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Credible Reports of a 7.85 Inch iPad Mini Emerge

Posted by timothy on from the betting-against-december-26th-launch-date dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Network World: "For months now, rumors of an iPad with a 7.85-inch screen have been circulating through the blogosphere. And though Steve Jobs once said that 7-inch tablets are 'dead on arrival,' the relative success of the Amazon Kindle Fire and other smaller tablets suggests that consumers are more than willing to accept a smaller screen size in exchange for a cheaper buy-in point. Indeed, you might remember that Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said that Apple saw a tremendous uptick in overall iPad sales once it lowered the price of the iPad 2 down to $399. That said, a chorus of credible reports over the past few days have all claimed that Apple is currently working on a slimmed down iPad and that it may be set for release as early as this Fall."

5 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. If it had a cellular modem... by The+Living+Fractal · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wish I could have multiple devices with the same SIM card address and just tell the network which one I am using at the time. Then I'd use this 7" device at home and leave the iPhone on the charger, and vice versa when I'm traveling.

    --
    I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
  2. 10" tablets are too big... by Bradmont · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have a 10" tablet, and I find it too big for any kind of natural handheld use. And a laptop is a much more natural form factor for non-handheld (tabletop, lying down & watching a movie, etc) uses. I haven't used a 7" tablet, but I have used e-readers a lot, which are about the same size, and they are very comfortable to hold. I don't get why Jobs would have thought it was 10" or bust.

    1. Re:10" tablets are too big... by Phyrexia · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I find the iPad too small for several uses. I would love a tablet with an 8.5x11" useable screen.

  3. Re:I was way off! by k(wi)r(kipedia) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Apple probably went metric. 20 centimeters = 7.87401575 in (copy pasted from Google), which is near enough 7.85

  4. Re:Makes sense. Somebody is buying Nanos still. by Eponymous+Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm speaking about normal people who account for most tablet computer sales. Slashdot readers may find the RIM Playbook / Windows Surface / Kindle Fire / other Android tablet to be have a more compelling software library and that will make those tablets a better buy.

    I have both iOS and Android devices in my house and the holes in the Android library (for normal users) are slowly being filled, but app quality still lags. For now, I still can't recommend anything other than an iPad to people who ask me what they should get.