Showing posts with label ipad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ipad. Show all posts

iPad Tablet First Impressions

After months of rumors and speculation, Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs unveiled on Wednesday a tablet computer called the iPad that will start at $499 and go on sale in 60 days. The iPad — a play on the name of Apple’s market-dominating iPod line of media players — will connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi, or buyers can wait 30 more days and get more expensive models that will work over AT&T’s data network.
Still looking thin after a liver transplant last year, Jobs was energetic but spoke in a tired-sounding voice to a packed theater filled with journalists and tech bloggers at the Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts.
Using words like “magical” and “revolutionary,” Jobs pitched the 10-inch, 1.5-pound, half-inch thick iPad as new category of device between a smartphone and a notebook computer. The iPad looks and behaves very much like an iPhone on steroids and will run all 140,000 apps available for Apple’s best-selling smartphone.
“Do we have what it takes to establish a third category of products?” Jobs asked toward the end of the presentation. “We think we’ve got the goods.”
Those “goods” include:
• A 9.7-inch touchscreen that is extremely bright and sharp. It uses a screen technology, called IPS, that’s high quality but is relatively cheap to build.
• Apple is using its own 1-gigahertz processor to power the iPad. The company bought a chip design firm, PA Semi, in 2008, and this is the first processor resulting from that acquisition to be used in an Apple product.
• Buyers will have a choice of models with 16, 32 and 64 gigabytes of flash memory, for $499, $599 and $699, respectively. The versions with 3G network capabilities will cost $130 more each, so the most expensive model will be $829.
• AT&T will offer two data plans for them. A 250-megabyte-per-month plan is $14.99; an unlimited plan is $29.99. Typically, data-only 3G plans for computers run at $60 a month for unlimited service.
• A new e-book reading application, iBooks, takes direct aim at the business now dominated by Amazon.com’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader. Jobs said Apple’s effort is “standing on the shoulders” of Amazon’s Kindle. iPad owners will be able to buy books and download them wirelessly into the device from Apple’s new iBookstore.
• A full-size, onscreen virtual keyboard lets users type just as they would on a traditional notebook or smaller netbook. An optional keyboard dock is available, and the iPad will work with the wireless Bluetooth keyboard Apple already sells.
• While all iPhone and iPod Touch apps will run on the iPad, they’ll do so in a small window. Users can tap a button and expand them to full-screen. Apple released a new version of its software developers kit Wednesday so apps could be revised for the iPad.
The launch drew mixed reaction from many of the tech journalists, analysts and bloggers attending. Some expressed disappointment that the device didn’t have all the features that had been mentioned in the frenzied, speculative atmosphere leading up to Wednesday’s unveiling. For example, the influential tech blog Gizmodo topped its site with a graphic showing two thumbs down over an iPad and the words “NO THANKS.”
But Andy Ihnatko, computer columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times and the author of many books about Apple’s products, said the company made a smart move by building on the strength of the iPhone. “Apple’s strategy was, ‘We got it right with the iPhone,’?” Ihnatko said. “We don’t need to build something completely new.”
He also praised the pricing, saying it was a “knockout.” Many rumors had put the price at around $1,000, a fact that Jobs mocked during his presentation.
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More iPads Arrive In Asia-Pacific countries


The second wave of iPads have arrived in Asia-Pacific countries and went on sale today, Friday July 23.
People lined up for hours to get their hands on the covetted mini tablet computers, some skipping work and others skipping a night of sleep to get their spot.
The iPad went on sale in the United States back on April 3rd, a day that seems so long ago now as a lot has happened since then regarding apple.
Because of the heightened unexpected demand for the popular mini computer, the company were forced to push back release dates for other countries, including Canada, France, Germany and Japan, amongst others.
Included in today’s wave of iPad launches are the countries of New Zealand, SINGAPORE, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico and the Netherlands.
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5 Extremely Addicting iPad Games

If you’d like to enjoy the outdoors today, we suggest you stop reading right now.

