The Apple iPad - Anand's Analysis
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 27, 2010 5:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
The Basics
I’ll say that the iPad isn’t the sort of revolutionary device it was hyped to be. It’s impossible to meet the expectations that were thrust upon the device. Some of that is Apple’s own fault. By being so secretive, the world tends to assume that anything is possible - especially from a company that not too long ago revolutionized the smartphone market. While the iPhone was nicknamed the Jesus Phone, I’m not sure the same label fits the iPad. In part because it is a brand new device for a brand new market segment, not an improved version of an existing product.
In fact, Apple doesn’t have as good of a track record in this department. Far more often we see Apple perfecting a particular device rather than diving head first into a new market segment. That’s not to say it won’t be successful. There’s always the iPod to look back on.
The basics are as follows. The iPad runs the iPhone OS, in this case 3.2. Presumably when the iPhone OS gets updated, so will the iPad OS. The UI is obviously tailored to the larger screen, which measures 9.7” diagonally.
The iPad (WiFi) dimensions. Amazon's Kindle 2 measures in at 8" x 5.3" x 0.36"
The interface is strictly touch. You have four physical buttons: power/sleep switch, mute button, volume up/down and an iPhone-style home button. There’s no correct orientation, the OS uses an accelerometer to figure out how you’re holding it and orients the UI accordingly.
Apple says that nearly 100% of the applications for the iPhone in the App Store will run on the iPad. There are some new applications that Apple is shipping with the device. The entire iWork suite has been ported to the iPad giving you a way to create/view/edit Pages/Word documents, Numbers/Excel spreadsheets and Keynote/Powerpoint presentations.
There’s an email app, a browser, calendar, maps, iPod and all of the basic apps you’d expect. WiFi (802.11n) is supported on all devices while an extra $130 will get you an unlocked 3G version with a microSIM slot. AT&T is the carrier of choice with two dataplan options: $14.99 a month for 250MB of downloads, or unlimited for $29.99. WiFi access at AT&T hotspots is free and there’s no contract required, this is all month to month.
Storage is not expandable and comes in the way of flash. The entry level model comes with 16GB of presumably MLC NAND flash and you can get up to 64GB. The pricing structure is below:
| Apple iPad | 16GB | 32GB | 64GB |
| WiFi | $499 | $599 | $699 |
| 3G | $629 | $729 | $829 |
Availability for the non-3G models is 60 days and 90 days for the 3G enabled devices.
The 3G version of the iPad has a microSIM card slot
From Apple’s demonstrations and the video that’s now live on the site, it appears that the iPad is a great couch surfing device. It looks like a giant iPhone/iPod Touch and appears to be just as snappy. The same can be said for reading and responding to emails. If it works the way Apple portrays it, the iPad appears to be a great device for casually browsing the web, email and watching videos.
Apple is also trying to capitalize on the eBook market by giving the iPad access to Apple’s own eBook store. While I doubt it can pull Kindles away from die hard users, it may open the segment up to more users than Amazon could.
The real question is whether or not the device will function as a productivity device as well.
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Mike1111 - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
Why I'm disappointed by the current iteration of the iPad:Display:
- Low resolution (9.7" 1024x768 132ppi), no HD (720p), even lower ppi than iPhone (3.5" 480x320 163ppi), no comparison to Motorola Droid's ppi (3.7" 854x480 265ppi), Nexus One (800x480) or even Kindle DX (9.7" 1200 x 824, 150 ppi)
- No advanced display technology (Pixel Qi etc.)
- No digital TV-Out (Micro-HDMI, Mini DisplayPort etc.)
- For a modern device weird display ratio (4:3), IMHO iPhone's ratio (3:2) would have made more sense
- Glossy
- Plus this most likely means that we won't see a higher resolution screen in this years iPhone (iPad 9.7" with 1024x768 and than just 3 months later an iPhone 3.5" with 800x480 or something like that? No way!).
