Of course, this could be an accidental omission, but Apple’s official PR did say that “iBookstore will be available in the US at launch”, which probably means “US and nowhere else”. It’s tough, but when you remember how long it took Amazon to launch its Kindle internationally, I guess it was to be expected. It does add, however, to the theory that the iPad is the jack of all trades but master of none; when it comes to e-books, it does some things better than Kindle, but it also lags in many aspects.

[Image credit: Engadget]

Tags: apple, Apple Tablet, iBooks, ipad, Tablet

http://bit.ly/dvf89B

But hidden between the lines of all that iPad coverage I’ve learned a thing or two about Apple and its plans, mostly from the things iPad is missing.

The thing is, Apple didn’t omit a camera or multitasking by accident. An engineer didn’t come up to Steve Jobs on Tuesday saying “I don’t know how to tell you this, Steve, but we’ve forgotten about the camera. No, please, not the head! Ouch!” They’ve omitted all these things on purpose, and this purpose tells you more about Apple’s plans than the things they did put in.

First of all, Flash. For years, we’ve been hearing that Adobe and Apple are in talks to bring full Flash support on the iPhone. It was almost always described as “nearly there”. Well, now that the iPad is out – a bigger device, perfect for browsing the web – and there’s still no Flash in sight, we can assume that Apple is not only not bringing Flash to its mobile devices: it’s fighting against it. For some reason, Apple doesn’t see eye to eye with Adobe when Flash is concerned, and if they haven’t reached some sort of agreement now, it’s probably not just around the corner, either.

Then, there’s multi-tasking. Nearly everyone I’ve talked to thinks this is a huge deal-breaker, but I think it makes sense. Although Steve Jobs was trying hard to prove to us that the iPad is a computer, it isn’t. Just like the iPod and the iPhone, its main purpose is to give the users an easy way to consume certain types of digital content. After music (iPod) and mobile applications (iPhone) comes iPad with video, photos, e-books, e-magazines, games. Apple doesn’t really want you to do complex photo editing on the iPad; you’ve got your Mac or PC for that. Apple wants you to touch a button, and start consuming content (preferably paying a couple of dollars for it).

Finally, the camera. Yes, it would be nice to have video chat. But once again, Apple wants you to do that on a Mac. If you want to snap photos, you should do it on the iPhone – you’re carrying it with you all the time, anyway. Once again, it becomes clear that Apple doesn’t want to sell devices that can do everything; they want to find the best form factor to consume some types of digital content, and then focus on them. If you look at it, you can do pretty much everything on your personal computer; by that philosophy, you don’t need anything else besides a laptop. And yet, you’ve now got smartphones and e-readers selling very well. Could it be that one powerful device is not as good as several less powerful, but more focused ones?

The way I see it, the iPad is not about creating; it’s all about consuming content. It shouldn’t be sold in Apple stores, it should be sold on newsstands (together with a 24-month subscription to some newspaper), in video clubs, in libraries. I honestly expected a lot of subsidized options for the device if you agree to buy some content with it, but Apple hasn’t really delivered that – yet. If I’m right, and if Apple starts doing that, most of iPad’s shortcomings won’t matter.

Tags: apple, ipad, iphone

http://bit.ly/cwE23T

In a news release, the company declared that it is now “the first and only VoIP application that functions on the iPhone and iPod Touch over cellular 3G networks.” Regardless, there is now at least one app on the market that can make 3G VoIP phone calls.

We knew this was coming. At the CTIA conference in October, AT&T confirmed that it would support VoIP over 3G for the iPhone. With that announcement, we knew it was only a matter of time until Apple allowed 3G VoIP calls.

Now that the restriction have been lifted, you can expect Skype to soon work over 3G networks. It’s server-side, rather than software-side, so there shouldn’t be a need to download a new version of Skype to get this functionality. The Google Voice for iPhone should also benefit from this change, as it’s one less reason to deny the app from the app store.

