as well. They argue the netbook and Touch comparisons are unfair. They argue that the iPad is a new category all its own with no direct competition. It doesn’t work like a netbook because its not one. It doesn’t work like a laptop because it isn’t that either. They argue that Jobs himself argued yesterday that this device falls squarely in between the smartphone and the laptop; greater than a phone but less than a computer.
Personally, I see the potential in the iPad environment. Apple has built a platform who’s uses can’t be completely comprehended yet because they largely haven’t been invented. Who would have thought a smartphone had the potential to do so much when the iPhone came out only 3 years ago? Just imagine what we’ll be doing with our iPads in 3 years.
Where do you fall? Is the iPad an overpriced accessory for the snooty Starbucks crowd? Is this a case of Apple creating a void for them to fill with high priced hardware? Or has Apple just completely destroyed the competition and remade the mobile space in full blow? Drop us a comment and let us know.
By: Erin Peterson
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It certainly has been a heady day for the tech world. After years of speculation and endless amounts of punditry the Apple Tablet, christened the iPad, finally emerged into the spotlight. Born into a world of largely single use devices and repurposed laptops, the iPad attempts to strike a balance between the limitations of the smartphone and the raw horsepower of the laptop. Did Apple succeed? The width of consumer adoption will answer that question. Until then, here are some of my personal iPad impressions.
My first impression was of the operating system. Ryan Block of GDGT noted during TWiT’s coverage of the iPad launch that during a hands-on session with the device he noticed it was running iPhone OS 3.2. Why is that particularly important? Apple had two basic choices of operating system; some flavor of iPhone OS or some flavor of OS X. By choosing iPhone OS Apple has chosen the operating system familiar to most users and the one that lends itself best to the mobile environment. One of the first blocks to user adoption is the user interface and if you present a UI someone is already familiar with you’ve removed a block to adoption.
My second impression was of the sheer utility of the device. Most competitors in the mobile space have veered towards creating purpose-built devices; Kindles, GPSs, and MP3 players. One of the geniuses of Apple devices is that they are platforms, not just devices. You can build anything on a platform. This iPad isn’t just an eReader. The iPad isn’t just a GPS device. The iPad just doesn’t play your media. It does all of these things and anything else someone might dream up for it. Hospital clipboard. Stenography machine. Musical keyboard. All you have to do is develop an application for it. It isn’t trying to cash in on just one vertical, its giving people the opportunity to cash in on every vertical.
My last impression was how Apple positioned the device. It’s long been a knock against Apple that they make great devices at premium prices. The ultimate tech expression of you get what you pay for. Most pundits claimed that Apple couldn’t make a Tablet for less than $1000. But what did Apple do? They brought in a base model for $499. That’s close enough to most netbooks in the marketplace to make consumers truly think twice. Kudos to Apple for making the price move that could finally break them through to approaching high adoption rate.
The iPad may not have had all the bells and whistles some had predicted. What it did deliver was a device with unlimited potential and immediate impact. What do you think? Did the iPad make an impression on you? Will you be in line in March to pick one up? Drop us a comment below and let us know.
By: Erin Peterson
]]> https://touchreviews.net/ipad-first-impressions/feed/ 0Checkout the video of one of the first iPad games announced during the keynote.
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One of the key elements of Wednesday’s iPad debut was apps. Much of the iPad experience will be driven by the applications available for it. Although the iPad features native support of iPhone apps, it will be the programs written specifically for the device that make the most impact and define the user experience. Wednesday’s keynote gave us a glimpse into the world in a number of different fronts.
On the gaming front, EA demoed an iPad version of Need for Speed Shift and Gameloft demoed an iPad version of N.O.V.A. The most obvious iPad customization is the increased screen real estate. The iPad runs on a 9.7″ screen that’s almost double the size in both directions of the iPhone. The games demoed today used the increased space with no effect on the graphical elements of the game. Graphics seemed to stay crisp, clear, and fluid; there were no jagged edges or lag evident. Scaled iPhone games probably won’t fair as well so its reasonable to think most of the major gaming development houses will develop either two custom versions of a game going forward or a game that can detect its operating environment make the best use of it. Considering how price conscious App Store users tend to be, it will probably be more the later than the former.
Outside of the gaming realm, Apple also demoed the familiar iPhone Facebook app and a new iPad app from MLB.com. The Facebook app demonstrated how the scaling feature will allow you to view any iPhone app at either the current resolution or scaled up to iPad resolution. The MLB.com app takes the MLB.tv app all baseball-loving iPhone users are used to and adds statistical information and computer generated outputs like pitch location and hit distribution. I can see that one being a hot seller during the upcoming baseball season.
On the utility front, Apple demoed Brushes and iWork for iPad. Brushes will be a native iPad art program geared more towards the artist than the hobbyist. It certainly seemed to make good use of the iPad interface for artistic creation. iWork for iPad consists of special versions of Keynote, Numbers, and Pages specifically designed for work on the iPad. Although it was hard to tell if they are as full featured as the Mac versions, the demo seemed to illustrate most tasks a common user might want to perform. And you can’t argue with the $9.99 per program price.
Besides the gaming, the killer app of the iPad thus far is iBooks and the associated iBooks Store. iBooks is Apple’s eReader program. The associated store allows users to buy books and download them directly to their device. This is obviously a solid shot at the Amazon Kindle. Although time will tell if iBooks is a better experience than the Kindle, it certainly looked impressive today.
