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7-Inch iPad Rumored
Stoobalou writes "Rumours of a cut-down Apple iPad are ramping up as Taiwanese news outlet Economic Daily News names names. The often-reliable Chinese language newspaper — which correctly predicted the first coming of the iPad when everyone else on the planet was carping on about a sub-$500 netbook from the Cupertino company — has been digging about in the skips behind a number of Chinese factories and reckons it knows who will be making which bit of the much-predicted iPad 2."
I think it's great. I will have my iPhone as a mobile device, the normal big and classy iPad for coffee shops and to impress girls, and the medium size iPhone/iPad variant for things while iPhone isn't enough, but when iPad is too big. I can already think hundreds of different situations where it will fit perfectly.
I can already see how some apple-haters will come here and say "what is the purpose of this medium-sized iPhone?", but if you don't see it you're just not thinking different enough. Just continue to follow the sheep and install your Windows. At least when I see an Apple user I know he is different, intellectual person I can have a good conversation with. He is not just there to talk with me because he has malware on his computer. I am studying art currently and having the iPad makes a complete difference on how other students and professors look at me. They know I'm an artist and an intellectual person.
I can't wait to get this device on my hands.
This is truly news for female nerds. 8 inches is too big and that old 5.5 inch average just isn't satisfying. I will of course be gifting one to the next geeky girl I date, so she will be thoroughly satisfied by seven inches of perfection.
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It will be interesting to see if being smaller will fix some of the problems people have with holding the current model...I also am curious to see how battery life will be affected by this.
Not to mention pricing.
Living With a Nerd
In other news, I just pre-ordered my iPad Nano.
It's obviously going to be called the iPod Maxi.
Putting moderation advice in your
Oh please. This is the same "often-reliable" newspaper that predicted that Apple was going to release an iPhone nano earlier this year.
Also, the idea that anybody expected Apple to release a "sub-$500 netboook" is sheer lunacy. Nobody seriously expected that-- the iPad was widely anticipated by just about everyone for months before it was released.
Too bad she will still be unimpressed by the hamster-sized organ between your legs.
The common hamster can grow to a size of fourteen inches in length, three inches across, and can weigh up to a pound.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I would maybe buy it as long as it's Gregg ruled.
My wife keeps telling me "size doesn't matter!"
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Lessie - Apple only updates SKUs once and year - and is having trouble building the current model fast enough. OMG THERE'S ANOTHER ONE COMING TOMORROW!
Fuck you Slashdot.
The current iPad is a bit too big to use for my planned "in-dash" computer, however a 7 inch iPad would fit the bill perfectly for my car. Built in iPod, plenty of decent navigation software and hopefully there is a 3G version (pandora internet radio, in dash anyone?).
Obvious jokes aside, I think I'd trade in my 9.7" for the 7" if it became an option. The higher density of the screen with the same specs and a smaller footprint just sounds like win to me. Seeing as I mainly use the iPad for reading, it looks like this could be the perfect size for an e-reader.
It really all depends on how much they want to drop the price, if at all. I certainly wouldn't pay the same amount all over again when I've got a perfectly acceptable, not quite as small device already.
When in reality most iPads are only 5.5 inches.
I know the iPad is nice and shiny and oh so good looking, but honestly, a Kindle causes less strain on the eyes and much easier to hold and is now, much cheaper. Perhaps this 7" will remove the arm-strain issues, while still delivering good battery life and sweet color screen that's not so small as to cause eye strain (reading the iPod touch in bed is not conducive to sleep, whereas I have no problems with the iPad).
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The rumor is a bit misleading. Actually the new device is the iPhone 5, basically a new iPhone 4 equipped with a 2 inches bumper.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
The only way I could see this is if it had a retina display.
(pun not intended.)
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
A 'cut down' iPad?
The iPad only does one thing at a time - presumably the 'cut down' version will do zero things at a time.
But it will look nice.
Who cares about a small iPad? I want a big iPhone, damnit.
The big surprise is that it's round not rectangular. the current one is 7.75" x 5.81" the round one is 7.6" in diameter, which has exactly the same area. But it's round so it's more aesthetically pleasing. You can hold it from any orientation and it's the same simplifying the interface. There is a single button is in the middle on the back.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
And anyone who questions the wisdom of this will be immediately dismissed as a "Microsoft conformist" who doesn't understand how Steve is creating a beautiful closed ecosystem that will save us all from the oppression of more open platforms.