This also opens up one other possibility: VoIP phone calls on the iPad. Would you really want to hold that thing to your head like a phone, though? Too bad there’s no camera for 3G teleconferencing.

[via Engadget]

Tags: 3g, apple, att, Google Voice, iphone, Skype, voip

http://bit.ly/c0fWUU

I’ve had a Nexus One since launch day, and in that time it has never left my time. This is in addition to my iPhone on the AT&T network — meaning I’ve been carrying two phones around.

While I’ve spoken extensively about its features, the past three weeks have given me a chance to really figure out where this phone falls short and where it simply trumps the iPhone.

First, Let’s Talk About the iPhone’s Camera

The iPhone 3GS camera is a three megapixel piece of hardware. It includes auto focus, the ability to choose where you want the camera to focus, and the ability to record video, edit it, and then upload it to YouTube.

However, even with the quality improvement over the previous version of the phone and addition of video features, the iPhone 3GS still lacks many features. The camera cannot zoom, adjust color balance, add effects, and it does not allow you to change picture quality. Further, the camera’s lack of a flash is simply a death sentence. The exclusion of these features is not a minor detail — it’s a major flaw. Yes, there are apps for that, but who wants to exit the camera to download and then pull out another app just to make it work?

I never use my iPhone to take pictures. Half the time, the pictures are too dark, the quality too grainy, and the 3G network has gone down way too many times while in the middle of uploading. The camera is still one of the iPhone’s biggest weak spots.

Nexus One’s More Advanced Camera

The Nexus One’s camera, on the other hand, is one of the best phone cameras I’ve ever played with. Pictures are taken with a five megapixel camera and every image auto focused as you take each shot. It comes with a very bright flash that doesn’t massively drain the battery.

It’s the additional features that set the Nexus One apart, though. Slide from left to right on the screen and a set of menu items appear that allow you to control flash mode, white balance, color effect, geolocation, picture size, picture quality, and focus mode. By utilizing the color effects, flash, and white balance, I can take pictures like this one of my friends Matt and Ana (click for full image):

I even took this picture in the dark. You need apps to do this on the iPhone, and it won’t turn out as well.

The sharing options are also superior – not only can you share any picture via email or MMS, but through bluetooth and any Android app that supports it, including Facebook, Picasa, and Twitter apps such as Seemic.

Perhaps the only thing that the camera doesn’t do better than the iPhone 3GS is video editing, and I expect Google to address this gap in the near future. No, the Nexus One camera isn’t perfect, but it’s well ahead of its smartphone competitors.

Google’s Multimedia Strategy

Google didn’t include a powerful camera just to make it more attractive to consumers. No, they have a strategy behind it, and it revolves around YouTube.

Two weeks ago, we reported that YouTube celebs were getting free Nexus One phones and partners were gifted with the expensive device. In fact, I can tell you for certain that some of the highest profile YouTube celebs received the Nexus One all the way back in December.

Google’s goal seems clear: they want to spur YouTube celebs to record and upload more videos. Their pages are highly monetized, and more mobile videos translates into more advertising revenue. It’s so simple to upload a Nexus One video to YouTube that the free phones eventually pay for themselves, as long as YouTube partners are uploading videos from their phones. The camera’s quality is more than sufficient, even if it isn’t HD quality.

In the larger scheme of things, Google hopes Android becomes the mobile platform for anybody who likes to take photos or videos. In my tests, I’ve found that it’s a viable replacement for dragging a camera around. If that’s the trend, then Google’s in a far better position than Apple, especially since Apple’s iPad tablet has no camera at all.

Tags: camera, gadgets, Google, google phone, nexus one, video

http://bit.ly/aIMLyB

It does usher in a new computing form factor (or rather, revives it) — but it’s a space that will be awfully crowded in short order. Should you rush in to pick up the Apple-flavored tablet, or are there reasons to consider waiting for the series of devices that are sure to follow? For now, a quick look at what’s missing in the iPad version 1.0 might help decide the balance of your bank account at the end of March.

