Macworld goes hands on with the iPad

Scrolling around, zooming in on, and clicking links on our very our homepage was a breeze. The experience was much more enjoyable than trying to do the same on an iPhone’s tiny screen.

Apple created a brand new calendar application that takes advantage of the iPad’s large screen real estate, and seems to borrow some elements of iCal.

One of the three accessories Apple showed off was a protective case, which feels a lot like a neoprene iPod case. You can also fold it backwards to create a stand for hands-free movie watching or to use the iPad as a digital picture frame. At another angle, the case makes the iPad easy to type on. Additional accessories include the iPad dock (without keyboard), and a camera connection kit that includes an SD card reader.

For those worried about inputting large amounts of text on the iPad, Apple’s keyboard dock accessory should put your minds at ease. It’s basically an aluminum Apple keyboard connected to a charging dock.

The smooth back of the iPad looks and feels like a unibody MacBook Pro.

The combo of the iBooks app and the iBookstore on the iPad (not to mention the color touchscreen) make it an instant competitor to Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and other e-book readers on the market.

The iPad has an impressive viewing angle, with virtually no shifting of color or contrast even at the most extreme angles.

With an optional dock-to-VGA adapter, you’ll be able to connect your iPad to a projector and both display and control Keynote presentations in the new iWork. With a swipe of the finger, you can also bring up a palette that lets you draw live on slides (think John Madden) as well as invoke a virtual laser pointer.