Except the article is almost certainly wrong or exaggerated.
At this point in the product cycle, there is no way in hell that these parts are actually pre-production parts produced in volume. Despite what the sources say, these are almost certainly tests of the kinds of parts Apple *might* want to buy from these folks and produced in very small numbers.
With the next iPad at least 8 months away and the next iPhone 11 months away there is no way in hell these are actually parts that are going to go into an active production line for those products.
To believe this story, you have to believe that there is a new iPad or iPhone in the first quarter or very early second quarter 2012. This isn't likely at all. This is just a couple of companies that *hope* to get business out of Apple, leaking the fact that they have made some pre-production parts for them.
You lost me on the iPad bit. The iPad was refreshed last March with the iPad 2 which was ahead of when it was expected to be refreshed. The iPad 3 can realistically be refreshed in the 1st calendar quarter of 2012. Although a 4" screen version is not likely gonna happen and neither will a iPod Touch with those dimensions.
The iPhone would be a stretch to refresh so soon so I'm with you on that. Unless Apple is deciding to get more aggressive since they are behind on screen size and 4G technology. It would not be unpresedented for Apple to release a phone out of the normal cycle (Verizon phone) by intro'ing one with a 4G antenna. It would set a presedence if they into'd a whole new form factor with the 4" screen and extremely unlikely due to their success with the iPhone 4S.
Honestly, I agree with you too on this being the parts manufacturers releasing news to bring attention to themselves.
MacBooks would be Perfect candidates for a 4 inch multitouch display. Imagine a trackpad that had a retina display that you could interact with even more.
Apple would never make a 4 inch screen portable device. It's too big for one hand to use and to small for two hands to use.
Take it from me; a hard core industrial designer.
APPLE WILL NEVER MAKE A 4 INCH IOS DEVICE.
That just doesn't make any sense. The iPhone and iPod Touch are 3.5%. It would be possible to increase those to 4" with only a tiny increase in the size of the device. Why is that so impossible?
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbsoluteDesignz
These tech blogs can be annoying as hell though.
While I'll admit I was underwhelmed by the KEYNOTE I don't see how you can be underwhelmed by the device...especially since the only real "complaint" is that it looked the same.
Why would the keynote have been underwhelming - other than your blatant anti-Apple bias? It was clear that the phone was improved in nearly every way. It just doesn't make sense to say that the keynote was disappointing but the phone was not.
Apple is far too deliberate in their moves. They don't introduce a new screen size because "the market demands it," they don't actually care what people want in that sense at all.
To put it in an English way ... Apple decides first what is the "proper" size for the screen and then makes it, and sells it irrespective of what people tell them they want.
If they end up moving to a 4" screen size it will be because they decided for very valid, logical reasons that this is the "proper" size now and that 3.5 screens are no longer the proper size for a hand held screen. They will never make some 3.5, and some 4 inch screens on the idea that some people like them smaller or bigger. If they were going to do that, they would make iPads and iPhones in multiple sizes from the start as it's fairly clear that different people have different sized hands. They don't do that, they almost never have with any of their products.
The only product they make where screen size really varies at all is laptops and that might be more out of convention than anything else since *everyone* in the business does that and has since the beginning. Even with desktops which they originally offered in multiple sizes, they now offer in two only. ACD's used to be in three sizes and now they only offer one.
Apple *may* move to a 4" screen size based on whatever unknown calculation they do on what's best, but it's really very very unlikely they will ever offer more than one single screen size for the iPhone and since they've best that one size to be 3.5" for the life of the product so far, odds are it will remain so.
You just proved yourself wrong with your point on laptops. Apple isn't stupid. they don't want to lose the smartphone battle like they lost the desktop battle years back. The screen on the iPhone is now the smallest out there, excluding feature phones and super low end Android stuff. The market has moved on, and Apple will move with it.