It was obvious from today’s keynote that apps will be central to the iPad experience. I look forward to what is coming when the iPad goes public in March. What do you think? Were you impressed by what you saw in the app demos during the Keynote? What apps do you want to see come to the iPad? Drop us a comment below.
By: Erin Peterson
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UPDATE: Read our complete coverage on the iPad keynote here.
Apple’s iPad is already creating top news story. The new device unveiled today looks stunning and it’s hardware capability will certainly create new standards for handheld computing.
You can view the official Apple QuickTime stream of iPad keynote video here or download the iPad keynote video here
Jonathan Ive describing the ‘magical iPad':
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Apple allowed the press to play with the new iPad after the keynote and 9to5Mac have published their first three minutes on YouTube.
Checkout the iPad demo video!
Video by: 9to5Mac.com
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We earlier reported that the Apple iPad will certainly prove to be a strong force in mobile gaming. Apple has been successful in dominating the handheld gaming market with the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch.
Today as Apple announced the iPad it made complete sense for Apple to extend the App Store to iPad. To show the capabilities of the new iPad Apple invited EA Mobile and Gameloft to showcase their popular games Need for Speed Shit and N.O.V.A on iPad.
EA have reworked on Need for Speed Shift for the iPad and made the game fully touch enabled. The graphics appeared much better than on the iPhone. Just tap inside the car to see from inside, you can swipe up and down change gears, and tap on the mirror to look behind you.
Gameloft presented a new version of their popular game N.O.V.A. To control the game you can slide the D-Pad up and down the screen or move the controls around. The game will also feature multi-touch gestures like sliding two fingers across the screen to throw a grenade.
We received an update from Firemint saying “we are already building our next generation of games for higher definition, more powerful devices than are available today. We like to imagine what the devices of tomorrow will be capable of, and invest in bringing our games to the next generation of hardware” Firemint confirmed that Flight Control will be available for iPad soon.
SGN also confirmed on Twitter that they would be modifying games like F.A.S.T and Skies of Glory for the iPad.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest in iPad games!
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The day has finally come. With the usual flourish and presentation skills only Steve Jobs can muster, the iPad came into existence over the course of an hour and a half today. Initial reactions are still starting to come in but my personal impression is that Apple has largely hit all the marks they had too.
The iPad will come in 16, 32, and 64GB models with 802.11n WiFi standard and models with optional 3G connectivity through GSM micro-SIMs. As demoed during the keynote, the iPad will run a variant of iPhone OS that executes all existing App Store applications out of the box but will also support purpose-built apps through a special SDK released today. Existing apps will either run in a 1:1 pixel black box or can be scaled up natively. It was hard to tell exactly how app performance and video looked since I wasn’t actually in attendance but all indications point to the usual beauty of an Apple display. The following hardware specs were detailed in the keynote:
As anticipated, Apple is also entering the eReader market with the introduction of the iBook application and associated iBook Store. Users of the iPad can now buy, browse, and read eBooks from their new device. The iPad has certainly put the Kindle on notice and it will be interesting how the two fight it out. Instead of being a purpose-built device that does other things, as the Kindle was destined to become, the iPad is a device that does lots of things including eBooks. That versatility automatically puts Kindle at a disadvantage.
Speculation on pricing had pegged the iPad up in the $1000 range. Much to the relief of potential customers everywhere, the base WiFi-only model of the iPad starts at $499 and increases by $100 for each jump in storage. If you want the 3G model that adds another $130 on top of that. At such an aggressive pricing strategy, Apple is poised to run the competition out of the market. A versatile device capable of most computing tasks that starts at $499? Wow.
The only 3G packages announced today where through AT&T in the US; $14.99/month for 250MB/month and $29.99 for unlimited data. Those are great prices and hopefully that translates well to international deals. The 3G module is enabled from the iPad itself and the data plan is month to month, no contracts.
Of primary concern to most Touch Reviews readers though will be the gaming implications. EA demoed an iPad-specific version of Need for Speed Shift and Gameloft demoed N.O.V.A. All available indications seemed to suggest that this will be a killer mobile gaming device. It will retain all of the control mechanisms you’re familiar with from the iPhone and put it on a display more than twice the size you’re used to. How great will that be?
So when will all of this be available? 60 days from today for the WiFi only versions and 90 days if you want 3G connectivity. After that, all bets are off and I think Apple’s competition better run for their lives. The iPad is finally here and although it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles predicted for it, Apple has delivered a solid package again. Now go save your pennies, you’re going to want one of these.
By: Erin Peterson
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The most awaited moment when Apple will be announcing another revolutionary product is almost here. Bookmark this page as we bring you the all-in-one live feed from all popular news sources. We will be updating you with the latest images and specifications of the rumoured Apple Tablet and all other announcements.
No need to refresh the page!
Apple ‘latest creation’ Event will begin on Wednesday, January 27th at 10AM PT. We will start broadcasting the Live feed by 9:00AM.
Don’t miss this event, check your time zone:
08:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
Jason Chen:
“It’s going to change the way we do the things we do.” Phil Schiller
Jason Chen:
The demo video also shows how to type on the thing: like a laptop’s keyboard. “It’s practically the same size as a laptop keyboard.”
