I dont think the comparison is particularly tight, but I still think it has some validity.
With phones, there were people who would not consider switching to AT&T--they might have bought iPhones but now many of the have Andriod phones.
With tablets, many people think that the iPad is too big or heavy. If Apple does not give them what they want, many of them will buy from competitors who do offer the form factor they want. While those competitors are figuring things out and working out the bugs, their users will not necessarily see the product as inferior to the iPad because they may not see iPad as comparable due to its different form factor..
The fact that there are no contracts means that switching from one product to the other is easier, sure. However, people will still have an investment in apps and a familiarity with the operating system they have been working with and maybe some sense of brand loyalty.
Besides, it is not the two year contract which sent many Verizon users to Android but the lack of an Apple product that they could get...
The tablet market will ultimately be driven by available Apps and Apple's dominance in this key area grows daily. Fragmented and insecure Android will never have a serious place at the table for commercial apps developers. The ones that are trying to port over are nearly universally crying uncle and will mostly abandon the platform for the much more developer and consumer friendly iOS market (Despite what the "open" crowd would like everyone to believe).
Call me a fanboy if you like, that just make you delusional
The screen is the most expensive component, followed by flash RAM, then the A4 system-on-chip. Apple keeps its costs down by using very similar circuit boards in all their iDevices, from iPhone to iPod touch to iPad to Apple TV. They can thus purchase components (especially flash RAM) in huge quantities at the best per-unit prices in the industry.
Minor correction. NAND Flash or Flash memory not Flash RAM. RAM is useless when it comes to storing your media library or anything for long, really.
Minor correction. NAND Flash or Flash memory not Flash RAM. RAM is useless when it comes to storing your media library or anything for long, really.
As a general rule of thumb and for a non-technical discussion, sure, but pedantically speaking there are many types of non-volatile RAM that can be used for power off storage.
As a general rule of thumb and for a non-technical discussion, sure, but pedantically speaking there are many types of non-volatile RAM that can be used for power off storage.
Frankly I find it frustrating to see people demonstrate that they don't know the difference between RAM and Flash storage. So I tend to support people that try to highlight the error. Why you might ask?
Well it is pretty simple, knowledge can help keep a person from being taken advantage of. Plus I find Apples hiding of stats such as installed RAM in iPad deplorable and underhanded. In fact it is down right sleazy.
For those that want to know;
RAM = Random Acccess Memory, it is primary fast storage and in many systems is considered volitile.
Flash on the other hand is a name applied to a type of electrically erasable programmable read only memory. In the case of Apple products it is NOT random access and can not be accessed directly by the CPU. Here it is a form of secondary storage much like a disk drive.
Frankly this mistake is so bad that I really think the site should consider banning people that can't grasp the issue and repeatedly post info that leads others to greater confusion. I'm all for helping people out but those that can't help themselves get no sympathy from me. The error is hideous and completely avoidable with a little education.
Frankly I find it frustrating to see people demonstrate that they don't know the difference between RAM and Flash storage. So I tend to support people that try to highlight the error. Why you might ask?
Well it is pretty simple, knowledge can help keep a person from being taken advantage of. Plus I find Apples hiding of stats such as installed RAM in iPad deplorable and underhanded. In fact it is down right sleazy.
For those that want to know;
RAM = Random Acccess Memory, it is primary fast storage and in many systems is considered volitile.
Flash on the other hand is a name applied to a type of electrically erasable programmable read only memory. In the case of Apple products it is NOT random access and can not be accessed directly by the CPU. Here it is a form of secondary storage much like a disk drive.
Frankly this mistake is so bad that I really think the site should consider banning people that can't grasp the issue and repeatedly post info that leads others to greater confusion. I'm all for helping people out but those that can't help themselves get no sympathy from me. The error is hideous and completely avoidable with a little education.
1) Are you implying that I did equate Flash to RAM?
2) I think it’s deplorable that other companies don’t list relevant specs that are useful to the majority of customers. For instanace, accurate battery duration with various durations for specific uses, something that Apple does well.
