Apple's 7.85-inch iPad will in fact be named 'iPad mini' - report - Page 2

 

Right. Just like the iPod Hi-Fi.

 

It's right on the previous page.

 

That is a lot of assumption on your part... somehow they can fit the same CPU and ram and storage and such from an iPad 2 in an iPhone, yet they couldn't fit it in a 7" device?  so your thinking its going ot be some horrid iPhone 1 level performance iPad?  Right now they could make a 7" with the same specs as the iPad 3, but with a smaller lower res screen, and get similar battery life.

Blah, blah, blah.

None of that is any more valid than the last thousand times you said it.

By your logic, the only laptop Apple should sell is the 17". They should only sell a dual CPU Mac Pro. They should only sell 64 GB iPads and iPhones. And the 27" i7 iMac should be the only AIO in their lineup. Yet Apple offers smaller versions of all of those.

I don't care how you slice it, a 7-8" iPad can be cheaper than a 10" iPad. For many, many, many people, the 10" iPad (even the iPad 2) is too expensive. They don't want to send $400-500 or more for a tablet. A $299 iPad Mini fills the gap. The iPad 2 may drop to $299 at some point, but at any given process technology, the iPad Mini is less expensive to make and sell.

There are others who think that the 10" is too big. A 7-8" Mini would suit them well. I've used 7" tablets. While the Android OS on them stinks, the tablet format itself is just fine. You've got it in your head that an 8" tablet must be crap just because the existing ones are crap. That doesn't follow.

"Apple's supposed to make a product only for women?" is a ridiculous argument. First, there's absolutely no reason to think that an iPad Mini would only suit women. A number of men here have said that they'd buy it. But even if it were true, why not? if Apple can sell enough of them to make a nice profit and it fits in well with the rest of the product line, why shouldn't they?

Frankly, no one cares that you don't like it. No one is forcing you to buy one. It's an OPTION. Some people like it and some people want it. So stop with the silly attacks against people who happen to think it's a good idea. Even though you're a moderator, people are entitled to have different opinions than you without getting attacked.

Yes, that's one of his fallacies. The other is the incessant claim that the OS won't work on a 7-8" device because everything is too small. Funny, but that's 4-5 times the area of my iPhone and iOS works just fine on my iPhone. So if it works fine on a 3.5" device as well as a 10" device, why would anyone believe that it couldn't work on a 7" device?

 

Too large to type on with two thumbs, too small to type on with two hands. Sounds like something of a problem to me.

I think it is some 'Disciples of Steve' thing. Steve said they did some studies and 7" was not very useable (paraphrasing) so that is now gospel truth. Also since Android already came out with a mini tablet, if Apple were to release one then the Android fans would be ridiculing Apple for copying. Something along those lines is what makes these naysayers tick.

This thing with significant digits I've never bought into. It simply doesn't jive with the physical world. Say you have 9 apples and divide them in half, you end up with 4.5 apples not 4. The precision is in the context and I would suggest that those pixels are being controlled to pretty tight tolerances on that LCD screen.

This is even more apparent with repeating decimals. Say you divide 5 by 3, which leads to 1.666666~, it makes no sense to say that 1.7 is the correct answer here as it leads to horrible real world problems. A real world example being drilling an array of holes spaced 1.6666 inches apart, make the space between each whole 0.05 inches short each time and you end up way off ten or twenty inches away from your starting point.

In any event I'm willing to state that maintaining significant digits by dropping precision is seldom a good thing in math. This especially the case if a value will be used forward in a computation. In the physical world context is everything.

I wouldn't complain a bit about less than industry best specs on a $200-250 mini.  It makes perfect sense and would make for a good choice.  It will have to be more than just the size difference, as you say, to make people understand which one they want.  If you need a great video experience and streaming, great audio and highest res camera it wouldn't be a consideration.  But otherwise it might be all one would need/desire.  In fact I'm hoping for a less amazing/less expensive 7.85 model.

While iPad Air sounds cool, and John Gruber, MG Siegler and others like it, it creates confusion in branding.

The Air in MacBook Air stands for it's minimalist and lightweight laptop architecture. Along with some forced compromises. Compromises that may go away with time, but currently exist. The MB Air screen size can be small (13") or smaller (11") but overlaps with it's bigger brethren the MB Pros (13" & 15"). Nothing about the Air name predetermined screen size. It predetermined weight and thinness. The MacBook Pro is the power performer in the laptop lineup and they get the expensive upgrades first. The Retina display being the latest.

