What the iPad 3 Looks Like 471
redletterdave writes "If you were expecting a radically different-looking tablet from the iPad 2, prepare for a minor letdown. In the same way Apple upgraded the iPhone 4 into the iPhone 4S, the exterior of the iPad 3 mirrors that of the iPad 2, despite completely renovated and upgraded innards. iLab Factory reportedly provided Sharp with the necessary parts to build the high-resolution iPad 3 display, and in a company blog post, various iPad 3 components are displayed alongside those of the iPad 2 for quick comparison. In addition to a new camera mount that will reportedly match or improve upon the 8-megapixel camera system in the iPhone 4S, the post also revealed that the iPad 3 will be approximately 1 mm thicker than its predecessor to house Apple's upgraded components, including a bigger battery, an improved camera, and a dual-LED lit system to make the 2048 x 1536 display even brighter."
Crystal Ball (Score:0, Insightful)
According to Apple, I should just look at what Samsung has already produced! :)
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/12/02/13/1415204/apple-launches-new-legal-attack-on-samsung
Why would it be radically different? (Score:1, Insightful)
Apple has a big hard on "protecting" its ingenious design of a rounded rectangle with a flat surface and glossy paint, you really think they are going to waste all that time and money keeping the evil of the world from copying their earth-shattering genius just to release v3 in a translucent round case?
why do we care about shape? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why have we grown so accustomed to the style changing radically every new release? Not just apple, but any phone, or gadget, or car... Why do we feel this need to see a new fancy box?
Seems like once we arrive at the thinnest tablets, it will be the ultimate "form follows function": a flat panel. Will we then no longer expect a radical new shape? (circular tablets?)
Re:Cheaper iPad 2 (Score:2, Insightful)
Very quick to post. But than you *ARE* a paid shill, so you've got canned content all lined up.
Re:Cheaper iPad 2 (Score:4, Insightful)
Normally I don't pay much heed to comments like this, but that shit was so canned it still has the ring marks. Cranberry anyone?
Re:Cheaper iPad 2 (Score:1, Insightful)
How much does it pay?
Re:Why would it be radically different? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, that's literally the only thing that separates the iPhone/iPad's design from everyone else's, the fact that it's a rounded rectangle with a flat surface and glossy paint. It's certainly not the radius of the corners, the 1-inch black border with chrome backing that peeks over just enough to frame it, the grid of icons, the thievery of artwork, the touchscreen gestures that originated with iOS, etc.
Tablets didn't start looking like the iPad until the iPad came out. That really should clue you into the idea that the design comes from Jonathan Ive's design studio and isn't some obvious thing that has been around forever. Of course it seems obvious now, because the iPad is so successful. There's a cognitive bias going on where the thing that succeeded now seems obvious in retrospect even though it didn't before it came into existence.
Re:Cheaper iPad 2 (Score:4, Insightful)
assuming it still even works 5 years from now, the battery life will have decayed to the point where it will be barely usable
You mean like a laptop? And before you say something about, "You can work with the laptop plugged in!", remember you can do the exact same with a tablet.
and if you think you will have the newest version of the OS available on it, excuse me while I laugh my ass of at your naiveté.
And how is that different than the 90s, when desktop computing really started to take off?
a regular PC is just straight up better in so many ways.
Depends on your use cases.
Re:Far more likely to be 1.5x not 2x (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone who has ever written iOS software knows that the UI scaling is done by float, and can easily take a value of 1.5.
It can technically be done, but results will look like crap, because scaling of bitmaps does not look well if you don't use an integer factor - either you get some pixels larger than other, or you need to use interpolation, resulting in an altogether blurry picture. There's a reason why Apple did 2x upscale with iPhone 4, rather than going for the then industry-standard-already 480x800.
Besides, from TFA, it looks like they have already identified the specific LCD screen that looks like it's tailor made for iPad 3 in dimensional terms - and it's 2048x1536.
These "exclusive" sites have a poor track record (Score:5, Insightful)
Of actually knowing (or predicting) what and when the notoriously secretive Apple will release its next product. Swallow any claims not coming from 1 Infinite Loop with a Large Dose of skepticism.
Re:Why does Apple/iPad get so much attention? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:2048 x 1536?! (Score:5, Insightful)
That was once true, but desktop and laptop screens have regressed over the past few years towards 1080p (high-def TV) resolutions. There are only a few 2560x1600 desktop displays now - Apple for example no longer sells one. 1600x1200 screens were available on laptops for some time, too, but no longer.
With that resolution and dual backlights, I bet the new iPad screen will look fantastic. Now give me a 'retinal' 30" display for my desktop, please.