No. You're an "Apple Hater". Apparently, you have this irrational belief that Apple consumers are sheep and will buy anything that has an Apple logo on it and pay any price. You will point to the long lines of people who wait through the night and say "See, they're a bunch sheep! WTF are they doing?! It's not like Apple will have a limited run or something. Apple will pump this shit out by the millions and never stop!"
But you're a hater. Face it.
You'll point out all the years on /. where any post critical of Apple was modded down to -1 regardless of the merits of the comment. Why stating that Apple products sold for a premium without any real reason was an automatic "-1 Flamebait" with dozens of comments following explaining your error and if you did a one on one comparison of features Apple wasn't that bad. Pointing out that you had no need for half of the features would be an automatic "-1 Troll" and the obvious responses of "Well Apple isn't right for you!" that would then get modded "+5 Insightful" or "Informative"
Then feeling horribly picked on (rightfully so) you post that Apple stole their UI from Xerox.
The Apple fanbois immediately bring out their Apple branded pitchforks and put on their combat black turtlenecks (AH! Those black turtlenecks are really part of their commando uniform) and before impaling you, inform you that Apple made it workable, beautiful and Holy! Infidel!
Just say'in. Yeah, don't let the high UID fool you folks. I've been around longer than I appear.
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
Maybe this is Apple's way of giving us, the techy crowd, another opportunity to predict how well the iPad is going to sell. I, for one, am going to seize this opportunity:
The 7" iPad is going to flop! You can do everything a 7" iPad can do on a smartphone. Or you could get a netbook and actually have a REAL keyboard, plus it would do everything the 7" iPad does and MORE for $300 less! The 7" iPad won't even have flash, so you won't be able to view 85% of the media on the internet. No camera, no usb ports, walled garden? They aren't going to sell 100 of these. In fact, everyone who actually wants one of these is a wanker!
I think I nailed it this time.
a 7" portable media viewer would have screen dimensions of 5.6" x 4.2". That's slightly smaller than a Kindle but with a larger screen - just the right size for a jeans pocket but easier to read than an iPod touch and not as showy / cumbersome as an iPad.
Sounds perfect to me. Sign me up.
This will revolutionize the way we use iPads!!!!
I love Apple's mobile products, I just don't see the point in buying their laptop/desktop machines unless you are an artist. Even then, it's becoming a bit of a stretch of the word "necessary" to have an OS X machine. Their Windows counterparts are just incredibly cheaper and more compatible with devices and other computers around them, usually. 7 is a very good OS, IMO.
Because what some guys claim to be 7 inches long...
Bearded Dragon
The big surprise is that it's round not rectangular. the current one is 7.75" x 5.81" the round one is 7.6" in diameter, which has exactly the same area. But it's round so it's more aesthetically pleasing. You can hold it from any orientation and it's the same simplifying the interface. There is a single button is in the middle on the back.
I exaggerated a little. Actually, the pixels are hexagonal so there are six preferred orientations to avoid weird aliasing effects. However, the surprise is that with the new Retinal display density anti-aliasing is not a problem any more! SO unless you are in the 2% of people that can resolve the retinal display at 2 feet from your eye then, yes, for practical purposes, it can be held at any angle. The speakers use a bose wave guide technology for a deep base response despite the low volume. Additionally, the screen glass has an array of ultrasonic transducers that create a sensation to your finger tips as they touch the screen providing both haptic feedback as well as allowing it to sense how hard you are pressing the screen. The camera itself is integrated into the screen smack in the center so you can hold it up like a mirror and not get any weird off-axis ("up nose") view for the facetime video conferencing.
it's going magic.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
A 7-inch 16:9 screen could fit in a 3,5" wide device, making it fit in a pocket rather than needing a bag. Not that I'd buy one regardless, but it would distinguish "pads" from netbooks in the way you carry them around. It might be a more convenient e-reader/web browser format. I think I could imagine buying one that connects to the net through my phone and/or wifi, but I wouldn't want to use it as a phone with a separate phone number or have to switch sim cards etc. Locked into monthly fees is right out - I can't imagine any bundled services that would make it feel like a good deal.
The only way I can see a 7" iPad making sense is if it has the same resolution, and is more ruggedized - perfect for giving to kids.
Otherwise it adds too much confusion to the lineup, something Apple doesn't like to do.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
... on the edge of my seat, waiting to find out what this wondrous new device is called.
