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Why a 7.85" iPad mini makes sense
The iPad mini rumors have been going on a good long time. Here at TUAW, we've long since moved past "will they or won't they." I want to address the "most likely iPad mini" scenario that many pundits have agreed upon. A 1,024 x 768, 7"-ish unit offers a budget, non-Retina scenario that allows minis to run existing iPad software without modification. At seven inches, an iPad mini is workable, as it just (barely) allows the device to retain its base interactive integrity. As Rich Gaywood has long since pointed out, a 7.85" device offers a much better compromise than a 7-inch model, but more about that in a bit. The Retina iPhone was first introduced with the iPhone 4. Its 960x640 display enhanced the screen scale, offering four pixels where each previous generation had one. The point density, however, did not change. "The term 'points' has its origin in the print industry," writes Apple, "which defines 72 points as to equal one inch in physical space. When used in reference to high resolution in OS X, points in user space do not have any relation to measurements in the physical world." Points are the virtual representation of screen geometry, which developers use to address graphic space on the device. With Retina, the iPhone pixel density moved from 163 ppi to 326 ppi, but the point density continued to use the same addresses of 480 x 320 on a 3.5-inch screen. Thus, the physical space on-screen remained static to developers. The base 44 x 44 point hitspot is about a quarter inch (0.27 inches) by a quarter inch on that 3.5-inch (diagonal) screen. This size is the basis for the recommended human touch hit region in Apple's Human Interface Guidelines. It was unaffected by the new Retina technology. And, with the bump to the iPhone 5, the physical geometry remained the same as the vertical point space expanded to match the physical extension of pixels. This is similar to the iPad and iPad Retina. The iPad's screen density is slightly different (264 pixels per inch for iPad Retina vs 326 pixels per inch for iPhone Retina) but the actual size of 44 pixels is approximately the same physically, about a third of an inch (0.33 inches) for the iPad. Now, consider taking the iPad, with its 9.7-inch screen and shrinking it down to seven inches. That's 72 percent of the original size. The 44-point touch area goes down from about a third of an inch to juuuust under a quarter inch, about 0.24 inches. That's close to the iPhone hit region, but not quite there. Everything else squeezes down ever so slightly -- fonts and graphics appear smaller, and everyone over the age of 45 moves the unit a bit farther away. Still, any app that better fosters viewing (I'm thinking of apps like PuzzleCraft that I find impossible to read on the iPhone screen) should improve moving from iPhone to iPad mini, even at a guess of about 183 ppi. Basically, from a developer point of view, a 7-inch iPad mini would just barely work physically -- possibly allowing developers to ship to the new unit without any coding or resource changes. If the size were to drop below that though, Apple's Human Interface Guidelines -- and the apps to support that -- would have to change to accommodate. As far as physical dimensions go, seven inches is the minimum size Apple could ship for a 1,024 x 768 display while retaining HIG integrity. A 7.5-inch screen would come closer to matching iPhone physicality, and eight inches would about equal it. In fact, 7.85 inches would be perfect. That's because 7.85 inches represents the same PPI as non-Retina iPhones (163 ppi). As Rich Gaywood points out, the screen could be cut from the same master sheet of glass on the same manufacturing process, just twice as big in each dimension. At 7.85 inches, the 44-point touch target is the exact same size on the iPad mini as on the iPhones, the screen graphics drawn to the same physical scale, and so forth. In fact, that's exactly what today's rumors seem to suggest will happen. For further reading, both iMore and MacStories offer excellent write-ups from earlier this year.
WSJ: iPad mini assembly has begun
A report from the Wall Street Journal suggests Asian suppliers have started mass production of components for the iPad Mini. Cited in the WSJ report are LG Display and AU Optronics, both of which are supposedly mass-producing 7.85-inch displays for the rumored tablet device. According to the Wall Street Journal's sources, Apple has allegedly opted to go with a non-Retina display for its smaller iPad. The choice to downgrade the display was supposedly a cost-cutting measure that'll help keep the price tag of the device competitively low. If these rumors for the iPad Mini pan out, then price will be a major factor as Apple will be competing with the $199 Kindle Fire HD and the $199 Nexus 7 tablet. Previous rumors suggest the iPad Mini will include a Lightning port, a nano-SIM card slot and an aluminum casing with a thin bezel.
Purported iPad Mini parts leak as WSJ reports production has started
Hey look, another round of purported iPad Mini parts has surfaced, this time courtesy of Ukrainian iPhone. Conveniently enough, the Wall Street Journal also happens to be reporting that its sources have confirmed "mass production" of the still unannounced slate has begun by Apple's "Asian suppliers." This time we're looking at an anodized black version of the familiar back plate, alongside a separate digitizer in white, hinting that we'll see the final device in the same colorways as the iPhone 5 . As 9to5Mac points out, the casing houses a SIM card tray, similar antenna spacers to the current iPhone crop and a layout akin to the current iPod Touch. WSJ further notes that its sources state this tab's LCD screen is indeed 7.85-inches, being sourced from both LG and AU Optronics. Naturally, pricing is almost definitely set to be cheaper than the full-size iPad -- here's to waiting for an invite to the supposed unveiling event set for this month.
