Like the iPhone before it, the iPad lacks a physical keyboard--and the built-in on-screen keyboard of the iPad could stand improvement. The unit's physical size meant that my relatively small hands couldn't reach across the expanse of the unit's on-screen vertical keyboard, a problem exacerbated when I turned the unit to horizontal mode. To type on the device, I needed to place it flat on a surface, not a particularly ergonomic arrangement.

The keyboard lacks the iPhone's letter magnification when you press a key, a visual cue that I missed immensely. It also lacks the haptic (vibration) feedback common to . (You do get a click noise, if you leave the volume on). Though I'm a fairly speedy typist on my iPhone keyboard, I found this keyboard uncomfortable and easy to hit the wrong key on--barely adequate for light typing, and intolerable for anything of length. (Apple will soon have a $69 keyboard dock accessory, however.)

Like the iPhone before it, the iPad has a minimalist design and a smooth, aluminum back. At the bottom of the device are the dock connector and the speaker grille. The sole buttons are the Home button (centrally situated beneath the display), the volume rocker on the side, and a screen lock button above that (instead of a mute button, as found on the iPhone). The volume rocker and the screen lock feel sharp and cheaply made, in contrast to about the rest of the iPad's otherwise premium design.

The iPad connects wirelessly via 802.11a/b/g/n; the 3G versions will have a micro-SIM card for use with any wireless data service. (Though the 3G iPad will support wireless data, it won't support wireless phone or SMS functionality.) The iPad also has Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, for use with both a Bluetooth keyboard and headphone devices.

The unit contains Apple's 1GHz A4 processor system-in-a-chip. Performance was fairly zippy as I navigated among apps and screens, but data transfers to and from my iPad--connected to the computer via iTunes--felt poky on my main Windows Vista system.