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Apple Tablet Rumblings (again)...

Just *had* to.

Sorry for the coming ramble, and hello to all. (I've been looking over your shoulders for awhile, but just now registered to this forum.)

I think I've just about had enough of these Apple PDA/Tablet rumors. The PDA market is *OWNED* by Palm, and unless Apple buys it, we won't see an Apple PDA. Everyone sees what the PC Tablets do/sell. I'd sooner eat my socks than to believe Jobs going that way without some *very* ingenious plan.

That said, there is a market for a Tablet/PDA/Notebook/Whatever... hybrid. Yes. Let me speak first, then you can flame me :)

I've been thinking about this awhile and I'm more and more confirmed that people and companies would want to use something like this.

The device (I call it the iGo :).

*low-MHz G4 <800MHz, maybe 500 would be enough, preferably dual if possible. Main point: NO active cooling. (backplate of device can act as a heatsink.)

*enough memory to run "lite" version of OS X, maybe 128/256Mb.

* 6 / 8 inch display (two models?), about the size of an average book, small enough to carry comfortably in a bag or the like, but large enough that at least 800x600 resolution is achieved. (landscape/portrait rotation with the push of a button.) The whole device not much larger than display, maybe inch at other end and 1/2 inch borders.

* small 1.8 inch hdd (same as in iPod.)
(10Gb to 30Gb should be enough, again two models and BTO?)

*Bluetooth, AirPort, FW400/800, USB1/2. (GPRS/EDGE (with SyncML) as option?)

the reason for existance:
People buy desktops (PowerMacs, i/eMacs...), but travel occasionally, and want to keep working while on the go. Do they buy a full-fledged laptop just for these occasions (and go thru the hassle of syncing everything with their desktops)? No. They buy the desktop and iGo. iGo is like the "dockable" PC displays that you can keep with you, and they sync when docked, but iGo takes this a bit further. It has three "modes" (Constant, Small Updates and Full. With Bluetooth/GPRS, AirPort/Ethernet/USB and FireWire800/USB2 connections.)

In "Constant" mode, you can keep working on iGo as you move, and everything updates real-time on your desktop machine (obviously, no video-editing :). Bluetooth/GPRS is just fast enough for updating documents/webpages on the background. AirPort fast enough for normal files and FW800 for "first time" sync.
iGo also has "offilne" mode, where you can take the thing with you, do your stuff and it updates as soon as it's in range of Bluetooth/AirPort, or is connected via Ethernet/FW.

iGo includes a software keyboard and has a touch screen (operatable with fingers) so you can type almost as with normal keyboard and don't have to use any stylus for a mouse.

I know, without much thinking, at least a dozen company employees who would sell their left hand, if iGo was reality. Desktop-Laptop syncing is too much hassle for the "normal" person.

Again, sorry for the rant, but I'm puzzled that nobody has come up with a similiar idea before. Is it somehow impossible to do? I don't think so. I don't know about OLEDs, but have they more DPI than LCDs? (that way you could fit 1024x768 in a 6 or 8 inch display), also with Exposé-like technic, iGo could "zoom" the interface as the user wanted.

OK. *now* I must stop, but please either email me, or post here what are your opinions of the kind of device.
 
I was using the new iChat AV yesterday over a wireless network with an iBook. I was thinking about how cool it would be to use iChat with a juicy, smallish 7-8" Tablet. Instant portable video phone. Don't tell me people wouldn't be interested in such a device.

And this is just one of the features. We have gone over this on these threads dozens of times, the point is that Apple keeps introducing cool new technologies that would fit & work seemlessly with a Tablet.

Rendezvous, Video / Audio Chat, Remote Desktop, iTunes sharing, Address Book, Mail, Calendar, iPhoto, QuickTime lite, Safari, Inkwell, Bluetooth, iSync... etc.


These things would be awesome in a small tablet.

m
 
In my book what Apple really needs (despite Steve Jobs' well-known dislike of them) is a kick-ass PDA . Every major computer manufacturer now has one (Gateway was lone holdout and they just announced one) . Apple's should have the following specs:

- strong audio and video integration (like new JVC Pocket PC....but feed it some steroids)

- hard drive based ( à la iPod)

- WiFi and Bluetooth built-in along with GSM phone capability (Texas Instruments has this on one chip called the WANDA)... it should be first and foremost a PDA however and not a phone (à la Palm Tungsten W)


- TV Tuner built-in (Sony has a CF card with TV Tuner in the works...that should definitely wrock)

- 2 megapixel camera

- 320 x 320 TFT screen
 
I would kill for an ibook that acts as a tablet when the keyboard is detached. I played around with
 
tablet?

why dont they just add a touch screen to the PB? (you can buy those 3rd party already) It'd be nice to draw right on the screen while doing photoshop work, etc. The rotating screen thing some TabletPCs have is really nice (where it swivels to become a tablet, then back to be a laptop); it'd make it all less awkward while trying to draw
 
Originally posted by fred
In my book what Apple really needs (despite Steve Jobs' well-known dislike of them) is a kick-ass PDA . Every major computer manufacturer now has one (Gateway was lone holdout and they just announced one) . Apple's should have the following specs:

- strong audio and video integration (like new JVC Pocket PC....but feed it some steroids)

- hard drive based ( à la iPod)

- WiFi and Bluetooth built-in along with GSM phone capability (Texas Instruments has this on one chip called the WANDA)... it should be first and foremost a PDA however and not a phone (à la Palm Tungsten W)


- TV Tuner built-in (Sony has a CF card with TV Tuner in the works...that should definitely wrock)

- 2 megapixel camera

- 320 x 320 TFT screen
Click to expand...

