Apple iPad

FACTS

Price: $499 for 16G

Official Site: Apple.com

Specs: 0.5" thick; 1.5 lbs; 9.7" IPS display; 3 Flash storage options (16G, 32GB or 64GB); Wi-Fi 802.11n; Bluetooth 2.1; 3G (optional); 1GHz Apple A4 chip; 10-hr battery life; 1 month standby; AT&T data plan (no contract)

Company: Apple Inc.

We should take a hard stance on Apple's new device, the iPad. We say you're going to want this and we support your desire. Whether you're a student, professional, blogger or whatever, the iPad fits any guy's needs.

Let's start with some hard specs: The iPad is 0.5 inches thick, 1.5 pounds and sports a 9.7 inch IPS display (it's roughly the same size as the Kindle DX). The iPad comes with three Flash storage options (16G , 32GB or 64GB). You'll also get the best in wireless connectivity, including Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1 and 3G (optionally). Inside the iPad you'll find a 1GHz Apple A4 chip. The iPad has a 10 hour battery life (so watching movies on cross-Atlantic flights isn't a problem) and 1 month of standby. There's obviously an accelerometer, but there's also a compass, speaker, microphone, 30-pin dock, full QWERTY keyboard (in fact there are several keyboards that are dedicated to specific tasks). The iPad streams and has YouTube, YouTube HD and the iTunes Store built in.

E-mail: E-mail on the iPad is a dream come true. A message list appears on the left side of the screen while the full message shows up on the right (and there's finally room on a decent-size screen to see things all at once).

Apps: The apps on the Apple iPad are big. According to Steve Jobs, Apple rewrote most of its existing apps and Apple gave some two weeks to come up with something new for the iPad; this includes The New York Times, whose app allows you to pinch resize and they've embedded videos inside their articles. Now, Apple had a lot more time to develop apps and they've come up with new and huge versions of iWork and KeyNote ($9.99 each) -- they're actually more like software packages.

e-Reader: Some are already calling this a Kindle Killer (finally the tables have been turned). And given all that the iPad can do, from the apps to the presentation capabilities to the multimedia functionality to being an e-Reader, it seems like a legit claim. Coinciding with the launch of Apple's iBooks app is the iBook Store, which has five (count them: five) partners. You'll also be able to change up the fonts, and there's a nice virtual bookshelf.

Though rumors once had the iPad looking like half of a MacBook, it now looks like a really big iPod touch, wrapped around a 1GHz Apple A4 chip.

Multitouch and drop-down menus are major components of the iPad. Everything from creating proposals to checking e-mail to surfing the web (on a huge Mobile Safari) to typing to scrolling to KeyNote and iWork is a total snap. Apple went all-out to ensure that the iPad works and functions (as seen from the Apple announcement).

Watching a movie on a 9.7-inch, Apple-quality screen is going to be way better than the current iPod touch/PSPmodel you can see in action every day on the subway or bus. The iPad will ship 60 days (90 days if you opt for the 3G) from Apple's big announcement today, January 27th.

Accessories for the iPad include a dock, a keyboard dock (both of which charge the device) and case/stand. So, not so exciting accessories and to add to that downfall is the fact that there's no phone, no multitasking, no Flash, and no notifications.