No Multi-tasking

Running iPhone OS 3.2 means that, at least for now, the iPad is shaping up to be a “one trick at a time” kind of pony. Of course, it’s entirely possible if not probable that Apple will correct this down the line in a forthcoming version of the iPhone OS — maybe even before the tablet ships — but as it currently stands the lack of multi-tasking could be a deal-breaker for some.

No Drag and Drop File Management

Another carryover from the iPhone ecosystem — and not a favorable one, in my humble opinion — is the requirement of syncing your iPad with another computer as the primary content management system for the device. Assuming it works the same way as your iPod or iPhone do now, you’ll only be able to associate your iPad with a single other device — and that’s a dealbreaker for a growing number of households that have media strewn across several computers, hard drives, network attached storage units, and beyond.

You’ll be downloading content from the web and through the iTunes content store directly from the device, of course, but what about that set of files just brought home from work, or that collection of videos I want to dredge out from an old backup drive. In order to get them over to the iPad I’d have to first dump them into iTunes, then perform a sync operation — instead of being able to simply drag and drop them over Wi-Fi or simply hook them in via USB Mass Storage (a great standard that’s been around forever!). There are third-party iPhone apps that allow file transfer via Wi-Fi, but how many steps are we needlessly adding to a process that was uncomplicated by USB Mass Storage years ago?

No USB Port

The iPad will sync itself via USB — but only when plugged in via its proprietary dock connector. That means there will be no direct attachment of all umpteen USB peripherals you already own. It even means you won’t be able to plug in an external USB keyboard you already own without buying a separate USB adapter.

Yes, you’ll be able to pick up an us-yet-unpriced “iPad Camera Connection” kit that will give you the ability to pull photos off your USB-enabled camera. It remains to be seen though if the adapter-provided USB port will even allow you to hook in other peripherals (mouse? keyboard?) or attach external media in the form of USB hard drives or thumb drives.

No SD Slot

Speaking of storage: 16, 32, or 64GB is all you get — precisely because there’s neither a USB nor an SD card reader built directly into the iPad. That means you can’t stick a 16GB SD card in as a semi-permanent storage expansion option or pull files off an SD card without purchasing the aforementioned iPad Camera Connection Kit. Not only is that extra money out of your pocket, but it’s another proprietary dongle to cart around with you (and lose… repeatedly).

No Flash

The above shot taken from Apple’s presentation (hat tip: Engadget) demonstrates quite clearly another big omission from the iPad: support for Adobe Flash. It’s bad enough on the iPhone, but imagine loading up a nice video link on the iPad only to have it… simply not play.

We know Apple dislikes their lack of control over the whole Flash ecosystem, and that Flash is the leading cause of crashes on OS X. We can also prognosticate that Apple is hoping that HTML5 will take off quickly and start to disintermediate Flash as the primary technology powering video playback on the web.

Still, YouTube just announced their HTML5 player last week. It’s getting out there, but it’s the early days for widespread HTML5 support. It’s doubtful it will be in a position two short months from now to completely replace the Flash experience for web video, leaving a lot of ugly “plug-in missing” boxes to make an appearance on one’s expensive iPad tablet.

No HDMI Out

Speaking of video, there’s no handy, single-cable way to hook up an iPad to your TV set. Of course, this should have come as no surprise knowing Apple’s reluctance to support HDMI in any of its other products. Still, for a device that strongly hinted at being perfect for your living room, it would be nice to have the option to quickly hook it up for a big screen video experience.

Even to get video out at all, you’ll need a proprietary Dock to VGA adapter, which obviously limits you to VGA resolutions — there’s not even a DisplayPort out option, which Apple has been touting as a great alternative to HDMI. You’ll be able to pull up to 576p out with an (again, proprietary) Apple Composite A/V Cable — but this is composite video we’re talking here. Not HDMI, not component, not even S-video. The only upside to that is that, as the lowest common denominator just above a coaxial connection, your TV from the early 90s will probably at least have this type of connector.