Stated mathematically:

Lightweight = Air, and a standard for all other laptops to mimic
High Performance = Pro
Air or Pro are subsets of the laptop group

This is where the distinction between the iPad group and the laptop group becomes apparent. Will an iPad mini be lighter? By definition. Will it signify an overlapping size category with lightweight defining it? An emphatic no. It will be defined by it's smaller screen and enhanced portability. But a bigger screen - if rumors be true - than a Fire or Nexus 7. Hardly an Air by industry comparison. Hence Air would have to mean something different for tablets than laptops. I cannot see Apple being confusing.

Speaking of the laptop metaphor, would an iPad mini be compromised on processor power? Lower resolution screen? We will see. If it is, then Air might make sense in this context. But don't you think in a time frame much faster than the MacBook group, the iPad mini will get the Retina display and a more powerful chipset to drive it? Maybe within 1 upgrade cycle? Then the name Air would have no meaning. Apple surely has a roadmap and that roadmap just does not resemble the same evolutionary path as their laptops.

The name Air is out.

So then what? Well the technobloggers missed Mountain Lion after Lion. Hmmm. I see Apple as wanting a name that gives the mini a full seat at the table. Mini makes sense. So do any number of other synonyms for smaller. But not synonyms for lighter. You can be sure, however, it's lightness vs. competition will be heralded.

So all the people, like myself, who use an iPad on their lap propped up at a comfortable angle with one hand while typing hunt and peck style with the other are suddenly not going to be able to use an iPad mini. I am just guessing here, but I bet most people don't touch type with two hands on an iPad and typing with two thumbs is mostly a style suited for iPhone. 

None of this makes any sense.  If you're describing a widget that's supposed to be a great video player and game player, or for typing term papers on, sure.  But if we say that this is the tablet for none of those then none of this matters.

 

I ride the NYC subway every day, different trains too.  Guess what the ratio of iPads to smaller tablets is?  (HInt:  It's less)

 

So much for the uselessness of 7" tablets.

This makes no sense at all. This is like saying the iPod Nano canniblizes iPhone sales. The thing here is the iPad Mini is an entirely different market.

As to price point I don't think Apple will be extremely cheap here but I'm expecting different case materials or construction methods and I would expect them to try to go for in cell sensing technology. So I do expect a price premium of some amount. I'm also hoping that we see a bigger differential between the entry level machine and the up scale model capability wise. A 8 GB entry level model is nice but it would be really sad to see a advance model with only 16 or 32 GB of flash. My biggest frustration with my iPad is the amount of flash on board. With iPad 1 it was obviously RAM, while iPad 3 could use more RAM it now suffers significantly due to the lack of flash storage. This of course is a bigger struggle in iPad amino simple due to its size.

But why? Such a device would be very useful!

 

 

The Air name makes sense if it turns out to be as light as Gruber speculates. Otherwise, Mini is fine.

 

I just do not see how, is all. I've seen that form factor. I don't care about "you haven't seen it done right; Apple will do it right", the size is trying to be too much of too little and too little of too much. It's awkward. A larger iPad would be very useful; with that I can agree.

I agree, Idk why Apple would, it'd be backwards compadible with the OG iPad, but who cares about another platforms backwards compatibility? I feel like it'd be Retina, 220+ DPI.

Welcome to the fraternity of the bullheaded. You are in good company as the last girl friend called me the most bullheaded person she ever knew. That being said here I don't think you really see what is going on in the larger world.

Not really lower resolution, lower pixel count maybe but if they put the same number of pixels in this thing that iPad2 has then by definition it is higher resolution. Maybe not retina but I suspect a very very good user experience. You really don't know this, battery life can be extended in a number of ways and a process shrink may mean close to iPad 3 performance. Remember the vast majority of the power used in iPad 3 goes to the screen backlight. There is nothing wrong with a plastic back. there are engineering resins out there that have never been used in consummer electronics that would make for a very rugged iPad Mini. If you don't think portability is important you are missing out on Apples great success story with the Touch. Touch is used by a surprising number of people in business and education because of it's size and cost advantages. IPad Mini can easily become the go to solution for business. This makes no sense at all. People will buy iPad Mini simply because of it's size. Unfortunately this is exactly why you dismiss the Mini. That is like saying my iPhone isn't usable. No! I'm beginning to think you are trolling as this is such a non arguement as to be ridiculous. That depends upon ones hands. IPad 3 can easily be used held in one hand if you really want too. IPad Mini would be significantly easier to hold simply due to being lighter and smaller creating less torque in ones hands. Yeah who does ten finger typing on iPad 3, iPhone, Touch or any competeing device for that matter. Beyond that you seem to think humanity to be an un-adaptable beast which doesn't say much at all about your position here.