What follows are five iPad addictive games that maximize screen real-estate with luring graphics, break ground in the handheld gaming sector. They ultimately exemplify whyApple’s tablet device is such an impressive device for gaming.

These games will capture your imagination, demand your attention, and may ultimately destroy your relationships with loved ones if you get too sucked in.

You can’t say we didn’t warn you.


1. We Rule GOLD


We Rule is like FarmVille for the iPad. Things start innocently enough in level one, but as you level up and tackle the tutorial challenges, a funny thing happens — the game gets serious and intricate.

Planting and harvesting crops is a key part of gameplay, but your efforts should be focused on trying to level up by accruing experience points. Levelling up allows you to continue expanding your kingdom, unlock more farm patches and grab other essentials like shops, plants, statues, roads and rivers for your kingdom.

Some of this may sound like nonsense, but most of your time will be spent designing your kingdom, and there’s nothing more frustrating than wanting to add a dragon’s lair or prison to your kingdom and not having the funds to do so.

The best part about the game is that everyone from your friends to tech celebrities like Digg’s Kevin Rose is in on the action. This makes for extra enticing gameplay because you can add your friends from real life and web life as neighbors and check out their kingdoms or buy goods from their shops.

After a few short days you’ll be hooked, even going so far as to set up push notifications so you know when your plants are ready to harvest, and your citizens are ready to hand over their tax payments.

A few tips: Build as many cottages as you can so you can collect taxes and earn experience points quicker. Plant the most expensive crops because you make more when you harvest them, and save your mojo to use in higher levels and plan around expansion.

Price Point: Free
Addiction Rating: 4.5 stars


2. Angry Birds HD


What’s so great about Angry Birds? How about “everything.” This is one of those games that will continue to nag at your sense of self-worth until you can beat a particular level — which may prove to be futile for some levels. Pick up this game and soon your dreams will be haunted by squawking birds, and the taunting grins of those green pigs that just will not die.

Things begin rather easily: You start with a few angry red birds that you sling at awaiting green pigs. The goal is to kill the pigs either by lampooning them with a bird dead-on, or craftily trying to topple bricks to crush them. In total, there are 105 different levels, each one more difficult than the last.

Beginner tips: Don’t play in front of friends or family because they will try to take the game away from you, sometimes the most obvious strategy is the right one, know your angles and learn the strengths of each bird type.

Price Point: $4.99
Addiction Rating: 5 stars


3. GodFinger


Oh the joys of playing God. In GodFinger, you’re a deity with a commanding finger you can use to turn people into followers and put them to work on your planet.

The idea of the game is to create a thriving planet populated with followers to do your bidding. Earning gold, mana, and awe let’s you level up and build better items to help you earn all three achievements as fast as possible.

You earn gold by placing followers at barns or farms. It is used to buy new items in the store. You need mana for rain, sunshine, lightning and the other natural elements required for planet functions. You can earn mana by placing followers at your shrine. Awe is a special element that you earn each time you level up, and you can use it at the Awe Store. You can also buy it if you get desperate.

GodFinger — like We Rule — is an Ngmoco game, so gameplay begins with a challenge-based tutorial. You level up based on the experience points you accrue through in-game actions. Pay attention to each task and prompt in the tutorial mode, as instructions include information that will become vital to the health of your planet and your followers.

Tips for ruling wisely: Wells and taverns are great for faster rejuvenation, gold that you don’t collect erodes, upgrade your shrine to generate mana faster, zoom out to visit neighboring planets and save your awe to buy cooler items in higher levels.

Price Point: Free
Addiction Rating: 4 stars


4. Plants vs. Zombies HD


Zombie fan or not, this game will suck the life out of you as you fall victim to each engrossing level.

The ultimate goal of the game is to prevent zombies from entering your home in each level. Should they succeed, you will die.

The game starts out with a few semi-harmless zombies and some less-than-potent plants that you will need to attack and kill the oncoming onslaught of the undead. As you level up, the zombies become more menacing and the plants more lethal.

