While the iPod Touch serves many similar functions, the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen makes watching movies, reading ebooks, looking at photos and playing games much more enjoyable. And it’s not too expensive, either.

iPad’s look and feel

At around 0.7kg, the iPad is very thin and light, much like its smaller siblings the iPod Touch and the iPhone.

How thin? Well, when laid flat on a table alongside a Motorola Milestone smartphone, the iPad was only a smidge thicker.

The iPad’s casing is thickest at its centre, where the battery and most other internal components are located, but is only half an inch thick there. It tapers off at its edges.

Holding in one hand is almost effortless and, even after several minutes, our US-based researcher’s hand wasn’t tired. So it should be fairly easy to use the iPad to read an iBook or newspaper, watch a video whilst lying on your back, surf the web, or hold it in one hand and type with the other.

Our researcher felt that the iPad was easy to use even as a lefthander, unlike many other handheld devices.

And it doesn’t matter how you pick up the iPad; the screen will always right itself, so you can use it in portrait or landscape format, and there’s no upside-down or right way up.

It doesn’t even matter where the only button on the iPad’s frame is, as you turn it around – left, right, top or bottom, it will always work as the power switch or as the button to return you to the homescreen.

Gaming on the Apple iPad

The iPad will help develop new uses for touch technology – it’s a lot more intuitive to play games using your hands than with a mouse or other remote device.

And among the programs demonstrated at the iPad’s launch were games which let you turn locks with finger motions, or target bad guys by pointing at them with your finger.

The bottom line is that just about everything the iPad does happens with taps, swipes and other multi-touch gestures – and it’s likely that new multi-touch gestures will develop as new apps come out.

Already we have the iPad version of Apple’s iWorks, a presentation program which lets you move slides around in a slideshow by touching the first slide with one finger, and tapping the other slides until you have a pile that you can move with one swipe.

One downside of the iPad, however, is that you can’t multitask. Although the iPad has email, calendar and iWorks, for example, it really doesn’t function as a computer. You can’t have a browser window open at the same time you’re typing a document or working on a spreadsheet.

If you want such productivity, stick to a laptop or netbook.

And you might have expected a webcam – but there isn’t one. This would really open it up to face-to-face communication with business partners, friends and family.

iTunes on the Apple iPad

Also, there are iTunes’ limitations – as iTunes doesn’t support all commonly recognised music formats, this could get in the way for some. No-one expects Apple to abandon its music-purchase model now – but we hope that Apple’s new iBookstore isn’t similarly restrictive.

While launching the iPad, Apple CEO Steve Jobs did address the question of whether there’s room in the market for a ‘third device’, something that you’ll want in addition to your laptop and smartphone.

As he said, it’s more portable than a laptop, as there’s no cumbersome keyboard, and it has a much larger screen than on a smartphone (note that you can’t use the iPad as a mobile phone). If you already pay for a mobile internet tariff for a smartphone or netbook, however, then we’re not sure whether everyone would consider it worth stumping up even more money for this ‘third device’.

Pros: A hugely versatile product that’s well-designed and easy to use

Cons: Unable to multi-task and lacks a webcam

- 1 GHz Apple A4 Chipset

- 16GB – 64GB Flash Storage

- Wifi 802.11n

- Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

- 9.7 Inch IPS display

- 0.5 Inches thin

- Weighs 1.5 pounds

- Pixel Double Display

- Accelerometer and Compass

- Speaker, Microphone and 30-Pin conector

- Full capacitive Multi-Touch screen

- 10 Hours heavy usage battery life

- 1 Month stand by battery life

Environmental impact Specifications

- Arsenic Free

- BFR Free

- Mercury Free

- PVC Free System

- Highly Recyclable

Launch date – 2010 Jan-Jun
Operating system – Apple iPad iOS 4.2.1
Claimed storage capacity (GB) – 64
Flash support – No

Connections

Wi-fi (802.11g) – Yes
Wi-fi (802.11n) – Yes
Wi fi (802.11n 5GHz) – Yes
3G – No
Bluetooth – Yes
GPS – No
SD Card – No
Docking station connector present – Yes
Purpose of docking station – Connect to desktop, use optional camera kit

Sound and vision

Built in microphone – Yes
Built in speakers – Yes
Mono speakers – Yes
Headphone socket – Yes
Separate headphones supplied – Yes
External volume control – Yes
Screen size (inches) – 9.7
Screen resolution – 768 x 1024
Touchscreen type – Capacitive
Built in webcam – No

Dimensions

Dimensions (mm) – 190 x 245 x 15
Weight (kg) – 0.7