Daily Update for October 2, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Pegatron reportedly nabs 50 to 60 percent of iPad mini orders, breaks up Foxconn's monopoly
While folks are waiting for their precious new iPhones to arrive on their doorsteps, word has it that the leaky iPad mini has unsurprisingly entered mass production, but with a twist. According to today's front page news on Taiwan's Economic Daily News, reports from two local securities firms claim that Pegatron's managed to nab a staggering 50 to 60 percent of iPad mini orders from Apple, meaning Foxconn is finally no longer the sole assembler of iPads. Together (plus component suppliers Foxlink, AUO, TPK and others), both companies will apparently be able to churn out up to 5 million iPad minis monthly. Then there's the iPhone 5 as well: the paper says at least 53 million units are expected to be shipped this year, therefore Apple's adding Pegatron to the assembling front line as early as Q4 in order to maintain a steady supply of products. Obviously we can't use this information alone to deduce whether Apple is moving away from Foxconn, but as long as people get their iDevices then it's all dandy.
You're the Pundit: Is the iPhone 5 a must buy for you?
When it comes to evaluating the next big thing, we turn to our secret weapon: the TUAW braintrust. We put the question to you and let you have your go at it. Today's topic is new devices and purchasing plans. On Wednesday, Tim Cook and friends introduced the new and delicious iPhone 5. With a speedy new processor and a camera system to die for -- to say nothing of that expanded screen and gloriously fast LTE wireless -- is this the gadget that makes you open your wallet? Or will you choose the new iPod touch instead? Same great screen, same great Siri, but no cellular contract (saving you money in the long run). Or how about those sweet new iPod nanos? Did they catch your heart? Which new Apple gadget (if any) did you decide to order? You tell us. Place your vote in this poll and then join in the comments with all your thoughts about this launch. %Poll-77701%
TUAW Metaliveblog: Apple September 2012 Event
Welcome to TUAW's September 2012 Metaliveblog. We'll be covering Apple's big event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where we expect the new iPhone 5 to debut -- plus any number of other "amazing new products" promised by CEO Tim Cook. We'll be launching around 9:45 AM PT. Please join us! If you'd like to chat live with other TUAW readers, hop over to irc.freenode.net and join the #tuaw chatroom.
Join TUAW for Apple's September 12 Event
Back in July, Tim Cook promised all kinds of new and exciting developments for this quarter. "We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we've got in the pipeline," he wrote at the time. Fast forward to September 2012. The new iPhone is ready to debut and we're hopping with anticipation. What other "amazing" items are we going to hear about? Please join us as TUAW meta-liveblogs Apple's media event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. We'll be providing blow-by-blow coverage with lots of color, candor and excitement. We hope you'll be part of the fun. You'll find our blog coverage here. We'll be launching at 9:45 AM PT/12:45 PM ET. And if you want to chat live, hop into #tuaw on irc.freenode.net.
Claimed iPad mini shell reappears, now with more rear camera and less Mr. Blurrycam
The last time we saw the purported iPad mini's aluminum backing, someone forgot to turn on a light. There's no such murkiness with NetEase's fresh turn at pre-release photography. Its view of a WiFi model gives us both a much clearer look as well as some hints that Apple wants more than a basic slab at the iPad's potential new entry level: there's a conspicuous cutout for what's likely a rear-facing camera, along with space in the top frame for a front camera. We've already seen the mini dock connector that fits in that hole at the bottom edge, of course. Nothing's definite unless there's either a smoking gun leak or an official event, but we may have just a month to wait to know whether or not the Kindle Fire HD 7-inch has some fresh competition.
Apple announces presumed iPhone 5 launch event for September 12th; we'll be there live!
Apple has just invited members of the press to attend a San Francisco-based product launch event on September 12th, where the next generation iPhone is expected to be officially unveiled. As rumored, it seems as if the company's prior iPod-focused fall events may be split off into two. It's been reported that an October event may follow this one, with a miniaturized 7-inch iPad on the docket for that. This event, however, seems a lock for the iPhone 5 -- or "new iPhone," or whatever it ends up being coined -- and while CEO Tim Cook confessed at D10 that it would be doubling down on secrecy, leakers seem to have doubled down on tipping the world off on what's to come. The keynote kicks off at 10AM PT in SF, and you can bet we'll be there covering every second of it live. Didn't have any "lunch" plans for 9/12? Looks like you do now. September 12, 2012 10:00 AM PDT
Switched On: Trading places
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. If widespread rumors hold true, the coming weeks will see two of the most successful tablet vendors invade each other's screen size turf. Apple, which once rebuked the 7-inch tablet as unfit for normally proportioned human hands, appears ready to try its own hand at an iPad rumored to be on the larger side of the 7- to 8-inch range. Amazon, which lagged its bookselling rival Barnes & Noble in bringing out a color tablet, stands ready to introduce an infernal successor to the Kindle Fire that may include a display that is close to 9-inches or larger. It's not quite the first ride along the screen size escalator for either company. For Apple, a smaller iPad would fill in the iOS screen size gap between the iPhone and iPad. For Amazon, also rumored to be working on a phone, a larger color tablet would revisit the ground it explored to lackluster results with the Kindle DX. That product hasn't kept up with even e-paper-based e-readers with advances such as touchscreens and side-lighting, both of which are found in the latest Nook Simple Nook.