Not only for the Apple TV, but for the household. Steve Wozniak had a venture for a multi-purpose remote after he left Apple as a full time worker, and Steve Jobs talked about a single remote for many devices. Download the apps for our devices and away you go! It's big 'n four inches so that it's easy to find. If you still can't find it, you log in to your iCloud account and go to Find My Remote. Apple's answer to Google maps will be so good that you can pinpoint rooms in your house... unless you live in North Korea.
I find it increasingly hard to tolerate lcd screens, I wish e-ink technlogy matures at some point cause it ll save my eyesight, of course if some dual type lcd/eink (or similar no or low light emmision tech) hybrid is possible it will be ideal.
Sure, it's a world where you can't keep changing the display size or resolution at will the way Apple did with the iPod Nano, but after the 3GS gets deprecated so there is only one resolution for the 3.5" display size to develop for, adding a 4" size with or without the same resolution as the current iPhone, would be possible.
4'' screen would lower PPI to 280... AKA not retina display
would you double screen rez again?!?!? That is the only sane way i see it happening, unless they double the screen rez again, which would require stronger CPU, GPU.. larger battery...
If apple is not at 28nm (i BELIEVE A5=40nm) than they might be able to do it without losing battery life with move to 28nm + larger battery. But it just is not worth it.
NOTE: biggest screen with PPI greater or equal to 300= 3.7357 inches or 9.49cm
4'' screen would lower PPI to 280... AKA not retina display
would you double screen rez again?!?!? That is the only sane way i see it happening, unless they double the screen rez again, which would require stronger CPU, GPU.. larger battery...
If apple is not at 28nm (i BELIEVE A5=40nm) than they might be able to do it without losing battery life with move to 28nm + larger battery. But it just is not worth it.
NOTE: biggest screen with PPI greater or equal to 300= 3.7357 inches or 9.49cm
To me personally, a 4" screen would be too small for an iPhone. I say go to 4.3" & double the resolution again to 1920 x 1280. Right now the GPU capability in the A5 is at least 5 to 7 times more powerful than the A4 so it isn't like it can't push the pixels efficiently if the resolution is doubled once again.
4'' screen would lower PPI to 280...[/SIZE][size="4"] AKA not retina display
would you double screen rez again?!?!? That is the only sane way i see it happening, unless they double the screen rez again, which would require stronger CPU, GPU.. larger battery...
If apple is not at 28nm (i BELIEVE A5=40nm) than they might be able to do it without losing battery life with move to 28nm + larger battery. But it just is not worth it.
NOTE: biggest screen with PPI greater or equal to 300= 3.7357 inches or 9.49cm
1) Using a big font just makes you more obnoxious, not more correct.
2) 960x640 3:2 4" display would be 288ppi, not 280. The minimum requirement for 20/20 vision at 12" distance is 286ppi. That puts a 4" display just above, not far below what is required for technically staying within the Retina Display definition of not being able to discern pixels.
3) You're referencing 300ppi because Apple had a slide statin the limit of the human retina. That was a slide making a general point, not an exact measurement as you should be able to infer by the lack of any qualifiers to the 300ppi statement.
4) The iPad doubling its resolution (yes, doubling resolution, but quadrupling number of pixels) would bring it to 264ppi. That would be considered Retina Display because you hold the iPad farther from your face than you would a small display.
Here's a simple formula you can apply. For 20/20 vision (1 arcmin) use the value 3438 and divide that by number of inches you would keep a device from your eye. Then divide that result by 1 to get minimum number of pixels needed for a Retina Display.
Examples:
18" ÷ 3438 = 0.0052" » 1" ÷ 0.0052" = 193ppi
13" ÷ 3438 = 0.0038" » 1" ÷ 0.0038" = 264ppi
I don't know about you but I read my iPad like a book which is probably a solid 18" away from eyes, if not more. Certainly farther than 13" which is the bare minimum for a 264ppi display.
To me personally, a 4" screen would be too small for an iPhone. I say go to 4.3" & double the resolution again to 1920 x 1280. Right now the GPU capability in the A5 is at least 5 to 7 times more powerful than the A4 so it isn't like it can't push the pixels efficiently if the resolution is doubled once again.
