Apple has announced the long-awaited iPad, a device aimed at combining the intuitive interface and versatility of the iPhone with a netbook laptop. Although the amount of usages is highly impressive, the photographic uses are varied.
The interface works perfectly for viewing images, allowing entire albums to be expanded and thumbnails viewed before fully launching the images. The iPad can also be used as a portable photoframe, with the ability to group images together and scroll through with the lateral motion of a finger across the screen even an absolute beginner handed the device could get to grips rapidly.
Having up to 64GB of storage on board, as well as a wifi connection, means those with a studio setup have the availability to use the iPad as a storage device. If the iPhone remote trigger apps also make the journey to the iPad photographers will have the ability to fire the camera’s shutter, set manual values and possibly preview the image prior to shooting. The only real drawback is the lack of external connection other than the dock socket at the base of the iPad, which multi-tasks as a power and computer connection. The only manner of attaching any kind of memory card is an SD dock port adapter or USB camera adapter, which converts the dock port into a standard USB connection. No pricing has been revealed for these extras as yet, but the iPad will start at $499 for the basic 16GB model and progress to $829 for the wifi and 3G 64GB version.