This should be interesting.

It’s official. Consumer Reports’ engineers have just completed testing the iPhone 4, and have confirmed that there is a problem with its reception. When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side—an easy thing, especially for lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you’re in an area with a weak signal. Due to this problem, we can’t recommend the iPhone 4.

More here: http://cl.ly/1dZW

What is it and what does it do?

The iPad is, in the words of Apple, “Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.”  They claim it is, “The best way to experience the web, email, photos, and video.  Hands down.”  Ok, minus all the marketing, it’s essentially a giant, beautiful iPod Touch (or iPhone if you buy the 3G model – more on that in a minute).  They’re looking to fill the gap/market between the phone (mobile) and laptop/desktop (computer).

It includes many of the same applications that are included by default on the iPod Touch/iPhone including Safari, Mail, Photos, YouTube, iPod, iTunes, App Store, Maps, Notes, Contacts, and Calendar.  Two apps that were made specifically for this device include iBooks and Videos.  All of applications, however, got a major UI overhaul and look like much larger, advanced, grown-up versions of their little siblings on the iPod Touch/iPhone.

The tablet isn’t meant to be your main machine.  It’s meant to be something to use to enjoy your content when you’re out and about, or just relaxing on the living sofa.

Is there anything really special about this device?

The Apple iPad. Image courtesy Apple.com

This device has the ability, if executed correctly, to revolutionize several industries.  The main industry it will hopefully impact in a positive way is the publishing industry.  The print business is hurting so terribly right now that they’re essentially begging for anything to come to their rescue.  The iPad could be it.  The iBooks application on the iPad essentially takes the same functionality as the Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble Nook and makes it 10x as pretty looking and versatile.  Also, because this device includes the App Store, and special apps will be made for the size of the iPad, each individual newspaper, for example, can create an app for the device.  The New York Times showed off its application for the iPad today, and it looked awesome.  It’s essentially like reading the paper.

It’s also very versatile.  It can do a lot of things in an excellent form factor.  There’s many times I’d like to use an app on my iPhone in a bigger, more powerful context, but do not feel like taking out my MacBook Pro.  This bridges the gap.

Does the device have any shortcomings?

In my opinion, yes.  There are many, in fact.  There’s almost more shortcomings than identifiable positives.  However, as I said above, the possibilities are endless.  Here’s my list of shortcomings:

• The UI/OS is just a giant version of the iPhone/iPod Touch OS.  The home screen looks silly with such small application icons and the lock screen looks absolutely ridiculous.  Also, for those hoping for some sort of filesystem or structure that is available to the user to store and create documents, you’re out of luck.  On top of that, there is no multitasking (yet – unless iPhone 4.0 ships before this device and this functionality is included), and for a tablet, that’s a huge disappointment.  That means you can’t IM and e-mail, or IM and surf the web at the same time. This makes me wonder if Apple is trying to stretch the iPhone OS too far?  Perhaps a brand new, hybrid OS X / iPhone, OS would have been better?
• No Cameras.  None.  This means no video conferencing and no picture taking.
• No HDMI/HD Video Out – Apple is touting the gorgeous screen and the fast CPU to be able to play HD video.  Why not allow users to connect this to an HDTV?
• No Flash – I can understand this on the iPhone, but this is part computer.  Suck it up, Apple.  People still need Flash.  HTML 5 hasn’t been widely enough adopted yet.
• Adapters – There’s no USB port on this device.  Apple is selling two adapters for it, one being a USB adapter for cameras, and another being an SD card reader.
• The name iPad.   Slate would have been much better.  Hell, anything would have been better than iPad.
• No Handwriting Recognition – This was my biggest letdown.  PC tablets running Windows for years have supported this, and OS X has excellent pen/stylus recognition software called Inkwell already built into the core of the OS.  Why not port that over to this device and allow people like me, students, or artists, to draw on this with something else but our fingers?  Sure, third parties will make input devices, but are you really going to trust a third party company to write a handwriting recognition algorithm and notepad app to go with it?  No.  This is a huge letdown.

Technical Specs/Models

The iPad has a 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology that runs at a 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi).

There are two distinct model types: One with 3G cellular data provided by AT&T, and one with WiFi only.  The one with cellular data allows you to purchase data without a contract.  You can pay either 15 dollars a month for 250 megabytes of data (think e-mail only, or limited web browsing online), or unlimited data for 30 dollars a month.  Again, there’s no contract and you can cancel at any time.  The activation takes place right on the device.

Both models include WiFi (a/b/g/n) and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology.

The processor inside is a 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip.  The reviews so far say this chip is blazing fast.

It has a built-in 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery that provides up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music.  Standby time is over a month!!

Finally, for pricing, here’s Apple’s official chart:

Your thoughts?