1) There is no 1:1 ratio on the GPU performance and display pixels. As we've seen in previous iPhone and iPad models the more pixels to push the worse the game graphics. There simply is no reasonable argument to make for a 660ppi display in the 2010s.
2) You are aware the iPhone is a 3:2 ratio but you didn't into account what that means for a 4.3" display. That would give it ridiculous dimensions of 2.39" wide. Even the uncomfortably massive 4.65" display of the Galaxy Nexus is only 2.28" wide. Even completely removing the bezel still doesn't correct this. 4" is really the only option on all levels, and that's if they can reduce the bezel and/or case thickness somewhat.
Why would the keynote have been underwhelming - other than your blatant anti-Apple bias? It was clear that the phone was improved in nearly every way. It just doesn't make sense to say that the keynote was disappointing but the phone was not.
I said the keynote was underwhelming, not disappointing...I said the blogs said they were disappointed (most likely due to the ridiculous rumor mill) by the 4S (which was only because it looked the same)
What in all my postings has been anti-Apple? I have nearly a thousand at this point...surely you can point me to my anti-Appleness...
Why don't you realize that because I'm not fellating everything Apple doesn't mean I'm anti-Apple
The keynote was boring...it didn't have the awe factor of others which I have watched every single year and have enjoyed every single year.
There are many factors to this which are understandable.
1) Jobs was real sick and the people there most likely knew he'd be dead soon
2) Cook is not Jobs.
3) Cook was both nervous and saddened.
The fact that all of that is a viable and rational reason doesn't stop the fact that the keynote was lackluster...in MY opinion.
Clearly [only some sarcasm] they're referring to an autostereoscopic, glasses-free 3D display for the iPad 4. That means we don't have to rush into making 3D movies for the iPad just now. But people interested in stereo movie making should be getting ready for the big event, when Apple shows how it should be done on the display end, only one year and a few months from now.
This will create a big challenge for Apple at public presentation time : how will they manage to show 3D capability on he meeting room screen ?
Comments
Except the article is almost certainly wrong or exaggerated.
At this point in the product cycle, there is no way in hell that these parts are actually pre-production parts produced in volume. Despite what the sources say, these are almost certainly tests of the kinds of parts Apple *might* want to buy from these folks and produced in very small numbers.
With the next iPad at least 8 months away and the next iPhone 11 months away there is no way in hell these are actually parts that are going to go into an active production line for those products.
To believe this story, you have to believe that there is a new iPad or iPhone in the first quarter or very early second quarter 2012. This isn't likely at all. This is just a couple of companies that *hope* to get business out of Apple, leaking the fact that they have made some pre-production parts for them.
You lost me on the iPad bit. The iPad was refreshed last March with the iPad 2 which was ahead of when it was expected to be refreshed. The iPad 3 can realistically be refreshed in the 1st calendar quarter of 2012. Although a 4" screen version is not likely gonna happen and neither will a iPod Touch with those dimensions.
The iPhone would be a stretch to refresh so soon so I'm with you on that. Unless Apple is deciding to get more aggressive since they are behind on screen size and 4G technology. It would not be unpresedented for Apple to release a phone out of the normal cycle (Verizon phone) by intro'ing one with a 4G antenna. It would set a presedence if they into'd a whole new form factor with the 4" screen and extremely unlikely due to their success with the iPhone 4S.
Honestly, I agree with you too on this being the parts manufacturers releasing news to bring attention to themselves.
LAME, super LAME.
Ah, but your limited imagination failed to realize that it is the screen itself that expands to from 10" to 50".... none of that weak Atrix shit.
... and it's real. You'll see...
MacBooks would be Perfect candidates for a 4 inch multitouch display. Imagine a trackpad that had a retina display that you could interact with even more.
Apple would never make a 4 inch screen portable device. It's too big for one hand to use and to small for two hands to use.
Take it from me; a hard core industrial designer.