Will it be the iPad Mini? The iPod Maxi? The iTouch Macro Pad? Or what???
My bicyles
So with the iPhone 4, Apple sued the bajeezus out of that kid from Cupertino, CA.
Why isn't Apple suing the hell out of some factory in China for leaking secrets?
The Kindle has other benefits, like battery life - but eyestrain is NOT one of them. I can't read more than a page or two on that grayish low contrast screen without starting to hate it.
People who complain abut eyestrain have not looked at a good LCD with appropriate brightness controls, or are looking at the LCD in conditions they would not have even been able to read a Kindle. Background light is important for LCD use too...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Who cares about a small iPad? I want a big iPhone, damnit.
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Remember the iPod mini? Came out at $200 when the standard iPod (with much more storage) was $300, and they sold a LOT of them.
If they're doing the cover-the-spectrum strategy they did with iPods, they could end up with a lineup like this:
* 9.7" iPad - $500
* 7" iPad - $350
* iPod touch - $200
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
If anything, I would actually prefer they shoot for a larger screen. My wife uses one to store all of her sheet music that would have otherwise required a suitcase to haul around to performances, its actually faster to sight read off and turn the pages with a touch than a real music book. Her only complaint is that it would be nice if the usable screen was slightly larger. An A4/Legal sized screen would properly rule the world!
IT'S CALLED THE iPhone.
Apple keeps remaking the same product, and people keep rebuying it.
They treat their customers like idiots. Stop kissing their ass already.
- PC, Life without walls.
It's a good size for most things, but it's still not big enough to comfortably display a newspaper or a magazine without zooming & panning, and this includes some web sites. "Normal" Facebook (not touch.facebook.com) is scaled fairly small -- I can read it, but it's about 10-20% too small.
A Wired-type magazine app is nice, but I'm not holding my breath for them all to be that way -- the Zinio app I think is a great compromise, but again, you're still zooming and panning.
Ideally a retina display (TM) resolution iPad with a screen size matching the outline of Vanity Fair magazine would be perfect. Video would have more impact, books could display more text without constant scrolling/page turning and/or too small text.
Would it be portable? Not really, but that wouldn't be the point -- for me that size would be easily portable from the kitchen to the living room or the bedroom and probably just fine for airplane travel, and it's not like the existing iPad size is so small you can carry it in your pocket.
Otherwise, all those printers that do more than 300 dpi are also a waste of money.
But you can tell the difference between a 300dpi printout and a 1200dpi. The rods and cones in your eyeball don't necessarily line up nice and neat with the pixels on the display, hence the need for a much higher resolution, and why Jobs is, once again, full of BS, same as refusing to allow flash because he wants to push the h264 codec, that he makes money off of.
I just don't see the point in buying their laptop/desktop machines unless you are an artist.
Because oil painting on canvas requires a Mac.
??? :)
Seriously, the idea that "real artists use Macs" seems to pervade academia ... even though there are tons of artists that barely use a computer for their art. It's a little annoying. hehe.
And the real issue is software. If the software I do my art on happens to be Windows, how does that make me less artsy? Or, if the software I use happens to be Mac-based, how does that make me more artsy?
Especially when a lot of the software works on both ... e.g.: Photoshop, Sibelius, Finale, Logic...
IMO, it's a marketing and logo farce. Just like REAL athletes use [insert brand of shoe/cleat].
This might sound like a troll - but it's not. I've spoken to fanbois/fangirls - and all they can say is "I read books with it". Seriously, what do people do with their iPads? I like to help friends use technology wisely - but i'm stumped on the iPad. It strikes me as a gadget without a purpose.
I held one and I thought it was way too heavy. My son's 7" laptop was lighter (although less batter life and smaller screen). I also thought it wasn't ideal for book reading because it was too large. It's also not ideal for data production (eg. word processing)... I'm sure i'm missing something that is genuinely useful and constructive.
AC
Logic doesn't work on both, unless your copy is older than 2002. Apple bought eMagic around then, and made it mac only. That's the reason I have a mac. I've grown increasingly annoyed with OSX over the years :-(
Seems like we're at:
"An obscure component manufacturer somewhere in the Pacific Rim announces a major order for some bleeding-edge piece of technology that could conceivably become part of an expensive, digital-lifestyle-enhancing nerd toy"
http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/
I currently have a (~) 7" touchscreen Pioneer headunit in my car that integrates with the iPod. I really wish it was an iPhone mount. However, the current iPod Touch/iPhone screen is just TOO SMALL for dash use. I have to wonder, given the brouhaha surrounding the iPod integration into some BMWs and the Chevy Volt, if perhaps Apple isn't looking to that "personal space" as another market segment.