AllThingsD: 'iPad Mini' to get its own event in October after new iPhone reveal
After refreshing its computer range, Apple's gearing up for two events for its new phone and tablet hardware, according to sources at AllThingsD. Given the excitement welling up behind its next iPhone, many have noted (including Daring Fireball's John Gruber) that it would make a whole lot of sense to furnish both the phone and the heavily rumored smaller tablet with individual events -- and that is, apparently, what's going to happen. Unfortunately, the anonymous sources weren't revealing anything further -- Apple's yet to confirm that posited September 12th event date, let alone any secondary event. But when it does, be assured that we'll be there to cover both of them.
Considering the iPad mini as a developer
I give up. An "iPad mini" seems to be a good possibility despite my protestations. Many Apple watchers expect to see a small iPad being announced sometime Fall-ish. Although I'm somewhat convinced that I've wandered into a figment of John Martellaro's imagination, it's worth thinking through the possibilities. Resolution and Aspect When considering the possibility of a longer, thinner iPhone 5 (the "new" iPhone) and an iPad mini, a developer's mind wanders towards resolution and aspect issues. Between iPhones and iPads and Retina displays, I'm regularly creating multiple megabytes of basic art in order to serve all possible platforms. Isn't it time for Apple to start re-imagining art support so we can slim down some of these bundles? Enumerating each device and Retina support gets old. I currently create four icons (iPhone, iPhone Retina, iPad, iPad Retina) and 6 launch screens for my apps as iPads use separate portrait and landscape launch art, all customizable through Xcode. Like many others, I gave the Eagle-Giraffe hack a try -- it lets you adjust the simulator's resolution to arbitrary values -- and immediately started wondering what kind of new iOS artwork I'd have to supply. If the two new devices launch as anticipated, that's at least two new launch screen resolutions to take into account: Default~Phone5@2x (if the aspect ratio is to be respected, with a Retina display) and Default ~iPadMini (possibly with Retina, adding an @2x to the name, and possibly requiring orientation-specific art) or whatever. Trying to guess the new names, etc, isn't always obvious. Then there's the issue with application layout. I feel fairly confident that developers, who have been through this once before at the iPad launch, can adapt their apps to new aspect ratios, but there's a big cost of human labor and QA to doing so. Interfaces that live naturally in a 4:6 (640 by 960, or 320 by 480) aspect screen might struggle in a 9:16 without some major re-thinking, or at least some careful work in Interface Builder (The iPad uses a 4:3 aspect). Basic Design Challenges There's also basic design challenges. Designing for tablets is not, as we have long since discovered, the same as designing for mobile phones. iOS uses different paradigms for presenting information. Tablets need fewer space-folding tools like navigation controllers and tab bars than their smaller brothers. Their extra pixels offers greater nuance for creating view paradigms, and the overall interaction space welcomes multiple hands -- including from more than one user at a time. Moving from the current iPad to a smaller version means these accommodations might need re-addressing. Will a smaller tablet belong more naturally to the iPhone family or to the proper iPad family? How much space does it take to support popovers (not much -- I'd love to see them properly on the iPhone) or split view controllers (perhaps more than 7 inches might offer)? I've tried imagining where UIKit might need to go for a "between sizes" device, and how the Human Interface Guidelines might need to adapt. Having spent time in the Android 7" world (I have a Kindle Fire -- great device for when I need to keep my iPad safe), I've worked with the form factor as a user, although not as a developer. Many apps make the transition well -- especially those that already thrive on smaller devices. Halfbrick's Fruit Ninja games are far more fun to use on 7" than on a standard iPhone. Reading, typing, and surfing are also improved. These are hardly surprising -- a bigger screen better matches their requirements. The drawbacks come in more expansive apps that push back the other direction. Apps that try to introduce multiple interaction zones (the "tablet" experience) don't seem to have enough room on a 7" screen. Vendors like Dropbox seem to have realized this and styled their Android apps more on the iPhone experience than the superior iPad experience. Expectations and Best Guesses For all these reasons, I'm tending to think of the iPad mini as requiring an enhanced iPhone app design paradigm than a degraded tablet one -- and, yeah, I know that's basically heresy. I believe that iPad-specific development (like split view controllers and popovers) will be supported but that most developers will use these to enhance more-iPhone-like development. In other words, I'm not expecting all too many two-user-hand games specific to the platform the way the iPad currently supports that modality. At the same time I can see developers taking a breather and growing their existing iPhone screens with all their navigation controllers, table views, and so forth, to the new larger screen. I'm not sure an iPad mini would need a separate full-screen and part-screen modal presentation, to give an example of an iPad-specific adaptation, but it would be a weaker platform without popovers. In the end, I guess I'm saying that the in-between-device would hybridize both development approaches, even if I see it skewing towards the smaller family.
