Apple iPad Impressions

So it's finally been announced. We've known about it for month's but now the iPad is official and I've to be honest. It's a bit of a disappointment. First the Nexus 1, then the HP Tablet and now the iPad.

Software wise it met all my expectations. We knew it would run on some kind of hybrid iPhone OS and we weren't wrong. All those iPhone apps are still going to work without any issues, they're just going to look very small (apparently it will have a zoom function that will make the apps look bigger but will lose visual quality)

My biggest gripe is the physical design of it. That big black border around the screen makes it look horrible! I think 99% of the concepts different websites came up with had the screen extending to the absolute edge, similar to the iPhone and iPod touch. I guess the reason for that could be that they simply couldn't fit the hardware in to such a small place but that begs the question, why didn't they make the screen bigger then? It's supposed to be a 9.7" capacitive touch screen, an extra .3 inches could have made a huge difference aesthetically (to me at least)

I'm sure by the time the next iteration of it is released sometime next year they'll have redesigned it to be more streamlined as Apple do with all their products.

The most exciting thing that comes to mind now for the iPad is the development of iPad applications which I'm guessing will have an extremely, if not identical process to that of the iPhone via the App Store. Being a bit of a programmer myself this is where I think the iPad could potentially shine just like it's little brother.

I think I'll definitely be waiting till next year to pick up the revised version after all the initial bugs and problems have been kicked.