iPad therefore I am
For a large part of the new millennium, the world's technophiles and style hipsters have been prepared to take a healthy bite out of Apple's product mantra and practice the vaguely ideological maxim ''iPod therefore I am''.
Don't believe us? Then just take a trip on any train, plane or bus and quickly tot up the number of iconic ice-white earphones you see dangling from fellow commuters' ears - one imagines you'll be in double figures before you can say ''iPod Shuffle''.
To such extent have the wafer-like iPod and its mobile encompassing successor the iPhone revolutionised our commuting experience, that large swathes of the industries they have invaded have been pushed perilously close to redundancy.
The iPhone of course is still ultra-desirable, even spawning a green-eyed emotion amongst those who are yet to possess one ñ iPhone envy.
In January this year though, after months of feverish speculation Apple boss Steve Jobs and his chief designer Jonathan Ive dropped another technological bombshell on the market - the iPad.
Currently being snapped up in America quicker than return flights during the volcanic ash crisis (1m and counting), the iPad is a tablet computer for (internet browsing, media consumption, gaming and light content creation).
Set to launch in Europe, Australia and Japan at the end of May, with the rest of the world to follow in July, despite some initial scepticism, fashionistas from the technological world are all set to adapt their mantra to ''iPad therefore I am''.
But will, like the iPod and the iPhone before it, all the fuss be worth it? Two high-profile stars who have come out in favour and opposition to it are comedian and writer Stephen Fry and the President himself, Barack Obama, respectively.
The former had future users salivating at the prospect of getting their mitts on one, when he said at the launch: ''People must use the iPad to truly appreciate its purpose and quality as common criticisms of the device fall away after use.'' While the current incumbent of the White House sternly spoke out to the nation's youth recently, stating: ''You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter. And with iPods and iPads, and Xboxes and PlayStations - none of which I know how to work - information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation."
Serious stuff there from arguably American's most liberal leader since JFK, but then again, as Fry temptingly said, it all changes when you actually use one - which BO hasn't - and surely in this tumultuously ever changing world, the need for escapism or distraction, as Obama calls it, is more important than ever?
So before you take the iPlunge and pre-order your iPad from Mbop's Shopping Mall, let's strip away all the hyperbole and get under the bonnet, so to speak, of the product itself and have a good rummage around:
Screen and input
With a 25cm liquid crystal display touchscreen (14cm bigger than the iPhone), the iPad supports screen rotation in all four orientations, meaning thereís no up or down with only the position of the home button changing. This rotation can be locked out by a switch and is joined by two other plastic switches on the side of the iPad (wake/sleep, volume up/down). And while the size of it is obviously very attractive with regards to viewing documents, reading literature and watching films, it does hold it back in the portability stakes with the obvious need for an iPad case or a robust bag to carry it around in - which, one imagines, makes it more attractive to sticky fingers, particularly in the early days when its scarcity is greater.
Connectivity
It's WiFi readiness means any space issues, which affected the iPhone, are dismissed in a trice on this expansive new play tool. It literally will be like a having a mini, feather-weight computer on your person at all times. The 3G model also allows for Assisted-GPS, further edging the old fashioned printed road maps closer to the pulping pile.
Audio and output
Featuring dual speakers, the iPad will, quite simply, change forever the commuter viewing experience. From watching downloaded films to catching up with the latest clips of Sarah Palin putting her size fives in it on YouTube or Beyonce's bootylicious new video ñ this is where we at the Megabop Shopping Mall think the iPad will come into its own. It's simply slinkier, lighter and far more useable than any laptop, no matter how dinky, currently on the market for when youíre on the move.
Power and battery
Perhaps Apple's most impressive/outlandish (delete as appropriate) claim regarding the iPad is the fact the lithium-ion polymer battery can provide up to 10 hours of video, 140 hours of audio playback or one month on standby. Yep, that's right Apple-ites - 10 hours! How theyíve managed to achieve that with a product slim enough to open its own computer weight loss club, is anyone's guess - but it certainly would make those long haul flights a lot less torturous.
Storage and SIM
There are three internal storage options here - 16, 32 or 64GB flash drive. All data is apparently stored on this drive, with no option to expand it. For budding snappers/cinematographers you can purchase a camera connection kit with an SD reader to transfer photos and videos. While the 3G iPad is - unlike the iPhone to many potential users' joy - sold unlocked and can be used with any GSM carrier. However it does not support T-Mobile's 3G Network and Verizon does not use world-standard GSM SIM cards. So again the concerns of carrying both an iPhone and iPad around with you together are raised with regards to light-fingered fellow commuters.
Optional accessories
As ever, Apple is never slow on the uptake with regards to accessories solely available to their own distribution lines. You can pick up some of the follow iPad additions via the Mbop Shopping Mall too: iPad Keyboard Dock with hardware keyboard, 30-pin connector, and audio jack, iPad Case which can be used to stand the iPad in various positions, iPad Dock with 30-pin connector and audio jack, iPad Dock Connector to VGA adapter for external monitor or projector, iPad Camera Connection Kit including a USB Type A connector adapter and an SD card reader, for transferring photos and videos, iPad 10W USB Power Adapter with 2 A output (10 W).
Software
Like the iPhone, once again itís all about the Apps. Available from the Apple's App Store, with almost all third-party iPhone applications suitable for the iPad too - with many enlarging to fill the iPad's larger screen. And the canny old foxes at the App Store were busy preparing 1,000 new Apps for the launch of the iPad, such are the new visual avenues open to them. As with any Apple products then, this is all well and good if youíre happy to tie yourself hook, line and sinker to the Apple merchandising machine. Millions upon millions of people are more than happy to do so of course.
SO you've read what the iPad does do well, but what about what it does less so. Well unlike its nearest competitor the Netbook it's missing two key ingredients - a web cam and flash facilities. This means the visual communication pioneering device Skype is out of bounds and various video applications canít be viewed because the requisite flash package canít be downloaded (Brightcove does turn video into HTML5 however). Netbook also completely dwarfs it in the memory stakes (160GB), while battery power can be increased too. Its big reading nemesis, the Amazon Kindle, is said to be far more suitable and easy on the eye with its simple print-esque text and a battery life of a whole week. Yet, as any iPad disciple will tell you, that's all the Kindle does - 'Jack of one trade, master of one' if you like.
In the end then, as Steve Jobs himself says, the iPad doesn't do anything better than a laptop, but it is cheaper and goodness me doesn't it look so much better too. Worth investing in one via the Mbop Shopping Mall then? Stephen Fry seems like a pretty trustworthy fellow to me, iPad therefore I am? It's starting to shape up that way!
To order an iPad and the accessories to go with it, see our computer stores.
