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Apple Readying New FaceTime Equipped iPads?

When Apple said that iOS 4.2 wasn't coming until november, and leaving the iPad high and dry until then, I had a sneaking suspicion that it was holding off for a reason.

iPad version 2. November release, just as the christmas season is ramping up.

iSight camera. (remember the photos that showed the case had a relief cut for the iSight camera that the MacBook Pros use, but no portal on the glass screen's border?) Easy.

512 or more RAM. like iPhone 4.

Higher res IPS screen. Maybe not full retina grade, but higher res than current.

faster processor, perhaps, for all of that AirPlay back-and-forth.

upgraded/fixed WiFi reception.

No form factor change for the 9.5" screen. Maybe a 7" version, if there is any truth to that rumor.

Lots of people buy them for christmas, and people looking for deals buy the used 1st gen iPads second hand from the folks upgrading, or hold-over clearance inventory.

I'm looking forward to it. It'll probably be way over budget for a christmas present for me, though, even if my whole extended family chipped in. :D Definitely over the top to ask for that and a Parrot iOS-controlled quad-copter to go with it. :D
 
Annual update - biannual redesign fits the iphone very well, its a long term structure to let punters know what to expect.

Messing with it for the sake of the xmas market is a small term win at the expense of a business plan

xmas is for ipods.
 
FlyinggPenguin said:
This should've been on the first generation iPad.
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Apple's no1, 2 and 3 priority for the ipad launch was "make it work."

Now - when you are launching a "gamechanger" - there is no point cramming it with every possible option. Your team's focus will be spread too thin.

Make it right, then as competitors play catch up - add more as you go.

There was no point launching it with 2 cameras before facetime was ready.
 
Journojulz said:
Apple's no1, 2 and 3 priority for the ipad launch was "make it work."

Now - when you are launching a "gamechanger" - there is no point cramming it with every possible option. Your team's focus will be spread too thin.

Make it right, then as competitors play catch up - add more as you go.

There was no point launching it with 2 cameras before facetime was ready.
Click to expand...

I see where you're coming at. But the iPhone 4's FaceTime isn't probably resting too well with iPad owners. Don't get me wrong, if someone offered me a free iPad with no strings, hell to the yeah I would take it, but I wouldn't go spend $500 dollars on one without Retina Display, 4.2, or a camera with or without FaceTime. The camera adapter should be bundled with the iPad, too. Anyways, chances are if you own Apple products and looking at a 3G iPad, you're on AT&T-- just get an iPhone 4 because of the Retina Display and FaceTime and use your Christmas money towards the iPad, (Unless if adults don't get Christmas money. :p Yay for being fourteen.) but if you have money to throw around or you're a diehard iFan, you should get one. IMHO. :D
 
FaceTime is probably a lock-in. Apple want this on as many devices as they can, and also likely includes an iChat update to give Macs the same capability. They're obviously serious about taking on Skype, GTalk, et al and the best way to do that is cram it into every Apple product that can manage it.

Of course, with the standard two cameras it would make the iPad the world's least ergonomic point-and-shoot ;)
 
Hmm, I wonder if people from Apple read these thread to get the "pulse" of the people.

All I can say is that I did not get an iPad for the reason that I knew generation 2 would have a camera - especially since after they came out with Facetime for the iPhone 4. Facetime is important for me since I use it with my family. I work a lot. Maybe too much. So seeing the wife and kids on my iPhone 4 while I'm at the hospital is a joy for me.

Actually, I almost bought the iPad on impulse one weekend but they did not have the 32GB WiFi version in stock. I'll probably get the next iPad if it has FaceTime since my daughter learned her shapes, colors, numbers and ABCs from my iPhone 3GS. She's 3 years old. My son, who is one year old, can probably learn the same from using the old 3GS but maybe the experience will be enhanced with the larger iPad display in addition to the other iPad specific programs that will enhance his learning experience.

My wife can use it too to stream videos from the Philippines. I'd rather she stream videos to the iPad rather than buying The Filipino Channel - the house would never get cleaned. Right now she uses the iPhone 4 to stream videos. My family will probably enjoy video conferencing with me on a larger display, not that my face is pretty to look at on a larger display.

Everyone has a reason why not to buy or to buy an iPad. Bottom line is that Apple has craftily constructed the iPad with a set of features so that it will sell millions. That's called business sense. And if it is able to sell millions with a lesser feature set, imagine how much more it would sell with more features such as camera, conferencing and maybe a new display? I bet the new iPad will have a camera but the processor is the same. That is the genius of Steve Jobs. He makes you believe that the device he is selling you is superior to everything else out there and is the game changer, a revolution of sorts.... until the next version is released and a new sales pitch is thrown at you again.

Planned obsolescence?

Marketing ploy?

A natural evolution of technology?

Call it what you will. Bottom line is that it has worked through the years and just look at where Apple is now. More market cap than Microsoft. Billions of dollars in cash. The envy of the tech world.

