The iPad (Apple PDA Animated Mockup)
This is my rendering of a Apple PDA. I drew it after being set off at Office Depo yesterday looking at pocket PCs. I think it is really stupid that they feel the need to put dozens of buttons on the front the there PDA. That is just rediculuse. I think a much better aproch would be to put no buttons on the front and do it all in software. This not only looks cooler it gives you about an inch of more of screen space in the same sized device, not to mention no moving parts. Then of course have built in Ink Well with support for drawing and text. On the side I put a little touch pad used to scroll up and down a page using the hand that dose not have the pen in it.
Click on the image to see a larger version as well as an animation of it in action.
<a href="http://homepage.mac.com/michaelmatas/PhotoAlbum4.html"; target="_blank">
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Click on the image to see a larger version as well as an animation of it in action.
<a href="http://homepage.mac.com/michaelmatas/PhotoAlbum4.html"; target="_blank">
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Comments
<strong>Strangly enough I get the feeling most people like to have buttons on their PDA's. Probably gives them the impression that they have more control. If Apple were to release a PDA I would think that the OS would be even more "icon" oriented than we are currently used to in OSX. Probably not a scaled down version of OSX but rather a much more >list & icon< version. Not so much a >desktop<-style OS.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The one thing I dislike about the newton 2100 is that there are no buttons. Why, you ask? Well, it's nice not to have to use two hands to get my schedule from my notes, etc. Just press the right button and I'm there. With the newton, I have to take out the stylus to get there. One handed operation is not possible without some buttons. I'd trade the extra screen realestate for the convenience.
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The one thing I dislike about the newton 2100 is that there are no buttons. Why, you ask? Well, it's nice not to have to use two hands to get my schedule from my notes, etc. Just press the right button and I'm there. With the newton, I have to take out the stylus to get there. One handed operation is not possible without some buttons. I'd trade the extra screen realestate for the convenience.</strong><hr></blockquote>
You could always press the screen with your fingers.
Screed ...mind you, a 10"-12" diagonal tablet would be the ultimate but I fear it would have crushing price.
I loved my Newton 2100. The only thing I like about the Palm is the buttons. Very easy to do one handed. They still could function better however. For instance, you can scroll to a contact with the buttons but once you want to see the entire card for that contact you have to either poke at the screen (finger is too fat) or use the stylus.
That mock up does look sweet however.
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You could always press the screen with your fingers.</strong><hr></blockquote>
NOOOOOO!!!!! Michael, while I'd love to meet you in person, you're never coming near my powerbook if you touch screens with your hands! That's one of my pet peeves. Screens are not meant to be touched with oily, dirty fingers. Especially one that is going to be as beautiful as an Apple PDA.
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NOOOOOO!!!!! Michael, while I'd love to meet you in person, you're never coming near my powerbook if you touch screens with your hands! That's one of my pet peeves. Screens are not meant to be touched with oily, dirty fingers. Especially one that is going to be as beautiful as an Apple PDA.</strong><hr></blockquote>
THis PDA has a sheet of plastic covering the display from edge to edge. This way touching the screen is just like touching your iPod. Smudges will wipe right off.
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The one thing I dislike about the newton 2100 is that there are no buttons. Why, you ask? Well, it's nice not to have to use two hands to get my schedule from my notes, etc. Just press the right button and I'm there. With the newton, I have to take out the stylus to get there. One handed operation is not possible without some buttons. I'd trade the extra screen realestate for the convenience.</strong><hr></blockquote>
i disliked that about my newton as well. but it would be cool if there was a scroll wheel with button press action on the side like a sony treo. those are cool and the control is very intuitive. hmm. who else makes a device with a scroll wheel and a button as the main input devices...?
But, they really are important. Speed and convenience are key to a handheld, so you need to be able to bring up, say, your Address Book, scroll through it to find a phone number, and then put the unit away. Which brings me to the next requirement: a jog wheel.
Though it's relatively new to handhelds, you would not believe just how useful these are! Think of it like the scroll wheel on many mice... instead of tapping on the scroll bars of a screen or dragging the slider, you just use your thumb on the dial to scroll through emails, or contacts. Many also now support clicking, which would let you scroll through, say, a list of files in a folder and then click it to open the desired one. Then the jog dial lets you scroll through the file.
Plus, you have to get data in and out somehow. And unless you're building an Airport circuit into it (not a bad idea, and it's been done with the Toshiba e740), you'll need some kind of connector to the Mac. Probably a USB port, which would make it easy to hook up mice, keyboards, etc. in the future.
Hope that made sense.
dont need any hands except to hold the thing
<strong>[snip] Which brings me to the next requirement: a jog wheel.
Though it's relatively new to handhelds, you would not believe just how useful these are! Think of it like the scroll wheel on many mice... instead of tapping on the scroll bars of a screen or dragging the slider, you just use your thumb on the dial to scroll through emails, or contacts. Many also now support clicking, which would let you scroll through, say, a list of files in a folder and then click it to open the desired one. Then the jog dial lets you scroll through the file.[snip]
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Just tossing some gasoline onto the fire, What do you people think of the possibility of putting a "jog wheel" (ala iPod) on the back of this iPad, so that screen realestate can be maximized, and overall size kept at a minimum? Still one-handed operation for some tasks ...
I personally feel it will be landscape oriented rather than vertical.
Besides shape/size I think the biggest challenge is battery life. Batteries simply have not evolved as fast as computers and electronics in general. Batteries are still very bulky, clumsy and modestly powerful with a very limited lifespan. Once a perpetually rechargeable high power-density lightweight moldable battery is invented portable electronics are very limited (beyond Li-Polymer).
<strong>voice commands
dont need any hands except to hold the thing</strong><hr></blockquote>
Unfortunately, voice is useless on a handheld. Heck, it's not even very accurate on desktops with a headset... now imagine trying to give voice commands on an airplane, or in a busy office environment. Not going to happen.
What about a "drawer" at the short end? The drawer would be half the hight of the iPad and go out 3-4 cm. On top of the drawer you could have like five buttons or so. (That way you could eat the apple cake and have it too!
/biggy
and if there is plastic covering the screen like in the ipod, how do you input to the device? can't be touch sensitive, can it? optical?
<strong>Got to have buttons so you can play DOOM on it.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Of course there could be something to say for giving a double meaning to "double tap"