3) I don’t think it’s deplorable that Apple doesn’t list the amount of RAM, CPU speed, Flash speed, GPU gigaflops, L2 cache, nanometer process, milliWatts per core, or any other thing that only matters to a select few enthusiasts. Sure, I find it annoying, but it’s not sleazy. All that matters is how well it works for the user, and having a 1GHz Cortex-A8 in a phone isn’t going to make Symbian’s UI perform 25% more smoothly and be more useful than the IPhone 4’s 800MHz Cortex-A8. It’s fraking CE!
I believe that you mean media consumption devices -- and I agree.
I, for one, am curious if Apple will offer the iMovie app on today's iPad. It may be that the iPad has insufficient RAM -- though the 4-Gen iPod Touch is supported (same RAM as iPad);
That's for today's iPad. What about iPad 2. I assume that it will have 1 GB RAM, a dual-core Cortex A9-based CPU and a GPU capable of running OpenCL.
That's some pretty serious compute power!
I suspect that it could handle iMovie as well as today's Mac iMovie -- and maybe even a iPad version of Motion!
.
Current ipad has 256 mb of ram appl most likly will put 520 som odd mb of ram in it like current iphone then theyll upgrade iphone nd ipod nd the cycle will keep on goin ram/processor/battery life etc
1) Are you implying that I did equate Flash to RAM?
Nope not at all. The problem is with the guy that first used the phrase "flash RAM". I was supporting the guy you reffered to that tried to educate the original writer.
Of all the things I see on this forum the fact that people still use flash and RAM to fetter to the same thing is extremely bothersome.
Quote:
2) I think it?s deplorable that other companies don?t list relevant specs that are useful to the majority of customers. For instanace, accurate battery duration with various durations for specific uses, something that Apple does well.
Those are ligitimate concerns. My problem with Apple is that the data isn't listed anywhere on the publically available web sites. At least not to the best of my knowledge. They do however have plenty of space to detail the flash installed in each model. It is just something they should have available to people that understand what RAM is.
The reality is many people don't so i see no reason for public advertising. This is likely to become more important when new models arrive. You see I understand that one component of the people Apple is selling to don't care or want to understand such details. But that doesn't justify being sneaky with the rest of the world.
Quote:
3) I don?t think it?s deplorable that Apple doesn?t list the amount of RAM, CPU speed, Flash speed, GPU gigaflops, L2 cache, nanometer process, milliWatts per core, or any other thing that only matters to a select few enthusiasts. Sure, I find it annoying, but it?s not sleazy. All that matters is how well it works for the user, and having a 1GHz Cortex-A8 in a phone isn?t going to make Symbian?s UI perform 25% more smoothly and be more useful than the IPhone 4?s 800MHz Cortex-A8. It?s fraking CE!
What does the item being consummer electronics have to do with it? Here we go with a car analogy. Manufactures still like to advertise metrics that mean nothing to the average driver. Be that cylinder counts, skid pad numbers, stopping distance, the latest LED lighting tech or any of a number of other figures/features. Miss average driver may not understand any of that. However that info actually might be useful to some owners.
You may have a point in that the data isn't useful in comparing to other phones running other OS's but it is very useful in comparing one iPhone to the next. IPhones 4 additional RAM is one example where the upgrade has been significant and noteworthy. It is the little bit of info that might justify an upgrade.
In any event I'm a strong advocate of being an informed consummer. I really find it off putting when major companies go out of their way to hide significant info from consummers. Rushing out to buy the latest Apple gadget on release day isn't my MO. I like to understand what I'm getting first. One should have to resort to developer tools to find out what a product is made up of.
Current ipad has 256 mb of ram appl most likly will put 520 som odd mb of ram in it like current iphone then theyll upgrade iphone nd ipod nd the cycle will keep on goin ram/processor/battery life etc
I'm actually hoping that the next generation iPad gets a tablet specific processor. If the rumors about PA Semi being split up into teams doing a tablet processor and a phone processor are true we could see a huge leap in iPad performance and capability. Of course this is rumor but it does make sense, especially if you combine it with all the patents that have been issued to Apple recently with respect to CPU design. If they have taken ARM IP and extended it with their own IP it would be a very interesting development.