Re:Cheaper iPad 2 (Score:0, Insightful)
It's the accessories market, stupid. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:why do we care about shape? (Score:4, Insightful)
Two Words: Social Status
In an increasingly narcissitic society, we look to the gadgets we wield to say something about our social status. The consumer wet dream is that the brand is distinct (I own an Apple, I own a Razr, etc), but that each new version is distinguishable from the previous version so that I can flaunt that "I have the 4S while you only have the 4."
Re:Cheaper iPad 2 (Score:4, Insightful)
Okay, you people are retarded. What jabs at Google? And of course it quickly went to +5 (or whatever it's rated now), it was the first post that moderators saw.
Normally, I don't respond to comments like this, but the goofy paranoia on Slashdot whenever anyone dares to--gasp--say positive things about a really popular tech gadget is really nutty.
Re:Ok, but why buy it (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple (and car manufacturers) are going to continue to release new models year after year. Some people are going to immediately get the newest thing (much more so with a relatively inexpensive tablet), but a large member of the user group is going to stick with what they have because it is already working fine for them.
Our tendency is to mistakenly think that this works against Apple. Yes, I'm sure that Apple would love it if everyone who had an iPad 1 or 2 threw it away and bought a 3. However, read your own words - you're saying that you bought version 1 of a device and it is still working out great for you around the time that version 3 comes out. Sounds like you are pretty happy with your purchase. Companies like Apple should be happy about that. It works against them if owners of previous models feel burned when the new version comes out.
Judging from the article's speculations about the iPad 3 (who knows how accurate they are), these are fairly incremental improvements - better battery, better screen resolution, etc. This is similar to what I'd expect with a new car model from year to year.
Only a small segment of the market is going to rush out and buy the latest and greatest. Companies like Apple can succeed by recognizing that and growing a set of repeat buyers out of the remaining field. The fact that consumers aren't feeling burned when new models come out, and feel that old models work fine, makes those consumers more likely to repeat a purchase.
Re:Why does Apple/iPad get so much attention? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Cheaper iPad 2 (Score:4, Insightful)
The true tablet market right now is composed of iPads, Kindle Fires and Nooks. All have similar lockins. Microsoft's ARM Win8 has already been stated will be similar. True Android Tables (non branched like the Nook or Kindle) are the exception but to be honest, they are not selling well relatively speaking.
People in this site have also vocally criticized those two tablets for the same points.
That's why I don't single out Apple's iPad.
Re:Cheaper iPad 2 (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I expect the iPad2 to lose at most $50 per tier (Score:4, Insightful)
To be fair, Apple has slashed the price of iPhones by $100 every time they retain a previous generation in the market. That is why I say $399. It's not blind faith or a gut feeling. It's just being based off Apple year to year habits.
Besides, a $100 reduction may be enough to bring the iPad2 into "budget" range. At the same time it's not so much that anyone that bought an iPad2 a month earlier would be annoyed at the insanely lower price.
Slash the price to $200 and even the most rabid Apple fan will knock at Apple's door with torches and pitchforks if they bought a full price iPad 2 one month earlier.
Re:Cheaper iPad 2 (Score:4, Insightful)
The metamods rated your post interesting. It really was though. Enjoyed it. But one thing in particular is wonderful but at the same time terrible all in one:
I had a Toshiba Thrive a while back. I've delivered a thorough critique on tablets in general before, but suffice it to say, for anything more than watching a simple movie or reading an e-book, they're terrible. Attempt to actually do anything or use it more than this, it just isn't comfortable, flexible, or featureful enough.
However:
Games. This is it for the consoles. After watching Dead Space and an MMO and Rainbow Six on iOS/Android, the writing is on the wall. I was amazed at playing this on a phone. Granted, a console offers a stable config for developers, a platform for better sales, etc. But when featureful games keep on being released, after a while one will ask themself why bother buying another unit. And it's kind of amazing to have quick aiming in FPS's after being so hampered by a controller (Call of Duty on consoles versus Modern Combat on iOS/Android).
And as a side note, as much as I refuse to ever purchase another Apple product (for a myriad of reasons they're an awful and evil company), the Android situation for games (not the rest--app fragmentation is only a problem games--nothing else) is terrible. iOS gives a stable environment for developers and its app store forces devs to release the full version for download. Gameloft won't let you run it's games on half of android devices, or won't carry them in store, and makes one download them directly thus negating any benefits of the Android Market (auto updates, re-downloading games, etc.). Do they even provide updates? It's a mess.
Though I am curious with the higher res screen how games will perform. Hell my 8800 GTS 512, while old, can't even handle games at that resolution. Though kudos for pushing the resolution forward. Two things are the biggest factors in how good a games graphics are--the texture detail and a higher resolution.