Apple iPad 16GB, Wi-Fi, 9.7in - Black (MB292LL/A)

Put together your laptop, GPS navigator, iPod and iPhone – you get the dynamic Apple iPad. Weighing a mere 1.5 lbs, this 16GB iPad can store up to 4000 songs or 16 hours of video. Enjoy the fastest Wi-Fi networks with this Apple Wi-Fi iPad as it automatically locates the available networks; while the Bluetooth connectivity cuts the clutter with Bluetooth headphones and wireless Apple keypads. The 1024-by-768 pixel resolution displays crystal clear images on the 9.7-inch screen of the Apple iPad – watch your movies, videos, and TV shows crisper than before. The reengineered Multi-Touch screen of this 16 GB iPad makes the operation more precise than your iPhone or iPod. Customize your Apple Wi-Fi iPad with nearly 140,000 applications - be it for social networking, games, music or even serious business. The Apple iPad, with a perfect blend of looks and performance is probably the only gadget you will ever need again – except of course, to make calls.

I'm a big electronics fanatic and once I learned about the iPad, some months before it was released, I just had to have it! I would go to best buy daily just to play with one, I would spend hours researching it online, etc. Now I finally have one and I'm very pleased with the product but there are some technicalities one should consider before purchasing the iPad.

The iPad is much lighter and more portable than a laptop, so its great to just whip it out in class to type up your notes rather than actually killing your hand. There are many games that you can play once you download the app, some being free while others you have to pay for. games range from solitaire to dominoes to monopoly to air hockey etc. You can even download some pretty good religious apps too such as the holy Bible and the holy Quran. It is also just a larger version of an iPod/iPhone in many ways so it does hold music and picture files. It also can hold your ebooks in a specific place which keeps them all in order and will open back up to where you left off. There are many ebooks out there too that are free with like the game apps some you must purchase.

But like I said the iPad does need some work to make future makes more user friendly. The screen is a lot harder to clean than an iPods so before you start playing on your iPad make sure you place a screen protector on it. That will make it easier to clean and less likely to scratch. There is also a battery life issue... I use my iPad heavily and I am happy to say that I get very long battery life out of it. The issue is charging! It takes a very long time to charge completely which anyone who has ever owned an iPod or iPhone would be used to charging taking about an hour to be complete. I have never been so lucky with my iPad yet and yes it is possible that I just have a glitch in mine but I doubt it.

To be honest I don't have many complaints about the iPad and a lack of camera and USB port do not bother me for I have a laptop for that. What does bother me the most is the lack of a flash player and adobe reader. Yes, you can hack into your product to gain such properties but you shouldn't have to! You're spending well over $400 on one item that can not do basic things that even the most ancient computers, desktop and laptop alike, perform with ease. Yes it isnt a computer so there are sure to be some faults but when you have the name of APPLE supporting the product most people expect more if not just basic things.

The iPad does have amazing picture quality, too. It's also very convenient that if you go online and see a picture of someone or something you like all you have to do is hold the picture down and it copies to your iPad! There are also some apps that will allow you to send SMS messages (text) to cell phones directly from your iPad. I must admit that that and aim come in handy when you're in the middle of class and you have something important to tell someone. You can now do it without ever taking out your phone and your teacher will think you're being studious. (sorry moms but it's true)

And also, this isn't really a fault for it has always been this way but I am familiar with the glass keyboards but after having an android phone where you use swype to write your messages, I must admit that apples keyboards on their portable items are behind the times. If you are accustomed to swype than be prepared to actually type your words out one letter at a time, unless you buy an actual Bluetooth keyboard.

The iPad is a touch-screen tablet computer, roughly the size of a magazine, with three models that connect to the Internet strictly over Wi-Fi.
The iPad runs the same software found on Apple's popular iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple calls this software the iPhone OS, and it's generally regarded as one of the most successful operating systems designed for use with touch-screen devices. Unlike conventional computer OS software, designed around the mouse and the keyboard, the iPhone OS responds only to touch input and is generally capable of running only one application at a time.

If you've ever used an iPhone or iPod Touch, the iPad will feel immediately familiar. Out of the box, you get many of the iPhone's capabilities, including Apple-designed applications (apps) for Web browsing, e-mail, maps, photos, music, video, YouTube, and more. More apps can be installed using the built-in App Store software or by connecting the iPad to iTunes via your computer using the included cable. If you already own apps purchased for an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can transfer these apps to the iPad, as well.

The inclusion of the iWorks utilities gives this device a little bit of a laptop personality. Don't let that persuade you into believing that you don't need a computer though. You might be able to get away with ditching a laptop if all you really do is e-mail or very light word processing, but if you do anything more than that you'll like the freedom and ease a full computer offers for more complex tasks. That said, this device is a tremendous leap towards a future tablet style device that may very well be a replacement for your computer, but for now it is more of a casual use device than something you can really expect to do substantial work with. I have put together a presentation in keynote, which was easy enough to do, but pages isn't as intuitive as I'd have liked, and taking lengthy notes or writing long letters/e-mails/reports will probably make it worth considering buying either the keyboard dock or the wireless bluetooth keyboard.