The next thing to consider is video bandwidth, here the issue is the rumors of higher resolution displays. I don't think anybody would complain if resolution was increased but that increase bandwidth demands from the GPU. Apple might go with a 1GB array just to make sure the GPU has the access it needs.
In any event back to the custom CPU. Apple has been very sternly suggesting that developers stay with the SDK tools. The common refrain is "control freak", but let's just imagine that Apple is just trying to save developers a lot of grief. Maybe they know the coming CPUs will be optimized for Objective C and multi core plus that the SoC will support OpenCL on the GPU. Again more speculation but if you accept that even some of this will come true iPad 2 will be very interesting. Or maybe nothing is ready with the new SoC and we get a simple bump.
Minor correction. NAND Flash or Flash memory not Flash RAM. RAM is useless when it comes to storing your media library or anything for long, really.
If you're going to discuss memory, you have to be specific, otherwise you elicit misunderstandings that frustrate wizard69 and everyone else who's trying to understand what gets posted here.
The phrase "NAND Flash" or "Flash RAM" is misleading since the capitalization in "Flash" is usually construed as referring to Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash, a trademarked product. As I recall it was an amalgam of a predecessor product "FutureSplash", which enjoyed an evolution as tortured as its name.
On the other hand "flash memory" is a generic term for a type of EEPROM - mass storage not to be confused with a computer's RAM. Its name was derived from the method by which it's erased - analogous to a camera flash. The correct way to label it is "flash memory" but "flash drive" or "solid state drive" is OK too. None of these terms are trademarked so capitalization is unnecessary. It's accurate, more descriptive, and less likely to mislead.
Flash memory is different from RAM in many ways, most significantly in the way a computer accesses its data as wizard69 explained. Also, flash EEPROM has a finite life - most are not rated for more than a hundred thousand or so write cycles. If RAM were so limited, your computer would wear out before it finished booting.
I'm actually hoping that the next generation iPad gets a tablet specific processor.
What do you think would be the difference? It strikes me as unlikely that the iPhone 5 gets a single core Cortex A9 while the iPad 2 gets a dual core Cortex A9.
Quote:
The next thing to consider is video bandwidth, here the issue is the rumors of higher resolution displays. I don't think anybody would complain if resolution was increased but that increase bandwidth demands from the GPU. Apple might go with a 1GB array just to make sure the GPU has the access it needs.
Screen resolution is more likely driven by the desire to be more or less compatible with the iPhone via scaling that doesn't look too sucky. Maybe 1920x1280? Still a bigish jump and not all that great for scaling existing iPad apps I think. Have to think about that a little.
What do you think would be the difference? It strikes me as unlikely that the iPhone 5 gets a single core Cortex A9 while the iPad 2 gets a dual core Cortex A9.
I don't know what is exactly up at Apple but the rumor was that PA Semi was split into two groups with one focused on building a tablet specific processor. How good that rumor is, is unknown.
As to iPhone 5 and iPad 2 and what processors they get I would think there would have to be a split sometime in the future if only because adding more power to an iPhone will at some point run up against a battery issue. It is highly unlikely that the iPhone will get bigger and battery technology isn't advancing that fast so does it make sense to saddle a family of iPads with a processor that is limited in performance to go into an iPhone? Besides a single core Cortex A9 would still be an excellent upgrade for an iPhone.
On the other hand iPad has a bigger battery and a larger display to drive, plus the apps are richer. So Ipad could really put a dual processor Cortex A9 to work.
Quote:
Screen resolution is more likely driven by the desire to be more or less compatible with the iPhone via scaling that doesn't look too sucky. Maybe 1920x1280? Still a bigish jump and not all that great for scaling existing iPad apps I think. Have to think about that a little.
I actually doubt that very much. First I believe that iPad will expand into a family of differently sized devices. That would be a unit with a larger screen and another with a smaller. Apple will pick the screen resolutions that allow it to build a competitive product. They don't need to double the linear resolution at all, but on the other hand they would only be going to 264ppi if they did. Contrary to popular belief I don't think the making of the screen is a problem at all. Rather I believe the issue is with driving the screen. Such high resolution would impact the GPU and bandwidth to RAM significantly. This in and of itself would result in the need for a different processor than what is in the iPhone.
