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Thoughts On the iPad Mini
John Gruber at Daring Fireball has a thoughtful piece about the design of Apple's smaller iPad, which the company is expected to announce on September 12. Simply shrinking the current iPad's dimensions to a new form factor is unlikely, he says, and the bezel surrounding the display is more likely to be a cross between an iPad and an iPhone. He also discusses evidence of Apple's PR team getting the rumor mill going immediately after the announcement of Google's Nexus 7, and how Apple has probably bet on having a thinner and lighter tablet than Google, rather than worrying about a better display. Quoting:
"Apple product designs are true to themselves. Each thing has proportions suited to its own nature. Consider how the iPad doesn’t look like a blown up iPhone. They share a few similar design elements — a family resemblance, if you will — but the proportions are different. The iPad has a thick bezel surrounding all four sides of the display; the iPhone does not. Why? Because you need a place to rest your thumbs while holding an iPad. ... Should not the iPad Mini fall somewhere in between? Not as close to the aspect ratio of its display as the iPad-as-we-know-it, but also not as far away from its display aspect ratio as the iPhone. You might need more thumb-rest room on the sides than you do on the iPhone, but not nearly as much as you do on the full-size iPad. If that assumption is right, the proportions of a 7.85-inch 4:3-aspect-ratio display iPad Mini are likely not the same as the proportions of the 9.7-inch 4:3-aspect-ratio display iPad."
How many slashvertisments are we going to have? Apple's paid sychophants are flooding sites with this stuff in attempts to kill sales of existing Android mini-slates. They are desperate to ensure the low end market doesn't buy their "apps" from Google's Play store.
Hmmmmm. It's true -- some people do prefer 7" over 9".
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I always thought the iPad always did just look like an overblown iPhone. Regardless of what the article states about a place to rest your thumbs. Its perception that matters and public opinion. I have used Android and Apple devices (can't bring myself to call them ios because for me ios will always be Cisco). and the only advantage Apple has is the integration and the iTunes store.
It's a smaller iPad. Tiny differences about bezels don't matter, we all know what to expect here. The only question is the price - how much of a premium is this going to be over a Nexus 7?
They should have called it that instead.
Sounds gangster. Gangster as F&*@!
I think it is fair to say we don't know anything. Gruber along with everyone else is just guessing. His point about this not shipping in September but being announced in September is a good one, we don't know enough so this isn't a few weeks from going on sale. October/November sale date seems more likely.
Here are the resolutions:
iPad 1/2: 1024 x 768
iPad 3: 2048 x 1536 (doubled)
iPhone 4S: 640 x 960
iPhone 5 (rumor): 640 x 1136
earlier iPhone: 320 x 480
I'm going with a bigger version of the iPhone 5 resolution. 1136x640 is close to what the original iPad had, allows for a cheap screen, doesn't require developers to support yet another resolution... But no one really knows.
The other big question for September is whether there will be a 13" inch retina macbook pro.
This, by far, is the most uninteresting article I've read in ages. Seriously, how much more non-newsworthy can it get? It ranks somewhere between soap-gossip and determining the mathematical function that most closely approximates the shape of my toe nails.
Here's a thought. How about just waiting until September 12th to see what they actually release? Maybe take the extra time you'd be wasting on speculation to get some actual work done.
If everyone took all the time they waste on speculating on future Apple products and the 2012 U.S. Election and actually did some useful work, the economy would recover in a week.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
(Posting AC because I'm at work and I don't log in from work...)
I think the decision to go with the iPad Mini came about as Jobs' eureka moment when he figured out how to make controlling the Apple TV easy - make the remote an iPad Mini. I predict that every Apple TV (when it's finally announced) will ship with an iPad Mini. And, if they're going to make them as remotes for the TV, why not also sell them to the market-at-large?
Will it be a hit? Probably. Will it be superior to a regular iPad? Depends on what the person's wants and needs are. If you want a big screen, then no. If you want ultra-portability (i.e.: able to put it in a large pocket), then yes.
Regardless, my prediction is it will be tightly tied to the Apple TV.
Write a piece of wild speculation with no actual information about the way the next Apple product will look.
He also discusses evidence of Apple's PR team getting the rumor mill going immediately after the announcement of Google's Nexus 7
Apple PR team like the site called http://daringfireball.net?
Just like anything about Apple, people make up rumor based on what the rest of the market is doing or past behavior. Every year there have been rumor of an iPad mini and before phone with XL screen like the Galaxy were successful there were rumor of iPhone nano.
Sure I like a good piece of tech gossip, but analysis based on opinions about rumors that will inevitably end up in ePenis fight between Android and Apple fanboys are getting tiring.
Some people are even actively mocking that state of affair: http://day4.se/how-we-screwed-almost-the-whole-apple-community/
I thought we already had an iPad Mini. Isn't that what the iPod Touch is? Or is that the iPad Nano..?
