Apple Issues Invitations for iPad 3 Media Event on March 7

[wilhoitm]

That is not an iPad, it is the Apple TV w/ Touchscreen

Take a look at it again! That is not a retina display iPad, it is the new Apple TV with a Touchscreen!

Marcus

 

[MTShipp]

I have sympathy for the poor east-coast reporters (like @ihnatko) who have the tradeoff: buy bargain tickets based on the rumored date for an event, or wait for Apple's announcement a week before the event and get charged sky-high prices. It's a dilemma.

Maybe somebody out there sells travel insurance if a rumored Apple announcement doesn't pan out.

I am sure he gets reimbursed.

 

[Liquinn]

Lots of talk about the missing home button, but that iPad *could* have been photographed in landscape orientation.

Time will tell. I'm going to probably get the iPad 4 since my original iPad works fine with no issues.

 

[AppleInLVX]

Cute typo in CoM's post too:


What exactly is a hope button?

It's the virtual button all the feature seekers will be hammering on for the next week.

 

[BergerFan]

You can pretty much do everything the home button does with gestures.

I'm more than aware of that, but those gestures are only intuitive, if you're told or shown those gestures. The Home button requires no learning curve, which is one of the reasons why kids get to grips with an iPad instantly.

 

[szolr]

When do they send out the invites for the Mac Pro announcement on April 1?

It's pretty obvious that the Mac Pro is not going to be something Apple want you to touch.

Instead of good old April Fool's day for the next release, maybe keep track of Ivy Bridge's delayed release schedule? That may give you a better hint-try 1st June.

 

[notjustjay]

But that's exactly what Apple did with the iPod, i.e., replaced the moving click wheel with a touch sensitive one. I'm not suggesting Apple will have a touch sensitive home button, in fact, I think Apple is moving away from buttons as much as possible, but it's not entirely out of the realm.

True, they had touch sensitive buttons in the 3rd generation iPod. I owned one. I hated them.

It was hard to tell by feel which button you were hovering over, so you had to look. That means you couldn't keep the iPod in your pocket or on the dash when driving. You couldn't just feel your way to the first button and then count two buttons over, either -- not without activating all those buttons.

There was no physical feedback that confirmed you had pressed a button. So you had to rely on the software, and sometimes it would either register your finger proximity a little bit too early or a little bit too late. Just enough that maybe you weren't sure if you actually pressed it, so you'd press it again, more firmly. Except now you've registered two button presses.

And touch sensitive buttons didn't work when you were wearing gloves.

For the fourth gen iPod, they went back to a click wheel.

 

[iSolidus]

Hype level: maximum!

 

[RalfTheDog]

Quick off topic question, Has anyone gotten the "supersize your iPad" add to work, I clicked on it (if for no other reason than to give MacRumors a fraction of a cent) and tried the, "Drag your device" bit. I did it in FF, Chrome and Safari. It did not work for any of them. What's up with spending millions of dollars on a broken ad?

 

[ThatsMeRight]

I'm surprised so many Apple experts are thinking that it's simply in landscape mode. The spacing is not consistent with landscape, and is consistent with portrait mode.

Some detective work (AKA screenshots).

See that cluster of 6 droplets, arcing up to 1, 2 o'clock?

View attachment 326733

You don't even SEE those droplets when you hold it in landscape mode. To get the wallpaper, dock icons, and dock shine just as it is in the invitation, you have to hold it in portrait mode. To be precise, hold it in portrait mode, put 5 apps in your dock, put Maps, Calendar, and Keynote as your 3rd, 4th and 5th apps. And there you go.

View attachment 326735

That would place the Home button (or FaceTime camera) directly under the Maps icon.

You are absolutely correct. I'm quoting your whole post, because this thread is moving so fast and as many people as possible should see this! Great detective work!

However, there are three more possibilities.

- The FaceTime camera has changed from position (possibly in the middle when hold in landscape mode)
- The home button has changed from position (I'd assume to the middle when hold in landscape mode)
- Both have changed from position (I'd assume to the middle when hold in landscape mode).

 

[makeway]

I wonder who's lucky hand that is.

The Incredible Shrinking Man?

 

[chiefpavvy]

Well, the new capacitive button could automagically appear on the center bottom of whatever orientation the tablet is in. No more button on the left or right side when in landscape mode.

I think it would be an awesome idea, get the button out of hands way in landscape, and it could be transparent to developers.

This, and it may well be the case.

 

[dukebound85]

Where's the home button?

Image

landscape mode perhaps?

 

[Skika]

1) It will be called iPad HD.
2) A model of the iPad 2 will continue to be sold at a reduced price. (Perhaps as low as $349.)

Mark

iPad HD? Really? iPad3's screen will be well above HD or even FULL HD.

One could even argue that the current resolution of iPad qualifies as HD.

And above all else iPad HD sounds really cheap/mediocre naming.

 

[kyjaotkb]

And the drops line up pretty well in comparison.

So:
- Higher res screen (the quoted pic clearly shows it)
- No home button (strange... but that wallpaper seems to prove t's not in landscape)
- hieroglyphs decoding : there will be a keynote on March 7th about something from 1 infinite loop, Cupertino, CA. Will it be waterproof btw ?

 

[writingdevil]

I wonder if it's relevant to know who's hand is in that image.

Uhh, every company uses hand/foot/face models for products. I have a bud who does hand (ok, not going to go there) "work" and gets good bucks to keep his hands and nails perfect.

 

[kmanmx]

I think they have simply just Photoshopped the home button out, it would take away from the clean look of the picture.

Naughty Apple. Though they can get away with it, because they've never said that it's a picture of an iPad.

 

[LostSoul80]

The Incredible Shrinking Man?

It's a fake hand.

 

[catalyst6]

Regarding the home button missing:

I think it's just a weird render (i.e. fake image). Look at the dude's thumb, it's glowing from a non-existant light source!

That being said, I would like a smart bezel

 

[chiefpavvy]

Any one else excited about the Apple TV 3? That will be a biggie for me. Not that iPad 3 isn't, but both would mean my wallet with just a thread or two left.

 

[trekkie604]

No home button--

Landscape.

 

[monaarts]

Final nail in coffin

HAHA I couldn't help myself.

 

[d0vr]

Gizmodo seems to support the no home button theory for the exact same reasons in this thread.

If there truly is no home button, how would be wake it? The lock button?

See - AppleTV - Also a great thought!!!

Gyro sensor? Pick it up - device wakes up?

 

[xgman]

Regarding the home button missing:

I think it's just a weird render (i.e. fake image). Look at the dude's thumb, it's glowing from a non-existant light source!

That being said, I would like a smart bezel

In the same pic from last year you clearly see the home button and the water drops do line up. Don't see why they would alter that perception.

 

[PerfectDB]

Someone suggested earlier it could be upside down, but if that's the case, where's the camera?

Apple does like to tease us so.