Wouldn't all of that make for a HUGE PDA? I can't imagine them doing something like that. I already laugh at the fact that Apple suggests storing contacts on the iPod--why would I want to use something as big as that as a PDA, let alone something bigger than that?
 
Originally posted by MattG
Wouldn't all of that make for a HUGE PDA? I can't imagine them doing something like that. I already laugh at the fact that Apple suggests storing contacts on the iPod--why would I want to use something as big as that as a PDA, let alone something bigger than that?
Click to expand...

Why need it be huge ?? The only thing I can see adding a little bulk would be the hard drive ...but Apple has recently slimmed those down quite a bit on their new iPods.....no reason all of the specs I mentioned couldn't be shoehorned into a 6-7 oz package
 
Dual G4?

The Problem with the detachable keyboard is that all the components have to go into the screen of the notebook. But if they say, put one G4 processor in in the screen, added a iPod-1,8"/30GB harddisk, an Airport card and add a lithium-polymer battery - that could work.

Then, you can snap-on the keyboard, adding a second G4, a second litium-polymer battery, a pc card slot and a superdrive.

The keyboard part could be sold optionally, if allowing usb keyboard and mouse connections to the screen part.

Life is good, but is Apple?
 
Originally posted by MattG
Wouldn't all of that make for a HUGE PDA? I can't imagine them doing something like that. I already laugh at the fact that Apple suggests storing contacts on the iPod--why would I want to use something as big as that as a PDA, let alone something bigger than that?
Click to expand...

That would make the PDA big and clunky. I don't think apple will make a PDA. It would dig into the iPod market. That is, if the PDA could play MP3s, and it probably would. Most PocketPCs play MP3s. I dont think Apple would make an inferior PDA that doesnt play MP3s so as not to dig into the iPod market.
 
Originally posted by dongmin
I'm pretty sure the someone on this forum...ahem...who will remain anonymous...has a tablet fixation.
Click to expand...


:rolleyes: I don't have to be anonymous. My obsession is not quite at the unhealthy stage... my shrink tells me. PLease be true. Please become real. That would also satisfy my obsession over the iPod's lack of ability to sync with a palm pilot. Tablet tablet tablet tablet... ramble ramble ramble I think I have had too many Cokes today.

Here's my left hand.... just leave my writing hand and a ping pong paddle strapped to my left wrist stump so I can hold my new tablet while writing on it.
 
a tablet is a solution waiting for a problem to solve...

totally useless
 
Originally posted by mangoman
Did I just hear someone say that a PDA is coming from Apple? Right ON!

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

No you didn't....but that flapping sound you heard is opportunity flying away.... Lord knows how many dollars Apple leaves on the table by NOT producing a PDA.... Jobs' semi-fanatical obsession of not producing a PDA is quite silly.... is he really that more intelligent than all the CEOs of all the computer companies ? I think not.... The world is going mobile...and Apple is being left behind.. I don't buy his idea that Apple wants to facilitate things for wireless devices (iSync, Rebdezvous etc) but not build a PDA themselves... Apple is first and foremost a hardware company
 
Nite brought something up that i think deserves a mention, even if it doesn't pertain to tablet computers...

Why don't laptops auto-sync with their desktop counter parts? Couldn't their be a program that syncs certain files whenever one computer comes onto the same network as another?

I would love to be able to bring my ibook to work and have it synch everything i did on my imac at home and my ibook during the commute. No buttons, no commands... just have it done automatically.
 
Q6

This is on the front page for a reason, and arn is usually pretty accurate about such things. And to add to the discussion, what is Q6 and the Blackrider branch of Mac OS X (reported on thinksecret). Is it so unbelievable that the "special feature" that Q6 needs is handwriting recognition??? Black-"RIDER" also makes me wonder if this is a further inication of its mobile capabilities!!
 
Re: Q6

Originally posted by wirewyrm
This is on the front page for a reason, and arn is usually pretty accurate about such things. And to add to the discussion, what is Q6 and the Blackrider branch of Mac OS X (reported on thinksecret). Is it so unbelievable that the "special feature" that Q6 needs is handwriting recognition??? Black-"RIDER" also makes me wonder if this is a further inication of its mobile capabilities!!
Click to expand...

Maybe, sounds real enough. But. *please* not 15-incher tablet! How do you carry such a thing comfortably... 6-8 inches would be great...
 
i don't see this fitting in, a apple tablet, just seems to be an extra something that i do not need (i said the same about digital music players, then apple made one and i now i can't live without it).

as for the pda, i am about to smash my palm if it crashes one more time on me. i think that the iPod will grow and develop into something better then a pda. look at where it is now, 2nd generation and already has dynamic features suc as you can do playlist on the fly and open text files, i bet that we see video playback in the near future, i also bet we see it work more with ical and other iApps otherwise why call it the iPod?
 
Re: Page 1......?

Originally posted by chmorley
Pretty well echoes my thought. This is on page 1 for a reason. Any enlightenment on that one, arn?

Chris
Click to expand...

no... sorry... this is on the front page for no particular good reason. :)

beyond the usual ones

arn
 
new pda name

If they do release this as a tablet type device, the perfect name would be:

iCan'tbelieveittookusthislongtofigureoutwecanbeacompetitorinthismarketwhilestilltryingtoinnovateourassesoff
 
A tablet produced by Apple with Apple's penchant for high prices would be Apple Cube revisited....for as you will recall the cube also had no clearly defined market segment
 
Originally posted by fred
A tablet produced by Apple with Apple's penchant for high prices would be Apple Cube revisited....for as you will recall the cube also had no clearly defined market segment
Click to expand...

pricing aside

The Cube was Steve's pretty baby from his NeXT days. The Tablet is an easily implementable device that artists and office workers could utilize in countless ways. Maybe even improve handwriting legability for those of us who avoid pens at all costs. I would buy one in a second.
 
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