The wait is finally over, the spreading rumors about Apple’s tablet rumored to be iSlate is turned false as Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad -the Oversized iPod Touch/ definitive ebook reader / portable internet browser / portable gaming device / iPhone HD at Yerba Buena Gardens theater in San Francisco, Calif,.The pic below shows the unveiling of the iPad by Steve Jobs.

This is what he started his presentation with

“We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product,”

And the line with which he made it official?

“…and we’d like to show you today for the first time. And we call it – The iPad“

Steve said that the ultimate use of an iPad is – web browsing. According to him, it’s phenomenal, way better than a laptop; way better than a smart phone.The Apple iPad Is a Super-Slim iPhone and Laptop Hybrid which will run all of your existing iPhone Apps and Games.It supports touch input, multi-touch, swiping gestures, orientation detection, and all the rest of the features that the iPhone made popular with users.Let me give what are the features it comes with.

Specification:

• Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
• Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
• Depth: 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
• Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model; 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model
• Display: 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy wide screen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology and fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating.
• Display resolution: 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
• Processor: 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology, UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz), GSM/EDGE (850, 900,1800, 1900 MHz)
• Support speeds up to 7.2 Mbps on HSDPA networks (Wi-Fi + 3G model only)
• Digital Compass
• Assisted GPS (3G model)
• Cellular (3G model)
• TV Out: Support for 1024 x 768 with Dock Connector to VGA adapter; 576p and 480p with Apple Component A/V Cable, 576i and 480i with Apple Composite Cable
• 30-pin dock connector lets users connect to new iPad accessories such as Camera Connection Kit or Keyboard Dock.
• Battery: Built-in 25W r rechargeable lithium-polymer battery, Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
• Customizable Home Screen provides users one-tap access to everything on iPad.
• Spotlight Search allows users to search across Apple iPad, and its built-in apps including Mail, Contacts, Calendar, iPod and Notes
• Browse and buy music, TV shows, podcasts on your iPad by just tap on the iTunes Store icon.
• Safari web browser lets users navigate through the Internet easily.
• Based on latest iPhone OS 3.2
• Support variety of languages including English, French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese and Russian
• Capacity: 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive
• Versions – 2 Versions – Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi with 3G
• The iPad ships worldwide in 60 days, but only in Wi-Fi versions.

Wi-Fi only iPad:

16 GB – $499,

32GB – $599,

64GB – $699

Wi-Fi+3G iPad:

16 GB – $629,

32GB – $729,

64GB – $829

Lets look into this in something in brief.It’s powered by a 1GHz Apple ARM A4 chip.Apple didn’t buy P.A. Semiconductor for nothing.This chip can decode HD video for up to 10 hours on a single charge.The core itself is based on ARM architecture that been widely deployed in smartphone and handheld device. To be more specific, it is relied on ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore which is one of the famous architecture being used such as on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon and Nvidia’s Tegra processors. And to make it a truly SoC, it integrates some functionality such as memory controller and Mali 50-Series graphics engine that has able to further reduce its foot print while putting TDP (Thermal Design Power) to lower value.

In terms of deltas between Samsung ARM processor being used in iPhone 3Gs, A4 obviously has been upgraded in terms of speed grade to clock at 1GHz, which is almost doubling as compared to Samsung processor running at 0.6GHz. And surprisingly, the high performance and low power SoC is thermally efficient and able to extend the battery life up to 10 hours, making it perfect companion for solid mobility on the move.

Video output runs through and iPhone-type composite adapter at up to 576p and through a dock-to-VGA adapter at up to 1024 x 768. No HDMI, no DVI—not even a Mini DisplayPort Furthermore, the company also introduced a great and convenient way to browse, buy and read books on Apple iPad – iBooks app, which includes Apple’s new iBookstore that features books from major and independent publishers.

Apple’s making some bold claims about battery life: ten hours for constant use, with a one-month standby rating.Ten hours of constant use includes video viewing, so you could conceivable watch about six feature films before this thing dies.You can hold it two different ways, and the software will adapt to both. Portrait mode seems like the primary mode, a la the iPhone while landscape mode—better for movies and perhaps magazine content—is a secondary mode.