No 1080p Playback

And while we’re railing on the subject of video, it’s worth mentioning there will be no full HD playback (much less output) from the iPad. Given that 720p is pretty darn close enough (especially for a 9.7-inch screen), it’s more the annoying fact that if you have a growing library of 1080p video files you’ll most likely be unable to play them back without some sort of conversion step first (it’s possible certain formats and codecs could be natively downsampled, but it will remain to be seen how it will shake out in practical usage).

To be fair, it’s definitely a minor point considering the paucity of true 1080p content out there — but it definitely feels like an odd backwards step in a video trajectory that should be trending towards full HD, not away from it.

No Native Widescreen

Okay, just one more gripe about the display aspect of the iPad and then we’re done on this track, we promise.

The tablet’s resolution tops out at 1024 x 768, which falls into the 4:3 standard definition range and not the glorious, widescreen 16:9 high definition aspect ratio we’ve come to know and love. In fact, we’ve come to know and love it via Apple, who has been touting HD as the second coming for several years now. Remember when 2005 was “the Year of High Definition Video?” So then why, pray tell, is 2010 suddenly the Year of Composite Out?

No Camera

Really, no camera? Like, not even at all? Yep, there is no camera on the iPad. It was mystifying enough on the iPod touch, but to omit the camera here is a curious thing. That means no video iChat, no Skype video conferencing, no quickly snapping a pic of whatever and uploading it to Flickr/Facebook/Picasa/etc.

The iPad is clearly a device centered around media consumption, not creation.

No Full GPS

The Wi-Fi-only versions flat out have no GPS support whatsoever. The 3G versions have Assisted GPS, which makes use of the cellular connection to help pinpoint your location. The upside of Assisted GPS is it still tends to be fairly accurate — the downsides are there’s no absolute standard regarding what functions Assisted GPS will support to the end user, and you almost surely need an active cell connection to get your positioning information. That means if you stop paying for the mobile data service, or are in a dead zone or other area of poor connectivity, your GPS is probably kaput as well.

No Open SDK

This one isn’t really a shocker either, considering Apple does it every time, but the brand spanking new Software Development Kit for iPhone OS 3.2 — which, despite the name, is the operating system the iPad runs on — requires developers to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before getting access.

That means programmers working on applications for the device can’t talk about the platform to outsiders who have not also signed the NDA. The nature of the Internets means that some information will undoubtedly leak out, but the veil of secrecy Apple wants to enforce surrounding the iPad developer platform runs counter to the open information sharing of ecosystems like Twitter, for example.

Conclusion

To be fair, it would have been almost impossible for the actual iPad device announced today to live up to the insanely hyped idea of an Apple Tablet that consumed the Internet’s attention in the weeks (if not months) leading up to today’s event. There are also many positives that are hard to deny about the iPad, not the least of which is its characteristically drop-dead gorgeous design aesthetic.

Nevertheless, before this thing wins your hard-earned dough, make sure you know what its limitations are. Let us know if we’ve missed any points here, and what your take on the Apple iPad is as a whole in the comments.

[img credits: gdgt, Engadget]

Tags: 1080p, apple, Apple Tablet, HDMI, ipad, NDA, SDK, tablets, usb

http://bit.ly/cuQdlc

After months of speculation and rumors, it’s official: The Apple iPad is real. The device, announced earlier today by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, is designed to fill the perceived gap between the smartphone and the laptop.

With literally thousands of articles and blog posts being written about Apple’s new device, it’s easy to experience information overload. That’s why we’ve created this comprehensive Apple iPad guide. It is our complete, constantly updated article on the iPad and its specs, features, pricing, availability and much more.

Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about the Apple iPad, and then some:

Apple iPad: The Overview

On multiple occasions, Steve Jobs spoke about creating a new category of devices that would fill the gap between the smartphone and the laptop markets. He slammed netbooks for “not being better than anything.” He wanted something that would be better than a laptop at browsing the web and that could play games, movies, YouTube videos and more.

The answer to that gap, at least for Apple, is the iPad. It’s essentially a giant iPod touch/iPhone with a 9.7-inch screen, 16 to 64 GB of memory, and the ability to run almost every iPhone app in the App Store. It can connect via USB to sync with your PC or Mac, play HD video, act an ebook reader and a lot more.

While there are a lot of functions, all of which we describe below, its killer feature is by far the price. While many predicted it would cost $1,000, the starting price of the iPad is just $499. For comparison, the Kindle DX, which also has a 9.7-inch screen, costs $489, only $10 less than the iPad.

Let’s get into the details of the iPad, shall we?

Apple iPad: The Specifications

Here’s what we know so far about the iPad’s specs. We’ll update this as more is revealed about the device:

- SCREEN: 9.7-inch IPS LCD screen. The LCD provides the backlighting, but most of the technology is IPS, or In-plane switching. This gives it a stronger viewing angle than most screens.

- RESOLUTION: 1024×757 pixels

- SIZE: 0.5 inches thin.

- DIMENSIONS: 9.5 inches x 7.5 inches x 0.5 inches

- WEIGHT: 1.5 pounds (1.6 pounds for 3G)

- CHIP: 1 GHz Apple A4 chip. They went in-house instead of going to Intel.

- MEMORY: Three models with 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB solid state hard drives.

- INCLUSIONS: Accelerometer, Microphone, 30-pin connector, Compass, full capacitive multi-touch, Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11n Wi-Fi, 3G access on higher-end models

- BATTERY LIFE: 10 hours at full blast. On standby, it will last over a month.

Summary: It’s thin, it’s light and it’s fast.

Interface

The interface should be familiar to you; it looks a lot like the iPhone OS interface. In fact, it’s essentially a custom version of the iPhone 3.2 OS. Primary apps are housed at the bottom and you swipe left and right through your home screens to find apps. Steve Jobs even mentioned that it would be easy for people to pick up on the interface because so many people (7.5 million) have either an iPhone or an iPod touch.

There is a new SDK for developers to build apps specifically for the iPad, but all iPhone apps run in the iPad. iPhone apps can run either in their native resolutions or in a “double pixel mode” for full-screen use. Most of the apps we’ve seen run very well in double pixel mode. Developers will be able to modify their apps using the new SDK to optimize them for the iPad, though.

Most everything else is just like the iPhone, but larger. The keyboard is larger, although we have yet to see whether typing is more efficient via your thumbs or with all 10 digits.

Web, Email, and Maps

Just like the iPhone, it utilized Safari Mobile as its browser. It’s bigger, but not much else is different. And just like the iPhone, it does not support Adobe Flash, a plug-in that Apple simply doesn’t like.

In fact, most of the other standard web apps are the same between the iPhone and the iPad. Email, for example, utilizes a similar interface, but it does have more features such as email previews. Google Maps runs on the iPad just as it does on the iPhone.

One app that did get some new features though was the Photo app, which now sports an iPhoto-like interface and some new multi-touch inputs that allow you to easily view and manage multiple pictures.

Connectivity

Apple’s tablet comes in two models, based on their connectivity. Both versions have Wi-Fi connectivity, which is to be expected. However, the higher-end model also comes with 3G access — for $130 more, you can have a 3G-enabled tablet.

If you want the 3G model, you have to use it currently on AT&T: it’s the official launch partner of the iPad. Luckily though, you don’t have to sign a contract to use the 3G connection. Instead, you prepay for however many months of 3G access you desire. It costs $14.99 for 250 MB of data per month, while you’ll need to fork over $29.99 monthly for an unlimited plan. You can cancel any time without any termination fee.

