The magical device that the world has been enjoying for the past one year has at last reached Indian shores. Among all the hoopla and criticism of Apple using India as a dumping ground and iPad 2 launching soon, the iPad launch still managed to shake its main competitor in India. For the uninformed, Samsung reduced the prices of their tablet?Samsung Galaxy Tab?just days before the iPad launch, clearly indicating that even they are afraid of the iPad and the impact it might have in India. Apple was kind enough to provide us with a 64 GB WiFi + 3G variant for testing and the device has simply blown us away with its looks and performance.
Apple has always been able to make their products stand out on account of design and the iPad is no exception. The front has a vibrant 9.7-inch display with the home button under it on the bezel. The back is made of aluminium and has a slight curve that makes it comfortable to hold. The right side has a slider button for silent mode and the volume keys whereas the left has the tray for 3G microSIM (only in 3G models). The bottom houses the 30-pin charging and speaker grill and the top has the power switch.
In terms of usage, the iPad is easy to carry around due to its sleek design and metal body. However, the weight makes it an issue to use the device for a long time if held in one hand. Hold it with both hands in vertical or horizontal orientation and it is much more comfortable and easy to use.
The iPad has a 9.7-inch LED backlit IPS display with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixel resolution. The multi-touch screen is simply the best. The accuracy, speed and smoothness with which the touchscreen responds on such a large display is unbelievable. The only drawback that is on the iPad?s display is that its ?Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating? did not prevent the display from getting fingerprints all over it.
In its sleek frame the iPad has a custom designed, high performance 1 GHz Apple A4 processor. It comes with an accelerometer and ambient light sensor. The iPad comes in 16/32/64 GB storage variants with no option of expanding the storage. The device features Bluetooth and WiFi Connectivity as well as 3G in select variants.
The tablet runs on iOS 4.2 operating system which works seamlessly on the hardware. The only issue we had with the software was that we felt there was a lack of available apps meant for the iPad. Most of the common software such as Facebook, Opera browser, etc are still not available for the iPad.
The app store for iPhone has way larger variety and availability across categories which feels missing here. A user can install the apps meant for the iPhone and iPod on the iPad, but they run best in a 3.5-inch display size which feels too small on the iPad?s large display. There is an option to zoom the apps by 2X, but that leads to the interface becoming pixelated.
Apple iPad is a multimedia powerhouse. Watching videos on the iPad is a joy as the large display size, coupled with bright display makes video look rich and comfortable to view. The iPod application on the device has a simple to use interface, which is almost the same as iTunes with the left hand frame showing playlists and folder with details in the right hand frame. The sound output from the single speaker is shockingly loud and clear. Listening to music or watching movies on the speaker was good enough for a small room.
The user interface of the iPad is similar to the iPhone and iPod Touch. It?s got large icons for various applications that take a single touch to launch. The iOS 4.2 software even provides an option to create folders and place installed application in them to keep the display clutter free. What is exceptionally good is how third party apps are utilising the multi-touch application. Applications such as Twitterific and various games use the multi-touch capability to enhance user?s experience.
The user interface is very quick to navigate and even with over 15 apps running in the background it did not feel sluggish to navigate. Though we did feel that the time taken to launch an app got longer when too many apps were in the background.
The iPad literally shocked us with its battery backup. On an average mix use of browsing, watching videos, listening to music, the iPad worked for nine hours a day. When put on hold and left overnight, the battery dropped by just 1%! Once the battery got low, the device took its own sweet 2-3 hours to get charged to full 100%.
With over 15 million units sold worldwide, the Apple iPad can easily be crowned the undisputed king of tablets. Tablets with Android Honeycomb are still a couple of months away and so is the availability of iPad 2. So if you are looking for a tablet to purchase right now for social networking, go for the Apple iPad eyes closed.
The iPad is priced Rs 27,900 onwards for Wi-Fi and Rs 34,900 onwards for Wi-Fi + 3G version. The only competition that the iPad has is the Samsung Galaxy Tab as it offers more features at same price and Android operating system, but a smaller display.
? CyberMedia www.LD2.in
Mail:talkLD@cybermedia.co.in