Apple iPad is innovative, but not without its drawbacks

Apple has done it again. The company that started by rethinking the personal computer and then evolved to music players and smart phones, has now moved on to its next target - portable readers and netbooks. Last week, Apple released the prototype for its newest wonder - the iPad. The device is nearly half-an-inch wide and is lightly designed (weighing a mere pound and a half) so that it can be carried everywhere. Essentially, the iPad is a larger version of the iPhone, just minus the phone and camera part.

It has a similar interface that consumers interact with-the same virtual keyboard that pops up when you need it. It also has the same applications, like iTunes, along with all the other 140,000 apps that are available to the iPhone.

Likewise, the iPad has many of the same limitations the iPhone carries, such as the inability to run more than one application at a time, and it has trouble handling Flash video, which could make it difficult to view video footage and clips from many popular sites like Hulu.com.

The shape of the iPad looks much like an iPhone that someone has sat on. The screen is nine and a half inches tall, which is a hair smaller than the average netbook screen.

Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said he believes the iPad will fit somewhere between peoples' laptops and their smartphones, filling a niche that essentially has yet to be filled by other products, except, perhaps, by Amazon.com's Kindle.

The iPad comes with Apple's A4 chip, which is one of the company's more innovative processors. It can also be purchased with three different sized hard drives: one with 16GB, one with 32GB or one with 64GB.

Apple has fixed the iPad so that it has the longest battery life of any Apple product, extending for more than 10 hours with more than a month of standby.

For instance, if you "lost" your iPad in some nook or cranny, after a while it will go into sleep mode, and when you come across it hidden beneath your dirty clothes pile nearly a month later, it can still be revived for a quick Facebook stalk.

However, the new iPad does have its downsides. Aside from its inability to handle Flash applications, the device runs on Wi-Fi or AT&T's 3G network.

Thus, to gain the ability to use the iPad anywhere, customers will have to pay a premium. The price for this service has yet to be set.

The cheapest iPad runs for $499, while the most expensive one tops out at $829. Eastern's computer store said it will have an iPad on display at the store's retail center in the Student Services Building.

If students are interested in buying one, the store can order it from Apple. For more information, students can visit the store's Facebook page.

Many students here have different opinions about the iPad being released to the public.

Landon Leedy, a sophomore criminal justice major, suggested that the iPad (if it evolves into a full-fledged computer) could be a good accessory for the justice and safety community later on the future.

"Cops could use the iPad in their vehicles and the size would save up on room," Leedy said.

"I think it's a beautiful piece of technology, but not a necessity," said Jeff Brock, a junior in political science.

Brock said that sooner or later a bigger and better iPad will no doubt be released soon, and maybe then he would consider buying one.

Keith Justice, a junior broadcasting major, commented that he didn't see it necessary for students, but maybe more for business people traveling a lot.

Reid Connelly, operator of the EKU computer store, had the same opinion. "I don't believe it is what people hoped for," he said.

The iPad is just one of the newer technologies coming to the public soon.

Sprint has announced that they will be coming out with a technology similar to the iPad called the Skiff. The Skiff, unlike the iPad, is only used for viewing newspapers and magazines.

The display is an 11.5 inch screen, but Sprint has yet to determine a release date.