I’d love to hear them in the comments below.  Also, if you have any questions about the device, I’ll try my best to answer them.  Be sure to check out http://www.apple.com/ipad

Hardware:

• A 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.  That’s super fast for a phone!
• A  480×800 AMOLED screen – consumes less power than a typical OLED screen.
• A 5.0 MP camera with a LED flash.
• A trackball with a multicolored backlight, for different notifications.
• A2DP Stereo Bluetooth and Wireless-N capabilities.
• 2 microphones for “active noise suppression.”
• Compass, GPS, light and proximity sensors, and accelerometers
• A 1400mAH battery, for 5 hours of 3G browsing or 7 hours of 3G talk.
• Skinnier than a standard pencil.
• A QR code printed on the back, which, when read, takes you to an android-themed game of Memory.

Software:

• The Nexus One sports the new Android 2.1 firmware, which is gorgeous looking, and only available on the Nexus One for right now.  It’ll be on the Droid soon enough
• 5 home screens
• Live Wallpapers, or interactive backgrounds.
• A revamped photo gallery
• Background syncing to online Picasa photo galleries
• Voice enabled text fields using Google’s voice recognition
• Apps will soon be able to stored on an external SD card
• No multitouch in the default Google Apps.
• According to Gizmodo, “If you want Android phones, this is the one to get.”
• According to TechCrunch, “The Droid You’re Looking For”
• The phone has been rooted, or,  “jailbroken.”

Carriers and Pricing:

• The phone is $530 to buy it unlocked: meaning, you can use it with any carrier, including AT&T,  although it won’t work with AT&T’s 3G service.
• The phone is $179 if you want to buy it with a 2 year contract with T-Mobile. T-Mobile offers a plan for $80 including 500 minutes and unlimited internet and TXT/SMS.
• The phone is said to come to Verizon some time this spring.
• If you live in Europe, the phone will come to Vodaphone sometime in the spring as well.
• You can get the phone custom engraved.
• Buy it here.

Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on one and give it a shot.  I liked the Droid, so I imagine I’ll enjoy the Nexus One quite a bit as well.  Apparently, Verizon and other carriers who are using the Android platform are not concerned that this will negatively impact their business.  I’m not so sure.  Google worked super close with HTC to make sure this is the shining star of the Android line.  We’ll have to see how it plays out.

Thanks to Salem from TechnoHeads.org for allowing me to use his excellent, simplified list of what the Nexus One is all about.

The lawsuit is incredibly frivolous.  AT&T tries to claim that the ads are misleading because on Verizon’s map, the white space represents no service, but on AT&T’s map, the white space, in many cases, represents EDGE coverage.  They’re claiming that consumers won’t know the difference and assume that the white space on AT&T’s map is indeed indicative of a no-service area.  Here’s an image of the ad:

"There's a map for that." Image courtesy Engadget.

At the bottom of the ad though, it clearly states “5x More 3G Coverage.”  The emphasis is mine.  Although many consumers may not know what that means, technically, Verizon is being truthful.  Verizon’s entire network is based on a network technology called EVDO.  EVDO, is by nature, entirely 3G.  This means that essentially, Verizon’s entire network is 3G, so therefore, they can use their entire coverage map.  AT&T’s network, however, is not entirely 3G.  Most of its network is in fact EDGE, which is a 2.5G technology.  The map shown to the right does properly indicate AT&T’s 3G coverage zones.  Sad, isn’t it?  The loophole for Verizon of course is that even though EVDO’s speeds in many places equal that, or are even slower than that of EDGE, because the network technology is classified as 3G, they can use the map without repercussion.  For now, anyway.  Hopefully the judge will agree, because in all honesty, I think this ad campaign is fantastic.

AT&T published a posting on their website saying that:

As the U.S. market leader in wireless data service, we typically don’t respond to competitors’ advertising. However, some recent ads from Verizon are so blatantly false and misleading, that we want to set the record straight about AT&T’s wireless data coverage.

They continue to give statistics that reenforce how misleading the map is, and then link to a coverage map of their own, showing their “data” coverage.  Notice the phrasing there – data coverage.  Click on these shots for an explanation (or hover over them if you’re reading from the feed):

So, to conclude, Verizon technically isn’t lying – they’re being clever.  Their network is far superior to that of any other carrier in the US.  Verizon’s response to AT&T’s lawsuit started with:

AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon’s “There’s A Map For That” advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon’s ads are true and the truth hurts.

Harsh?  Yes.  True?  Absolutely.  Maybe AT&T should be spending a little more of its time working on its network, rather than filing ridiculous lawsuits.

UPDATE 11/18/09

This isn’t looking good for AT&T.  An article on AppleInsider says:

The judge ruled Wednesday that while the ads may be “sneaky,” they are not misleading, and do not justify any action to take them off the air. The judge did state however, that most TV watchers are “semi-catatonic” and therefore can easily misinterpret information presented.

A follow-up hearing date was set for Dec. 16, giving lawyers a second chance to present their case for an injunction. Verizon has claimed that AT&T’s suit is without merit

Looks like AT&T is continuing to fight back, though.  They just aired this new ad.  The arguments, similar to their lawsuit, is weak.  Very, very, weak.

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