Leaked photo allegedly shows iPad mini's dock connector flex cable with headphone jack on bottom
Granted, the existence of a 7-inch iPad mini is far from confirmed, but the latest "evidence" to fan those rumor flames is a photo of what appears to be a dock connector flex cable that connects the smaller dock connector, headphone jack and home button connector. The photo appeared on the site Nowhereelse.fr, which also recently published photos that purportedly show the next-gen iPhone's tiny docking connector. Other reports have indicated that the iPad mini's headphone jack will be located on the top of the device (as it is on the current version of the tablet) as opposed to on the bottom, which would contradict this latest leaked photo, but this new layout corresponds to rumors about the iPhone 5. The one semblance of certainty in all this? iFixit's Kyle Wiens weighed in to say that the component "is consistent" with Apple parts.
Are we getting a clearer picture of the iPad mini?
As we approach the rumored launch date, the rumored iPad mini's rumored specs are the latest topic of rumor discussion among many of those who helped bring the rumors to light. I'm not saying I don't believe -- but I do find it interesting that we've come to a point where we're not debating the launch of a smaller iPad, but obsessing over the specific details. Very specific details. It's like this every rumor season, and it has been for years. Remember when the first iPad was going to cost $1,000? iMore has been carrying a lot of great info, and you should check out their roundup of what interfaces might look like on the smaller iPad's screen. 9to5Mac, meanwhile, has posited a very sane notion that the iPad mini's screen bezels will be smaller on the sides. Not quite like an iPhone, but narrower than a full size iPad for sure. And finally, Gruber has gone into a lot of details on possible measurements of the device, and why a different screen necessitates a different bezel and slightly different form factor. With any Apple rumor, take your sodium chloride. This one has more legs than usual, however. I'm in the camp that says a form factor like the Fire would be a winner for Apple, and can't wait to see if the iPad mini is everything we hoped it would be. photo by fix-iphones
Alleged images of 7-inch iPad shell appear from the east
Hey, did you hear... Apple is making a 7-inch iPad. Well, the top brass at least thought about it, this much we know. What might it look like if it ever comes to be? Well, if you're willing to be a bit skeptical, it might look like the above. These images -- claiming to be legit iPad parts -- popped up on Chinese social media site Sina Weibo. There's little other activity on the account to back up the source, and the omission of a camera hole might irk some, but if these were early parts, then that could be something that is added later. For now, we're left to fill in the gaps with out imagination, which also includes hoping other recent teases might also make the leap into reality.
Apple SVP Eddy Cue wanted 7-inch iPad in 2011, internal email says
During today's proceedings at the Apple vs. Samsung patent infringement trial in Northern California, an internal Apple email came to light, where Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue suggested that the company manufacture a 7-inch tablet, anticipating a market for a smaller slate. The email reportedly dates back to January of 2011, and was sent to Scott Forstall, Tim Cook and Phil Schiller, according to The Next Web. AllThingsD added that the topic originated with an email from a reporter, who shared that they had switched to a 7-inch Samsung tablet from the iPad, because they found the smaller size of the Tab more appealing. Cue reportedly agreed with the findings, and made his own suggestion. That email hasn't led to a smaller form-factor iPad to date, but with rumors heating up around an upcoming "iPad Mini," it's possible that Apple's compact tablet could one day arrive. And Cue was right -- there's clearly demand for a 7-inch tablet. Update: Read the email for yourself after the break.
iPad "mini" drumbeat continues as NYT supports rumor of smaller tablet
You can't swing a Mighty Mouse nowadays without smacking into a major media story on the inevitable, hypothetical and incredible shrunken-form-factor iPad. Our Monday morning Rumor Roundup series has linked the WSJ and Bloomberg coverage, pointing towards a late Q3-early Q4 launch for a 7.85" (~20 cm) companion to the existing 9.7" (~24.6 cm) iPad units. We're also hearing murmurs from the developer community that there are changes in iOS 6 making it much easier to develop resolution-independent apps; different screen sizes or aspect ratios for apps should be possible. Given the highly positive response to the Google/ASUS Nexus 7 (including, amazingly enough, from MG Siegler at Techcrunch), it seems like a smaller Apple tablet product would find an audience. The Kindle Fire's sales may have slacked off, but it and other e-reader models also may be skimming off some of the iPad's potential audience. Now the New York Times Nick Bilton has weighed in, saying that "according to several people with knowledge of the project" who wisely asked to remain anonymous, Apple will indeed be introducing a 7.85" iPad this year at a lower price point than the current iPad's $499 or the iPad 2's $399. Bilton acknowledges that the iPad's current mojo means that "tablet market" really means "iPad market," but he says that a smaller device would "help Apple solidify its dominance in the tablet market even as the richest companies in the tech business are trying to figure out how to outflank Apple." Bilton's piece is light on rumor-fodder specs but long on analysis, and worth a read. Most intriguing: he quotes a product insider saying that Apple's prototypes for the iPad in the mid-2000s (which predated the iPhone's release) began in the 7-inch range. The smaller tablets did not get much traction with Steve Jobs, who suggested that they weren't good for anything besides surfing the web in the bathroom. Wondering what this sized-down iPad might be called? So are we (and so is 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman); give us your votes in the poll below and in the comments. %Poll-76399% Photo by sine-out on Flickr | cc [hat tip iDownloadblog]