So lets say the new iPad does get higher resolution, what ever it is doesn't matter as the result is the same more demand on the memory and the GPU. What is interesting here is that Apple has been publishing a lot of patents over the last few years with respect to CPU and GPU technology. So you have to ask why is Apple doing research into new 3D processor technology, and enhanced CPU's. Well it is pretty obvious such tech won't be going into Intel hardware and it doesn't make sense to battle against ATI or NVIDIA. So where is the fruits of all this research going? More so the A4 is pretty much a Samsung IP processor with a little Apple/Intrinsity thrown in. So If we don't see a little PA Semi magic in a processor soon Apple is going to look a bit silly spending all that money on PA Semi. In the end I don't know what Apple has coming in iPad 2, SoC wise, but the timing seems right for a big update.
Softbank, the mobile carrier for iPads and iPhones in Japan, has announced that from December 3rd you can get a 16GB iPad 3G for free with a two-year contract that runs a little more than $50.
This will certainly help widen the iPad's popularity here, adding to sales for 2011.
Softbank, the mobile carrier for iPads and iPhones in Japan, has announced that from December 3rd you can get a 16GB iPad 3G for free with a two-year contract that runs a little more than $50.
This will certainly help widen the iPad's popularity here, adding to sales for 2011.
Granted we're dealing with a relatively strong yen for the purposes of conversion to dollars, but that's still $1,200 over the course of the contract. This will be seen as an attractive deal in Japan?
I think in iPad 2 Apple will further bury the hatchet by lowering its price and by adding features like FaceTime, larger capacities, and even better battery performance.
i wouldn't be so sure about the price coming down. it is more likely the price will stay the same while the specs go up.
Comments
Innuendo ... isn't that the Italian suppository manufacturer?
And a bigamist is a light rain shower.
I dont think the comparison is particularly tight, but I still think it has some validity.
With phones, there were people who would not consider switching to AT&T--they might have bought iPhones but now many of the have Andriod phones.
With tablets, many people think that the iPad is too big or heavy. If Apple does not give them what they want, many of them will buy from competitors who do offer the form factor they want. While those competitors are figuring things out and working out the bugs, their users will not necessarily see the product as inferior to the iPad because they may not see iPad as comparable due to its different form factor..
The fact that there are no contracts means that switching from one product to the other is easier, sure. However, people will still have an investment in apps and a familiarity with the operating system they have been working with and maybe some sense of brand loyalty.
Besides, it is not the two year contract which sent many Verizon users to Android but the lack of an Apple product that they could get...
The tablet market will ultimately be driven by available Apps and Apple's dominance in this key area grows daily. Fragmented and insecure Android will never have a serious place at the table for commercial apps developers. The ones that are trying to port over are nearly universally crying uncle and will mostly abandon the platform for the much more developer and consumer friendly iOS market (Despite what the "open" crowd would like everyone to believe).
Call me a fanboy if you like, that just make you delusional
Innuendo ... isn't that the Italian suppository manufacturer?
No... that's UppaUS
... And the famous Neapolitan Lion Tamer was named Claude Genitalia.
.
In my opinion Retina display in iPad 2 is quite sure
I?m always curious what people mean by ?Retina Display? in regards to the iPad?s 9.7? 4:3 display.
Agree except for "margins on the iPad must be tight." Businessweek estimates the low-end iPad's component costs to be about $259:
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...046_788280.htm
The screen is the most expensive component, followed by flash RAM, then the A4 system-on-chip. Apple keeps its costs down by using very similar circuit boards in all their iDevices, from iPhone to iPod touch to iPad to Apple TV. They can thus purchase components (especially flash RAM) in huge quantities at the best per-unit prices in the industry.
Minor correction. NAND Flash or Flash memory not Flash RAM. RAM is useless when it comes to storing your media library or anything for long, really.
Minor correction. NAND Flash or Flash memory not Flash RAM. RAM is useless when it comes to storing your media library or anything for long, really.
As a general rule of thumb and for a non-technical discussion, sure, but pedantically speaking there are many types of non-volatile RAM that can be used for power off storage.
