Apple Handwriting Engineer?

[maya]

Maybe they are going to replace the iPod clickwheel with touch sensitive pad, that allows more than rotation?

I believe that you might be right indeed. Apple has done all they can with the iPod as far as output data in whatever form or way, there is little room ahead. Video will take one of the new processors from INTEL, however that would again limit the iPod.

Having the same concept or maybe replacing the click wheel entirely would increase the screen size to a wide formate for video, music and picture, plus input data without syncing. Adding BT or wireless FireWire will sort the data transfer bottle neck.

The iPod will evolve into something in the nature of a PDA, however with an HDD at its core for storage rather than Flash Memory.

Wonder why Apple released the Shuffle, and discontinued the iPod Photo, that is why.

Next on the list is getting rid of the Click Wheel and making the screen larger and touch sensitive along with Input feature. This will not happen in 2005, however a better timeframe would be late 2006.

No more iPod for me my 3G 20g has yet to get filled out.

Apple has no future my creating what has already been done with a tablet PC, its limited. However an iPod with light features will work just as well if not better, as the iPod incarnates simple mobile usage, and it will do it again for inputting data.

You heard the entire solution here first folks.

 

[pdsi]

Heck, I've been using Inkwell for years!

I've been using my Newton MP 2000 every day since 1997. I use it for notes, appointments, contacts, etc. I still use it every day. The Newton served as my laptop (got the Newton keyboard, you know) before I bought my first PowerBook. Though it got bad press early on, the Newton handwriting recognition is/was really excellent.

By the way, I'm STILL using the original rechargable battery! Strange, I know...

 

[Mechcozmo]

i think wat apple rele should do is just bring back the newton with osx pda. i think that would really sell. i'd buy one, if they were priced reasonably

I have a Newton 130 if you are interested... keyboard too. They are really nice.

 

[lajocaab]

Keyboard input not necessary for all applications

The technology is available to provide consumers with a product like "iSlate". Of course only Apple could really do it right, although several other companies are attempting to create some variation of this device. Unfortunately many are too focused on video playback only, & not creating a true multi-function device that could be used at home, at the office, or on the road. This product would integrate well into the "Digital Lifestyle" philosophy & compliment existing Apple products.

It would provide a screen large enough to actually watch video & view photos, while still being small enough to be portable. It needs to be smaller than a notebook computer, but larger than a PDA. Granted, you can not put a device the size of a DVD case in your pocket, but something doesn't have to fit in a pocket to be portable. This device could be used in so many different situations that it would have broad appeal in the market. I only pray that Apple is working on such a device & will release it in 2004. They have an opportunity to impact the industry with the iSlate & iVideo media Store as much as the iPod & iTMS will.

iSlate

New Apple mini-tablet –> PMA (portable media appliance)

Designed not to be a creative device like a desktop or laptop, but rather a sophisticated display device that communicates seamlessly with other devices via Rendezvous & 802.11, BT, GPRS, FireWire, etc.


Device Size:
8” x 5.0” x .65” (±15oz)
± 1/2 size of a 17” PowerBook
± 2x size of a Palm T5 or an iPod
± size of a DVD movie case
small enough to hold with one hand by the bezel (.5” bezel on the sides)

Screen:
±8” LCD (16:9 ratio) -> 800 x 480 pixels minimum (1024 x 600 ideally)
± 1/2 size of 17” PowerBook screen
± 2x size of a Palm T5 screen
able to display “640 x 480 material” & DVD (720x480) quality video natively

Battery:
6-9 hour Li-Ion battery (or some new battery technology)

Storage:
1.8” 40GB or 60GB hard drive (additional capacity can come from external devices)
256MB or 512MB RAM - fixed
SD slot (w/ adapter for xD & Smart Media)

Processor & OS ?:
Motorola 800 MHz G4 mobile w/ Mac OS X lite or
Intel 500 MHz XScale PXA270 w/ Mac OS Mobile?

Connectivity:
802.11 –> Desktop or Laptop, Stereo, Internet via Wi-Fi hotspots
Bluetooth –> Keyboard, Mouse, PDA, Wireless Headphones, Internet via GSM Phone
FireWire –> iPod, Computer, Hard Drive, DVD/CD writer, Video Camera, iSight
USB 2.0 –> Printer, PDA, Digital Still Camera
mini-DVI w/adapter for:
-> ADC & VGA for larger monitor
-> DVI for video projector or HDTV
-> S-Video for video projector or TV
-> Composite for video projector or TV
Stereo mini out
Stereo mini in
Rendezvous for seamless connectivity to other devices

Input:
Inkwell via touch screen &/or stylus
Keyboard & mouse via Bluetooth or USB
Microphone
Remote control via Bluetooth

Applications:
inkwell, iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, Safari, QuickTime, iSync, Rendezvous
Preview, Mail, iCal, Address Book, Sherlock, iChat AV
Keynote, FileMaker, Quicken, etc.