One-bit Internet: The iPad is/isn't a content creation device
In the conclusion to my Retina MacBook repairability post, I wrote: "on the Internet, it often seems that everything must be compressed to a one-bit image: black or white, triumph or catastrophe, the very best or the absolute worst." So it goes for the eternal debate over whether the iPad is a "content consumption" or "content creation" device -- a debate given fresh impetus by the new round of starting to sound a bit credible rumors of a 7.85" iPad. The theory goes is that the 10" iPad will be for content creation and the 7.85" one for content consumption, like there's some sort of absolute line in the sand you cross at 9" screen size. This is, as I am sure you are aware, a debate as old as the iPad itself. "A computer without a mouse or keyboard," went the argument when the iPad was announced, "is no kind of computer at all." Then people started using iPads to write books, paint pictures, make music, and much, much more. Harry Marks recently summarised the position of most of the Apple blogosphere when he dismissed the "iPad is made for consumption" idea as "thoroughly-debunked". Is Harry right? Frankly, I don't think it's that simple. I think this is another instance of the Internet compressing a nuanced issue down into an ill-fitting soundbite, and I'm hoping to convince you of the same. Drawing up battlelines First, we need to define exactly what we might do with an iPad. The "consumption" part is pretty easy to define -- reading books, browsing websites, watching Netflix, and so forth. Anything with minimal interactivity. I think most people will agree the iPad is fine for these tasks -- you might say the screen could be a bigger for video, the speaker certainly isn't fantastic for music, and you may prefer an e-ink screen for novels. By and large, thought, the iPad is a good choice. Other apps have a lot of interactivity (so aren't passive, like consumption) but where you aren't making anything new either (so unlike creation). Games are the most obvious example of this, and again, games are enormously popular. "Creation" is trickier to nail down. We can all agree that writing a novel in Pages or sketching a design in Paper counts. Call that "macrocreation". But what about writing a Facebook status update, or adding an item to a to-do list, or sharing a quick snap on Instagram? Clearly, some content has been created, but these "microcreation" tasks take far less time and effort. Some apps, like Mail, can be used for consumption, microcreation, or macrocreation as the situation demands. This differentiation is important because any inadequacies of the iPad's input devices will be far less annoying when doing microcreation, so those types of creation aren't less interesting for us to consider. Even if you despise touchscreen keyboards with the nuclear fuelled heat of a thousand suns, you can probably manage to peck out a tweet without killing anyone. As such, I'll be focussing on macrocreation tasks in the rest of this post, as that's where the rubber really meets the road. Before we dive in, though, a brief survey of the App Store might be illuminating. In the UK's top 50 iPad apps, I counted 41 games, five content creation apps (iPhoto, GarageBand, Pages, iMovie, and Numbers), and four miscellaneous apps. Thinking that content creation apps might be more expensive, and hence skew towards lower sales, I then checked through the first 100 entries on the Highest Grossing Apps list instead, which included the following content creation apps: 5th place -- Pages 21st place -- QuickOffice 24th place -- Numbers 37th place -- GarageBand 40th place -- iPhoto 41st place -- Keynote 58th place -- iMovie So, depending on how you measure, 7-10% of the iPad's top apps are for content creation. I don't think that's a lot, and futhermore, I contend this is representative of people's interests when they buy an iPad -- heavily skewed towards, but not entirely about, consumption. Why might that be the case? The iPad's shortcomings as a content creation device The iPad has one primary input mechanism: a capacitative touchscreen. This compares to traditional computer's two mechanisms: a keyboard plus a mouse (or trackpad or similar pointing device.) As such, the iPad has definite downsides: When you're typing, you're hammering your fingers against an unyielding and undifferentiated sheet of glass; this is objectively less comfortable than a mechanical keyboard. The keyboard hides number keys and uncommon punctuation on a second screen, making numeric data entry or programming tedious. The keyboard takes up more than half of the screen, leaving you squinting at your content through a truncated letterbox. When tapping, you're using a squishy and imprecise fingertip rather than a pixel-perfect pointer. Finally, the iPad's relatively small 9.7" screen can be a limitation for some tasks. That's not to say that people haven't successfully written novels on an iPad, or made artwork with it. People have also made sculptures from scrap iron, cityscapes from toothpicks and written novels by blinking their eye. Great content can be produced with even the most awkward of tools, but it's clearly silly to suggest this intrinsically means that all interfaces are equal. Other creation tasks are less impeded by the iPad. If the primary interaction is with a custom UI made up of buttons -- such as GarageBand or iPhoto -- then the iPad doesn't have many downsides. The screen's a bit small, which can be a pain; I love to see as much as possible when I'm working, which is why I bought a 27" iMac. Still, though, that's usually a minor point. There's an