Executive deflects battery claims

Apple CEO Steve Jobs disclosed a few more salient iPad facts in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's product announcement, a video interview reveals. Speaking with Wall Street Journal writer Walt Mossberg, Jobs commented on the display of the tablet, which is a 9.7-inch IPS LCD, an unusual choice for something also meant to serve as an e-book reader. Readers like the Kindle use e-ink, which is easier on the eyes but also significantly extends the battery life of hardware.

Jobs remarked that the screen is indeed the most power-hungry component in the iPad, since "our [Apple] chips don't consume hardly any power." While the system is said to be capable of as much as 140 hours of pure audio playback, even the simple process of reading a book is said to shrink life to around 10 hours. This is a non-issue, claimed Jobs, because people will regularly dock the device, and "you're not going to read for 10 hours." Readers based on e-ink can last for several days before needing a fresh charge.

Addressing the iPad version of the iWork suite, Jobs noted that people can save text documents as Word files, and not just in the Pages format. Like many iPhone apps, Pages should also be capable of e-mailing files without syncing them back to a computer first.

by MacNN Staff