The iPad itself is unlocked, so you can conceivably use it with any Micro SIM card . But what the hell is a Micro SIM card? For one, it’s not the same kind of SIM that’s in your iPhone, so don’t expect to just pop that in and surf for free. It’s a totally different standard, and the iPad’s the only device that uses it right now. Even if, say, T-Mobile released a Micro SIM card, the iPad can’t connect to its 1700MHz 3G network.The operating system on the tablet is based on iPhone OS.It uses the iPhone launcher/apps metaphor, but has an OS X-style shiny dock.

Apple’s offering three main official accessories: a book-style case, a regular dock and a keyboard dock.The book cover doubles as a stand, so you can prop the iPad up in a few different ways. The keyboard dock hooks up with the iPad when it’s in portrait mode, so you can type longer documents, charge, or both. The iPad will also support Apple’s Bluetooth keyboards.The iPad’s only really got one accessory port, and it takes an iPod dock connector.So we have so many adapters to help out.There’s a Dock Connector to VGA adapter, a USB camera adapter (which gives you one plain USB connection, though it apparently only works for importing photos), a USB to SD adapter, and an included USB power adapter, which lets you charge by AC or USB. It’s essentially just an iPhone charger with a bigger brick.

The Keyboard dock costs $70, the case costs $40, the SD/USB connection kit costs $30 and the VGA display adapter costs $30 (1024×768 only), iLounge has bonus shots of all four items, and impressions of the iPad case.The browser is essential an upscaled version of Safari Mobile, with a familiar, finger-friendly title bar and not much else. It rotates by command of the accelerometer.

The music player is even more hybridized, styled like a mix between the iPhone’s iPod interface and full-fledged desktop iTunes.Maps is the direct conversion from the iPhone, with a very similar interface through.It includes Street View,too.Mail again takes its visual cues from the iPhone, but with a lot more decoration: you can preview your mailbox from any message with a pull-down menu, and preview any message from within the mailbox, with a pop-up window.

The iPad runs iPhone apps right out of the App Store, with no modification, but they’re either relegated to the center of the screen or in “pixel double” mode, which just blows them up crudely. Any apps you’ve purchased for your iPhone can be synced, for free, to your iPad.Apple’s also opened an ebook store to accompany the iPad, in the mold of iTunes.  i.e iBooks.Apple’ also designed a whole new iWork suite just for the tablet, which implies that this thing is as much for media creation as it is for consumption. There’s a new version of Keynote designed just for the iPad, as well as new version of Pages, (word processor), and Numbers, which is the spreadsheet app. Here’s what Keynote looks like

The interfaces are obviously designed strictly for touch input, but from the looks of it can handle every function that the old, mouse-centric version could, plus a few more. And man, they’re so much prettier. Each app costs $10, and you can get them all for $30.Gizmodo got some hands on pictures of the event and it looks damn good but there are many cons which i will be discussing below, until then check out the pictures.

More pics can be found in Gizmodo gallery.

Pros:

No Arsenic, BFR, Mercury, PVC. Uses recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure.
Capacitive touch display with LED back-lit S-IPS panel
Incredible web browsing experience
iWork on ipad is awesome
Integrated ipod, itunes and iBook
Huge collection of ebooks and incredible book reading experience
Superb Processor that never shows any signs of slowness
Flash memory of upto 64Gb
Compatible with existing apps
Customizable wallpaper (delight for Apple users)
Wi-Fi and optional 3G
Extended 10hr battery life

Cons

Now let me talk about the cons in particular.Now as far as i feel it’s nothing but a bumped ipod touch.One of the major cons is that it still has no flash, no multitasking(for now or forever?) and no voice I believe (to avoid eating into iPhone sales?). The whole point of a tablet is lost when they don’t put multitasking onto the device. it becomes so pointless. There is no mention about cameras, neither front facing nor back. They have released an optional Camera kit for it. Was it too hard to incorporate a small camera in the device? Plus, if it really did have an integrated camera, it’d look quite silly to hold that thing up in the air.Gotta wait until July to get the low down on deals with international carriers.It also doesn’t have access to file system (that might change with someone “pad” breaking/Jailbreaking it)

Can you see yourself typing on that keypad? Hold it in landscape and you have to type with one finger.Ohhh and guess what? AT&T ! I see that you live in Chi-city, so you should know that AT&T have one of the worst networks ever. I am really disappointed about them going to AT&T again. Does this mean that there will be no deals with Verizon at all? Even for the iPhone?.I can keep up the rant, but after all the hype before the launch, I honestly think this is a piece of pointless novelty device. Another issue is less storage if this is supposed to be like an Internet+media pad, but I guess they had to compromise to keep prices down.