What is with carrying stuff in your pockets? Do you really carry your smart phone in your pocket? Even those are huge, unless one is walking around in oversized cargo pants.
To be honest, the Nexus 7 blows the iPad out of the water. The Nexus 7 is the best tablet device I've ever gotten my hands on, for less than half the price of an iPad.
It's more customizable, easier to get content, and with the soft back - easier to hold.
Services are more integrated than the iPad, IMHO, you could get by fine without having a computer to sync up with the Nexus 7. With the Nexus 7 you can download Torrent clients and apps such as Music Paradise to get all of your content, while there really isn't any alternative to the iTunes store with the iPad unless you root it.
Google Now works very well, I rarely type things in because the voice recognition is so accurate.
The Nexus 7 is a very nice device. I don't see why anyone would choose an iPad over the Nexus 7 right now.
god
How the hell does vacuous shit like this get posted on Slashdot? One of the dozens of enthusiast blogs I understand but here? Geez.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
...for when you need the portability of an iPad with the screen size and ergonomics of an iPod. I've seen very little from the tablet market that isn't a race towards a browsing-and-not-much-else device. I'd be more impressed with multitasking, but I suspect I'm not their target market.
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
How long before Apple start making trousers with pockets just the right size to hold an iDevice? iPants anyone?
This writeup is exactly the kind of breathless fanboy wanksterism that one has immediately come to expect from sites like "daringfireball". It is not enough to simply talk about the fact that Apple is releasing a "me too" smaller tablet, no, it's gotta be couched in terminology to make it sound like this was Apple's plan all along and that Apple's version will of course be the greatest thing ever. The big difference between Apple fanboy writing and everyone else's is that the Apple fanboy writing gets published and republished on sites like slashdot uncritically.
Yeah, you keep drinking the kool aid, dude.
Besides the different chassis and the lack of voice communicationon, the iPad is a super-sized iPhone.
Apple is in trouble now, that name has been trademarked already.
This whole thing reminds me of the Hindi Ambassador. Basically it was an obsolete car design bought from the UK that had very few real improvements in its long life. Every year all Indian motoring journalists had to write about was minute changes to the tail light shape or the door handles.
Journalists should stop writing off RIM. Both Apple and Android products are getting so mature that, if RIM doesn't release BB 10 phones next year, there is going to be significant unemployment in the obsessing-over-gadgets industry.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Apple invented the personal computer, smartphone AND tablet. Nobody else has business to be in those markets.
Yeah, they lost me at "John Gruber" and "thoughtful".
I think an iPad mini needs more than to just be thinner and lighter. Apple would not release such a product unless they could milk at least $400 out of people. They need to offer something substantially better than the Nexus 7 to justify a prices that is substantially more.
My guess is that they are NOT releasing an iPad mini. Instead they are just letting rumors fly to get people to hold off purchasing the Nexus 7. Then they will announce the next iPad and all the people who held out for the iPad mini will just get the newer iPad because because it will still be newer than the Nexus 7.
Less thumb space? You either need your thumb on the front of it to hold it in one hand, or you need it on the side. It's not like you can use a smaller thumb if the device is smaller... Phones are typically held with the thumb and fingers opposing each other on the sides of the device, whereas the larger pad devices are held with the thumb and fingers opposing each other on the front and back of the device.
This just sounds like an invitation for complaints and more "You're holding it wrong" responses.
Assuming all these rumours turn out to be true..
If Apple finally kill off the iPhone 3GS, it leaves us with three models the iPhone 5, 4S, and 4. For people with loads of cash of course (and people in the US stuck on the absurd $0/$99/$199+$2400 over two years pricing) you just get the latest one. For the rest, have fun making sense of it. The iPhone 5 has a bigger screen. How much does it matter? Will people build their apps targeting the larger screen? Probably not to begin with. So do you lose out by getting an iPhone 4S? Then why not get the iPhone 4? Oh wait, no Siri or new Maps or new iPhoto. So the 4S has those? Yes. But so does the 5? Yup. So will the 4S not get the next cool thing Apple introduce? Maybe. Will they work better on the bigger screen? Don't know. Won't it be better to just get the smaller screen until developers actually get around to building apps for the larger screen?
It gets even more fun with the iPads. Do you buy an iPad 2 or an iPad mini? The former isn't getting the new maps or Siri, while the latter probably will. But the iPad 2 has a bigger screen. But the Mini screen will look better even at the same resolution as the iPad 2. So wait, doesn't that mean everything - the buttons controls etc carefully designed on apps for the big iPad will be shrunk on the Mini, making it much less convenient to use? Will the Mini get Siri? Yes - perfect, why spend loads more on a bigger less portable iPad or a far more expensive iPhone to get Siri. No - doesn't make logical sense, a new product that's already crippled.
