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"This post is part of the Mashable 10, Mashable's gift guide of the 10 hottest gadgets that that our editors think should be on everyone's wish lists this holiday season. To view all 10 posts, please visit this link.\nIt's the holiday season and you know what that means \u2014 gift guide time! At Mashable, we decided to streamline our guide this year and focus on 10 gizmos and gadgets we think will please you and yours well into the new year. We call it, the Mashable 10.\nUndoubtedly one of the hottest consumer electronics this holiday season is still the Apple iPad. First announced amidst a flurry of rumors, speculation and skepticism back in January, the device has gone on to sell millions of units over the past seven and a half months. \nThe device \u2014 available in Wi-Fi only and 3G enabled varieties \u2014 weighs just 1.5 lbs, has a 9.6 inch backlit IPS multi-touch display and manages to last at least 10 hours per charge. With storage capacities of 16, 32 and 64GB available, you can spend as little as $499 on an iPad (for the 16GB Wi-Fi only model) or as much as $829 (for a 64GB Wi-Fi and 3G model).\nBefore its release, a lot of people focused on what the iPad isn't. It doesn't support Flash. It doesn't have a built-in camera. It can't do your laundry. This is all true; the iPad is not a replacement for your primary computer. However, the iPad is more than just an oversized iPhone (as many critics first pegged the device). Read on for our thoughts on the device.\nWhy We Love It\n\n\n\n\nHere are some of the reasons we've come to love the iPad:\n\nIt's a top-notch video player for streaming services (Netflix, Hulu Plus, ABC.com, YouTube, Vimeo, and an increasing number of HTML5 video sites), as well as downloaded or purchased content.\nIt's an e-reader, with support for third party apps from Amazon, Barnes &amp; Noble, Kobo, plus Apple's own iBooks library.\nIt's a great way to play games.\nReading magazines, children's books and cookbooks is a joy.\nYou can do real work too.\nYou can create music.\nIt's a great way to surf the web.\n\nThe iPad is about to get even better. Apple is about to release iOS 4.2, which will bring the iPad in parity with iOS on the iPhone. It will also bring in support for AirPlay and Apple's new AirPrint feature. This is a free software update that will be available to all iPad owners.\n\n\n\n\nWhile the iPad was hard to come by for its first few months, Apple appears to have opened the floodgates. In the United States, you can now pick up the iPad at Walmart, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Target, AT&amp;T stores and even at Verizon stores (alongside a Verizon Mi-Fi card), in addition to Apple stores and Apple.com. \nAlthough 2010 was poised to be the \"year of the tablet,\" the iPad is one of the only devices that has actually managed to make it to market. Not only that, the iPad is competitive \u2014 price wise \u2014 with its rivals, even though the rivals often feature smaller screens, shorter battery life and lack tablet-optimized applications.\nThe fact that you can grab an iPad today, it's affordable and it's just straight-up fun to use makes it one of our 10 big gadget picks for the 2010 holiday season.\nIs the iPad on your wish list this year? Let us know in the comments why you can't wait to own one.\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, pagadesign"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/11/15/mashable-10-ipad/>