Storage:
- Only 64GB. Last years iPod touch has already 64GB, iPhone 32GB. I'm sure only a few months after the iPad comes out we'll see 64GB iPhones and 128GB iPod touches.
GPS:
- No GPS in WiFi only model
Sound:
- No stereo speakers (Seriously? On top, just opposite to the bottom one would have been so easy. I mean there's no camera and no telephone speaker up there as in the iPhone, there's got to be room there for a second speaker. I mean there are even tiny dumb phones out there with "decent" stereo speakers, e.g. from Nokia and Samsung).
Battery and Power:
- Only "up to" 10 hours of WiFi surfing (comparable to the iPhone)
Size and weight:
- Bezel too big
- Too thick (0.5"), thicker than iPhone and iPod touch
- Too heavy (1.5 pounds). Engadget already complained about the weight in their hands-on.
Camera:
- No camera, not even a low-resolution front facing one for video conferencing
OS:
- No multitasking, notifications etc.
- Just iPhone OS 3.2? In march/april? So it's unlikely that we will see an update to 4.0 just 3 months later (with the next gen iPhone hardware and OS).
jimhsu - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
10 hours would be a substantial improvement from the iPhone (the 3G/3Gs models at least). I'm lucky if continuous 3G surfing lasts 5 hours (it usually doesn't). Wifi ... maybe 6 hours.Mike1111 - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
Well, officially it's 5 (3G) and 9 hours (WiFi) on the iPhone. So 10 hours via WiFi on the iPad seems comparable.gfxmobile - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
Anad could this possible be the featured SGX 545 "The IP is already proven in silicon in a test chip from Imagination and licensed by a lead partner." from PowerVR website.Does Imagtec PowerVR even have a 45nm core?
The video playback should provide clues to figure out witch version of the PowerVR was used. Though it can be the software that it's crippling it. Since the PowerVR has been demoed on the beagleboard doing full HD decoding.
Apple sucks at giving details. Can't anyone take on of those things apart so we can get some anwsers? GRRRR
Rys - Thursday, January 28, 2010 - link
ImgTec aren't the ones who decide which process technology it's made on. That's up to the licensee and their manufacturing partner for the silicon.There are 45nm PowerVR products in the wild though.
Rindis - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
I think it looks like it has a good chance to do well in the target market, and will do well.Pity I'm not part of that market. ;) What *I* want is something portable that allows blogging/forum commenting on the go. I don't see that working with that form factor, or without a keyboard.
What I want is a netbook. Need to find the money for that. ;)
What I don't get, is why no one's gone the route of turning one of these devices into a phone (software & cell modem + input/output audio port). I mean, sure, it's it's a horrible form factor for just a phone, but if you're going to carry one of these everywhere *anyway*, why not drop the need for the extra device?
kamper - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
Is it true that this thing will be app store only like the iphone and ipod touch? If so, no thanks.jimhsu - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
Honestly, while this offers great entertainment potential, I still can't see this being used at all for productivity.Possible usage cases:
1. Browsing docs/spreadsheets. Works.
2. Creating/editing docs/spreadsheets. Frustrating with documents, near completely horrible with spreadsheets (try entering tables of numbers on that thing).
3. Taking notes. Horrible. Lack of pen input seriously degrades this compared to real tablets. Lack of physical keyboard makes inputting inferior to net/notebooks. Of course, there's also the problem of finding a OneNote equivalent, but "that's a software problem".
4. Running scientific/technical apps (ex. Mathematica, SPSS, CAD/CAM tools) - completely impossible, I assume, with the iPhone OS.
5. Photo/image/movie manipulation. Um... yea.
So ... an entertainment device this is.
Lonyo - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
An entertainment device with a 4:3 screen, which means either stretched content, cropped content, or huge wastes of screen space with blackness.Oh, and very limited outputs (no HD outputs, only VGA up to 1024x768 or composite up to 576p) means no hooking it up to your TV.
So video is out, which leaves web pages and music. Only you probably can't do both at the same time.
AnnonymousCoward - Thursday, January 28, 2010 - link
All very good points.