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'iPad Pro' Said to Feature 12.2-Inch Display, 7-mm Thickness, Stereo Speakers at Top and Bottom
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Apple's already set it up so that iOS on the iPad is very slightly different than iOS on the iPhone. I don't think it'd be a stretch to think they'll go down that road a little farther, and make it so that the larger the screen you've got, the more functionality you have.
Though I believe that if they were to greatly extend iOS to the point it's a touch based analog to OSX, all those added features will only be for the iPad Pro, where people are more likely to use them.
1. Oh come on... it's evident you're a very strong supporter of all Apple's decisions and trying to downplay the importance / popularity of other OS'es / tablets.
2. The Pana Toughbook is VERY expensive at $4k. For, say, one-third the price, tons of more people would purchase it.
'iPad Pro' Said to Feature 12.2-Inch Display, 7-mm Thickness, Stereo Speakers...
Before os x, when a new OS came out, old apps still ran. Maybe not smoothly, but 6 apps still ran under 7 and 7 under 8. When 10 came out, 9 apps couldn't even launch. To compensate, apple wrote a special version of 9 that would boot into the background. 9 apps showed up in the dock but functioned under their own os. When I think about iOS, what is it doing?:
Holding the apps
Managing the hardware
Giving me settings
When I pick up my pad, it's not to use the ram or home button or even a particular screen (beyond touch). It's to run apps. Apps that are faster to use and easier to read than a Mac browser. Those times I need other apps or a bigger screen or multitasking, I pick up my MBP. But do i really need two devices for this? A retina MBA that can also run ios apps will do both jobs. It would just need:
Standard mb features
Dual app support (both app stores)
A keyboard config for heavy use (creation)
A an all screen config for light use (consumption)
SIM card slot, etc
3 and 4 are the hard ones. Detachable keyboards suck, wrap arounds aren't much better. Keyboard were the first part of the typewriter. Now they are the last part of the computer.
And yeah, built in wacom would open a whole new artists market
Before os x, when a new OS came out, old apps still ran. Maybe not smoothly, but 6 apps still ran under 7 and 7 under 8. When 10 came out, 9 apps couldn't even launch. To compensate, apple wrote a special version of 9 that would boot into the background. 9 apps showed up in the dock but functioned under their own os. When I think about iOS, what is it doing?:
Holding the apps
Managing the hardware
Giving me settings
When I pick up my pad, it's not to use the ram or home button or even a particular screen (beyond touch). It's to run apps. Apps that are faster to use and easier to read than a Mac browser. Those times I need other apps or a bigger screen or multitasking, I pick up my MBP. But do i really need two devices for this? A retina MBA that can also run ios apps will do both jobs. It would just need:
Standard mb features
Dual app support (both app stores)
A keyboard config for heavy use (creation)
A an all screen config for light use (consumption)
SIM card slot, etc
3 and 4 are the hard ones. Detachable keyboards suck, wrap arounds aren't much better. Keyboard were the first part of the typewriter. Now they are the last part of the computer.
And yeah, built in wacom would open a whole new artists market
I'd too love such a gadget. Currently, my only option is going the Surface Pro 3 way and using OSX86, with all its problems, to run OS X. Not the cleanest / best solution... a native OS X tablet, with hardware at least as good as that of the SP3, would be great.
Too bad it's VERY unlikely we'd ever see such a tablet. The reason for this is simple: OS X is plain not touch-friendly and Apple doesn't show ANY sign of working on a radical change to make it so. As MS did with the W7 -> W8 change. That is, for the foreseeable future, we're stuck with hacked OS X's on non-native tablets.
Why are you being so rational? Apple simply cannot make the iPad thicker just for an HDMI port...that's what their $49 adapter is for!
(http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD826ZM/A/lightning-digital-av-adapter)
I know we always have people saying blah blah blah masses and so on and so on, but I really don't see Apple doing this. They like their specificity, and will probably always have it so that any machine with a keyboard and trackpad uses OSX, and touch based devices use iOS.
They're far more likely to uplift iOS into something a little more powerful than they are slapping OSX on a tablet in my opinion.
You need to exercise your imagination more. My original use case for an iPad was to run navigational charting software, specifically iNavX. This will be so much better on a larger tablet that I will buy one as soon as it comes out. That application alone is worth the cost of the machine. There will be plenty of other applications that are more useful with more screen real-estate. Someone else mention music notes; any sort of drawing/diagramming. A few ounces more is irrelevant.
If you meant current(!), competitive split-screen multitasking tablet implementations are cr@ppy, then, you're seriously wrong. Ever handled a Windows 8 tablet? (And Samsung's split-screen multitasking-capable tablets / phablets are also considered great. I haven't used them so I can't really comment on whether they're as natural-to-use than Windows 8+ tablets, with I have extensive experience with.)
Yes, split-screen multitasking can be done right and user-friendly, as MS (and Samsung?) have shown the world.
FYI: a micro-HDMI socket is VERY thin. So are Slimport-compliant USB ports used in the later Nexus tablets / phones, starting with the Nexus 4 and the 7 2013.
NOTE: I'm not speaking of the, image qualty / lag-wise, inferior MHL-capable USB ports used in, say, Samsung's Android mdels, even in their latest high-end Note 4. Unfortunately, MHL 2.0, as with Apple's own Lightning, just can't provide the same IQ / lag-freeness as direct, (re)compression-less HDMI (or Slimport).
