Steve Jobs Criticizes 7-Inch Tablets, Says 10-Inches Minimum

[GermanyChris]

I was wrong..there will be a new iPad mini

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

And Saint Steve can now continue his heavenly slumber knowing that he was right. 7" tablets STILL suck. 7.9" for the iPad Mini is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Because 1.)he was using the iPod touch and iPhone as an example (ignoring the fact that iPhone apps are different from iPad apps), and 2.) this 7.85" display is 36-40% larger than the 7" displays in competing devices.

There is a LOT of overlap between iPHone and iPad apps and now with Retina on iPhone/iPod touch (and iPad apps are hardly OSX apps by comparison), even more so in terms of resolution flexibility. For my uses, an oversized iPhone display on an iPad Mini would be more than adequate for couch surfing and remote control centers. Besides, if you think iPhone apps are "comfortable" to type with, etc. you must have TINY TINY fingers because I still mistype years later and trying to do certain select/highlight operations is MISERABLE (not to mention even an iPod Touch Gen 4 is SLOW on the Net because the Internet has gotten so CPU heavy to draw loads of unnecessary CRAP these days). A larger display would be very helpful (not sure an extra inch in one direction will cut it).

As for not having to set a tablet down versus a notebook, the new Microsoft models will be able to operate either way AND use the full version of Windows 8. As much as I dislike Microsoft, this blows away the iPad in terms of functional capability. Apple missed the ball on this as they could have done that from the start by updating OSX for alternate touch interface and using that instead of iOS (which should have stayed for phones only). And the tablets still aren't any more portable than a thin notebook so it only makes sense (i.e. you can't shove an iPad into your pocket).

 

[Anuba]

So, let me get this straight; you're using the fact that there are accessories available to expand the usage methods of iPad as a point against it. Sorry, but that's just as vacuous as claiming the opposite. I can comfortably hold my iPad with one hand, as can every single person I know with one. Of course, a smaller iPad is easier to hold with one hand, but that doesn't preclude the ease of holding the 9.7" iPad. The average human being is not so limp-wristed.

Yeah, about that... notice the part where the first point Schiller wanted to make about the iPad mini was this: "So what is it that you can do with an iPad mini that you can't already do with the amazing 4th generation iPad? Well, this -- you can hold it in one hand."

Best,
Anuba
Told-Ya-So, Inc.

 

[fpsBeaTt]

Yeah, about that... notice the part where the first point Schiller wanted to make about the iPad mini was this: "So what is it that you can do with an iPad mini that you can't already do with the amazing 4th generation iPad? Well, this -- you can hold it in one hand."

Best,
Anuba
Told-Ya-So, Inc.

That must mean I'm hallucinating when I and others find it perfectly enjoyable to use an iPad by holding it in one hand. iPad Mini is EASIER to hold, most noticeably for a longer period of time, that's it. You were wrong and absolutist, get over it.

 

[cgk.emu]

That must mean I'm hallucinating when I and others find it perfectly enjoyable to use an iPad by holding it in one hand. iPad Mini is EASIER to hold, most noticeably for a longer period of time, that's it. You were wrong and absolutist, get over it.

Go hug your wife or something man. Chill the heck out. Actually, both of you. Ridiculous. It's. A. TABLET. Holy crap.

 

[tech4all]

And Saint Steve can now continue his heavenly slumber knowing that he was right. 7" tablets STILL suck. 7.9" for the iPad Mini is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish.

You must be Phil Schiller based on the whole 7.9" tablet is a whole different beast than 7".

Really hoping your comment was making fun OF Phil...if not...

Go hug your wife or something man. Chill the heck out. Actually, both of you. Ridiculous. It's. A. TABLET. Holy crap.

It's not JUST a TABLET!

 

[TheMacBookPro]

And Saint Steve can now continue his heavenly slumber knowing that he was right. 7" tablets STILL suck. 7.9" for the iPad Mini is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish.

We believe 10-inch screen is minimum necessary.

How exactly was he right? Both 7" and 7.9" are less than 10", so by 'Saint Steve''s definition, both 7" tablets and the iPad mini suck.

