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What Will be the Killer Feature of an Apple Tablet?

the more i think about this, the more i think;

'why would i need a tablet when my iphone is fine at browsing, playing music, checking mail, heck even at games, photos and video...'

The iPhone is already a break through internetdevice
an ipod
etc..etc...

my word is no tablet. It's duplicating functionality. .....let the flames begin!
 
Hattig said:
It still looks like **** near your home stereo setup. It's still running a desktop OS. It's not integrating well (nor would you want the laptop to integrate well, because it would stop being useful as a laptop).

It really is nothing like a laptop. Completely different use cases. Coming home, voice command to play some music. Check up on your IMs/messages/etc that have come in whilst you were out. And so on. No hassle with cabling, no faffing about running iCal and a 2ft UI on a 10ft television. And so on. Nothing new, all the components have existed already, but Apple is good at integrating them into something cohesive.
Click to expand...
I'll just keep using my laptop to all of that then. It doesn't bother me or anyone else that's over.
 
What I'd want something like that for is something to run Logic MainStage on, with a breakout box with pedal-trigger and audio inputs, especially now that MainStage has loop pedal functionality. I would so love to replace my clunky pedalboard with a single piece of integrated kit with a touchscreen (which would be much easier to deal with than a laptop + mouse).
 
MacBook Touch

The Killer Feature?

The combination of Snow Leopard and your fingers! It's as simple as that. All those strange cover flow in iTunes, in the finder, everywhere just does not make much sense with the keyboard and the mouse, but it just fits for your fingers (see the iPhone).

Imagine putting all your holiday pictures on the new device (sd-card slot!), using your finger to browse them, alter them with iPhoto or Picasa, sort them and show them with music to your familiy and friends. Not at home, but after dinner at the hotel pool. Or put your video footage on it and use your fingers to edit a small movie! The iPhone is great to use on your own or to show stuff to one or two friends. But it's just too small for a larger group.

Or how about playing all the board games of the world on it with your whole familiy like an animated chess or monopoly? Watching movies of course? Drawing pictures?

It's gonne be the portable computer for all the computer haters. And with the bluetooth-keyboard you can even use it to do word processing.

It'll habe iLife on it und you can put iWork on it. Read and edit pdf, word documents, presentations while on the go. And yes: Download new software from the app store und start using it as an ebook-reader especially for newspapers and magazines.

It's gonna be like the iPhone: Not the first device of its kind in the world, but the first really useful and innovative one for a very long time.
 
4np said:
Oh, I really thought those people on the train with books, newspapers and magazines in their hands were reading... my mistake... :)
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He's on the West coast where public transportation is a historical oddity. People reading there are driving distracted. :D
 
What about a 'locate my lost iTablet' function ;)

I really like the midi, sampler, sequencer, drum computer kind of ideas I read a couple of posts back. Now that would really be neat! :D Create your own electronic music on your iTablet, Roni Size here I come! :p

If you guys like that kind of stuff, have a look at: http://www.hobnox.com/audiotool.1046.en.html
 
MacTravelMate :)

My fear is this will be rushed out with serious issues like the MBA.
I wonder if it will incorporate a webcam for iChat??

Furthermore I could imagine a seriously underpowered ARM processor on the first gen and an Intel for the second gen with a huge power difference.
 
I'd just like to see the new tablet be just the high end iPod Touch with a bigger screen (assuming that the next gen iPod Touch adds the GPS and camera). It would be nice if it had a handle or something to make it easy to hold with one hand.

Of course, the price for the bigger screen should be no more than $100 higher than a similarly configured iPod Touch.

Why do people assume that Apple has to invent a whole new category (a tablet) for what could just be a high end iPod?
 
Compile 'em all said:
The killer feature of the iPhone was its multitouch screen. Precise, responsive, and smooth. All other phones at the time had either clunky keyboards, or you had to use a stylus.

The iPhone didn't sell because of "Mobile Safari".
Click to expand...

Maybe it isn't the reason why most people buy it, but the reason I bought the iPhone was indeed because it was one of the first phones to have a usable web browser. Multi-touch for zooming certainly made Mobile Safari great, but there are times where I wish I could do single-finger zooming like you can with Android's browser (when I'm doing one handed browsing and all I have is a thumb available).

bigjohn said:
Car mount
Apple-branded car charger (this still does not exist!)
Click to expand...

Honestly I wish Apple would just create a car stereo head unit (that syncs over wifi or uses USB / SD cards maybe). There just aren't any great offerings in this area, and they have the potential to blow away the competition by creating a head unit with a decent UI. Though maybe you are right, a tablet maybe the killer car audio device. I certainly hate using my iPhone in the car, even a regular iPod is much better. But physical buttons are more important in car devices I think, so you can control things without looking.
 
millypede said:
I would like

1. Must be about 9-12"
2. Touch screen but also able to use a light pen of sorts so that I can use SketchBook Pro
3. Web Cam
4. Full OS, with the ability to install extra software
5. Wireless and Bluetooth

If it was possible

Dockable via iPod 30 pin connection.
external monitor support ( I mean how small is mini display port)

Oh and I would like to pay about £900 for it.

