Personally, I'd actually love a larger 15 inch retina iPad with having the ability to open multiple apps open at once and a larger keyboard display. I know this won't happen, but I'd rather have that then a smaller iPad.
This isn't fragmentation in the sense that we talk about Android fragmentation. This is introducing another product into a line. It would still run iOS5.
The introduction of the iPod mini wasn't fragmentation; it was just the introduction of another, smaller product into the iPod family.
I know of two people in my office who'd like a smaller iPad. They are both women who want something more handbag-sized. They both say the current iPad is too big for them to consider. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Smaller? What a rubbish idea, could go a 12" iPad though.
This is going to turn out to be one of those "Not what it looks like" rumors.
I still think this is going to be released in conjunction with the real Apple Television. It will be the remote. It will draw people into buying the TV so they can get the iPad. And it will not be sold separately at first. I believe this is what Jobs meant when he "cracked" it.
Playing off the success of the iPad will bring in the audience to the TV. The iPad is a great way to control a TV through the current AppleTV, but not everyone has an iPad.
So in classic Jobs fashion, Tim Cook will reveal 3 new products.
A new Ipad, A new Apple TV, A new Display. A new iPad, A new Apple TV, A new Display. Are you getting it? These are not 3 different products but one new revolutionary device. And the AppleTV will cease to be a "Hobby".
My worry is what they will cut to reach the price point $249 or $299?
1. Camera(s)? - will be missed for FaceTime
2. Single Core A5 ? not the A5X
3. less RAM? 512MB
4.
???
Personally I think theyll keep it internally the same as the iPad2: A5, 512MB RAM, same cameras, etc., offer it in 8GB, maybe _only_ one capacity (whether its 8 or 16GB), and maybe change some of the case materials.
Id also see them skipping a cell option on this device too. Make it a tablet in terms of how apps operate, but more like a Touch in terms of no 3G/4G and cheaper materials.
The only things I see being an issue:
Price - theyll want it to be profitable but make sense as part of the whole product lineup (<iPad, >Touch)
Usability - by keeping the 1024x768 they avoid another fragmentation point, tap into a huge app market from day one, but only if theres no issues with smaller screen elements
Apple Reportedly Looking to Launch 'iPad Mini' Priced at $249-$299 in Q3
Base on my iPod Touch usage, I would hope for 16GB and 32 GB versions at least. Also, sine the current iPad 2 being offered is 16GB, I don't think a 7" iPad with 16GB is unlikely.I see this as a good thing, assuming the rumor is true. I would bank on it being essentially an iPad 2 in a smaller size--meant to kill off the existing iPad 2 that is currently still being offered. I'd also expect to see it offered with only 8GB of memory to keep the price down.
It won't lead to fragmentation if it's offered before the iPad 2 is killed off. The resolution of the screen is identical. The only thing I can see potentially needing to be changed would be an additional icon size, to make them fill the screen a bit more--but that's not necessarily a must.
While I personally prefer the retina display and the size of the new iPad, I can understand the fact that other users have different preferences.
Some people simply aren't interested in making the $500+ investment in a full sized iPad. Especially users who want it primarily as a communication device. They don't need a lot of storage, or a large screen.
Schools, who want to use the new iPad textbooks are also great candidates for this smaller, cheaper model. Primarily because of cost.
Then there are the people who simply won't carry a full-sized tablet and won't invest in a mobile device they are just going to keep at home. This smaller size will be more mobile for many people.
I also see it cannibalizing existing iPod Touch sales, which are dropping every year. It makes sense to introduce a new lower priced entry point into the Apple ecosystem.
That's a personal preference. Personally I'd rather they not add yet another resolution for developers to work with.I would only purchase a 7" or 8" iPad if it had a retina display and more than 64gb of RAM.
Or maybe they'll call it the iPod Reader.Isn't the iPod touch already the iPad mini, or will that now be the iPad nano? lol
If you adjust the brightness and the background color, the iPad and iPod Touch are good for reading books.iPad displays are the usual lit up ones like all regular monitors, yes?
If so, it must suck to read books from. Perhaps they should make the display turn into e-ink when you want to read a book, if it doesn't do that already.
Wouldn't that be a little disrespectful to Steve Jobs?
The idea people are talking about with the 7.85" iPad is that it will keep exactly the same resolution as the iPad 2 (1024 x 768).
Apparently, this is 163 dpi -- the same as the non-retina iPhone.
So the idea is, apps designed for the existing iPad will work and look good without any redesign, assuming the developer followed Apples HI guidelines. And therefore, no fragmentation.
I guess with the iPhone, they could just make the screen bigger without changing the resolution, which again, would reduce fragmentation, assuming that increasing the size of the UI elements rarely affects the UX significantly.
(Myself, I'm not sure -- I'd need to try it out.)
1) 16GB is a must, 8GB is simply not enough.
2) other than the screen size, not sure how they will keep the 40% profit margin, hopefully NAND memory is cheap enough.
3) Back camera they might go back to iPhone 3GS camera module
4) I think there will be 3G/LET version with $129 more, simply it is profit there.
5) what are the other options?
Well, because your fingers can still hit targets on a 3.5" screen. So being that its a 7.85" screen, even if its a small target, I think they'll be able to manage.Why do people keep saying that because the resolution would be the same as the iPad 1 it wouldn't cause fragmentation??
If you keep the same resolution and reduce the screen size, you get smaller buttons and targets, while your fingers don't get smaller.
Apple's HIG defines the minimum size of a button target based on the pixel densities of existing iOS devices, relative to the size of the average human finger.
If you take existing iPad apps and put them on a smaller screen, many button targets will fall below the minimum size.
That means that apps would have to be redesigned for this iPad mini, creating yet another transition period where developers will have to make an iPad mini version of their app.
It wouldn't be as bad as what's happening on Android, and many apps wouldn't need that much work to be optimized for the iPad mini, but it would still be fragmentation as developers will have to target yet another screen format when building their apps.
And unlike what Google would like you to believe, there's no way of "automagically" rearange interfaces depending on the screen size and resolution without sacrificing a great deal of UI design efficiency. Just look at all these ugly Android tablet apps that have a lot of wasted blank space.
Smaller, but still doesn't fit in the pocket. If you're going to be carrying something the iPad, as it it, is great. But then again, at the price range, they are going directly after the Kindle; maybe it would change a lot?
7.85 inches is too small and won't provide the same satisfying experience of the resolutionary 9.7 inches on iPad 3.
That's called a laptop.
You'll see the smaller iPad/iTouch before you ever see a 15" tablet.