As a general rule of thumb and for a non-technical discussion, sure, but pedantically speaking there are many types of non-volatile RAM that can be used for power off storage.
Frankly I find it frustrating to see people demonstrate that they don't know the difference between RAM and Flash storage. So I tend to support people that try to highlight the error. Why you might ask?
Well it is pretty simple, knowledge can help keep a person from being taken advantage of. Plus I find Apples hiding of stats such as installed RAM in iPad deplorable and underhanded. In fact it is down right sleazy.
For those that want to know;
RAM = Random Acccess Memory, it is primary fast storage and in many systems is considered volitile.
Flash on the other hand is a name applied to a type of electrically erasable programmable read only memory. In the case of Apple products it is NOT random access and can not be accessed directly by the CPU. Here it is a form of secondary storage much like a disk drive.
Frankly this mistake is so bad that I really think the site should consider banning people that can't grasp the issue and repeatedly post info that leads others to greater confusion. I'm all for helping people out but those that can't help themselves get no sympathy from me. The error is hideous and completely avoidable with a little education.
Frankly I find it frustrating to see people demonstrate that they don't know the difference between RAM and Flash storage. So I tend to support people that try to highlight the error. Why you might ask?
Well it is pretty simple, knowledge can help keep a person from being taken advantage of. Plus I find Apples hiding of stats such as installed RAM in iPad deplorable and underhanded. In fact it is down right sleazy.
For those that want to know;
RAM = Random Acccess Memory, it is primary fast storage and in many systems is considered volitile.
Flash on the other hand is a name applied to a type of electrically erasable programmable read only memory. In the case of Apple products it is NOT random access and can not be accessed directly by the CPU. Here it is a form of secondary storage much like a disk drive.
Frankly this mistake is so bad that I really think the site should consider banning people that can't grasp the issue and repeatedly post info that leads others to greater confusion. I'm all for helping people out but those that can't help themselves get no sympathy from me. The error is hideous and completely avoidable with a little education.
1) Are you implying that I did equate Flash to RAM?
2) I think it’s deplorable that other companies don’t list relevant specs that are useful to the majority of customers. For instanace, accurate battery duration with various durations for specific uses, something that Apple does well.
3) I don’t think it’s deplorable that Apple doesn’t list the amount of RAM, CPU speed, Flash speed, GPU gigaflops, L2 cache, nanometer process, milliWatts per core, or any other thing that only matters to a select few enthusiasts. Sure, I find it annoying, but it’s not sleazy. All that matters is how well it works for the user, and having a 1GHz Cortex-A8 in a phone isn’t going to make Symbian’s UI perform 25% more smoothly and be more useful than the IPhone 4’s 800MHz Cortex-A8. It’s fraking CE!
I believe that you mean media consumption devices -- and I agree.
I, for one, am curious if Apple will offer the iMovie app on today's iPad. It may be that the iPad has insufficient RAM -- though the 4-Gen iPod Touch is supported (same RAM as iPad);
That's for today's iPad. What about iPad 2. I assume that it will have 1 GB RAM, a dual-core Cortex A9-based CPU and a GPU capable of running OpenCL.
That's some pretty serious compute power!
I suspect that it could handle iMovie as well as today's Mac iMovie -- and maybe even a iPad version of Motion!
.
Current ipad has 256 mb of ram appl most likly will put 520 som odd mb of ram in it like current iphone then theyll upgrade iphone nd ipod nd the cycle will keep on goin ram/processor/battery life etc
1) Are you implying that I did equate Flash to RAM?
Nope not at all. The problem is with the guy that first used the phrase "flash RAM". I was supporting the guy you reffered to that tried to educate the original writer.
Of all the things I see on this forum the fact that people still use flash and RAM to fetter to the same thing is extremely bothersome.
2) I think it?s deplorable that other companies don?t list relevant specs that are useful to the majority of customers. For instanace, accurate battery duration with various durations for specific uses, something that Apple does well.
Those are ligitimate concerns. My problem with Apple is that the data isn't listed anywhere on the publically available web sites. At least not to the best of my knowledge. They do however have plenty of space to detail the flash installed in each model. It is just something they should have available to people that understand what RAM is.
