Thread: iPad-Mini Rumor
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Kraetos
Lovable Bastard
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Boston-ish
 
2012-04-16, 17:56

Quote:
Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post
An affordable smaller tablet satisfies both lovers of a lower price and smaller form factors. Neither is mutually inclusive or exclusive.
But what's the point of an iPad mini if there's a $299 iPad?

Quote:
With regard to keyboard input it's important to realize that the virtual KB is just one of many input modalities. With the new iPad voice
dictation has arrived. Not yet full Siri but for those that struggle to type yet can articulate well in a supported language they have another
method for inputing text.
Keyboards aren't going anywhere. They will always be more precise and discreet.

Quote:
I contend that an overabundance or over-reliance on tappable targets is poor UI design in many cases. iOS is simply not OS X reduced down and simplified it's an new way of interacting with content and if the task manager Clear can deliver touch control with nary a button on the UI then developers need to look at how they can reduce the clutter of buttons and enable more intuitive swipes and other gestural controls.
Gestures are the opposite of obvious. You have to know what a gesture does before you use it, but buttons say what they're going to do right on them.

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So the question becomes who stands to benefit from a smaller and cheaper iPad model? I would think that there are plenty of consumers and businesses alike that wouldn't mind a tablet larger than an iPhone but even more portable than an iPad.
7 inch tablets haven't exactly taken off. The case for pent up demand for 7" tablets doesn't seem strong to me. The only 7" tablets which have taken off appear to have done so because they are cheap. Expensive 7" tablets didn't go anywhere.

Quote:
My ideal target would be:

.9 of a lb
10 hour battery life in Wifi (9 hour with cellular)
OLED or IGZO display for power savings.
802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.0
9-Axis inertial Module
Sub $300
Why is this any better at 7" then at 10"? You still haven't answered one of Robo's most important questions: how is a 7" tablet better than a 10" tablet for the same price? Yes it's more portable, but not nearly as portable as a smartphone.

You can distill this entire debate down to "is 7" a sweet-spot or a no-mans-land?" Based on sales of 7" tablets and on my own experience using a Fire, I think it's pretty obviously a no-mans-land. You don't get any real advantages over a smartphone, but you don't get the advantages of a full tablet, either.

Quote:
The straw that stirs this drink is going to be iCloud. When you reduce the reticence of consumers to add another device to their group by making it easier to setup and manage you tear down a large wall.
Agreed. But again, it seems to me the case for a bigger iPad is stronger than that for a smaller one.

Logic, logic, logic. Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end.