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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."
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.
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?
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.
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.
It's not a slashvertisement. It's an opinion piece about a rumoured product. TFA is a well written opinion piece, but that's all it is, you should read it. Your post on the other hand is whining in tone. If googles products are good enough, they won't have the slightest thing to worry about.
Perhaps you could write something interesting on the subject, instead of whining. Perhaps that's too difficult for you.
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/
As many as there are necessary to make us forget the long soliloquies I had to listen to each time I mentioned that the large screen and weight of the iPad make it rather poor choice for proper mobile use, and basically useless at home where you have a notebook anyway.
I'm used to 7-7.5 inches and under 300 grams of weight from the ebooks I've been using for about a decade now, so it was good to see Android-based tablets in a similar form factor. I have just upgraded an ageing galaxy tab to a Google Nexus 7 and I am glad to see that Apple is joining the crowd.
What is with carrying stuff in your pockets? Do you really carry your smart phone in your pocket?
Yes, and it has an extended battery too. Doesn't matter what kind of pants I'm wearing.
Pockets are nice because they are accessible, can't be accidentally set down or lost, are harder to steal from, and don't scream "look, I have expensive items!". I carry everything in my pockets.
The meek may inherit the earth, but the strong shall take the stars.
Umm, yes, yes I do. Actually, my 4.3" smartphone with hard case actually even fits into one of the lower pockets of some of the carpenter pants I own. I generally keep my wallet and keys in my left pocket (once I traveled internationally, I never saw a reason to keep the wallet in the back pocket, its bad for your back anyway). The right pocket has my smartphone and possibly a small usb drive. So, yeah, see no issue with carrying my smartphone around in my pocket. Since I used to work at heights frequently, I never trusted belt cases, plus they are generally regarded as tacky. How tight are your pants that you can't fit a smartphone in them?
Skinny jeans might be all the rage among hipsters these days but us normal people can easily fit a cellphone in a pants pocket. Where the hell are you carrying yours? In your "it's not a purse, it's European!"?
I would have figured at least 1/3 of the crowd here would be sporting a utility kilt. You can carry a netbook in those.
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.
Who cares how well written it is, it is still content free. Nobody has leaked images yet so this guy's idle speculation isn't any better than some random /. user. But we have to have at least one Apple story per day it appears so this is it. Bah.
Oh well, won't last much longer. The iPod is almost a memory, the iPhone is fast retreating to the traditional 10% of the market where overpriced luxury goods normally dwell and with a little luck the iPad will also become something the 'rest of us' can safely quit worrrying about.
Democrat delenda est
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.
I think Apple would be happy with 10% unit share and 75% profit share in the mobile market, not that unit share matters a bit to Apple if history is any guide. They are always focused on the profit. Always.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
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.
So informed speculation about the biggest change to one of the most innovative products to hit the tech scene in a decade isn't news for nerds at all? If this thing is released it'll probably redefine the Christmas gaming scene and have a huge impact on the eReader and educational computing market. Yes, this is newsworthy, even if you as an individual don't want to read it.
E pluribus unum
There was no keynote with Jobs citing how cool it was. iPad Mini will flop.
Yup. Had the Nexus 7 in my left pocket this morning, but was asking myself on the bike ride to the train station (I ride a tikit -- the crossbar is low enough to not conflict with the kilt) if it was there at all.
The only real down side to the huge pockets is how they sit to the front. It's a benefit to cycling -- have heavy enough pocket contents and the pockets prevent wind gusts from compromising modesty -- but a disappointment to the womenfolk (hard to cop a feel through a smartphone, a wallet, and a 7" tablet).
woosh!
It's a screen and a motherboard encased in plastic and metal. Design hipsters fap about these things, apparently.
basically useless at home where you have a notebook anyway
We each have a laptop, but the iPad (would guess it's the same with all full-size tablets) is great to grab with you when you pop outside for a smoke. Yes, I'm guilty of playing games or reading news while sitting outside in a semi-comfy chair. It's also great to have at arm's length while playing Wii (for looking up info or using as a "real" TV guide, for playing a game during a commercial or adding items to my Netflix queue while sort-of watching something else). Or propped up in bed reading an electronic book or Netflix or game or whatever. It's an ideal device to keep nearby so you can just quickly pick it up and do something without delay or the frustration of the laptop form factor.
Weight? Holding a tablet has never been a big deal. You can always switch arms if it's giving you a cramp. I guess I don't see you whipping out your iPad in the middle of the grocery store, but on a train or plane? Sure. Basically anywhere you sit down it makes sense... but that's not a weight thing. It's because you're concentrating on the device and it could be dangerous to have this big screen you're staring at, unaware of your surroundings.
The kilt itself doesn't have pockets, it's the "Sporran" (Scottish Gaelic for "purse", it is the progenitor of the "murse," the jockstrap cup and the pocket protector) that is worn in front of the kilt that serves as the pocket. I expect it's only a matter of time before Belkin and Griffin make a $50 piece of plastic you can snap your iPad into to hang in front of your crotch from a cord, making it conveniently placed when sitting down or quickly accessible by simply flipping up when standing... also useful as an electronic billboard in public spaces for featuring paid advertisements or dubious national pride statements, such as: "A true Scotsman wears nothing beneath his kilt."
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 also has a lower resolution, less storage, a smaller battery and less app for it.
It's more customizable, easier to get content, and with the soft back - easier to hold.
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Google-Nexus-7,Apple-iPad-3/phones/7143,5715
More customizable? I guess you need to fiddle with it because it comes setup so poorly and you have to do something out of boredom whereas iPad users "use" their devices. I can customize the lockscreen background, wallpaper, notifications and alert sounds. What more do I need? I could also jailbreak it if I really wanted to do more tweaking but I prefer stability and security over futzing around. Content? Yeah, as long and the music is in MP3 format whereas the iPad supports MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, WAV, M4A (Apple lossless). For video, the iPad also supports more formats and third party apps easily support additional formats. Games and apps are more plentiful on the IPad as well.
Services are more integrated than the iPad, IMHO, you could get by fine without having a computer to sync up with the Nexus 7.
What services? Google services? What if I don't want to use Google+? You can get by without syncing to a computer on an iPad since the release of iOS 5.0.
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.
Oh, I get it, you mean pirated shit. I thought you meant quality content.
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.
How much did you get paid for that post Mr. Google shill? Yeah, why would anyone choose an iPad with its higher resolution and more apps and commercial games when you can get a device with less apps and less storage.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
And a swimming pool is just a supersized bathtub.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
LOL, suddenly, am I imagining Mae West saying "Is that a tablet in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Nexus 7 is 1280x800
With that in mind, I doubt that Apple would go for a lower resolution.
My local iPad fan is dumping her iPad for a 7 inch Android tablet. It turns out there was some logic behind all of those book reader devices that decided on the 7 inch size.
The iPad had the appearance of being first to market and had a lot of mindless marketing buzz behind it. A lot of that was marketing posing as journalism. The original article here is just more of the same.
Smaller tablets have continued to thrive or even gain traction against Apple on it's own turf and now it's time to turn the battleship as it were and begin the propaganda deluge for Apple's "me too" product.
Apple doesn't seem quite so inevitable any more.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.