A/V Formats:
Pixlet, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, Audible, JPEG, TIFF, GIF

Accessories:
Charger, External Battery, Stand, clip for iSight, Portable folding BT keyboard, BT mouse
Headphone w/Microphone boom, quality stereo headphones

Price ??:
$699 to $999


Create a device that is bigger that the largest PDA or Archos type device, yet smaller than the average notebook or tablet computer. Imagine if you will, holding a device (about the size of a DVD case) away from you anywhere from 12" to 18". Obviously a 4" screen would be inadequate, but a 7" to 9" diagonal widescreen would be more than acceptable. It also needs to be viewable in portrait or landscape mode. It could still be small enough to fit in a stack of books, a briefcase, a large purse, of any number of other carrying cases. It would be something that could be viewed in an office, at home, in a coffee shop, on an airplane or train, or even in the backseat of a car.

The idea is not to see how much visual information one can cram into a small space (3" to 4" screens) or replace existing devices like the TV or Video Projector. The idea is to create a device that is a reasonable compromise between portability & "acceptable or pleasurable" viewing for multiple applications & that also complements existing devices.

Although a 4 lb, 12" notebook computer displays video beautifully (I use one everyday), it is too big for the situations I have described. Beyond the innumerable business applications it could fulfill, it could display video & photos on a screen that is much bigger than an Archos type device or PDA, & yet smaller than a notebook computer. It doesn’t need to carry everything all the time, so it doesn’t require a massive hard drive. The internal HD needs only to be large enough for the OS, applications & enough storage to carry material while you away from any connectivity to other devices or the internet.

From a strictly “video perspective”, a large part of its success would hinge upon Apple's ability to distribute video clips through an online store much like iTMS. This store could provide educational content, business content, news content, & entertainment content beyond just movies. To be truly successful, it must integrate into Apple's "Digital Lifestyle" strategy, & be truly portable (ubiquitous wireless connectivity & good battery life).

Originally Posted by: lajocaab on Feb 11, 04 | 11:05 pm

 

[sbarton]

The handwriting recognition on Microsoft's tablet PC OS is spectacular. I can write with almost unrecognizable cursive and it will hardly make a mistake. Inkwell's technology currently works about as well as it did on a Newton. Apple has a long way to go here.

Uhh...your insane.

The recognizer in the TablePC's is mediocure at best. You can't even begin to compare the HWR of the TabletPC's to the Newton 2x00 line.

 

[danielwsmithee]

GREAT IDEA

Connectivity:
802.11 –> Desktop or Laptop, Stereo, Internet via Wi-Fi hotspots
Bluetooth –> Keyboard, Mouse, PDA, Wireless Headphones, Internet via GSM Phone
FireWire –> iPod, Computer, Hard Drive, DVD/CD writer, Video Camera, iSight
USB 2.0 –> Printer, PDA, Digital Still Camera
mini-DVI w/adapter for:
-> ADC & VGA for larger monitor
-> DVI for video projector or HDTV
-> S-Video for video projector or TV
-> Composite for video projector or TV
Stereo mini out
Stereo mini in
Rendezvous for seamless connectivity to other devices

This is the device that I envision however I hope that they will not try to cram all of these connectors on the actual device, which would be to uglly, sloppy, and waste to much space. Rather I would hope they would do something similar the custom iPod connector. One small connector hidden at the bottom of the device that would connect to a dock with every connector or individual adaptars similar to the iPod cammera connector to get USB.

That would be sweet. Oh and it has to play back H.264 natively using hardware decoding in the graphics chip. iTVS would distribute all it's content in H.264 and you could be watching a news program on one side of the screen while reading email on the other without a perfromance hit. 1024 x 640 would be the ideal screan size (which is allready supported on all apple wide screen displays!).

 

[VicMacs]

whatever happenned to the guy that worked with newtons? after 2 palms I still think the newton method rocks

 

[nakgxf]

iTablet

I have read all the ideas about a device bigger than a PDA and smaller than a laptop, and am just left thinking...why? I think the reality is that most people dont want YET ANOTHER device to add to their collection. Somebody who already carries around and iPod and laptop and cell phone etc, etc, etc does not need something else to take with him.

