Thoughts On the iPad Mini 214
John Gruber at Daring Fireball has a thoughtful piece about the design of Apple's smaller iPad, which the company is expected to announce on September 12. Simply shrinking the current iPad's dimensions to a new form factor is unlikely, he says, and the bezel surrounding the display is more likely to be a cross between an iPad and an iPhone. He also discusses evidence of Apple's PR team getting the rumor mill going immediately after the announcement of Google's Nexus 7, and how Apple has probably bet on having a thinner and lighter tablet than Google, rather than worrying about a better display. Quoting:
"Apple product designs are true to themselves. Each thing has proportions suited to its own nature. Consider how the iPad doesn’t look like a blown up iPhone. They share a few similar design elements — a family resemblance, if you will — but the proportions are different. The iPad has a thick bezel surrounding all four sides of the display; the iPhone does not. Why? Because you need a place to rest your thumbs while holding an iPad. ... Should not the iPad Mini fall somewhere in between? Not as close to the aspect ratio of its display as the iPad-as-we-know-it, but also not as far away from its display aspect ratio as the iPhone. You might need more thumb-rest room on the sides than you do on the iPhone, but not nearly as much as you do on the full-size iPad. If that assumption is right, the proportions of a 7.85-inch 4:3-aspect-ratio display iPad Mini are likely not the same as the proportions of the 9.7-inch 4:3-aspect-ratio display iPad."
Look, it's a smaller iPad (Score:5, Insightful)
Why not just wait? (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's a thought. How about just waiting until September 12th to see what they actually release? Maybe take the extra time you'd be wasting on speculation to get some actual work done.
If everyone took all the time they waste on speculating on future Apple products and the 2012 U.S. Election and actually did some useful work, the economy would recover in a week.
Re:in other words, a bigger ipod (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not a slashvertisement. It's an opinion piece about a rumoured product. TFA is a well written opinion piece, but that's all it is, you should read it. Your post on the other hand is whining in tone. If googles products are good enough, they won't have the slightest thing to worry about.
Perhaps you could write something interesting on the subject, instead of whining. Perhaps that's too difficult for you.
Speculation about a rumor (Score:5, Insightful)
Just like anything about Apple, people make up rumor based on what the rest of the market is doing or past behavior. Every year there have been rumor of an iPad mini and before phone with XL screen like the Galaxy were successful there were rumor of iPhone nano.
Sure I like a good piece of tech gossip, but analysis based on opinions about rumors that will inevitably end up in ePenis fight between Android and Apple fanboys are getting tiring.
Some people are even actively mocking that state of affair: http://day4.se/how-we-screwed-almost-the-whole-apple-community/ [day4.se]
Re:We don't know anything (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:in other words, a bigger ipod (Score:0, Insightful)
That's very interesting to me. So some people prefer one brand over another. Do they usually like one more than the other? If someone could get that information to a manufacturer it would be game changing....
Less Thumb Space?? (Score:4, Insightful)
This just sounds like an invitation for complaints and more "You're holding it wrong" responses.
Comment removed (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:in other words, a bigger ipod (Score:2, Insightful)
Who cares how well written it is, it is still content free. Nobody has leaked images yet so this guy's idle speculation isn't any better than some random /. user. But we have to have at least one Apple story per day it appears so this is it. Bah.
Oh well, won't last much longer. The iPod is almost a memory, the iPhone is fast retreating to the traditional 10% of the market where overpriced luxury goods normally dwell and with a little luck the iPad will also become something the 'rest of us' can safely quit worrrying about.
Re:in other words, a bigger ipod (Score:5, Insightful)
I think Apple would be happy with 10% unit share and 75% profit share in the mobile market, not that unit share matters a bit to Apple if history is any guide. They are always focused on the profit. Always.
Re:Stuff that matters? Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
This, by far, is the most uninteresting article I've read in ages. Seriously, how much more non-newsworthy can it get? It ranks somewhere between soap-gossip and determining the mathematical function that most closely approximates the shape of my toe nails.
So informed speculation about the biggest change to one of the most innovative products to hit the tech scene in a decade isn't news for nerds at all? If this thing is released it'll probably redefine the Christmas gaming scene and have a huge impact on the eReader and educational computing market. Yes, this is newsworthy, even if you as an individual don't want to read it.
Re:I have an iPad and a Nexus 7 (Score:3, Insightful)
To be honest, the Nexus 7 blows the iPad out of the water. The Nexus 7 is the best tablet device I've ever gotten my hands on, for less than half the price of an iPad.
It also has a lower resolution, less storage, a smaller battery and less app for it.
It's more customizable, easier to get content, and with the soft back - easier to hold.
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Google-Nexus-7,Apple-iPad-3/phones/7143,5715 [phonearena.com]
More customizable? I guess you need to fiddle with it because it comes setup so poorly and you have to do something out of boredom whereas iPad users "use" their devices. I can customize the lockscreen background, wallpaper, notifications and alert sounds. What more do I need? I could also jailbreak it if I really wanted to do more tweaking but I prefer stability and security over futzing around. Content? Yeah, as long and the music is in MP3 format whereas the iPad supports MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, WAV, M4A (Apple lossless). For video, the iPad also supports more formats and third party apps easily support additional formats. Games and apps are more plentiful on the IPad as well.
Services are more integrated than the iPad, IMHO, you could get by fine without having a computer to sync up with the Nexus 7.
What services? Google services? What if I don't want to use Google+? You can get by without syncing to a computer on an iPad since the release of iOS 5.0.
With the Nexus 7 you can download Torrent clients and apps such as Music Paradise to get all of your content, while there really isn't any alternative to the iTunes store with the iPad unless you root it.
Oh, I get it, you mean pirated shit. I thought you meant quality content.
Google Now works very well, I rarely type things in because the voice recognition is so accurate.
The Nexus 7 is a very nice device. I don't see why anyone would choose an iPad over the Nexus 7 right now.
How much did you get paid for that post Mr. Google shill? Yeah, why would anyone choose an iPad with its higher resolution and more apps and commercial games when you can get a device with less apps and less storage.
Re:Yeah Right! (Score:5, Insightful)
And a swimming pool is just a supersized bathtub.
Higher (Score:3, Insightful)
Nexus 7 is 1280x800
With that in mind, I doubt that Apple would go for a lower resolution.