Steve Jobs Announces Apple iPad Multitouch Slate Tablet Specs, Features and Details

It's a slate and a tablet, but it's called an iPad. Yes, Steve Jobs officially announced the new Apple iPad multitouch device, with a Wi-fi version set to be released in 60 days and a Wi-fi/3G version of the iPad going on sale in 90 days in the U.S.  The slim device looks like a large iPod Touch, and it can be used for surfing the web, emailing, reading ebooks, and enjoying music, photos, and video as well.

Powered by Apple's own custom 1GHz A4 chip, Apple promises up to 10 hours of battery life on the iPad. The device is 0.5-inches thin, it weighs just 1.5 pounds, and it sports a 9.7-inch IPS display, a full capacitive multi-touch screen with over 1000 hardware sensors. Wireless connectivity includes 802.11n, and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.

Getting down to iPad options, Apple announced a few versions. The iPad with Wi-fi 16GB, 32GB OR 64GB SSD devices are priced at $499, $599, and $699, respectively, while the iPad with Wi-fi and 3G models cost $629 for the 16GB iPad, $729 for the 32GB models and $829 for the top of the line 64GB version.

The iPad's virtual landscape keyboard is almost full-sized, and the keyboard works in portrait mode as well. There's no camera on the device, but it runs 140k apps on the app store well as a whole new generation of apps on the way, the most exciting being games. iWork Numbers, Keynote, and Pages apps cost $9.99 each, and Apple also announced a new iBook eBook reader app and iBook store where ebooks will cost about $14.99.

The Apple iPad syncs via USB with iTunes, and the 3G version will have two data plan options from AT&T- up to 250MB for $15/month, or unlimited data for $29.99/month. The good thing is, there's no contract and you can cancel your deal with AT&T anytime, apparently.

iPad accessories include a case that doubles as a stand, a dock, and a keyboard.

Apple iPad site

via | Crunchgear