Gaming on this device is Bullshit,its not like a phone that one take out from pocket and jump into some mini time pass game while waiting for bus (this is the reason mobile gaming works, or one can play better games on PC/console). Only good use I can think of is reading books, for that a proper ebook reader will be better.But it won’t replace your Main PC/Laptop nor mobile Phone.Its neither a phone, its not a complete multimedia device, games aren’t full of eye candy.The fit for this the netbook market.I think they are targetting the super rich ebook reader users. Like for e.g. check out the NYTimes app they have on the homepage of their website. Or even the iBook app that they just launched.

The foremost question is  “What is the intended target user base for this device?”

It weighs only 0.68 Kg, but it also has a 9.7″ screen, so its not a pocket able device and at best can be considered as a net book or UMPC competitor with a touch screen. The lowest model costs $499 and comes with a custom 1 GHz processor and 16GB of flash storage. We have phones with 1 GHz processors and 16GB of flash storage is next to nothing these days.
On the other side a typical Net book costs $399 and comes with a 1.7GHz Processor, 1~2GB RAM and a 160GB HDD and the user can run Windows, Linux or even make it into a Hackintosh, but weighs 1.5 to 2 times as much, but still not unreasonable for the power offered.

Personally I feel iPad is a terrible combination of hardware. If they wanted a light weight and portable device, they should stick to a 5~7″ screen getting even more battery life in the process and also increase the storage to a more practical 32GB/64GB (may be add a memory card slot at least) while keeping the price at a sane $499~599 level. If they want to compete with Netbooks on the functionality front, they need to pack more computing power into the device.With its current specs, its usability is little more than that of a typical smart phone (and in many ways restrictive like the iPhone) only that this one comes with an unhandy 8.9″ screen and a bulky 0.7Kg.

Steve jobs got it wrong big time this time.The biggest disadvantage is the size.who would want to lug it around?.If he had made it a foldable device maybe it would have clicked.so much for the apple hoopla.Pretty disappointing after so much hype.I think this was the biggest hype ever for a tech gadget.

So $500 for 16gb + no 3g is a ripoff in my opinion.If you put 500$ more u get a Alienware m11x which can run most pc games at good frame rates.Add another 500$ more u have a awesome desktop at home.Put 200$ less u can browse net + get 160gb hdd space with a bigger screen.Put 300$ less and get a e-reader for your pdf’s. So as u see this doesn’t actually fulfill everything to the max to justify its price tag or existence.If you compare this with KindleDx also nothing special about iPad. KindleDx has never impressed anyone and as a pdf, full color reader with lot of goodies.Costs 2.5 times as much (629$) (the Kindle comes with a 3G connection and no monthly fee). And more importantly, books seem to be priced at 15$ as opposed to 10$ for the Kindle.

In the end it’s just a glorified ipod touch made for rich kids who fall for stuff with no clear purpose.However if u have $500 to waste this is the perfect thing to buy.The only thing can be made use of is as touchscreen netbook for daily tasks like Viewing Photos,Videos, Browsing,Email etc.maybe read books.Its meant for iPod touch buyers who wouldn’t mind paying a little extra and who want a bigger screen, probably if they wanna hook it up in their car or carry it while traveling for watching movies. That’s all its good for.But i believe the hardware changes + price drops + quality of apps over the years can push this thing in the right direction.

The device would have been way more functional with a stripped down version of their full fledged desktop Mac OS rather than a modified version of the iphone OS.I think apple still has time to fix this. Put a better OS X on and remove that iphone OS in time for release. That will make it a superb gadget.Woo! thats too much to say. I would love to hear what you feel.In the mean time check some related stuff.

Building iPad applications with flash

The iPad?s Closed System: Sometimes I Hate Being Right | Popular Science

A 16-year-old’s view of Apple’s iPad: iFail

Dude, the iPad isn’t a notebook – get over it! | The Apple Core | ZDNet.com

YouTube – Amazing U1 Hybrid iPad from Lenovo Trumps Apple!!! – Tekzilla

The First Hands On

The Media Strategy: Book, Magazines and Music

Eight Things That Suck About the iPad (Already!)

How the iPad Is a Ploy to Assassinate Laptops

Apple’s Official Specs Page