Your biggest challenges will be deciding how many sunflowers to plant, figuring out how to protect them, and picking plants to use in your arsenal of attack for each level. Don’t forget that you will need the sunflowers to buy the plants you need. Also, the plants you choose for each level will vary on whether it’s day or night, and their ability to kill depends on the zombies you’re fighting against.

Tips to stay alive: Plant as many sunflowers as you can during the first few moments of each level, the double sunflower is a waste of money and space, always buy more slots for plants when you can and make sure you have at least one big attack plant for each level.

Price Point: $9.99
Addiction Rating: 5 stars


5. Dizzypad HD


Who knew having frogs leap from lilypad to lilypad could be so addicting? But in much the same way thatDoodleJump can entertain and frustrate players for hours at a time, so too can Dizzypad HD for the iPad.

The object of the game is to get the frog from one lilypad to the next, by carefully timing each leap so as not to land in the water and lose a life. Unfortunately, this is one of those games that is deceptively simple: It will lure you in with its easy premise and then make you feel like a fool when you can’t beat your own high score.

Unlike most great games on the iPad, this one comes completely free of charge — but only if you’re fine with just playing the classic mode. If you’re anything like me, you’ll fork over the $1.99 (each) to add sliders, memory, and battle modes. They’re definitely worth the extra cash.

Pro tip for leapers: Learn to leapfrog as many lilypads as you can early on. For each lilypad you leapfrog, you earn an extra life. Those extra lives will come in handy as lilypads become harder to reach.

source http://mashable.com

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iPhone OS: 25 Things It Really Needs (Even Now)

When the iPhone OS 3.0 was released last June, I made a wish list of features that were missing. Those requests were a lot like the ones I still have.When Apple started inviting journalists to a press event this Thursday to discuss the future of the iPhone OS, I made a mental note to publish a list of features I’d like to see. Then I remembered: I already composed a wish list back in June of last year, on the day iPhone OS 3.0 was released. It’s not precisely the inventory of desires I’d come up with today, after spending many months with an iPhone 3GS and trying out competitors such as the Droid. And if I were asking for new iPhone OS features today, I’d be just as likely to request ones that were iPad-related.Overall, though, my iPhone OS requests from last June are a lot like the ones I still have. So (after the jump) here’s my original story, with “2010 thoughts” embedded where appropriate. After Thursday’s news, I’ll take a look at how closely Apple’s list of Necessary iPhone OS Improvements mirrored mine.What would you like to see in iPhone OS 4.0 and beyond?iPhone OS: 25 Things It Really Needs (Even Now)I’m not sure how operating-system version numbers translate into human years, but this I know: 3.0 is still well short of adulthood. Windows 3.0 was the first version that was recognizable as Windows at all; Mac OS 3.0 came along so long ago that I don’t remember anything about it.So it’s no knock on version 3.0 of the iPhone software to say that even though it contains 100 new features–some of which are a big deal–there are plenty more it could benefit from. What follows is a highly personal list of stuff I think this OS needs–and as far as I know, none of it is in OS 3.0. If we see some of it in OS 3.1, and more in 4.0, and a sizable chunk by 5.0, I’ll be a contented man.I said the list is personal, but I tried to be realistic. It contains nothing that I can’t see Apple enabling, or which would require new hardware. I also didn’t include multitasking or Flash support on this list. They’ve been covered to death, and my gut tells me neither is coming to the iPhone soon. Consider them features #26 and #27 if you like, though–and I do suggest some things that might lessen the need for them.Ready to celebrate the release of OS 3.0 (which is due later today) by being dissatisfied, nitpicky, and generally unreasonable? Here we go.iPhone OS still needs…1. Home screen folders. The iPhone desktop is made up of a super-wide, horizontally-scrolling workspace, so it’s possible to sort different sorts of apps into their own screens. But moving them around is a hassle, and you can’t jump directly from any screen to any other one. I want something that the old Palm OS had eons ago: The ability to easily organize apps into folders. [2010 thought: The iPad really needs this.]2. A Home screen that flips into landscape mode. Most of OS 3.0’s apps now let you work with the nice, wide keyboard enabled by rotating the phone 90 degrees. I’d like to be able to use the phone almost continuously in landscape format if I felt like it–which I guess means that the settings screens and App Store should flip as well as the desktop.
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iPad's First-Day Stutters: Problems Charging Over USB and iPhone App Upscaling