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There won't be an OS X tablet, that's for sure - see #158
Businesses are looking to them as smart terminals, attached to a swing mount and a bluetooth keyboard. Desk space is expensive. If you can have a smart pane of glass (which is basically an iPad) you can let a worker do more with less space - or more space for other stuff.
Old idea, better implementation. IBM makes money writing native front-ends (because really, web UIs suck), Apple makes money selling iPads, win-win-win.
Minimum standards
When watching a move we can hear the difference between dolby 5.1 and 6.1. At the very minimum we expect stereo audio in any audio experience. Very often, anyone who uses an iPad has no choice but to use the speakers. This is never a good experience. Using the audio is probably the lowest point of experience a user has when using any apple produce - and it happens (again) very often. The devise is not only crying for stereo - more importantly: it's crying for at least a base line acceptable audio experience. The screen is great. Why is the sound less than miserable? Free portable FM radios have better sound. Unless Apple's goal is to make Boardwalk Empire sound like its coming from a tin can at the end of a string we beg of you to put better speakers on this device.
When watching a move we can hear the difference between dolby 5.1 and 6.1. At the very minimum we expect stereo audio in any audio experience. Very often, anyone who uses an iPad has no choice but to use the speakers. This is never a good experience. Using the audio is probably the lowest point of experience a user has when using any apple produce - and it happens (again) very often. The devise is not only crying for stereo - more importantly: it's crying for at least a base line acceptable audio experience. The screen is great. Why is the sound less than miserable? Free portable FM radios have better sound. Unless Apple's goal is to make Boardwalk Empire sound like its coming from a tin can at the end of a string we beg of you to put better speakers on this device.
Yes and no....
I would die to have a 12" since I work in live shows and would like to have a touchscreen console to manipulate the hardware. Today I have two iPad 4.
Now... the problem is that iOS can not transmit midi nor audio directly from the iPad to OSX. If you have a soft synth in your ipad it can not be controlled via USB from your Mac Book, Apple has that faculty locked, you need to do it via wi-fi!!! with third party software.
So... if you are going to have a Pro iPad, Apple need to release the PRO connectivity so you can communicate iOS 100% with OSX with MIDI and audio to start with. Real time transfer, otherwise you will end up with isolated devices as they are right now.
Baseline experience
When watching a movie we can hear the difference between dolby 5.1 and 6.1. At the minimum we expect stereo audio in most any audio experience. Very often, anyone who uses an iPad has no choice but to use the speakers. This is never a good experience. Using the audio is probably the lowest point of experience a user has when using any apple product - and this happens all the time. The devise is not only crying for stereo - more importantly it's crying for at least a base line acceptable audio experience. The screen is great. Why is the sound less than miserable? Free portable FM radios have better sound. Is Apple's goal is to make Boardwalk Empire sound like its coming from a tin can at the end of a string? Making this argument is paramount to a Nokia user begging for a decent screen in 2008.
Ugh.
Headache
When watching a movie we can hear the difference between dolby 5.1 and 6.1. At the minimum we expect stereo audio in most any audio experience. Very often, anyone who uses an iPad has no choice but to use the speakers. This is never a good experience. Using the audio is probably the lowest point of experience a user has when using any apple product - and this happens all the time. The devise is not only crying for stereo - more importantly it's crying for at least a base line acceptable audio experience. The screen is great. Why is the sound less than miserable? Free portable FM radios have better sound. Is Apple's goal is to make Boardwalk Empire sound like its coming from a tin can at the end of a string? Making this argument is paramount to a Nokia user begging for a decent screen in 2008.
Ugh.
Headache
I'm not describing it correctly, it's not about it being for "professionals", it's about the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro abilities to run Pro apps, such as Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, etc.
iPad Plus is what it will be called, mark my words.
It will run iOS.
It will not run OS X.
It will not be a "crossover" device.
It will simply be an iPad with a bigger screen.
It will be the first iPad to run two apps at once on a split screen. (And will come with iOS 8.3).
It won't be some new breakthrough device, just a bigger iPad.
iOS 8.0: iPhone 6/6+
iOS 8.1: support for A8X chip in iPad Air 2, Apple Pay, continuity w/OS X Yosemite which was released just days ahead of iOS 8.1
iOS 8.2: Apple Watch
iOS 8.3: iPad Plus w/larger screen, first iOS device to run two apps at once on a split screen in landscape mode (this was seen in an early beta of iOS 8). Maybe the only iPad that will do this, or maybe also the iPad Air 2, but, that's it.
Apple always develops an OS in conjunction with new hardware, always. This is what has always set Apple apart from others, the integration of software & hardware in their products. (Yosemite was made for the retina iMac, and the retina iMac was made for Yosemite.)
Oh, to clarify, yes, 8.3 will be iPad Plus, no, there will not be a new Apple TV until next fall.
Would be great to use as an external display! But you'd need some type of HDMI to Lightning to connect to your Mac.
You mean turn the iPad into a Mac? A Mac with lower profit margins? What would be the point?
The iPad has a perfectly fine niche where it is. It is for content consumption and, in limited circumstances, creation (and I'm not talking about creating Office files. More like how cash registers create transaction records). Apple would do well to keep the iPad good at what it is meant for (eg. by NOT adding things that increase size/weight or software features that eat battery life) and let those who need the features you are talking about buy a Mac.