 

No, when he's been mocking, criticizing, and lecturing others for MONTHS for having a certain opinion (ie. Apple will produce a smaller iPad) he's not allowed to just suddenly change his opinion and not offer a shred of an apology for all that ranting and raving, and not having the integrity to hold himself accountable for all the bullshit, condescension, and mockery he laid out. You know, not even a public apology for all the posters he accused of not having a clue, because only HE has any insight over what Apple may or may not do. His argument was never that he doesn't care for a smaller iPad. It's that Apple would never do it, with a holier-than-thou attitude that spit on anyone who thought otherwise. Oh, but now he's 'changed his mind', just like he everything he ever says, without a hint of regret or apology.  Cool. You can probably fill up an encyclopeia volume or more with how much he chastized others for thinking there may be a smaller iPad or a larger iPhone. 

 

Yeah, because you can put it in your pocket and take it anywhere. You'll need some other method for an iPad mini. 

 

I dismiss it because that's no reason to buy it. That's what makes no sense at all. "Buy it because it's smaller" doesn't seem like the way to go. 

 

 

Not in the slightest. They're different devices.

 

*raises hand while looking around*

 

Why should we have to adapt to the devices we use? It should be the other way around. Why should we have to change or conform to something that doesn't work as well as it could? Sounds like the opposite of what Apple's about.

 

 

Your point being what?

What people don't seem to grasp with respect to the things Steve has said is that the guy was a natural born salesman. A good salesman sells what you have available to sell and not what the guy next door has. You don't walk into a Ford dealer and expect the salesman to sell you a Chevy. It is sad that so many on these forums don't have a clue in this respect.

I mean really some people are just so gullible, like when the G5 came out and Steve sold it as the fastest computer on the market. That was a joke because it was only in very narrowly defined terms. In general the G5 was a dog and couldn't muster half the performance of Intel hardware at the time. As a saleman though Steve had to sell his product not somebody else's.

Yeah, an iPod speaker accessory that came out 7 years ago has fucking WHAT to do with a smaller iPad? Oh yes, absolutely nothing. You were just desperate enough to pick the only Apple product in the past decade that hasnt done well. Are you implying the iPad mini will do as well as that speaker system? That's the best you can do? How much of a troll can you be? Thats the very definition of a hit and run troll line. And you want people to take you seriously? I'm trying to wrap my head around how you became a mod. 

No. -__-

 

 

Okay, ignore the point I've made. I'll ignore the points you've made.

 

 

17" MacBook Pro, G4 Cube, 3rd gen iPod shuffle, 3rd gen iPod nano, and Mighty Mouse. All fit the bill you set forth of either selling a lot, getting great reviews, and consumers buying a ton of them, and loving it… But minus ONE of those things for each. The thing being subtracted changes depending on the product, but the point stands. Apple discontinues bad ideas, despite some aspects thereof being positive. 

 

 

Better, probably, through a subjective definition.

My point is that you're an insufferable ass that spits on anyone and everyone who has a different opinion than you, until they inevitably turn out to be right and you turn out to be wrong, at which point you continue along like nothing happened, then switch to your next stubborn crusade, rinse and repeat. My point was obvious, and I was hoping for an explanation and rationalization from you about this perverse behavior. Instead, as expected, a sarcastic response that shows you just don't give a shit about the way you act. Definitely not the behavior of a normal, sane human being. 

Agreed. When I use an iPad for typing, I always use ten finger typing. Picture below, I mean I did a terrible job on it but whatever. I'm thinking an iPad Mini would have the keyboard be the size of an iPhone keyboard (or a little bigger) so you thumb type.

Edited by logandigges - 8/25/12 at 3:35pm

 

See, you do that, when people have an opinion that differs from Apple's (or the potential opinion thereof). Your problem is that your mindset is too all inclusive of every idea that comes our way. You assume that if Apple could possibly be doing something that it will inherently be a success, which doesn't allow for the culling of fringe ideas. 

 

Neither's this.  If you thought that way about me, you'd just ignore it or bring it up through official channels. Feel free. You're just as vocal about your beliefs as I am and often more rude. The difference here is that I don't think all potential things that Apple could do would be the best things for them to do.

It depends upon your pocket, brief case, tool box or backpack and whatever else is in there. Beyond that open your mind a bit to people using all of those Kindles. The Kindles size is directly related to its success. Size is a huge consideration. Think about Daytimers and other organizers from the past which this device and the Touch in many cases directly replace. Why do people carry around (or did) those small organizers over something in an 8x10 binder? You can size isn't important but their is every indication that size means a lot to people. Baloney! First off the iPad Mini would be a different device so your arguement goes out the window. I guess my hands are too big. I consider myself to be a fairly good touch typist on a reasonably full sized keyboard but resort to hunt and peck on the iPad 3. The keys are far to compressed for normal typing. Come on, you adapt to any manual device the minute you pick it up. This isn't rocket science.