APPLE WILL NEVER MAKE A 4 INCH IOS DEVICE.
That just doesn't make any sense. The iPhone and iPod Touch are 3.5%. It would be possible to increase those to 4" with only a tiny increase in the size of the device. Why is that so impossible?
These tech blogs can be annoying as hell though.
While I'll admit I was underwhelmed by the KEYNOTE I don't see how you can be underwhelmed by the device...especially since the only real "complaint" is that it looked the same.
Why would the keynote have been underwhelming - other than your blatant anti-Apple bias? It was clear that the phone was improved in nearly every way. It just doesn't make sense to say that the keynote was disappointing but the phone was not.
Except this will never happen.
Apple is far too deliberate in their moves. They don't introduce a new screen size because "the market demands it," they don't actually care what people want in that sense at all.
To put it in an English way ... Apple decides first what is the "proper" size for the screen and then makes it, and sells it irrespective of what people tell them they want.
If they end up moving to a 4" screen size it will be because they decided for very valid, logical reasons that this is the "proper" size now and that 3.5 screens are no longer the proper size for a hand held screen. They will never make some 3.5, and some 4 inch screens on the idea that some people like them smaller or bigger. If they were going to do that, they would make iPads and iPhones in multiple sizes from the start as it's fairly clear that different people have different sized hands. They don't do that, they almost never have with any of their products.
The only product they make where screen size really varies at all is laptops and that might be more out of convention than anything else since *everyone* in the business does that and has since the beginning. Even with desktops which they originally offered in multiple sizes, they now offer in two only. ACD's used to be in three sizes and now they only offer one.
Apple *may* move to a 4" screen size based on whatever unknown calculation they do on what's best, but it's really very very unlikely they will ever offer more than one single screen size for the iPhone and since they've best that one size to be 3.5" for the life of the product so far, odds are it will remain so.
You just proved yourself wrong with your point on laptops. Apple isn't stupid. they don't want to lose the smartphone battle like they lost the desktop battle years back. The screen on the iPhone is now the smallest out there, excluding feature phones and super low end Android stuff. The market has moved on, and Apple will move with it.
What will Apple use a 4 inch display for? A new iTouch?
The new iPocketTV!
Sure, it's a world where you can't keep changing the display size or resolution at will the way Apple did with the iPod Nano, but after the 3GS gets deprecated so there is only one resolution for the 3.5" display size to develop for, adding a 4" size with or without the same resolution as the current iPhone, would be possible.
4'' screen would lower PPI to 280... AKA not retina display
would you double screen rez again?!?!? That is the only sane way i see it happening, unless they double the screen rez again, which would require stronger CPU, GPU.. larger battery...
If apple is not at 28nm (i BELIEVE A5=40nm) than they might be able to do it without losing battery life with move to 28nm + larger battery. But it just is not worth it.
NOTE: biggest screen with PPI greater or equal to 300= 3.7357 inches or 9.49cm
check the DPI/PPI here
Hitach?
Most likely Hitachi.
Or perhaps hibachi, as they are cooking up something.
4'' screen would lower PPI to 280... AKA not retina display
would you double screen rez again?!?!? That is the only sane way i see it happening, unless they double the screen rez again, which would require stronger CPU, GPU.. larger battery...
If apple is not at 28nm (i BELIEVE A5=40nm) than they might be able to do it without losing battery life with move to 28nm + larger battery. But it just is not worth it.
NOTE: biggest screen with PPI greater or equal to 300= 3.7357 inches or 9.49cm
check the DPI/PPI here
To me personally, a 4" screen would be too small for an iPhone. I say go to 4.3" & double the resolution again to 1920 x 1280. Right now the GPU capability in the A5 is at least 5 to 7 times more powerful than the A4 so it isn't like it can't push the pixels efficiently if the resolution is doubled once again.
4'' screen would lower PPI to 280...[/SIZE][size="4"] AKA not retina display
would you double screen rez again?!?!? That is the only sane way i see it happening, unless they double the screen rez again, which would require stronger CPU, GPU.. larger battery...