The iPad utilizes microGSM, meaning that it’s not specifically bound to AT&T. Thus, you can expect it to work on international carriers sometime in June or July. That doesn’t mean you can just stick in a T-Mobile or Verizon card though: Verizon and Sprint use the incompatible CDMA 3G format, while the iPad’s 3G modem doesn’t support T-Mobile’s 3G frequency.

Ebooks and Publishing Features

Apple essentially drove a dagger straight into Amazon and the Kindle’s hearts with the iPad. Not only is the device comparable in price to the Kindle DX, but it has its own bookstore: iBooks.

iBooks, announced today at the iPad event, is a new native application for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad that allows you to browse, download and read e-books. At launch, five book publishers will have publications on iBooks: Penguin, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillian and Hachette. Left off the list is McGraw-Hill, whose CEO accidentally spilled the beans on the tablet a day too early. We think it’s possible that Apple handed retribution to McGraw-Hill for the leak, although you’ll likely see its books on the iPad at some point.

Here’s how Steve Jobs described iBooks:

“The iBooks app is a great, new way to read and buy books. Just download the app for free from the App Store, and you’ll be able to buy everything from classics to bestsellers from the built-in iBookstore. Once you’ve bought a book, it’s displayed on your Bookshelf. To read it, all you have to do is tap on it and it opens up. The high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich, color, so it’s very easy to read, even in low light.”

Time will tell whether the iPad is suitable for long-term reading, but Apple didn’t hold back any punches in its quest to wrest the ebook crown from Amazon.

TV, Movies and Video

The video display itself is crisp and sharp, and that was on clear display when Apple demoed several movies on the device. The video interface is just like the iPhone’s video interface, with options for bookmarking, fast-forwarding, rewinding, etc. Oh, and it plays video in HD.

It also has an iTunes store-like interface for browsing videos, movie chapters, and purchasing video content. On the left-hand side you’ll find your viewing options with screenshots, descriptions and video length. On the right-hand side are graphs, either from that movie or TV show.

Still, this device is NOT a widescreen device. There is a lot of black space on the top and bottom when watching a film in widescreen mode. We expect that Apple will address this in future versions with slightly longer iPads, but for now you’ll just have to deal with it.

Summary: It’s great for watching movies, but it’s nothing revolutionary.

Gaming

You really want to look out for the iPad as a gaming device, because EA and others are going to build some amazing games on this platform.

Several games were demonstrated for the iPad, including Need for Speed Shift and N.O.V.A. In Need for Speed, the driver moves the car by turning the tablet. Tapping on the device changes your perspective and zooms. You utilize the touchscreen to accelerate and change gears. Our estimation is that the game looks great — better than an iPhone game — but still doesn’t compare to the PC. In N.O.V.A., a first-person shooter, you can use thee fingers to open a door or slide two fingers to toss a grenade. There are more input possibilities with Apple’s tablet.

The same things that made the iPhone a popular gaming platform were apparent in these demos, however the iPad’s HD capabilities and its more advanced touch screen will make it a stronger gaming platform. And with all iPhone games running on the device, there’s already a big library in its collection.

Productivity and iWork

For productivity and business work on the iPad, Apple has introduced a new version of its iWork software specifically designed for the touchscreen device. It’s been in development for over a year, apparently.

A rundown of the key features and applications in iWork for the iPad:

- Keynote: Apple’s flagship presentation software has gotten an overhaul that allows you to easily view and add slides using the touchscreen interface. You can made edits, browse through slides and more.

- Pages: Word processing on the iPad goes through Pages, which allows you to type more effectively without a physical keyboard and provides touch-based formatting options. For example, dragging images on a page is easy since there’s auto-wrap.

- Numbers: Apple’s spreadsheet feature lets you design data cells and spreadsheets with the multi-touch interface.

- Cost: It costs $9.99 for each app in the app store.

It’s important to note that you can open Excel, Word and Powerpoint documents in iWork, meaning that you can work on your PC documents on your iPad.