upside, too: interacting with an app by tapping on-screen buttons feels viscerally satisfying in a way that indirect clicking with a mouse pointer can't quite match. I'm very fond of mind-mapping software iThoughtsHD for this reason; most of my longer TUAW posts start life with me sprawled in a comfortable chair, iPad in hand, noodling away creating a detailed outline., intuitively dragging boxes around to re-order content. My MacBook simply can't bring that sort of ease to that sort of use case. However, it's worth noting that these kinds of tasks are rather less common that typing and tapping on things. In particular, I don't think it's a particularly strong argument to use GarageBand as some kind of absolute proof that the iPad is capable of Serious Business. I think that for the vast majority of iPad users, GarageBand is a no more than a toy -- not because it isn't powerful, but because what it does is of limited interest for serious creation unless you are blessed with musical abilities. I own GarageBand, like a lot of people; I played with it for a few hours before growing bored and moving on, and I suspect that's like a lot of other people too. It's also worth noting that some tasks can squeeze without serious compromise into the iPhone's 3.5" screen, let alone the iPad. The popularity of photo editing apps clearly demonstrates this principle. Even the iPhone can be effectively used for content creation, within its own constraints. The Bluetooth factor "Ah," you may have thought when you read the last section, "but what about Bluetooth keyboards? Doesn't that solve the typing problem? Lots of bloggers are forever writing about how an iPad and a keyboard is their perfect mobile setup." It's certainly true that a Bluetooth keyboard helps. For example, I've written chunks of this very post on my iPad, coupled with the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover which I bought after Steve's positive review. I like it a lot. But it's not without its own downsides; in my own review, I noted that the keys are rather small (my typing accuracy is noticeably lower when I'm using it) and when it's attached to my iPad you end up with a composite device that's barely thinner or lighter than the 11.6" MacBook Air that I would better off using. This is even more of an issue for accessories like the Incase Origami Workstation, which combine an iPad with a full-size Apple Bluetooth keyboard. There's also difficulties with text selection, cursor movement, and operations like formatting text via button bars. The usual keyboard functions work for jumping around, but when you want to precisely select or move through large blocks of text there's no substitute for a mouse or trackpad. Tapping on the screen, by comparison, feels clumsy and slow (I find the little pause before the cut/copy/paste menu appears particularly maddening when I'm trying to work quickly). It's also tough on the arms to keep reaching up to the screen. "Touch surfaces don't want to be vertical... it's ergonomically terrible," said Steve Jobs in 2010, when explaining why Apple wouldn't launch a touch-enabled MacBook or iMac. Of filesystems and multitasking Writers are also peculiar in the demands they place on a device in terms of storage of work: we mostly just need to keep a handful of text files around, one per project we are working on, perhaps some fragmentary notes. There are some huge number of Dropbox powered text editors that are really good at this, which has led some bloggers to declare the premature demise of the user-visible file system. However, other people have other demands. Some people need to keep tens of thousands of files in a structured archive. An accounts team might store invoices (in a wordprocessor format) with related to calculation records (in a spreadsheet). Pretty much everyone benefits from being able to search all of their files for a given word or phrase, but iOS's Spotlight is closed to third-party apps so it can't see most of your data. Most people need to print stuff from time to time. iOS is beyond awful at all of these things. Files are locked inside an app; users cannot slice across apps to show, say, all the files related to a specific project, or all the files from May 2010. If you start running low on disk space and want to make room, you need to delete files -- most apps don't support any sort of off-device storage. Someone who used an iPad as their only computer for processing photographs would appear to be completely out of luck once the iPad is full, as the Photos app offers no facilities to help. Printing is fiddly; AirPrint support is confined to a handful of models and other solutions involve having a PC or Mac around to act as an intermediary. A solution to these problems could take the form of a Files.app for iOS, as Rene Ritchie suggests. Or perhaps Apple has something else in mind altogether -- something involving tagging files and powerful searching functions, say, as proposed in numerous research projects over the years. Nevertheless, it is my belief that until something changes there are significant content creation tasks that the iPad will remain woefully clumsy at. Battery life Harry McCracken, who wrote one of the canonical "my iPad is my primary computer" posts, said: And it was one specific thing about the iPad that made it so useful on the trip: I could use it for ten hours at a pop without worrying about plugging it in. ... I can't overemphasize how important this is to my particular workdays. Even when I'm not traveling, I spend a lot of time bopping around San Francisco and the Bay Area, attending conferences, visiting tech companies, working out of hotel lobbies, and generally having spotty access to power outlets. So, hands up: who here spends their working life, or their personal life for that matter, "bopping around San Francisco", jumping from conference to tech company to hotel? There's a quorum of superstar bloggers and CEOs who will tell you the iPad is perfect because it perfectly