The underlying problems, things like the lack of multitasking, expandability, the anemic iBookstore selection--all that stuff has been covered in the initial reviews. It's something else entirely to actually have an Apple iPad in your hands, playing with it--you'll discover quirks that only come from use, and the Internet community has been very vocal about them.Charging (or Not) Over USBConsumer Reports reports (ha!) that charging the iPad over USB is, at best, hit-and-miss. Plugging an iPad into a computer's USB port, instead of an AC jack, often results in syncing only, with the battery refusing to charge. Initially it was thought to be some kind of snarky OS problem, since USB ports in Windows and Linux machines seemed to have the lowest success rate in charging, but Apple responded in the negative: it's a simple power issue.The iPad requires 10W of energy to charge, much more than a typical USB port allows to trickle out. Many modern desktops, including Apple's own iMac, will have a "high power" USB port that can supply that kind of power, though it'll still charge extremely slowly compared to an AC outlet (some have said it's about a third as fast). That means most laptop USB ports won't charge it (one exception is Apple's newest MacBook Pro) and accessories like USB hubs and USB-sporting keyboards are certainly out of the picture. Good thing Apple included that impressive 10- to 12-hour battery life, right?The Problem With iPhone AppsEarly reviews focused on the new, and by all accounts impressive (yet expensive) iPad apps. Why cover iPhone apps everyone already knows? Most reviews sufficed to mention that iPhone apps do indeed work, either in the "tiny picture in the middle of the screen" mode, and blown up to fit the iPad's bigger screen. But as it turns out, you'll mostly need to opt for those expensive native iPad apps--iPhone apps are usable, but you won't want to use them.Gizmodo's John Herrman explains exactly why these upscaled iPhone apps are a little bit...yeck. Text is a serious problem, blown up and blocky and pixelated, but that's not even the worst part. The problem, which somehow nobody realized until today, is that iPhone apps simply aren't designed for the bigger screen:But the most jarring aspect of it all, as shown by the Tweetdeck apps, is that iPhone apps simply aren't designed for the larger screen. They look cartoonish. Text is massive. Buttons take up too much space. In the case of text-based apps, the iPhone-centric design is enough to render them useless. If an app hasn't been designed for the iPad specifically, you probably won't enjoy using it.The one exception seems to be games, where the comparative dearth of both text and, often, buttons makes them less susceptible to Upscaled Disease. Maybe it's best to think about iPhone apps as a "just in case," rather than the core of the iPad's app catalog.You Need a CaseThis is a hard one to hear. Real gadget geeks hate cases. Modern gadgets, maybe especially those from Jonathan Ives's Apple studio, are designed to be as beautiful as they are functional. Putting gadgets in cases ruins the sleek lines and the careful choice of materials, and replaces them with a crappy $15 sleeve. Live dangerously, we say! The beauty is worth the risk!But the iPad needs a case. It's too big to be protected by a pocket, and tossing it in a backpack is just too dangerous, really: it's too small to fill out any bag like a laptop does, and considering its most important element is a totally unprotected, 10-inch screen, it's bound to get scratched all to hell.Even more, the iPad's peculiar design has led many to reason that this thing just needs a case. At 1.5 pounds, it's heavy to hold for long periods of time--many cases, including Apple's own, pack kickstands for superior viewing. And our very own Tyler Gray's adorable son discovered one more problem: the iPad's curved metal backside may be beautiful, but it's extremely unstable. It rotates and slips and slides and all in all makes typing altogether more difficult than it needs to be. So another lesson from today: Even case-haters will buy iPad cases, and given the first day sales, that means a whole lot of cases.

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