Personally I am a design student at the University of Missouri, and would love to see a full fledged laptop with a screen that flips around to let me draw on it. We have to keep a sketchbook for my classes, and be able to sketch and save all those little doodles and drawings to my hard drive would be awesome. It would be so much easier to put color in my sketches, use different drawing tools (pen, marker, etc..). PLUS if I ever did need a hard copy, I could make as many as I please by simply hitting a print button.

And also just for taking any sort of notes where maybe a diagram or graph is involved, typing just can't cut it. Being able to type out text, then flip the screen around to draw that diagram in would be killer. I have supported tablets since the beginning, and the fact that Apple, the best designers of computer hardware in the world, are on the job makes the outlook for tablets that much better. I sincerely hope that a full fledged tablet with keyboard is in the works, cause I will be first in line to buy one.

 

[danielwsmithee]

I have read all the ideas about a device bigger than a PDA and smaller than a laptop, and am just left thinking...why? I think the reality is that most people dont want YET ANOTHER device to add to their collection. Somebody who already carries around and iPod and laptop and cell phone etc, etc, etc does not need something else to take with him.

That is exactly the point of having a single device that is larger then an iPod or PDA but smaller then a laptop. Currently most on the go types carry both a laptop and a PDA. The PDA is used for quick access to information while the laptop is used for actual work while on the go. The problem is PDA are not capable of doing real work in their current fromat. They are only good for contacts, email, schedule etc, they have too small of a screen to do any real work, and the operating systems can not run a normal desktop application.

A new slate the size of a DVD disc case as was mentioned earlier would have enough screen resoulution to run normal applications, yet be portable enough to pull out at a moments notice. The true power of this device is that it can run Tiger, or at least a themed version of it. I imagine with a push of a button a MediaBrowser fills the screen similar to the way dashboard now does. From there you have a simple interface to all your media and contact information (music, video, photos, contacts, email) similar to a current PDA. Then push the button again the whole thing disapears and you are now looking at your Tiger desktop.

I currently have a Cell Phone, iPod, PDA, iBook and Desktop. If one of these devices existed I would reduce it down to a Cell Phone, iSlate, and Desktop.

As far as taking notes in the method you say this can all be done on the slate with a portable foldout bluetooth keyboard. This might sound cumbersome, but I am sure if it was done right, like Apple always does, it would be just like working on a laptop with a fold down keyboard. I don't mind having a keyboard on the device when it comes as long as it is detachable! Preferably BT so I can connect the thing to a TV, and sit back.

 

[coopdig]

You, like some others on this thread, are totally missing the point. The tablet isn't for a focus on input. It is for output. The tablet is a wonderful way to navigate and view web pages, read email, read documents, etc. When I want to do little bits of input the handwriting recognition is good enough. When I want to do a lot of input I'll just use my bluetooth keyboard (130 wpm, thank you).

Tablets have a very useful place in the spectrum of computers.

Right on. I'm a college student, and I have increasingly found that we are expected to access our assigned readings not in books, or via photocopies of those books, but as PDF files which have been uploaded onto the schools intranet. More and more schools are doing this, and I think it's an excellent thing: Though I am a great fan of reading from books, the movement towards "paperless" campuses saves students money (by sparing them the cost of a book which they might read only once), and avoids the tremendous amount of paper/toner-waste which accompanies photocopied reading assignments (often totaling many hundreds of pages over the course of a single semester). Hooray for the movement towards the "paperless" campus!

In any case, having a device whose battery life I didn't have to worry about, and which would allow me to carry around and access numerous PDF files, take notes, access the internet, and then seamlessly transfer my work to my main computer would be INCREDIBLY useful to me - a perfect portable device for research and light productivity. When I need to write a paper (or to do anything else which requires some serious time and heavy-lifting from my processor, e.g. video/music-editing) I'll sit down at my desktop, or, perhaps, in the library with my laptop; beyond that, however, I'd like to do my work OUT of my room/the library, and I'd like to do so as easily and as lightly as possible.

As more and more campuses and cafes become all-wireless, and as students come to expect devices which will allow them to do the work they need in different environments, they will come out looking for a tablet/slate-type device, just like this new device from Apple might be.

Is the entire student body of the US a large-enough niche for Apple? I'd bet on it, and I certainly hope that this slate comes out soon.

 

[ebunton]

I don't think they'd have to write an entirely new OS. They could just modify the current one. Even on a screen the width of an iPod they could still fit an apple menu, File, Edit and then a Wireless icon, battery icon and clock along the top... Then a small dock with 5 icons or so... But of course it would be a bigger screen than that!

I shudder to think of what sort of MS Tablet edition-esque OSX nee handwriting, Apple would come up with if it weren't going to build an OS targeted specifically for pen operation.

Here's to them designing the perfect replacement for the personal paper notebook plus a few nifty added widgets.