The Apple iPad is official, folks. Apple’s eagerly awaited tablet has just been unveiled, and it’s shaping up to be everything we hoped for. Read on for all the developing details on the Apple iPad.
Steve Jobs took the stage in San Francisco this morning to announce the Apple iPad, saying it was aimed in between smartphones and laptops, and designed for browsing the web, email, playing games and yes, even reading e-books.
The Apple iPad will run a tweaked iPhone OS, with a customisable background and a much higher resolution (1024×768) on a 9.7-inch multitouch display. It looks like a large iPhone, but with a slightly thicker bezel, and is 0.5 inches thick (Full specs here).
Apple’s clearly pulled out all the stop to try and impress with the software in its bid to kickstart the tablet revolution. The Apple iPad’s Safari web browser appeared fast and impressive (Though with no Flash support still), while email looked incredible: the screen splits in to two columns, one for your inbox and then a separate window pane for the individual messages. Typing is done via an onscreen keyboard, similar to the iPhone’s but with larger keys. There are now also drop down menus in-window, making iPhone OS that much more productive, though tragically the Apple iPad still doesn’t multitask.
On the apps front, Apple demoed a new version of iWork for the Apple iPad (details here), as well as how photos are viewed, with Places integrating perfectly with Google Maps. Apple also announced its long awaited ebook store, a dedicated Apple iPad app called iBooks, and demonstrated iPhone games working upscaled on an iPad, confirming that all current apps will work on it.
You can check out all the Apple iPad specs and Apple iPad photos right here, and stay tuned for plenty more coverage of Apple’s new must have slab.
Out TBC | £TBC | Apple
