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>>Brian: What's up. I'm Brian Tong, and welcome to the Apple Byte. And guess what we're talking about, boys and girls? If you guessed the iPad, ding, ding, ding! You are correct. Now, the Apple Byte was at the event, and we only sent out the best of the best. So let's find out if this iPad thing lived up to the hype.
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Brian Tong with CNET.com. And, yes; in my hand, this is the iPad. And I've got to tell you that it does feel pretty sturdy. It is a nice weight to it. It's one and a half pounds, and it's half an inch thick. Now, when you look at it, you might think, well, it looks like a really big iPod Touch. And it does have a lot of features very similar. But what they've done is actually rebuilt a lot of the core apps specifically for this device. So if you look at something like mail, and you can see the layout of your E-mails, but you can actually see them here in the right-hand column. And you'll see this in a lot of the other applications. You also find a redesigned iTunes store. And what also makes this unique is the store itself is laid out differently. It's really taken advantage of the larger screen space, so you have a really -- a better user experience. You also have access to your photos. There's kind of a cool photo frame feature where you dock it and you press a button and it'll actually turn into this kind of digital photo frame. You also have access to movie content, as well, and all of your applications. Now, some of the unique innovative features of this device is the iBooks and iBooks book store. So what this is, this is a bookshelf. And much like iTunes, you can get access to books and instantly download them to the device. And then one of the main things that I think that makes this unique is, sure it's not EA, but this is a full-color screen. Also, you have the touch capability to turn pages; you can even take it nice and slow if you want to. Now, a lot of the apps, most of the apps that are currently on the app store will work with the iPad. They do have this feature that's basically a doubler that fills out the game to the screen. I can just click right here and it doubles the pixels. So you're still going to get a full screen experience. There will be apps that are customized specifically for the iPad, so you can wait and see that when the actual device releases. Another feature they're really pushing is being able to use some of their desktop apps from the iWorks Suite directly on the device. They have also been redesigned just for multi-test, so all you do is use your fingers. So you have an application that you're familiar with like Keynote, which is a PowerPoint application, and this will allow you to interact with your slide show and use it with your hands. Now, the iPad, what's the pricing going to start at? Well, there's two flavors, really. There's a WiFi version and then a WiFi with 3G. If you want the entry level WiFi model, that's going to start at 499 and go up to 699. Then, if you want a WiFi in 3G version, that's going to start at $629 and go all the way up to $829 for the 64-gig version. Now, the iPad overall, it is a unique innovative device. I don't feel really super-compelled to buy one at the moment, but I really think that will change as more media content that you can interact with that makes it a unique experience comes out. But, overall, there's your first look at the iPad. I'm Brian Tong with CNET.com.
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>>Brian: Okay, dudes, seriously. Nice wrap-up. But when are you going to stop copying the way I dress? And, please, get a haircut.
>> Uh, that's you.
>>Brian: Jamie, Jamie, is that you?
>> Just move on.
>>Brian: She's watching the show. Okay. Perfect now. Be perfect. Now, we also asked people what they thought of the announcement. ^*What were your first impressions when they announced the iPad?
>> That it's bigger than an iPod. It was interesting to see the fit and finish on it and actually handling it. It's so solid.
>> It's just like a big iPod Touch, which is -- that's cool. I'm cool with that.
>> Like revolutionizing the whole idea of what we do with the computer and doing it all with your hands.
>> There's no way you can match the hype of a pre -- pre Apple announcement. There's no conceivable way.
>> It's such a cool device that I'm excited. And I don't care if anybody else is excited, because I am.
>> Would I buy it?
>>Brian: Right now, would you buy it?
>> 500 bucks? I'd buy it and play around with it.
>> Yes, I would. I'd try to offer them 500 bucks there and they wouldn't take it. But it's a cool device.
>> I was actually thinking about just grabbing one and running, but I didn't [laughing] -- I thought they'd probably have enough people to stop me.
>>Brian: All right. You've got to remember, Justine [assumed spelling] loves everything Apple makes. And myself, I wasn't really that impressed until I got a chance to play with it. I'm a gadget freak. And we haven't seen any product like this, but I can't say I'm willing to buy it right now. So let's get back to the iPad and some things you may not know. It's running iPhone OS version 3.2, which runs specifically on the iPad and not on any iPhones or iPod Touches. The iPad will have external video out capability. You'll be able to mount it as a drive to share files. There's still no flash support, and there's still no multitasking. And apps specifically developed for the iPad will not be compatible with iPhones or iPods. There were also some moans when AT&T showed up as a partner. And, even though the WiFi with 3G version is unlocked for use internationally, Apple spokespeople could not confirm if it would work with T-Mobile here in the U.S. So I'm guessing that means a big no. Now, the WiFi version will be available in 60 days; and the WiFi in 3G version will be available in about 90 days. But who might get their hands on it first? Jack Bauer and 24. Rodney Charters, the director of photography for 24, tweeted that they would be getting Apple's latest goodie for an episode. I'm just thinking, would he use it to get his latest mission information or would he mess up a bad guy like he did with that fire ax?
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I'll be waiting. All right. Let's check out our App of the Week. This week's app of the week is the New York times app for the iPad. It was the most impressive thing I saw at the event, because it really showcased how new media content can be consumed in the future. Flipping through articles, resizing the text with a pinch, viewing photo galleries within an article, and then instantly pulling up a video feature that complements the article? I'm getting giddy already. Now, if more publishers innovate and pump content like this into the iPad, then it really makes it a must buy for me. All right. That's going to do it for this week's show. We know you have plenty on your mind, so send us your thoughts, reactions, and questions about the iPad to the Apple Byte at CNET.com and we'll answer them next week. I'm Brian Tong. Thanks for watching, and come back next week for another "byte" of the Apple.
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