 

[Anuba]

That must mean I'm hallucinating when I and others find it perfectly enjoyable to use an iPad by holding it in one hand. iPad Mini is EASIER to hold, most noticeably for a longer period of time, that's it. You were wrong and absolutist, get over it.

"Absolutist"? Er... my point was that based on the evidence (web discussions, accessories and the fact that Apple is doing a 180° on tablets smaller than 10"), it appears that enough people find it difficult/awkward/uncomfortable -- enough to warrant a smaller model. I never said it was impossible to hold the 10" in one hand, so you can take your strawman out back and torch it. "Wrong"? About what? "You can hold it in one hand" turned out to be the goddamn sales pitch for this thing.

The only "absolute" statement in this context is Schiller's, since he said that you CAN'T hold the 4th gen iPad in one hand. (You do understand that he doesn't mean that literally, right? I have to ask since you appear to live in some binary universe where difficult means impossible, a lot of people means everyone etc.)

 

[iBug2]

Nope. But it became the industry standard for pro audio interfaces since USB2 is too slow, and anyone with a room full of Pro Tools or UA gear isn't going to replace it for another 5 years or so.
Nor are they bloody likely to use toy laptops like MBP 13" anyway, so no matter.

No. Firewire was useful not because USB2.0 was too slow (it's enough for 32 channels of 192/32 even). It was useful because it had lower latency than USB, and that was about software. Nowadays USB drivers have lower or equal latency to FW so newer Pro Audio gear is already using USB, not 3.0 but 2.0.

 

[Anuba]

No. Firewire was useful not because USB2.0 was too slow (it's enough for 32 channels of 192/32 even). It was useful because it had lower latency than USB, and that was about software. Nowadays USB drivers have lower or equal latency to FW so newer Pro Audio gear is already using USB, not 3.0 but 2.0.

Yes and no. Software was an aspect initially, but it's not like it took hardware manufacturers 10 years to crack the big mystery of how to write low latency drivers. The big issue was that USB dumps a much heavier load on the CPU and the resources in general than Firewire does. In 2004, Sound on Sound arranged a roundtable discussion for audio device manufacturers and this is what they had to say on FW vs USB:

RME: "Of course Firewire offers advantages. The whole format and underlying technology is better suited to streaming audio at low latency with low CPU load. Therefore USB 2 never had and will never have a bright future as an audio interface format."

M-Audio: "There is currently no cross-platform audio-class driver support for USB 2.0, and M-Audio's Firewire product line is flexible in terms of being buss-powered and therefore highly mobile. Another issue is that USB 2.0 audio devices are resource intensive compared to Firewire audio devices: an 8x8 USB 2.0 interface uses a lot more CPU resources than a similar 8x8 Firewire interface."

Echo: "Firewire was designed from the start as a media interface, and industry standards were adopted early on for streaming audio and video. Apple have done a good job of formalising this and include multi-channel Firewire audio support in OS X, with no need to develop specialised drivers for each piece of Firewire gear. Streaming media support and high-speed data rates were added to USB as an afterthought and the standards lag accordingly. Also, there are currently no turnkey solutions, such as BridgeCo controller chips for USB 2.0, forcing manufacturers to 'roll their own'."

Audio apps with software synths etc are already crazy CPU intensive so they didn't need a CPU-hogging audio device on top of that, but computers are so much faster now than in 2004 that it's become a non-issue, and USB 2 is adequate for the job. But it still suffers from a bad rep from the early days, and musicians are a conservative and paranoid bunch. Even though Apogee was able to get Duet 2 (USB) latency below Duet (Firewire) latency, many won't touch USB gear with a 10 foot pole because they can't shake this notion that Firewire is for pros and USB audio is a Fisher-Price solution for hobbyists.

 

[fpsBeaTt]

Go hug your wife or something man. Chill the heck out. Actually, both of you. Ridiculous. It's. A. TABLET. Holy crap.

I'm perfectly calm, really; just pointing out how stupid the other guy is being. He literally has no idea what he's talking about.