The iPad is now in the hands of developers and consumers and we’ll hear a lot more about the specifications and features in the following days. The first things we need to know are the hardware features.
Benchmarks show that the iPad is twice as fast as the iPhone 3GS when running applications. The question remains: where is all this speed coming from? The A4 processor shares the same PowerVR SGX 535 GPU and same 256MB of RAM as the iPhone 3GS.
And has the processor one core, two cores or what? According to IO Registry Tree dumps, it looks like the A4 is based on a single Cortex A8 design instead of the new Cortex A9. The processor runs at 1GHz, looking more like the Samsung Hummingbird ARM processor. The company Intrinsity is responsible for the processor and it is believed Apple has recently acquired Intrinsity.
As people are playing with the iPad discoveries are being made. One of those discoveries is the fact that the iPad Case is not compatible with the iPad Dock. This means you have to take your iPad out of the iPad Case to be able to place it in the iPad Dock. For those who still need some accessories with the iPad, it’s important to keep the above described discovery in mind. Maybe a third-party case/dock will bring the solution.
700,000 iPads sold
In other news, The Loop reports that Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has released a report estimating first-day iPad sales somewhere near 600,000-700,000.
“Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst, Gene Munster, on Saturday said he believes Apple sold between 600-700 thousand iPads on the first day. This includes the pre-orders that would have been coming in since March 12.”
It’s not clear what data Munster based his estimation upon, besides an observation of 730 customers at Fifth Avenue in New York City. The iPad might outsell the original iPhone over the first few months of sales. The iPhone took 74 days to reach one million units sold, so the iPad is well on it’s way to reach that goal.
First impressions
Below is a list of first impressions from Cult of Mac:
It’s seriously WOW. A huge grin broke on my face the first time I swiped the lock screen. It’s so much better than just a big iPod touch. The size of the screen makes it a very different experience. I can already tell, using a mouse and keyboard is going to get old fast.
It’s got great heft and feel. It feels tough and substantial, but the 1.5 lbs weight is going to take some getting used to. In fact, it’s heavy. Definitely need an armrest. Next model will likely be plastic backed. The glass screen makes it top heavy, especially when typing it portrait mode.
At first I thought the screen was scratched — but there are shooting stars on the Home screen wallpaper. Hard to believe Steve Jobs didn’t spot this.
The screen is bright and very sharp. HD video looks astonishing.
It picks up greasy fingerprints super fast — in spite of the oleophobic coating.
Out of the box it won’t turn on until you set it up through iTunes.
Set up is super simple. Connect to iTunes (you need version 9.1) and there’s two choices: start from scratch or back up from iPhone.
The UI is very fast. Apps launch instantly.
Being able to put six apps in the dock is awesome. Many features like this and the custom wallpaper need to make it to the iPhone. Bookmarks bar in Safari is very nice.
Keyboard needs work. Very difficult to type in portrait mode. In landscape, the keyboard dominates the screen. Might be a deal breaker for some.
iPhone apps look horrible, especially Facebook.
Some apps have bugs, due to lack of hardware availability to developers. Simulators can only do so much. Expect firmware upgrade soon as well as many app updates.
The iPad’s speaker is pretty loud and perfectly adequate for watching TV or movies, even with background noise.
iFixit bought the iPad and immediately started tearing the device down to show every single part inside and outside of the iPad. From the touchscreen to the speakers, there’s a photo of every bit of electronics. Below are some screenshots and a whole bunch of technical details.
The iPad’s battery has 5.5x the capacity of the battery in the iPhone! The iPad actually has two batteries wired in parallel, for a total of 24.8 Watt-hours.
On average, the iPad sips just 2.5 Watts. That’s 1/5 the power of a compact fluorescent bulb!
The rear case is machined from a single billet of aluminum, increasing weight but greatly improving the rigidity of the device.
The empty void in the upper right corner is where the cellular communications board would go in the 3G iPad.
The A4 is a Package-on-Package (PoP), with at least three layers of circuitry layered on top of each other. A4 is packaged just like the iPhone processors, microprocessor in one package and two memory modules in the other package. They’re all sandwiched together in a very nice and thin PoP.
The iPad RAM is INSIDE the A4 processor package. Confirming this took quite a bit of sleuthing: we had to partner with Chipworks to X-ray the processor. The X-ray revealed two layers of RAM. In addition to the ARM processor, the A4 package contains two stacked Samsung dies.
The rumored slot for a camera is actually taken up by the ambient light sensor.
The glass panel is quite thick: about 1.18 mm, compared to the iPhone’s 1.02 mm thick glass. This is necessitated by the panel’s large size.
Co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, is one of a kind. He looks like a really nice guy and just like the iPad, he is magical as well. He does a quick trick with a chain and a ring. Take a look.
But that’s not all. He was ofcourse waiting in line to get one of the first iPads. The Apple Store in Valley Fair had a special looking iPad just for Woz: the iPad 3G. Or so it seems. Maybe he loves to play tricks on us and he taped a black sticker on the iPad, or he really has the iPad 3G. Fair? The Valley says so. Take a look at the picture below, posted by Cult of Mac:
It’s been a busy day yesterday, so I’ll post some articles today with news about the iPad launch. As the lines are being formed, people get closer to the doors. Eventually the doors open up to reveal the beautiful iPad.
I don’t know why, but these guys are either not happy with the iPad or just want to start a new YouTube sensation, but the iPad is being completely destroyed by a baseball bat.
And one other video showing the opening of the Apple Store and the unboxing of the iPad as well as starting it up.