#1 People spend a lot of time in their cars
#2 No one likes the current crop of automobile dash unitsthey all suck UI-wise
#3 It is a fairly lucrative market but I doubt that any of the car makers really want to be in that space (given their heretofore lack of design effort)
#4 Double-DIN is right about the size of what a 7" iPad would be
#5 Microsoft SYNC, ugh
Plus, the kiddies in the back seats could be sporting the iPad, a much more rounded solution then a stupid animated feature in the head-rest DVD player, again.
Scott
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
Electric Bogaloo?
What happens when the iPad 2 is too small but the iPad 1 is too big?!
BAM! iPad 1.5!
Holy shit. I need my own Apple blog...
Python coder | PyQt Applications | Writer
I don't know, maybe because the netbook would be smaller and lighter?
Are you adequate?
Personally, I'd really like something like an iPad as a no-hassle travel accessory to my camera system, equipped with some sort of lightweight mobile version of Aperture or Lightroom. I'd plug my camera or memory cards into the machine, read in my RAWs, review and rate photos, do some elementary edits (white balance, cropping, rotation), and then at some point import my work into the real computer. I hate having to take my full-sized laptop with me on trips.
I know of photographers who are using the iPad as a portfolio demo book they carry with them, because the screen is so nice and the photo display application is so easy to use.
Are you adequate?
There was no nano iPhone, there won't be a smaller iPad, it doesn't make any sense. It's not quite a tablet computer and it's too big to be a phone.
A 7 inch screen isn't a big enough step down from the original. It would have to be a 5 inch screen, but even then you're nearly iPhone sized.
Just shrink the bezel on the damn things.
Everyone know iPad Mini is for girls
Well the artist thing is really just a concession; I don't believe you have to have a Mac to do anything artful (as implied in my original reply by the quoting of the word "necessary"). Art is but an excuse to buy into Apple's marketing.
How about iPhad or IPhod?
The iGoldilocks?
If Apple is going to change the size, I would have liked to see a 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio size change instead...
I'm a 2000 man.
I really, seriously, can't tell if the above is a troll or not!
On the one hand, his "hundreds of situations" and all such seems sarcastic...
On the other hand, there's no punch line... wtf
Is it that he's serious, but just really stupid?
Help me!
... how this will affect the 7 inch iPod market.
Have gnu, will travel.
For me, it'll probably replace my iPod Touch if they release the smaller iPad. The iTouch is just a bit to small for browsing and reading but the iPad isn't pocket sized. I can carry a paperback book in my pocket so if it's similar in size it'll work for me. I have nothing against the iTouch, it's a wonderful device, but I don't know if I can justify having all three.
I'd also be interested in something iTouch sized that offered some sort of glasses, or maybe a clamshell case that flipped open to expose a second screen, as a way to have a bigger display. I'd hope any such features would be add-ons though and not part of the actual unit.
My biggest complaint about the iPhone/iTouch/iPad though is the buttons. They wear out long before the other parts. Lets get rid of the home button and replace it by making the front border (the black stuff) touch sensitive and allow different gestures to do different functions. Tap the center under the screen to 'press home', grip the left side and slide your finger alog the bottom to control volume, grip the right side and slide your finger along the bottom to control brightness, grip the upper left corner for the power button, and why not give it hot corners like Mac OS for showing open apps and Dashboard. I'd give a little buffer between the touch screen and touch border to make it less of a problem of accidentally going off the screen and would require two hand gestures where one is likely to be mis-recognized. Maybe have a physical off button or even just a nub (slightly protruding bump that is sensitive to a finger making electrical contact) for in case it gets really screwed and the touch controls aren't responding. If they could get rid of all the ports too and make it water resistant it'd be great. Let the thing charge through induction and communicate wirelessly. If you really must have physical ports think MagSafe and have them just stuck to the outside of the still water resistant case (in dimples maybe)?
Along with the possibility of a smaller iPad I expect there to be a re-imagining of the Apple TV soon. I wonder if the parts they are mentioning could be for something like that.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
...that can't watch youtube videos or make phone calls.
just sarcasm.
Art is but an excuse to buy into Apple's marketing.
That's a good way to put it.