Then we have the iPod touch, which is supposed to get an update. It should remain at $199 or so. Will it get Siri? Probably not, it's too cheap. So what exactly is the point of it?
I am not saying Apple can't find their way around it. But if they've given into giving their customers choice instead of saying that their devices are the perfect size, it's going to bring inevitable issues. Just like the profit focused planned obsolescence approach which artificially limits features like Siri and iOS Maps. There will have to be some degree of compromise on the core Apple values of apps just working and looking the same on every Apple device. We would already be looking at 4-5 different screen sizes and resolutions that developers will have to think about.
Just announced, iPhone5 goes.on sale $eptember 21.
From TFA: "7.85 inches diagonally, 1024×768 pixels at 163 PPI — the same pixels-per-inch density as the pre-retina iPhones and iPod Touch."
IE next year's model will have a better display. Wait and buy then if this is a product that interests you.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
The same thing would probably happen with varieties of sports fans or fans of other things 0r.... even... Linux or google fans. Judging by the comments on /. I'd say it's a certainty. Human behaviour, who'd have thought that some people like things that other people don't?
Life must one great bewildering surprise to you
...which shows that you aren't very thoughtful, dismissing an article out of hand. Irony much?
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Are there not Phandroid cultists too?
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Without a doubt. But I think the added cult of personality around Steve Jobs makes the apple fans more devoted.
or that law does not apply to them?
If Apple is pulling a 7.85" screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio, it's going to be significantly wider. If it doesn't fit in a damn pocket, there's really no point in getting one over a full-size iPad.
That is why I am expecting a 7.0" screen. The folks expecting 7.85" are assuming a screen with the same pixels per inch (PPI) as the original iPhone, 163 PPI. Given that the retina display tech/process lets them get to 326 on the iPhone and 264 on the iPad I expect that an iPad "mini" would use 183 PPI to get to a 7.0" 1024x768 screen. 1024x768 being key for compatibility.
Apple will never say the bezel design is to make the iPad easier to hold, because this would be a functional reason for its current construction. That would prevent them from using their *design patent* argument against Samsung regarding the bezel. They simply say it was an aesthetic decision :P
I can see where there are probably not an insignificant number of people who might want to use one as a phone.
My iPad has wings.
After all where is it going to fit price wise? It can't be less than an Ipod Touch, and it certainly can't be more than the Ipad 2, w hich has the advantage of a better screen size. If I was going to buy a 7 inch tablet, why not a 9 for the same price or cheaper? And given that the Android tablet makers are set to savage each other down pricewise, I can't see where Apple would make a profit in this market.
And with this pointless "article" by John Gruber (people have caught soooo caught on to his schtick by now) I stop reading Slashdot. Anything here can be had elsewhere a day earlier without this crap. Been a fun ride!
my thumbs don't dynamically change size depending upon what I'm holding in my hands.
" [...] You might need more thumb-rest room on the sides than you do on the iPhone, but not nearly as much as you do on the full-size iPad. [...]
Nicely done. The corresponding utility patent would be not be granted on grounds of obviousness.
Nexus 7 is 1280x800
With that in mind, I doubt that Apple would go for a lower resolution.
The iPad DOES look like a blown up iPhone.
Quite probably, and those people are also religious idiots.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
Sorry, but nope; the aspect ratio won't change, even if the resolution does.
The new iPhone and iPad resolutions were chosen to make old software scale up and new software scale down without leaving ugly black bands down the edges. In addition, all the content in the iTunes store is scaled to fit without leaving your movies with the same aspect ratio as they were intended to be shown.
The big screw up Android has made, and continues to make, is that there is no uniform resolution and scaling to make content portable between devices; this include applications, as well as video and other media. There's no incentive to compete for the same parts with everyone else making an Android device by picking a specific ratio/ratio+integer resolution multiplier: the vendors want product differentiation and vendor lock-in, whereas for the iDevices, there's an intent to create an ecosystem.
Consider that there's no reason to have vendor loyalty to a particular device vendor when all your content purchased from the last device you bought from them looks like crap on the new device. Apple, on the other hand, is all about the ecosystem: they could care less if your content was portable, as long as you are viewing it on a device you bought from Apple, and hey, having multiple devices from Apple means you have more reason to spend money in the iTunes/iApps store than you did when you owned half as many Apple devices.
Holding a 10" tablet (or even a Kindle Fire / Playbook - they're heavy) in bed while reading is tough. That's why I own a Kindle3 - if the iPad Mini get the weight down a lot over the iPad3, it will be enough for some folks to sway decisions to buy over other 7" tablets or e-ink ereaders like the Kindle/Nook.
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I hope BMW sues Apple for using the name Mini.
Don't worry, I've read enough Gruber stuff to know better.
It's not the SIZE of the boat that matters, but more-so, the MOTION in the OCEAN!