Archive for January 29th, 2010

Apple iPad edition with 3G uses Micro-SIM standart. Steve Jobs never said a word about this feature on iPad presentation, which seems pretty strange. Micro-SIM, also known as 3FF or 3^rd generation SIM card, isn’t supported yet by any iPhone or other popular devices.

3FF SIMs were developed to fit into devices that are too small for a regular SIM. Regular SIM-card has a 15 mm x 25 mm size, while Micro-SIM measures 12 mm x 15 mm. It is still not presented in North America, but T-Mobile and AT&T inform that negotiations to get them are on their way since these companies support the iPad with different data plans.

But what is the reason of making Micro-SIM support in iPad? Maybe it is necessitated because of a lack of space in the device that already has a double size of an iPhone? Also it is very likely that Micro-SIM will be integrated into the 4^th generation iPhone, and then what would Apple do with all that extra space?

The iPad 3G version wasn't pictured at the presentation of the device, but it is present in Apple's gallery.

The only one obvious difference with WiFi edition is a black strip of plastic on the back of the device. It extends to the top and is also visible from the front of the iPad. This patch is necessary for 3G signals to reach the internal antennas.

Such detail leads us to a question - is it possible, that iPad 3G will have better WiFi access parameters than the regular iPad? As it is known that iPod Touch also has a plastic patch that helps WiFi signal to reach the internal antenna.

During the Apple iPad presentation we all saw that the link with a flash content was broken. So it became pretty obvious that Steve Jobs' company continues to impose a list of restrictions on their devices that limit both consumers and content publishers. Without Adobe Flash support all of the iPad users won't be able to access the full range of web content, and that includes over 75% of video and 70% of games.

Though Adobe and about 50 of their partners in the Open Screen Project are aiming to bring Flash to all sorts of other devices. And if Palm Pre and Nokia N900 runs Flash extremely well, there is no reason iPad can't do it on its new 1 Ghz dual-core chip.