The reality is many people don't so i see no reason for public advertising. This is likely to become more important when new models arrive. You see I understand that one component of the people Apple is selling to don't care or want to understand such details. But that doesn't justify being sneaky with the rest of the world.
3) I don?t think it?s deplorable that Apple doesn?t list the amount of RAM, CPU speed, Flash speed, GPU gigaflops, L2 cache, nanometer process, milliWatts per core, or any other thing that only matters to a select few enthusiasts. Sure, I find it annoying, but it?s not sleazy. All that matters is how well it works for the user, and having a 1GHz Cortex-A8 in a phone isn?t going to make Symbian?s UI perform 25% more smoothly and be more useful than the IPhone 4?s 800MHz Cortex-A8. It?s fraking CE!
What does the item being consummer electronics have to do with it? Here we go with a car analogy. Manufactures still like to advertise metrics that mean nothing to the average driver. Be that cylinder counts, skid pad numbers, stopping distance, the latest LED lighting tech or any of a number of other figures/features. Miss average driver may not understand any of that. However that info actually might be useful to some owners.
You may have a point in that the data isn't useful in comparing to other phones running other OS's but it is very useful in comparing one iPhone to the next. IPhones 4 additional RAM is one example where the upgrade has been significant and noteworthy. It is the little bit of info that might justify an upgrade.
In any event I'm a strong advocate of being an informed consummer. I really find it off putting when major companies go out of their way to hide significant info from consummers. Rushing out to buy the latest Apple gadget on release day isn't my MO. I like to understand what I'm getting first. One should have to resort to developer tools to find out what a product is made up of.
Current ipad has 256 mb of ram appl most likly will put 520 som odd mb of ram in it like current iphone then theyll upgrade iphone nd ipod nd the cycle will keep on goin ram/processor/battery life etc
I'm actually hoping that the next generation iPad gets a tablet specific processor. If the rumors about PA Semi being split up into teams doing a tablet processor and a phone processor are true we could see a huge leap in iPad performance and capability. Of course this is rumor but it does make sense, especially if you combine it with all the patents that have been issued to Apple recently with respect to CPU design. If they have taken ARM IP and extended it with their own IP it would be a very interesting development.
The next thing to consider is video bandwidth, here the issue is the rumors of higher resolution displays. I don't think anybody would complain if resolution was increased but that increase bandwidth demands from the GPU. Apple might go with a 1GB array just to make sure the GPU has the access it needs.
In any event back to the custom CPU. Apple has been very sternly suggesting that developers stay with the SDK tools. The common refrain is "control freak", but let's just imagine that Apple is just trying to save developers a lot of grief. Maybe they know the coming CPUs will be optimized for Objective C and multi core plus that the SoC will support OpenCL on the GPU. Again more speculation but if you accept that even some of this will come true iPad 2 will be very interesting. Or maybe nothing is ready with the new SoC and we get a simple bump.
That?s what I?d expect from vendors. Besides Flash, is there really anything else non-iPad tablets can feasibly market to the average user?
Windows
7x5 is lab coat sized and can be used by the medical people in the tens of millions of units world wide.
Except that iPads already fit in many existing lab coats and folks selling lab coats have started making that a selling point...
Minor correction. NAND Flash or Flash memory not Flash RAM. RAM is useless when it comes to storing your media library or anything for long, really.
If you're going to discuss memory, you have to be specific, otherwise you elicit misunderstandings that frustrate wizard69 and everyone else who's trying to understand what gets posted here.
The phrase "NAND Flash" or "Flash RAM" is misleading since the capitalization in "Flash" is usually construed as referring to Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash, a trademarked product. As I recall it was an amalgam of a predecessor product "FutureSplash", which enjoyed an evolution as tortured as its name.
On the other hand "flash memory" is a generic term for a type of EEPROM - mass storage not to be confused with a computer's RAM. Its name was derived from the method by which it's erased - analogous to a camera flash. The correct way to label it is "flash memory" but "flash drive" or "solid state drive" is OK too. None of these terms are trademarked so capitalization is unnecessary. It's accurate, more descriptive, and less likely to mislead.
