How the iPad Works

How the iPad Works

Imagine waking up in the morning and instead of sending the dog out front to retrieve your soggy newspaper, it's already electronically delivered to a high-tech gizmo and waiting for you to read. When you get done with the paper, you can get up-to-the-minute analyst reports on your stocks. Then, on the way to work, you can watch a video or play a few games.

Jan. 27, 2010, may be a day the gadget world looks back on as a turning point in portable personal computing and the way we use digital media. Or it may also turn out to be the day Apple got it wrong. That was the day the company announced the release of its much-anticipated iPad. As is common with Apple products, the iPad's development was kept behind a curtain of secrecy. When soon as the curtain was raised, though, a new device stuck somewhere between smartphone and computer emerged. And that's when all the questions started pouring in.

At first glance, the iPad looks like an iPhone or iPod touch on steroids. It's much larger than those two related devices, yet smaller than a notebook computer. Its sleek finish and unique engineering scream Apple design. But many are wondering: What exactly is the iPad? The quick answer is, it's a digital media tablet. If you're even more confused now, don't worry. This article aims to shed some light on the device that has sparked so much buzz.

On the next page, we'll start by taking a look at its design in the next section before getting into some of its features later on.