However, the iPad is not away from deficiencies – the first is that it lacks camera that rules out the option of video calling, video recording and taking snaps. Secondly, its web browser doesn’t have flash support, so many web sites looks like Swiss cheese.

The iPad is powered by snappy Apple’s custom 1GHz processor. It runs on the operating system which found on the iPod and iPhone. Apple calls this OS as iPhone OS. It responds only to touch input.

Design
Apple iPad’s design is simple but yet so elegant. The screen is made from oleophobic-coated glass same as that of iPhone. Its body is made from aluminum with gentle lines at the back panel. It also increases durability and wear & tear. There is a Home button which serves the same functionality as in iPhone. iPad measures 9.56 inches tall, 7.47 inches wide and 0.5 inch thick. It is very slim and it is quite lighter at 1.6 pounds. When you hold this in hand it gives the Magazine like feel.

iPad sports impressive 9.7 inch LED backlit, capacitive touchscreen that uses in-plane technology (IPS) for better viewing angles. It has resolution of 1024×768 pixels and supports 16 million colors. It supports multi-gestures and multitouch. The screen is equipped with built-in accelerometer that takes care of the automatic UI rotation. It also features proximity sensor for autolock and light ambient sensor. There is a 30-pin dock connector with integrated speakers. A volume rocker and button for disabling automatic screen rotation are present on the right spine.

iPhone OS
Unlike most of the PC tablet doesn’t run on conventional OS such as Linux, Windows or Mac OS X. Instead it features fastest growing OS and successful mobile version of OS X called “iPhone OS”.

iPhone OS is truly intuitive and neat. The Nickel sized icons are arranged in the grid fashion that responds to a single touch and all the apps are clearly laid out. You don’t have to worry about conventional OS headaches, such as installing drivers for 3^rd party hardware or try to figure out where you want to put downloaded stuff or scattered files on desktop. The downloaded images will be automatically stored in photo library. To search a song, a photo, a email or a web page, just double click the Home button

The other default ap

plications include email, Safari web browser, photos Youtube maps, iPod and video. Dedicated Youtube app is impressive. There is not much enhancements in Maps and Safari web browser and they are as good as ever. Apple has still not included flash player that misses the party. The Speakers included are louder than in the iPod Touch and iPhone.

Bluetooth

Like the iPod and iPhone, the iPad also includes Wireless Bluetooth audio streaming capabilities. The audio quality is quite good on listen through wireless headset. It also supports wireless keyboard support for writing apps and as well peer-to-peer networking for gaming.

App Store and iTunes Store
iPad’s App store is buzzing with over 150000 applications. It includes games, apps, wall papers, themes, software updates and etc. Apple also encouraging developers to develop apps specific to iPad. App store is almost same as the iPhone and iPod stores.

In iTunes stores, you can download movies, videos, audio tracks, audio book, TV shows and much more. they are categorized into free and paid shows. It also provides access to iTunes U.

Accessories
The Accessories of the iPad include VGA adapter for streaming videos onto monitor,   physical keyboard with integrated dock, a wrap-around leather case, a camera connection that includes both USB & SD card reader to transfer photos directly on to iPad from digital camera and a charging dock.

3G

The 3G connectivity in the Apple iPad is optional and 3G models will be available from late April. With the 3G connectivity, you can access the web anywhere in the 3G enabled areas. You can download lots of data in a short span of time. Apple & AT&T are offering interesting offers. 3G model also has extra capability of A-GPS, facilitating users to point out accurately their locations on the map and useful for location aware apps and navigation. You can easily sync iPad with your Mac or PC with the help of iTunes 9.1 software

iBook

The iPad is mainly targeted at e-readers. iBook is e-reader free software that can be downloaded from App store and get installed. Using this, you can search many online e-books on online stores. It includes five major publishers such as Macmillan, Penguin, Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster. You can organize the books. You can view the eBooks either in portrait or in landscape mode. You can adjust the font size and style of the text. It also includes built-in dictionary. e-Book software is also available on the iPad. The eBook pages appeared quite natural. Cover graphics looks stunning. They look awesome on the screen, thanks to high resolution brighter display. Since it doesn’t feature e-ink technology, its sun legibility is poor. You can swipe the pages by simply tapping or flapping on screen. It supports in-book music and video playback capabilities are the unique features of the iPad.

Gaming

The games which run either on iPhone and iPad are compatible to run of iPad too. You can download thousands of them on Apple iPad stores. They appear colorful with full resolution. Most of the games are based on the Motion sensing. We certainly missed the physical joystick or keyboard controls.

iWork

The iWork is one of the popular apps on the Mac. The Pages (word processing), keynotes (presentations) and Numbers (spreadsheets) are manipulated to suit iPad. You can create nice presentations, spreadsheets, documents and etc. iWork is capable of opening and editing Office documents. Pages can be saved in Pages files, PDF, word. Numbers and Keynotes are saved in native formats and exported as PDF.

It has the largest onscreen keyboard among all tablets and it is responsive too. Getting files from the Apple is tedious process – you need to email them or upload to the Apple iWork.com account or store it in the internal memory of the iPad. Later you can transfer that using the iTunes app to PC or Mac.

MobileMe

MobileMe stores your contacts, email and calendar in the “cloud” and it automatically synchronizes across PC, MAC, iPad and the web. Your information is stay updated no matter where you go without the need of the docking. Incase you loose your iPad, MobilMe helps you to find out the same. It is available at an annual subscription price of $99 after a six month trial period.

Accessibility features
Apple iPad has plenty of accessibility features and Apple has made lot improvements over iPod and iPhone. It offers VoiceOver app to facilitate visual impaired persons. While navigating and texting messaging. It will also read out the status and orientation of the screen, text of the dialog box, the time, battery level, emails, even web pages and Wi-Fi. The multitouch zoom works for Unlock, Home, Spotlight screen, photo gallery, safari browser and email inboxes. You can’t use both multitouch and VoiceOver at same time. You can reverse the contrast of the display from white and black.

Performance

Apple iPad is run on Apple’s custom 1Ghz processor. Processor is snappy and helps immensely quick loading of web pages, other apps and maps. Audio quality is as good as ever. It offers smooth and balanced sound.

Apple iPad is powered by built-in 25 watt Lithium-Polymer battery. It offers battery life up to 10 hours on continuous video playback and it lasts up to 9 hours on continuous web surfing using 3G network.

The iPad comes in different model and their prices vary with the memory capacity and 3G connectivity.

Apple iPad MB292LL/A Tablet (16GB, Wifi)
Apple iPad Tablet (32GB, Wi-Fi)
Apple iPad Tablet (64GB, Wifi)
Apple iPad MC349LL/A 16gb (Wi-fi + 3g)
Brand New Apple Ipad 32gb (3g + Wifi)
Apple iPad Tablet (64GB, Wifi + 3G)