The iPad addresses previous tablet issues

Apple's tablet device - the iPad - was officially unveiled yesterday and it looks nice. I'm not sure if it is game-changing nice, but it looks to have addressed at least some of the concerns I've had with tablet options in the past.

In my post about my origami experience I mentioned the issues with:

• Screen resolution - the iPad have gone with 1024 x 768 which could be a nice sweet-spot.
• Screen size - almost 10" is right where I'd mentioned the possible tablet sweet-spot might be
• Battery life - a month of standby and 10 hours of use time on the iPad - nice
• Speed - the iPad has a 1Ghz processor but looks to perform well in the demo, so it's not just about clock-speed
• OS - my origami device ran XP, which wasn't great. Windows 7 would be better, and I'm sure the iPhone OS will also be an improvement

In my post about my Dell XT tablet running Windows 7, I mentioned these areas for improvement:

• Desire for built-in Internet access - I could have gotten my XT with mobile-carrier access but didn't. If I bought an iPad, I'd opt for that feature
• Make it lighter - I'd suggested around 1.5 pounds, which is right where the iPad landed. I think that would be comfortable to use
• Have an e-ink option - One of the iPad features touted is book reading on it. I don't see mention of e-ink, so I think it's a normal backlit display. I'm not sure if that would irritate the eyes if used as a long-term reading device or not.
• Make it thin, but sturdy - How's one-half inch sound? That's the iPad depth, and it sounds ideal to me.
• Make the touch screen reliable - I've never seen nor heard about issues with the iPhone or iTouch touch-screen so I don't think this is going to be an issue on the new iPad device.

I'm not going to run out and buy one, but it does look nice. A remaining question - not specific to the iPad but all tablet devices - is how will it be transported. My Dell XT is carried around in a notebook bag - it's too big for anything else. Even my Samsung Q1, which was much smaller, was an odd size - too big for anything but a large purse. How comfortable are people going to be carrying this thing around with them? Or is the expectation that this is merely a home-based device that people won't carry around?