Apple Unveils “iPad” Tablet; Boasts 10 Hours of Battery Life, 9.7″ Screen

Life is full of surprises, but the fact that Apple announced a tablet computer at a special event in San Francisco today isn’t one of them. Officially named the “iPad” (Wow… iTab would have been better), this tablet computer is designed to comfortably fit in between a smartphone and a notebook, offering the right amount of functionality without being too simple, or too complicated. It was long rumored that the OS to be used would be iPhone-esque, and that was right on the money.

I am not sure if the OS has an official name, but it looks to be an upgraded iPhone OS with certain other elements mixed in. Like the iPhone, the iPad has a grid-like layout for its icons, which also look much like the icons seen on the iPhone/iPod touch. The main screen has a dock at the bottom, for quick access to applications you want to remain static, such as the Safari Web browser, e-mail and music.

As you’d expect, the iPad is a versatile unit, and with its equipped accelerometer, you can switch from landscape to portrait mode quite easily, depending on your preference. Then, there’s the keyboard, which is unlike any you’ve probably seen before. Because the device is so large, Apple decided to make the on-screen keyboard large as well. So large, that it may almost feel like typing on your notebook, sans the tactile feedback, of course.

One major improvement is with the music playback and iTunes on the device, which is a hybrid between iTunes on the iPhone and the desktop. Features like Cover Flow are still in tact, but tapping on an album cover in your list will bring up a list of tracks on that album. Click one, and the song begins to play immediately. As you would expect, navigating through the iTunes store on the device looks simple, and quite elegant.

The iPad also promises to run “almost” all software currently available on the App Store, which is a huge plus. You will have the choice to either run the apps at native resolution (which would be small) or double them in size so that they’re easier to see. Apple’s also releasing an updated SDK for developers to upgrade their current apps and to create new ones that take better advantage of the much larger screen.

Hardware-wise, the iPad weighs in at just 1.5lbs, has a 9.7″ IPS display, has fully capacitive multi-touch, a 1GHz Apple A4 chip (built by P.A. Semi; ARM-based), contains 16 – 64GB of flash storage, 802.11n wireless (and 3G on some models), Bluetooth 2.1, and of course a speaker and a microphone. Battery-life? A staggering 10 hours, and that seems to be for regardless of what you’re doing on it. Price? $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32GB and $699 for the 64GB. If you want 3G, another $130 will be tacked onto the prices mentioned above. Availability? ~60 days.

There’s so much to talk about with this device, that it’s impossible for me to cover it all here. So I recommend checking out the official product page as it has a pretty comprehensive list of all that’s notable.

The high-resolution, 9.7 inch LED-backlit, IPS display on iPad is remarkably crisp and vivid. Which makes it perfect for web browsing, watching movies, or showing off photos. It’s also been designed to work in any orientation — portrait or landscape. And because it uses a display technology called IPS (in-plane switching), it has a wide, 178° viewing angle. So you can hold it almost any way you want, and still get a brilliant picture, with excellent color and contrast.