Rumor: Apple's 7.85" iPad will use thin-film touch technology - Page 2

And that's the problem with you mindless Apple haters. No vision, and no ties to reality.

Who gets to define what is a great tablet app? You? No, thanks.

The fact is that there is a range of iOS apps. Some of them work fine on a 3.5" iPhone and some don't. Some are definitely designed for a 10" iPad and don't work well on an iPhone. But there are many thousands of apps and many millions of users. The fact that YOU don't like a 7-8" tablet doesn't mean that no one will (not to mention, of course, how hypocritical it is for you Apple haters to rave over all the 5-7" Android tablets and then say that a 7-8" iPad would never work).

I could picture a 7-8" tablet working well for a lot of things:
- iBooks would be great. The tablet would be about the size of a paperback book. Are books too small?
- Many of the thousands of iPhone apps would be even more playable with a slightly larger screen. Paradise Cove, Sudoku, Dragonvale, Plants vs Zombies, etc all work just fine on a 3.5" screen, so why wouldn't they work on a screen with 4 times the area?
- There are millions of families who own iPads today. Many of them will want a second tablet but may not need a full sized tablet. If they buy a 7" tablet, it will do 90% of what the 10" tablet will do, but as long as they have the 10" tablet around already, they're not really losing much. Far better to have that 7-8" tablet running iOS.

I have no idea if Apple will introduce a 7-8" tablet. I would agree that if they only had one sized tablet, that 10" is a better choice. But now that they've proven the iPad's success, there's no reason they can't have two tablet sizes and having a smaller one IN ADDITION TO the larger one isn't a bad idea.

 

I've never really understood a consumer demanding a producer make something in the way he prefers, simply by virtue the producer makes something he enjoys.  So if my company is capable of making a phone, suddenly it is Obligated to make said phone the way somebody else wants it made?  So the person doing no work gets more options, and the person doing all the work gets less?

Apple could avoid all the tablet issues and call a smaller e-reader an iBook which trademark they already own and has been inactive for a couple years.  Then the product line becomes iPhone/iPod Touch for ultra mobile, iPad for tablet uses, and iBook for the e-reader.  Where e-reader can borrow email calendar and simple browsing from iPad/iPhone, but still be considered a different device in the consumers eyes.  No hamstrung iPad, no overly big iPod Touch, but something designed for reading first, but still being a member of the iDevice family.

 

That's the only way I see it working without being subject to all kinds of potential marketing pitfalls that could derail it or expose the lineup to blatant criticism. 

 

It reminds me of all the "This version of [character x] isn't right!  She isn't even a real version AFAIC, because she's not written the way I want to her be written!" arguments you see every day on comic book forums.

Why would it be "competing" with the Kindle Fire? Apple might just wanna cover its bases and make more products available.

The original iPod was $399.... but Apple eventually offered an iPod Shuffle at $49. Was that out of desperation? Was Apple really worried about the Sansa Clip?

Apple has laptops from 11" to 17"... iMacs in 21" and 27"

I guarantee if Apple makes 2 sizes of iPads... people will buy the hell out of them! Don't worry... Apple won't end up like the other guys.

Samsung makes 2 sizes of tablets... but neither are doing particularly well:

My unicorn also uses thin-film touch technology. It's awesome.

 

This is nonsense. They may be just rumours, time will tell. But they have been consistent in suggesting that the pixel-resolution would be the same 1024x768 as iPad 1 and iPad 2. On screen object width and height 80% would of the original - reduced but within an acceptable degree of tolerance. No developer action needed.

 

 

 

 

Just include fingertip sharpeners in the box.

The iBook trademark has been inactive for several years?

http://www.apple.com/apps/ibooks/

Precisely. Liquid Metal nail file

Is it just me or does "thin-film touch technology" sound like a feature of some new kind of condom? ;)

 

All jokes aside, I think a 7" iPad would be great as long as its lighter.

 

I dont think it would be too small to be useable, we use iPhones which have small UI elements already. 

 

If it had the same screen resolution and aspect ratio as the iPad 1 and 2 it could use the same apps as already exist with no changes required.

 

However,  I don't think Apple will make one, here's why:

 

A 7" iPad would have essentially the same components as the 10" model so the cost to manufacture would be around the same. A smaller model would probably need a smaller price tag so the profit margin would be less.

 

Whilst a 7" model might attract some new customers it would also cannibalise some potential 10" sales.

 

The current iPad is selling gang-busters another model isn't needed (yet).