Flash memory is different from RAM in many ways, most significantly in the way a computer accesses its data as wizard69 explained. Also, flash EEPROM has a finite life - most are not rated for more than a hundred thousand or so write cycles. If RAM were so limited, your computer would wear out before it finished booting.
"Flash", flash, and RAM... they're all different.
I'm actually hoping that the next generation iPad gets a tablet specific processor.
What do you think would be the difference? It strikes me as unlikely that the iPhone 5 gets a single core Cortex A9 while the iPad 2 gets a dual core Cortex A9.
The next thing to consider is video bandwidth, here the issue is the rumors of higher resolution displays. I don't think anybody would complain if resolution was increased but that increase bandwidth demands from the GPU. Apple might go with a 1GB array just to make sure the GPU has the access it needs.
Screen resolution is more likely driven by the desire to be more or less compatible with the iPhone via scaling that doesn't look too sucky. Maybe 1920x1280? Still a bigish jump and not all that great for scaling existing iPad apps I think. Have to think about that a little.
What do you think would be the difference? It strikes me as unlikely that the iPhone 5 gets a single core Cortex A9 while the iPad 2 gets a dual core Cortex A9.
I don't know what is exactly up at Apple but the rumor was that PA Semi was split into two groups with one focused on building a tablet specific processor. How good that rumor is, is unknown.
As to iPhone 5 and iPad 2 and what processors they get I would think there would have to be a split sometime in the future if only because adding more power to an iPhone will at some point run up against a battery issue. It is highly unlikely that the iPhone will get bigger and battery technology isn't advancing that fast so does it make sense to saddle a family of iPads with a processor that is limited in performance to go into an iPhone? Besides a single core Cortex A9 would still be an excellent upgrade for an iPhone.
On the other hand iPad has a bigger battery and a larger display to drive, plus the apps are richer. So Ipad could really put a dual processor Cortex A9 to work.
Screen resolution is more likely driven by the desire to be more or less compatible with the iPhone via scaling that doesn't look too sucky. Maybe 1920x1280? Still a bigish jump and not all that great for scaling existing iPad apps I think. Have to think about that a little.
I actually doubt that very much. First I believe that iPad will expand into a family of differently sized devices. That would be a unit with a larger screen and another with a smaller. Apple will pick the screen resolutions that allow it to build a competitive product. They don't need to double the linear resolution at all, but on the other hand they would only be going to 264ppi if they did. Contrary to popular belief I don't think the making of the screen is a problem at all. Rather I believe the issue is with driving the screen. Such high resolution would impact the GPU and bandwidth to RAM significantly. This in and of itself would result in the need for a different processor than what is in the iPhone.
So lets say the new iPad does get higher resolution, what ever it is doesn't matter as the result is the same more demand on the memory and the GPU. What is interesting here is that Apple has been publishing a lot of patents over the last few years with respect to CPU and GPU technology. So you have to ask why is Apple doing research into new 3D processor technology, and enhanced CPU's. Well it is pretty obvious such tech won't be going into Intel hardware and it doesn't make sense to battle against ATI or NVIDIA. So where is the fruits of all this research going? More so the A4 is pretty much a Samsung IP processor with a little Apple/Intrinsity thrown in. So If we don't see a little PA Semi magic in a processor soon Apple is going to look a bit silly spending all that money on PA Semi. In the end I don't know what Apple has coming in iPad 2, SoC wise, but the timing seems right for a big update.
This will certainly help widen the iPad's popularity here, adding to sales for 2011.
Softbank, the mobile carrier for iPads and iPhones in Japan, has announced that from December 3rd you can get a 16GB iPad 3G for free with a two-year contract that runs a little more than $50.
This will certainly help widen the iPad's popularity here, adding to sales for 2011.
Granted we're dealing with a relatively strong yen for the purposes of conversion to dollars, but that's still $1,200 over the course of the contract. This will be seen as an attractive deal in Japan?
I think in iPad 2 Apple will further bury the hatchet by lowering its price and by adding features like FaceTime, larger capacities, and even better battery performance.
i wouldn't be so sure about the price coming down. it is more likely the price will stay the same while the specs go up.