Battery life seems to live up to the claims, I managed to get about 7 hours before getting the 20% remaining battery life indication, which puts it about right for 10 hours or so of total use. One very important thing to realize about charging the device is that presently (at launch) there is some issues with charging via USB from many computers. The iPad is different than other iPod products, it requires a bit more power to charge up, and unfortunately most USB ports aren't set up to support that higher power draw. This is something that may be fixed in a firmware update to allow for a slower charge, or it may simply be that you'll need to either rely on a new Mac (seems like they can handle the power issue) or rely on the wall charger. Just don't be surprised if you plug it into your computer and it doesn't show that it is charging.

All in all, the iPad is an impressive device that might make for a reasonable replacement of a netbook for casual users. For people who need something to really do a lot of work on, you may find that for the price that a netbook or laptop still offers the better value for your needs. Future generations of this device will probably transition into fitting that market better than this first generation. However, if you're an avid reader, casual gamer, music fan, who doesn't do much more on the web than check a few sites, and e-mail. This thing is definitely worth considering!

I'm a PC person and normally stay out of the Apple world. However, the Apple tablet PC (called an iPad) caught my attention and I decided if I was going to cross over to Apple, I was going for top-of-line, even if it wasn't brand new. I ended up getting a used Apple iPad with Wi-Fi, 3G, 64GB, and optional keyboard. The iPad itself came in it's original box. I noticed when opening it that there were very few extra parts - everything you want is already built into the iPad itself: the memory, the battery, the WiFi, the 3G. What did come in the box was a short setup instruction sheet, a USB data cable, a wall plug-in charger which you plugged the USB cable into, and a pin for removing the 3G Sim from the iPad. I believe a new iPad would have included headphones too, but that wasn't included with this used one. The optional keyboard came separate from the original iPad box. This first thing you have to do (besides charging it if the battery isn't charged), is plug it via the supplied USB cable into a PC or Mac with Apples "itunes" product on it. I already had itunes, but if you don't, it's available for free download from Apple. You will need to set up an "Apple id" for itunes and the iPad. Usually you just specify your favorite personal email address as your Apple id. Once you have itunes set up on PC or Mac, plugging the iPad in will cause itunes to sync your iPad up with whatever you have in itunes - music, pictures, movies, apps, books, etc. You can also use itunes to backup and/or Restore your iPad. There are 14 preloaded apps. Four basic ones across the bottom of the screen:
Safari - a web browser,
Mail - handles email,
Photos - a photo library manager
iPod - a music/sound manager
and 10 more apps above these:
Calendar - a calendaring application,
Contacts - a contact/address book manager,
Notes - general note recording,
Maps - a mapping application.. no need for a GPS,
Videos - shows videos,
YouTube - interface into this web app,
iTunes - interface into this web app music store,
Game Center - some (not all) iPad games,
Settings - settings values for all apps
Going through the "Settings" app on the ipad was easy. Actually I found almost everything easy. Way too easy to buy apps from the the app store and going over budget. Once you've comfirmed that you want to buy an app in the app store, it downloads and installs itself - and a lot of the apps are FREE! The way the screen re-orients itself to the way you hold it is neat. The iPad uses solid state memory instead of a disk drive to hold everything, but since I got 64G model, I have plenty of room. Now that I already have it:
a)I find that using just the WiFi is usually sufficient since there's lots of free WiFi around. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't have included 3G support.
b) The on-screen keyboard, although not exactly QWERTY, is very usable. I would not get the external keyboard if I had to do it over.
All in all, I have very little to complain about. But there are 3 items:
1) The iPad looks like it would accept an iPhone or iPod charger, but the iPad requires 2 amps before it will recharge the battery, so not all iPhone or iPod chargers will work.
2) Apparently Adobe Flash player will not run on Apple equipment, so you can't watch video on web sites which use Adobe Flash Player.
3) It's easy to start an app, but I haven't figured out a way to kill a running app other than turning off the iPad. (Some Apple expert will probably point me to some free app.)

IPAD, new fenomena from APPLE.

Will Ipad replace my Iphone/Ipod Touch/Blackberry?
- No. Its a bigger screen Ipod Touch/ Iphone therefore its too big for your pocket

Will Ipad replace my Netbook/ Notebook/ Desktop PC/ Macbook?
- No. Function wise is to limited to replace serious PC/Macbook. It is just in fact a bigger screen version of Ipod Touch/ Iphone using same base of OS (iphone OS instead of Mac OSX)

So Why do I buy this IPAD:
1. Its a cool device from Apple
2. Closest replacement for Magazine/newspaper/tabloid/fam​ily album and any other reading and viewing material where you may use it while lying down in the bed before sleeping or it may become your best friend in the restroom/toilet he3x.
3. Faster loading time compare to regular PC/Mac so its just like PDA, almost as instant as opening a newspaper.
4. Lighter than most slate pc / tablet pc. (Close enough to a thick magazine such Fortune/forbes/vogue/cosmopoli​tan etc)
5. Wider screen compare to other PDA/ media player / Smart Phone.
6. Excellent multi touch screen ability to navigate your reading.
7. Interaction bonuses as its a wifi reading material.
8. It can even manage your email/ ebay bidding and other daily online activity.
9. Enough PC/Mac capability for instant document editing/ auditing/ viewing.

So IPAD its not to replace any of your current gadget, but simply to fulfill additional gadget that you wishing for. For me, I always looking a way to replace an conventional reading material such as magazine/newspaper/brochures etc., which content wise can be replace from the site you search from the internet, problem is we cannot hold netbook/desktop/macbook lying down in the bed, even some slate PC its just still to heavy to hold and difficult operate with one hand, stylus style its even worst. So I put my bet that Ipad may do the job for me.