suits what they do -- they prize portability, battery life, and ubiquitous cellular Internet over all other concerns. These people are not normal, and no matter how big a pulpit they preach from -- no matter how amplified their voice is in the debate -- their argument doesn't extend to most people. Sure, more battery life is always welcome; but for most people it's just one factor amongst many, not the overriding concern. And who knows, maybe one day Apple will finally give us a MacBook with 4G networking. Multitasking and distraction Many, many pixels have been expended praising iOS for being a "distraction free" writing environment. It's great, people say, because it's "focused" and has nothing "competing for [your] attention". I can only assume these people are using some strange version of OS X where the Twitter and email clients don't have quit buttons. On my Mac, I can close all the apps I don't want to see and remove distractions without doing anything as drastic as changing OS. Lion even has a button that can make most apps take up the entire screen, in case one's ADD becomes so bad that one cannot risk glancing at even one small corner of a Finder window. Meanwhile, like many of the people who use computers, a lot of what I do cannot be served by a single app, which means iOS's weak multitasking becomes an issue. Blogging is fine -- Writing Kit integrates a text editor with a browser, so I can quickly do fact checking or find source links as I write without having to hop out of my app. I presume that's why you don't hear many bloggers complaining about this. Other tasks are complicated by the way you can only see one app at once and because switching back and forth is relatively slow and relatively laborious (which is why many bloggers have asked for cmd-tab support on iOS.) Try making a calendar entry from details sent in an email, for example -- if the automatic tap-to-make-entry fails you, lots of tedious back-and-forthing between two apps becomes necessary. Try collating data from a dozen disconnected cells in a spreadsheet into a wordprocessor document. Try cross-checking two spreadsheets against each other. Try following a tutorial in a web page about how to carry out a task in your presentation software. Try plagiarising a Wikipedia page by subtly rewording it into a high school paper. And so on, and so forth. These are all mundane content creation tasks that are much harder on an iPad than on a traditional computer, by virtue of iOS's sandboxed, one-app-at-once nature. To add insult to injury, not all apps perfectly maintain state when you switch away from them and then back. Even Apple is guilty of this -- if you pull up the "tweet this" dialog in iOS 5, then switch over to Safari to check something in your half-written tweet, when you switch back the tweet draft vanishes. This has enraged me on several occasions. Content creation is a niche I cannot prove this, but I suspect for some of the more dedicated Apple pundits the debate about whether the iPad is a content creation device or not has bigger implications. Steve Jobs famously declared that the iPad was the future of computing, that traditional computers would become "trucks" and gradually fade away, left only to specialists. If the iPad is just a "toy", of course, then Jobs would be wrong; and I think some people are, for whatever reason, emotionally invested in Jobs being right. This is why this argument won't die. Any suggestion that the iPad isn't a content creation device is perceived a challenge to the glorious "post-PC future". However, there's an aspect to this debate which is rarely touched on, but was brought up by Jared Earle on Twitter recently: some large proportion of traditional computers are also content consumption devices. How many laptops spend their lives on a living room coffee table, used to browse Facebook and Amazon? Of the millions of laptops sold each year, how many are used primarily for the sort of tasks the iPad isn't great at? Surely not that many. So it's my opinion that we can disconnect these two arguments. Suggesting that the iPad has its shortcomings as a content creation device doesn't imply that it won't be the future of computing, because I think the appetite that most people have for content creation on home computers has been somewhat overstated by people eager to portray the iPad as an underpowered novelty. Work computers are different, however (and of course make up a lot of sales volume.) I think the iPad has a long way to go before it can supplant the workhorse office PC, but that's a debate for another day. A choice, with side of compromise It is my contention that the conclusion to the above analysis must be that the iPad is, at best, a compromised device for content creation tasks. Typing is inherently awkward and pointing is inherently imprecise, and most content creation involves quite a bit of those two things. Adding a keyboard can partly address the typing issue, but you end up with a device that's only minimally more portable than an 11.6" MacBook Air. Compromises. If you can't afford to buy everything (who can?) and you spend more time reading than writing (most do), an iPad might serve you better than a MacBook. If you're (say) liveblogging an Apple keynote, where typing speed is absolutely paramount, you'll be wanting a physical keyboard, as Mat Honan says. If you're processing lots of photos and video, you'll probably want the CPU grunt of an iMac if mobility doesn't matter or a high-end MacBook Pro if it does. Again, compromises, everywhere you turn. No device is one-size-fits-all, including the iPad. It's fine to acknowledge the shortcomings of an iPad for content creation, whilst keeping in mind that these are only shortcomings -- not hard limits. What's important is understanding your needs and the ways different devices can fulfil or frustrate them. What's important is the nuance; the shades of grey between the "the iPad is a toy" and "the iPad is the future of computing" extremes.