I would love a tablet I really do but if they launch one without the ability to use a light pen or stylus I will go and get a PC tablet by then end of this year.
Click to expand...

I second that, I would definitely want a pen for (live) annotations of presentations in keynote (tablet version, with coverflow-ish presenters preview).

But, as an alternative (or addition if you like) to the mini display port, it would be really cool, if Apple introduced a portable version of the airport, with the possibility of streaming video, in this case a presentation (wirelessly of cause) to a projector.
 
Tablet approaching

I'm positive that a tablet will appear, and I think there's good reason to believe so based on the fact that Apple has rebranded the old 13" MacBook as part of the MacBook Pro lineup. Currently, the only laptop that Apple sells that's called a "MacBook" is the out-dated 13" White MacBook. I think it's clear that Apple plans out on soon phasing out this older MacBook and using the MacBook line as their tablet/netbook line.

Hence, I predict that the new tablets will be called MacBooks and that they'll replace the current White MacBook with a similar price point, although they might have specs more similar to that of the MacBook Air (no DVD player, small solid-state drive, very thin, etc.).
 
How about it replacing the apple TV that they have consistently called a hobby?

It would sync in the same way as the atv but would be portable and run a beefed up iphone os/ slimmed down os x. It could dock when you got home and have all the features that others have mentioned above and could be used more heavily than atv or ipod touch/iphone for things like notes, drawings, email, web, ebook reader etc when on the go.

Just a thought.
 
iJeep said:
The Killer Feature?

The combination of Snow Leopard and your fingers! It's as simple as that. All those strange cover flow in iTunes, in the finder, everywhere just does not make much sense with the keyboard and the mouse, but it just fits for your fingers (see the iPhone).

Imagine putting all your holiday pictures on the new device (sd-card slot!), using your finger to browse them, alter them with iPhoto or Picasa, sort them and show them with music to your familiy and friends. Not at home, but after dinner at the hotel pool. Or put your video footage on it and use your fingers to edit a small movie! The iPhone is great to use on your own or to show stuff to one or two friends. But it's just too small for a larger group.

Or how about playing all the board games of the world on it with your whole familiy like an animated chess or monopoly? Watching movies of course? Drawing pictures?

It's gonne be the portable computer for all the computer haters. And with the bluetooth-keyboard you can even use it to do word processing.

It'll habe iLife on it und you can put iWork on it. Read and edit pdf, word documents, presentations while on the go. And yes: Download new software from the app store und start using it as an ebook-reader especially for newspapers and magazines.

It's gonna be like the iPhone: Not the first device of its kind in the world, but the first really useful and innovative one for a very long time.
Click to expand...

This, I believe, is where the term 'FTW' should be used :eek:

I would say again, something like OneNote also needs to be on it.

- D
 
Home automation features could be a killer app. Sell a cheap adapter to plug things into so you could control them and a universal remote application and finally be able to put away the 5 remotes in the living room.
 
But one thing to remember...

Apple never do their best job with the first generation of anything.

If Apple comes with a tablet probably is gonna be very fancy but the really worth it will be the 3rd generation of it.

So, do not start running like crazy and buying the first thing Apple sells.

The first table will lack from loads of things, memory, hard drive, conectivity and so on. The second one is gonna be an improvement but the trird generation will be the one full featured.

So... expect to have a really good one in 2 years.
 
Killer Feature:
The browser on it supports flash!



I could actually imagine an Apple tablet to double as a digital picture frame when docked. It would just pull the photos from iPhoto over WIFI. Think of a coffee table computer, where laptops might look geeky and an iPhone is too small for some things.
 
Perhaps the "tablet" is a companion product to the maligned AppleTV? Like a fancy remote control for queueing up content, accessing your iTunes, surfing the web, emailing, chatting, etc. It's a second screen in your lap that works in conjunction with your big screen TV (via the AppleTV). Remote.app has a lot of potential.

What is needed here is new content and agreements for the AppleTV. Access to Hulu, cheaper a la carte show purchasing options, subscription-based TV model.

Or maybe the tablet is a MobileMe companion product. Access your home computer from anywhere.

.. just thinking outside the box.
 
Twelve hour battery life.
Eight hours for video.

And no it's not user replaceable.
 
maokh said:
Virtual girlfriend.

The iPhone is just too small for that right now.
Click to expand...

Man, I was thinking of the same thing. I little personalized virtual girl that helps you, talks to you, entertains you and sleeps with you :rolleyes:
 
Water proof

I'm going to come out of left field and say something which would make me want one:

Make it water proof

Something I could have on the dinner table and not worry about spilling my drink on or being affected by moisture and is easy to clean food off of would be great.
 
Killer Feature - Its Obvious. Touch Based App Store

What people often forget is that what separates the iPhone from other competitors is an easy to use, accurate touch interface and an OS and applications that are designed specifically for this type of interface.

Remember that up until now every tablet is essentially running an OS designed for a mouse with apps designed primarily for mouse-based input.

This is the killer feature.
 
Over 115 posts and not one of you could figure out that the killer feature will be...

... FLASH SUPPORT!
 
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