More than a e-reader...

Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the much awaited "iPad" tablet on Wednesday. The iPad will sell from late March for as low as $499 for 16 gigabytes of storage. An extra $130 is needed to equip it with third-generation wireless capability. The tablet aims to bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops.

iPad comes with different capacities; 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive. The devise supports the 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip. The half-inch thick tablet computer with a 9.7-inch touchscreen can run movies, games and a gamut of applications. Apple announced a digital bookstore called iBooks that will let users buy from publishers including Pearson Plc's Penguin, News Corp's HarperCollins, and Hachette Book Group.

Multi-Touch screen

The large Multi-Touch screen on iPad lets you see web pages as they were meant to be seen — one page at a time. With vibrant color and sharp text. So whether you’re looking at a page in portrait or landscape, you can see everything at a size that’s actually readable. And with iPad, navigating the web has never been easier or more intuitive. Because you use the most natural pointing device there is: your finger. Scroll through a page just by flicking your finger up or down on the screen. Or pinch to zoom in or out on a photo. There’s also a thumbnail view that shows all your open pages in a grid, to let you quickly move from one page to the next.

Mail

See and touch your email in ways you never could before. In landscape, you get a split-screen view showing both an opened email and the messages in your inbox. To see the opened email by itself, turn iPad to portrait, and the email automatically rotates and fills the screen. No matter which orientation you use, you can scroll through your mail, compose a new email using the large, onscreen keyboard, or delete messages with nothing more than a tap and a flick. If someone emails you a photo, you can see it right in the message. You can also save the photos in an email directly to the built-in Photos app. And iPad works with all the most popular email providers, including MobileMe, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.

Videos

The large, high-resolution screen makes iPad perfect for watching any kind of video: from HD movies and TV shows to podcasts and music videos. Switch between wide screen and full screen with a double-tap. Because iPad is essentially one big screen, with no distracting keypad or buttons, you feel completely immersed in whatever you’re watching.

Photos

With its crisp, vibrant display and unique software features, iPad is an extraordinary way to enjoy and share your photos. For example, the Photos app displays the photos in an album as though they were in a stack. Just tap the stack, and the whole album opens up. From there, you can flip through your pictures, zoom in or out, or watch a slideshow. You can even use your iPad as a beautiful digital photo frame while it’s is docked or charging. And there are lots of ways to import photos: You can sync them from your computer, download them from an email, or import them directly from your camera using the optional Apple Camera Connection Kit.

LED-Backlit IPS Display

The high-resolution, 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS display on iPad is remarkably crisp and vivid. Which makes it perfect for web browsing, watching movies, or viewing photos. With iPad, there is no up or down. It’s designed to show off your content in portrait or landscape orientation with every turn. And because it uses a display technology called IPS (in-plane switching), it has a wide, 178° viewing angle. So you can hold it almost any way you want and still get a brilliant picture, with excellent color and contrast.

3G

iPad will also be available in a 3G model with superfast data speeds up to 7.2 Mbps.3 So if you’re traveling or you happen to be somewhere without a Wi-Fi network, you can still get a fast connection for surfing the web, downloading email, or getting directions.

140,000 apps

iPad will work with almost all of the apps designed for the iPhone. Just download them from the App Store. Or, if you already have apps for your iPhone or iPod touch, you can sync them to iPad from your Mac or PC. Then run them in their original size, or expand them to fill the screen. And developers are working on new apps designed specifically for this amazing device and all the things it can do.

Wireless

With built-in 802.11n, iPad takes advantage of the fastest Wi-Fi networks. It automatically locates available Wi-Fi networks, which you can join with a few taps. iPad also comes with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, letting you connect to devices like wireless headphones or the Apple Wireless Keyboard.

Connectivity

The 30-pin connector on the bottom of the iPad allows you to dock and charge it. It also lets you connect to iPad accessories like the Camera Connection Kit and the Keyboard Dock.