Pricing

Pricing was the biggest shocker at this event. While we thought it would cost in the $800 range (some thought $1,000 was more accurate), the true price of the cheapest model is actually $499.

As you can see from the image above, it comes in two editions: Wi-Fi enabled or Wi-Fi + 3G capable. There are also three sizes: 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB. Thus, the cheapest (Wi-Fi, 16 GB) costs only $499, while the most expensive iPad, the 64 GB model with 3G, costs $829.

Here’s the rundown, in order of price:

- $499: 16 GB, Wi-Fi only

- $599: 32 GB, Wi-Fi only

- $629: 16 GB, Wi-Fi and 3G

- $699: 64 GB, Wi-Fi only

- $729: 32 GB, Wi-Fi and 3G

- $829: 64 GB, Wi-Fi and 3G

In addition, you have to take into account the cost of 3G services. The iPad has 3G through AT&T alone currently, but there is no contract, meaning you can prepay or cancel at any time. For 250 MB of data a month, it costs $14.99 per month, while unlimited data is $29.99. It’s quite a good deal in our estimation, especially since you can cancel your contract at any time and you get access to any AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot for free (e.g. Starbucks).

Availability

The iPad, while it doesn’t have an official launch day, should land in stores at the end of March, 60 days or so from today or so.

Only the Wi-Fi versions will be in stores at that time, though. If you want a 3G version, you have to wait until April.

We’ll update this section when we have hard launch dates for both device models.

Competitors

Above: The HP Slate

The iPad isn’t the only device to sit in this mid-level computing device realm. A slew of competitors were shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, and many more are slated to arrive in 2010.

While Apple may have the advantage of its brand and its loyal customers, watch out for some of these competitors, many of them running on the Google Android OS.

- HP Slate: A Windows 7-powered tablet

- Asus Eee Tablet: An upcoming tablet that may run on Google Android

- Notion Ink Tablet: Another Android-based tablet

- Google/HTC Tablet: Rumor has it that Google and HTC are developing a Google-branded tablet, much like what they did with the Nexus One. There is no confirmation of this, though.

If you want to dig deeper into iPad competitors, we have a more comprehensive overview of nine tablet challengers.

What the iPad Lacks

While in a lot of respects the iPad is a sleek, powerful device that will surely create massive lines on launch day, it is missing a lot of features we had hoped would be in it.

Here are just a few of the things that you won’t find on the Apple tablet:

- No camera: There is no front-facing camera for video conferencing, and there is no back-facing camera for taking photos. This is a major omit from the device. Hell, most netbooks and smartphones have a camera or two.

- No multitasking: You cannot run multiple apps at the same time. To make this a useful device, it needs to be able to do things like run Last.fm while tweeting. This is one we hope Apple will fix with a future iPhone OS update, but for now it can’t run multiple apps.

- No HDMI Output: You can’t plug your iPad into your TV.

- No USB port: You can’t plug in your favorite keyboard into the device…or anything else, really. It will plug into your computer via the same cord you charge iPhones and iPod touches with.

We’re disappointed at a lot of the things that were excluded from this device. Gizmodo has a great list of other things the iPad doesn’t include, but the point is this: It’s a first generation device, and it’s not going to include a lot of the things we want. With that said, make sure you know the drawbacks before buying.

Additional Reading

- Apple Introduces iPad Tablet Device

- Official Apple iPad Demo [VIDEO]

- Apple iPad Specs Revealed

- A First Look at the iPad for Publishers

- iBooks: Apple Answers the Kindle with a Digital Bookshelf Like No Other

- 4 Reasons the Kindle is Dead, 4 Reasons It’s Not

[img credits: GDGT, Apple, Inc.]

