We had a chance to take a first-hand look at the new iPad after this morning's announcement and give some thought to the pros and cons of the new tablet device. Here's a little context.

Pros:

The iPad does just about everything entertainment, from games to video, from books to music. Sure, the iPod Touch serves many of those functions, but the iPad's 9.7-inch screen provides considerably more real estate for watching movies, looking at photos, and playing games. It's just a half-inch thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds.

The price is a lot more appealing than anyone anticipated. If you were following pre-launch coverage of the iPad, you probably read that it was going to cost $1,000. So the $499 price tag for the low-end model was a pleasant surprise.

Speaking of price, the data plan is a great deal. Netbook users with a data plan are paying $60 for 5GB per month plans. The iPad's plan gives you a choice between $14.99 per month for 250GB and $29.99 for unlimited data.

The iPad will lead to development of new uses for touch technology. It's a lot more intuitive to play games using your hands than a mouse or other device. Among the programs demonstrated at this morning's launch were games that let you turn locks with finger motions, or target bad guys by pointing at them with your finger. The bottom line is, just about everything the iPad does happens with taps, swipes, and other multitouch gestures, and it's likely that new multitouch gestures will develop as apps come out for the iPad. For example, the iPad version of Apple's iWorks' presentation program lets you move slides around in a slideshow by touching the first slide with one finger and tapping the other slides until you have a pile that you can move with one swipe.

Cons:

You can't multitask. Although the iPad has a number of productivity applications, including e-mail, calendar, and iWorks, it really doesn't function as a computer. You can't have a browser window open at the same time you're typing a document or working on a spreadsheet. That said, the iPad isn't positioned as a computer, so if you want to productivity, stick to a laptop.

There's no webcam. We didn't see a webcam in our time playing with the iPad. That's a feature we'd like to see in the next version.

iTunes' limitations could get in the way. The iTunes universe is a restrictive one that doesn't support a lot of music formats. But of course no one expects Apple to abandon its music-purchase model at this stage of the game. Let's hope Apple's new iBookstore isn't similarly restrictive.

Toss-ups.

It's not clear how reading on the iPad will stack up against reading on the Kindle. The two readers use different "ink" technologies. Text looked pretty crisp to the untrained eye when we used a sample iPad under the watchful eye of an Apple representative today, but for a definitive assessment we'll have to see how the iPad fares in our tests.

Why only AT&T? The data plans are a bargain, relatively speaking, but will AT&T be able to handle the bandwidth demands of millions more web surfers and game players? Time will tell.

Battery life is key. Apple CEO Steve Jobs claimed the iPad will get 10 hours' battery life, but does that mean 10 demanding hours of gameplay and video-viewing? Apple's laptops generally come pretty close to their battery-life claims. We'll be testing the iPad to see if it follows suit.

During his presentation Jobs asked if there's room in the market for a "third device," something that you'll want in addition to your laptop and smart phone. There's enough to distinguish the iPad from laptops. It's more portable and is without a cumbersome keyboard. There's enough to distinguish it from smart phones, not least of which is its larger screen. But if you already pay for a data plan for a smart phone or netbook, are you ready to plop down at least another $499 (or up to $829) for a "third device," plus maybe another monthly 3G data plan? Weigh in below.

–Donna Tapellini

The iPad's iBook application
Source: Apple.com

Among other talents, Apple's new iPad appears to be a unique and innovative e-book reader. But what we don't know yet about its e-reading capabilities make it hard to judge how it may stack up against standalone e-book readers like the Kindle.

The demonstration video that's now streaming from Apple's website shows—four minutes in—an elegantly designed e-book interface. Your library is held within a bookshelf image. You touch the cover you want to begin reading. Alternately, a press on the bookshelf itself prompts it to rotate, James-Bond-style, to reveal the iBook store on its flip side.

During the Apple news conference, the major publishers Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan were revealed as iBook partners. But missing from the list, at least for now, are such major publishers as Scholastic, home to the Harry Potter books, and Random House.

The only hint at pricing was the fact that "True Compass," the Ted Kennedy autobiography ordered during the press event was priced at $14.99. That's notably higher than the $9.99 price that's become standard on other e-book readers for such best-sellers. It's as yet unclear if iPad books will have multimedia or other enhancements to help justify their higher price, as was rumored.

Based on the video, the page-turn navigation on the touchscreen (above) appears impressively fast. Pages turn with a swipe. There's no black screen, as with other e-book readers. Instead, as each page turns, a virtual representation of it, complete with the page curl, passes over the new page below. It's dazzling, though it's as yet hard to tell if the effect would prove pleasing or distracting in page after page of reading.

It's also impossible to judge from the video how the iPad's text will compare in quality to the best dedicated readers. We do know, however, that LCD screens typically render type with less crispness than the e-ink screens used on e-book readers. Also, the iPad's text rendering wasn't mentioned at the press event, and the video makes no quality claims about it, which may be telling.

Pricewise, the iPad is, as expected, more expensive than the leading 10-inch dedicated reader out there, the Kindle DX. Where the DX costs $489, including unlimited 3G access, the iPad will start at $629 for the 3G version, plus $30 a month for the 3G plan. However, you can skip the data charges by getting a WiFi-only iPad at $130 less. And the device is, of course, far more versatile than the DX and its ilk.

The innovation and elegance of the iPad's e-book reader makes me eager to get my hands on the device, literally, to see how it really compares with the best standalone devices for e-reading.

Meantime, our editorial staffers covering the event have just finished trying out the device, and will be sharing their impressions shortly.

—Paul Reynolds