If apple is not at 28nm (i BELIEVE A5=40nm) than they might be able to do it without losing battery life with move to 28nm + larger battery. But it just is not worth it.
NOTE: biggest screen with PPI greater or equal to 300= 3.7357 inches or 9.49cm
check the DPI/PPI here
1) Using a big font just makes you more obnoxious, not more correct.
2) 960x640 3:2 4" display would be 288ppi, not 280. The minimum requirement for 20/20 vision at 12" distance is 286ppi. That puts a 4" display just above, not far below what is required for technically staying within the Retina Display definition of not being able to discern pixels.
3) You're referencing 300ppi because Apple had a slide statin the limit of the human retina. That was a slide making a general point, not an exact measurement as you should be able to infer by the lack of any qualifiers to the 300ppi statement.
4) The iPad doubling its resolution (yes, doubling resolution, but quadrupling number of pixels) would bring it to 264ppi. That would be considered Retina Display because you hold the iPad farther from your face than you would a small display.
Here's a simple formula you can apply. For 20/20 vision (1 arcmin) use the value 3438 and divide that by number of inches you would keep a device from your eye. Then divide that result by 1 to get minimum number of pixels needed for a Retina Display.
Examples:I don't know about you but I read my iPad like a book which is probably a solid 18" away from eyes, if not more. Certainly farther than 13" which is the bare minimum for a 264ppi display.
To me personally, a 4" screen would be too small for an iPhone. I say go to 4.3" & double the resolution again to 1920 x 1280. Right now the GPU capability in the A5 is at least 5 to 7 times more powerful than the A4 so it isn't like it can't push the pixels efficiently if the resolution is doubled once again.
1) There is no 1:1 ratio on the GPU performance and display pixels. As we've seen in previous iPhone and iPad models the more pixels to push the worse the game graphics. There simply is no reasonable argument to make for a 660ppi display in the 2010s.
2) You are aware the iPhone is a 3:2 ratio but you didn't into account what that means for a 4.3" display. That would give it ridiculous dimensions of 2.39" wide. Even the uncomfortably massive 4.65" display of the Galaxy Nexus is only 2.28" wide. Even completely removing the bezel still doesn't correct this. 4" is really the only option on all levels, and that's if they can reduce the bezel and/or case thickness somewhat.
Why would the keynote have been underwhelming - other than your blatant anti-Apple bias? It was clear that the phone was improved in nearly every way. It just doesn't make sense to say that the keynote was disappointing but the phone was not.
I said the keynote was underwhelming, not disappointing...I said the blogs said they were disappointed (most likely due to the ridiculous rumor mill) by the 4S (which was only because it looked the same)
What in all my postings has been anti-Apple? I have nearly a thousand at this point...surely you can point me to my anti-Appleness...
Why don't you realize that because I'm not fellating everything Apple doesn't mean I'm anti-Apple
The keynote was boring...it didn't have the awe factor of others which I have watched every single year and have enjoyed every single year.
There are many factors to this which are understandable.
1) Jobs was real sick and the people there most likely knew he'd be dead soon
2) Cook is not Jobs.
3) Cook was both nervous and saddened.
The fact that all of that is a viable and rational reason doesn't stop the fact that the keynote was lackluster...in MY opinion.
[insult removed]
If you guys are going to continuously censor me extend that courtesy to others as well.
Be fair.
[mewling removed]
Noted.
Noted.
lol..
If you guys are going to continuously censor me extend that courtesy to others as well.
Be fair.
The High Road is closed. Detour ahead. Drive safely.
Stupid.
Clearly [only some sarcasm] they're referring to an autostereoscopic, glasses-free 3D display for the iPad 4. That means we don't have to rush into making 3D movies for the iPad just now. But people interested in stereo movie making should be getting ready for the big event, when Apple shows how it should be done on the display end, only one year and a few months from now.
This will create a big challenge for Apple at public presentation time : how will they manage to show 3D capability on he meeting room screen ?