I do this all the time working on automation, you pick up one DVM to work on a machine and you simply reset your mind for that specific device. Pick up another DVM, from another manufacture and you reset your mind again and move forward. It is no different than picking up an iPod Nano to listen to music one day and using your iPhone the next day. You adapt and if you have any brain at all the adaptation is close to instant if you are familiar with both devices.
I don't know what his point is but I've yet to Figure out yours. Instead I just see baseless whining about size when that would be the whole point of the Mini, it is an iPad of a different size. I'd be the first to express interest in a larger iPad too, but this isn't what this discussion is about. You see the devices primary selling point as the reason it shouldn't exist, yet we have constant indications that this smaller device is what people want. Grasping your position is most difficult as it flies in the face of successes other businesses have enjoyed at this size.

Exactly.  Apple settled on the larger size to be the first format to be released, and Jobs, knowing that the rest of the manufactures would be swarming to utilize a smaller form tablet as one thing to differentiate theirs from Apple's, says that (paraphrasing) "There's no point in a 7" tablet.  It's too small for the software.  We have discovered that it's impossible to get the proper user experience from anything smaller than what we are offering".  

 

And the possibility that Jobs at that time believed that, and even believed Apple would not release a 7" tablet in the foreseeable future, is zero.  He was selling a 9.7" tablet at the time he said it.  If he were around for the mini's announcement he might say "I changed my mind", but he'd be thinking "I was just kidding.  We just wanted to see if this would fly first.  I'll say anything".

Sorry but i have to call BS on this. Wouldn't typing on a 7.85 screen be similar to typing with the smaller split keyboard on an iPad. That seems to be designed for typing with two thumbs on an obvious level, and I haven't read any complaints about the split keyboard.

Some people may not know about the iPad split keyboard, in landscape orientation put two thumbs on the keyboard and drag your thumbs apart. The keyboard splits and shrinks a little as the two halves recede into the bottom corners. This makes the keyboard easier to use with two thumbs in landscape mode - no stretching to reach the center of the screen.
Thumbs down and drag together to rejoin the keyboard.
Edited by diplication - 8/25/12 at 3:59pm

You know that hassle they went through with the iPad3. "Nieu iPad." The smart thing would be to re-brand the iPhone 5 as the iPad Nano.

Take a math course. You can't simply refuse to 'buy into' significant figures. They're very, very real.

Integers can be a bit different as you've pointed out. But we're not talking about integers. We're talking about a device that's reported to be 7.85" diagonal. That means that the last digit is the least significant figure, so there are only 3 significant figures.

IN YOUR OPINION. Not everyone shares it. What part of that don't you understand?

IN YOUR OPINION. Not everyone shares it. What part of that don't you understand?


IN YOUR OPINION. Not everyone shares it. What part of that don't you understand?


That's ridiculous. There's no reason the keypad wouldn't take up the entire width of the screen.

Bottom line is that plenty of people type just fine on a 3.5" iPhone. Why not a 7.85" iPad?

If you don't like the size of the iPad Mini simply don't buy one. That's easy. 

Hey - That looks great !

Is that real ? What a scoop !

 

WAIT A MINUTE . . . that's just photoshop wizardary isn't it.

 

That new iPad baby is just going to disappoint now !

Dude, it was a fucking 5 minute photoshop job.

WOW. LOL thanks for that, we're all delighted to hear your story, but $1000 is laughable number. Try more like $349.

Well, 1,180,000 in 2008. If my numbers are right. 11.8 per 100,000 people per year.

You're conveniently leaving out typing the same way everybody has already been doing on 7"ers for quite a while, however their choice has been.  Personally I do it one fingered, no thumbs.  If it's a mini friggin' keyboard it's a mini friggin' keyboard.  The keyboard on the current iPad isn't exactly, um, shall we say, without any downside?

 

That's like complaining about the iPad3 because you can't watch movies on it from across the room, so it's a stupid device. 

 

You're holding it wrong.

So, who will buy an iPad Mini because of it's size?

Raises hand while looking around.*

*Based on the assumption that it is otherwise the same as an iPad 3 or 4.

There's no "in fact" here.

 

Come on AppleInsider, please get rid of the hit whoring sensationalist titles, like using "confirmed" for unconfirmed rumors.  We'll still click on the links.