Tags: apple, Apple iPad, Apple Tablet, ipad, iphone, iphone os, iSlate, Tablet

http://bit.ly/9S9dg9

It should come as no surprise that the Twittersphere was (and still is) all a-buzz about the iPad — the build-up to which has been months in the making — but the iPad averaging nearly 3,000 tweets per minute in the first hour is just plain remarkable. We haven’t seen anything like it in recent history. According to Trendrr, tweets did taper off a bit after that first hour, but are still coming at about 75,000 per hour, or 1,000 per minute.

As you can see from the chart below, there was an instantaneous and incredible spike of tweets mentioning the iPad as soon as the name was revealed earlier this morning. The second chart highlights the disparity between “iPad” and “Apple” tweets.

Tags: Apple iPad, Apple Tablet, ipad, Trendrr, twitter

http://bit.ly/bJWNsm

Back in 2006, TUAW posted this sketch and praised it for its use of satire: “The ‘iPad’ ad wins bonus points for coming complete with a spoof of the iPod silhouette ads and a mock voice-over of Bono.”

While these references seem rather retro now, the line, “Please don’t make us explain how it works,” rings particularly true for many tech bloggers at this point. Check out the not-so-dated spoof below. It’s totally NSFW, btw.

Tags: Apple Tablet, humor, ipad, viral video

http://bit.ly/dgwvTw

The company announced that iPhone and iPod touch games will be playable on the device, and it invited established iPhone game developers Gameloft and Electronic Arts on stage at its iPad unveiling event to show off two games in development for the device: N.O.V.A. and Need for Speed Shift.

Both demonstrations were put together in just a couple of weeks, but even this early they give us some sense of what we can expect from Apple iPad games. Here are our impressions.

N.O.V.A.

Gameloft has already released a version of N.O.V.A. for the iPhone; it’s a critically acclaimed hand-held first-person shooter in the style of games like Halo and Resistance: Fall of Man.

The basics of the control scheme are similar to those of the iPhone version. For example, an on-screen directional pad handles movement. But the tablet opens up some new multi-touch possibilities on its larger screen as well. In N.O.V.A. you can slide three fingers over a door to open it, slide two fingers across the screen to toss a grenade or draw a targeting box around an enemy.

Need for Speed Shift

Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed racing game series has appeared on just about every gaming platform under the sun. The touch controls make the iPad experience unique. You can tap the inside of the car to zoom out of a chase view and into a first-person driver’s seat view. From there, you can actually use your finger to switch gears on the stick shift.

Graphics in this game look better than iPhone graphics, but they aren’t as good as what you see on high-end PCs, the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3. They look comparable in detail to Nintendo Wii games, but the screen resolution is 1024 x 768, so we’re assuming that many of the games are going to be high definition.

Will the iPad Succeed as a Gaming Device?

We’ll have to see more games to know exactly what to expect, of course, but innovation is likely. Multi-touch on a 10-inch screen will open up new possibilities for interaction with games.

While 3D games were presented at Apple’s unveiling for the iPad, better graphics won’t drive tablet gaming. We expect that other kinds of games will make this device shine. For example, tech industry bigwig and celeb Jason Calacanis posted fake tweets last night talking about a FarmVille app for the iPad, but that actually sounds like something this device would be perfect for.

Just like the Wii and the Nintendo DS — the two most popular pure gaming devices in the world today — the iPad will attract casual gamers who appreciate new ways of interacting, even if they’re not the most precise. We don’t know how many units the iPad will move, though, and until we do we won’t know if it will be worth it to developers to go nuts with this thing.

Keep your eyes open and your ears to the ground, gamers; it’s at least going to be interesting. If it does catch on, you’ll have a whole new kind of console to play with.

[img credit: GDGT and Engadget]

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The investment comes at a time when local is red hot, with Yelp looking to capitalize further on it by expanding its mobile presence across platforms and introducing features like “check-ins” that help lend credibility to user reviews.

The company cites mobile app development as one of its uses for the new funding, and an updated Android app with check-in features is expected within the next couple weeks.

Yelp says that it passed 26 million unique visitors in December, while we recently reported that the site now features more than 9 million total user reviews.

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