If this were the 1800s, Steve Jobs would be the richest snake oil salesman selling you the remedy to cure all ailments.
 
jmull said:
No this is completely false. I have it on good authority that the iPad will never ever ever have a camera or facetime. I mean never, what would be the point. Never coming. If it were worth happening uncle steve would have included it in version number one. iPads aren't for watching video, they're for reading the magical version of the NY Times!
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lol they would never do that. never ever give away all features you want in the first version, nor the second.. or the third. theres gotta be room for improvement you dig
 
I do think Apple may go to a 1280x768 touchscreen for the iPad--the same resolution found on some netbook computers. This may allow Apple to put true 720p video on the iPad itself (since 720p video is 1280x720 resolution). 1366x768 could be considered but it might be too expensive if Apple wants to keep the price reasonable.
 
SactoGuy18 said:
I do think Apple may go to a 1280x768 touchscreen for the iPad--the same resolution found on some netbook computers. This may allow Apple to put true 720p video on the iPad itself (since 720p video is 1280x720 resolution). 1366x768 could be considered but it might be too expensive if Apple wants to keep the price reasonable.
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Why would they change the aspect ratio of the iPad like that ? It's a 4:3 screen, not a ... wait what kind of ratio is 1280x768 anyway ? It's close to 16:10, but not quite it since that would be 1280x800 and it's not 16:9 either, since that would be 1280x720.
 
SactoGuy18 said:
I do think Apple may go to a 1280x768 touchscreen for the iPad--the same resolution found on some netbook computers. This may allow Apple to put true 720p video on the iPad itself (since 720p video is 1280x720 resolution). 1366x768 could be considered but it might be too expensive if Apple wants to keep the price reasonable.
Click to expand...

I can assure you they will NOT change the resolution. They chose the current resolution because it was the exact double of the old iPhone and same as the iPhone 4. This is to ensure all old apps will work on the device since it's easy to stretch the graphics to double the size. Also, this meant a lot of people had to adjust their apps to take advantage of the new resolution. Changing resolution again means that tens of thousands of apps will have to be changed again, or exist in several different versions. And no, before you ask, scaling an app to a decimal scale or another aspect ratio would look awful. I really don't believe Apple would put the app developers through such a hell.

I guess the resolution will be the same for a long time to come. Perhaps they will double it again in the future since that's the simplest way, but the hardware in the iPad today don't have hardware to deliver smooth motion to a 2048x1536 screen.
 
KnightWRX said:
Uh ? No they didn't. The iPhone 4 has a 960x640 resolution, the iPad is 1024x768. :rolleyes:
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Sorry, my mistake. I guess they chose a tiny bit bigger screen to be able to run the att in 2x resolution and still fit a zoom-button or some black borders (I'm not sure myself how the zoomed mode look).

However, my main point was that you can't scale an app to 1.8 times the size or 2.5 times, nor can you change the aspect ratio of the current screen, that would look awful. The only resolution where all current iPhone and iPad apps would look ok and not require to be rewritten would be 2048x1536, and I don't believe we'll see such a screen on the iPad for quite some time.
 
Stingray454 said:
I can assure you they will NOT change the resolution. They chose the current resolution because it was the exact double of the old iPhone and same as the iPhone 4. This is to ensure all old apps will work on the device since it's easy to stretch the graphics to double the size. Also, this meant a lot of people had to adjust their apps to take advantage of the new resolution. Changing resolution again means that tens of thousands of apps will have to be changed again, or exist in several different versions. And no, before you ask, scaling an app to a decimal scale or another aspect ratio would look awful. I really don't believe Apple would put the app developers through such a hell.
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly, desiging iOS apps to work with a specific resolution kind of didn't work out, as shown by old apps designed for the iPhone 3G/3Gs not looking good on the iPad. I do think Apple may enforce a requirement for iPad apps so it works and "looks" correct regardless of whatever resolution the iPad evolves to. Hence the reason why I think Apple may up the resolution to 1280x768 so it can at least show 720p video at native resolution (remember, HD video downloaded through the iTunes Store are 720p resolution).
 
Stingray454 said:
Sorry, my mistake. I guess they chose a tiny bit bigger screen to be able to run the att in 2x resolution and still fit a zoom-button or some black borders (I'm not sure myself how the zoomed mode look).

However, my main point was that you can't scale an app to 1.8 times the size or 2.5 times, nor can you change the aspect ratio of the current screen, that would look awful. The only resolution where all current iPhone and iPad apps would look ok and not require to be rewritten would be 2048x1536, and I don't believe we'll see such a screen on the iPad for quite some time.
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Or maybe devs should start building apps that are resolution independant and scale properly by themselves instead of relying on Apple. It's a problem that was solved on the PC decades ago. It's 2010, Android has proper support for multiple resolution, I think it might be time for iOS and its devs to have it too.
 
belltree said:
...and this folks, is why I did not buy an iPad. Never buy 1st gen products.
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unless youve actually been using it and its serving its intended purpose. remember: a new product w/ new features doesnt somehow break an older product. you got what you paid for, no more, no less. nothing changes that.
 
FlyinggPenguin said:
the iPhone 4's FaceTime isn't probably resting too well with iPad owners.
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says who? theyre selling like gangbusters. im still thrilled w/ mine, it serves the exact same purpose today as it did the day i bought it....any new version w/ new features cannot change that.
 
FlyinggPenguin said:
Some people are harder to please.
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bliss050209.gif
 
Aries326 said:
If this were the 1800s, Steve Jobs would be the richest snake oil salesman selling you the remedy to cure all ailments.
Click to expand...

If this was the 1900s, Job's customers would be saying?
"Any colour as long as its black? I guess i can live with that."
 
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