Rumor Roundup, Episode 12: Revenge of DigiTimes
Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the Internet, the rumor blogs slithered forth with twin, unkillable horrors: the iPad mini and... and... DigiTimes (cue lightning and horror film musical sting). Before we dive deep into the muck and mire, let's get the handful of semi-credible rumors out of the way first. Supply of Apple's 27" iMac drying up as Ivy Bridge upgrade awaits (AppleInsider) AppleInsider did something I haven't seen the site do in a long time -- some original research. By checking on stock levels at various US-based retailers, AppleInsider discovered the 27-inch iMac is out of stock or close to it at many outlets. Given that the last iMac refresh happened over a year ago as of this writing, the device is definitely due for an update. Whether that will happen sooner rather than later is anyone's guess. Apple seemingly indicated its desktop models wouldn't be updated until 2013, but on this subject, how far can you trust the word of a company that never discusses forthcoming products? Apple's New iPad is Finally Coming To China (MIC Gadget) Now that Apple has coughed up $60 million to trademark troll Proview, there don't seem to be any hurdles left to launching the third-gen iPad in China. The government's regulatory bodies have already certified both the Wi-Fi and 3G models for sale, and rumors point to a July 27 launch. The one new thing I learned from this story is that the iPad (3) isn't already sold in China. I'll never complain about launch delays in New Zealand again. (Oh, yes you will. --Ed) Inside Apple's Go-Slow Approach to Mobile Payments (Wall Street Journal) The Wall Street Journal claims to have heard from a source briefed on a senior executive meeting at Apple regarding the possibility of implementing a mobile payments scheme (such as NFC) in a future iPhone. This source claims Apple is taking a "wait and see" approach to mobile payments, with the new Passbook app in iOS 6 representing Apple dipping its toe in the water of an "electronic wallet" system rather than diving straight in. I can see this going either way. Apple is often conservative about implementing new technology if it doesn't consider it fully-baked yet -- witness the original iPhone with no 3G, or the iPhone 4S with no 4G. On the other hand, once Apple has the tech at the level it desires (usually something developed entirely or almost entirely in-house), it's not shy about dropping it into the marketplace with an unceremonious "Boom." As wishy-washy as it sounds, the next-gen iPhone might have NFC or similar technology, or it might not, and at this stage neither would surprise me. Now that the halfway believable rumors are out of the way, let's take our first step on the journey of 1000 duhs. The iPad mini Apple Said To Plan Smaller IPad To Vie With Google Nexus (Bloomberg) Bloomberg gets things off to a spectacularly dumb start by positioning the supposedly forthcoming iPad mini as a reaction to Google's Nexus 7 and Microsoft's Surface. According to Shaw Wu, who like most Apple analysts is wrong far more often than he's right, Apple plans to compete for the lower-priced tablet space that Amazon and Google are currently fighting over. Because fighting for the low-end market is totally something Apple does. Ever. *cough* The analysis that follows is kind of baffling in its attempt to justify this still-mythical device. It's well-known by now that Google's margins on the Nexus 7 are razor thin, which makes it incredibly unlikely Apple intends to compete on price alone with an "iPad mini" tablet. It's equally well-known that Apple is selling tens of millions of full-sized iPads per quarter already, while sales of the Kindle Fire tanked after the first quarter and the Nexus 7 hasn't been around long enough to tell what impact it's had. Despite the new tablet announcements from Microsoft and Google over the past few weeks, Apple still doesn't have any real competition for the iPad. An iPad mini would very likely cause more lost sales for the full-sized iPad than it would for either the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire, two products that seem to be aimed at markets that either can't afford an iPad or just hate Apple that much. Bloomberg's story set off a firestorm of speculation across the blogosphere this week, because for the first time ever a supposedly reputable news outlet was reporting on the rumor. There's a flawed assumption that once Bloomberg or the Wall Street Journal publishes an Apple rumor, it goes from rumor to fact. That assumption crumbles in the face of the fact that Bloomberg cites no sources in its story other than "people familiar with the plans," an analyst with a shaky track record... and DigiTimes, the epitome of all that is demonstrably inaccurate when it comes to Apple rumors. Apple Preps for Smaller Tablet (The Wall Street Journal) The Wall Street Journal weighed in just after Bloomberg, and the Internet jumped up and down saying, "Aw yeah, son. The iPad mini just got real!" Read past the headline and you'll find the Journal's source for the story: component suppliers in Asia. Follow Apple rumors long enough and you'll find that "sources in the Asian supply chain" is code for "people completely and utterly unfamiliar with the matter, who are likely making a bunch of stuff up." In the wake of these poorly-sourced reports from usually reputable outlets came speculation from John Gruber of Daring Fireball that the iPad mini would use the same non-Retina display technology as the iPhone 3GS. The 7.85-inch device would have the same 1024 x 768 resolution as the original iPad and iPad 2. Other blogs picked up on this speculation and compared UI elements from the iPhone and iPad, concluding the iPad mini would be more of a super-sized iPod touch than a downsized iPad in terms of its software. Then came reports from far less reputable sources: Apple's 'iPad mini' to launch soon for $249-$299, report claims (BGR) BGR cites a Chinese-language site no one heard of before saying the iPad mini would be between $249 and $299. This, of course, contradicts earlier BS rumors claiming the device would cost a mere $199. BGR cites supporting "analysis" from Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White (a name that's popping up more and more often in my Apple rumors RSS feed), as if that means anything at all. iPad mini to be produced in Brazil? (9to5 Mac) Citing Macotakara, whose shaky record essentially makes it DigiTimes Junior, 9to5 Mac reports the iPad mini may be made in Brazil, may be released in September, may be as thin as an iPad, and may actually exist, ever, outside the fever dreams of the blogosphere. Well, not that last part. That was me. No matter how reputable or disreputable the news outlet and no matter what evidence they claim to have, after more than two years of speculation, prestidigitation, and obfuscation concerning the iPad mini, I am burnt out on this device and the rumors surrounding it. After 24-plus months of nonsense, there is literally no source worth listening to on this matter other than an Apple executive walking onto a keynote stage holding a miniaturized iPad in his hands. Until that happens -- if it ever happens -- there is no way I will believe this product exists. And despite the fact that I don't really see any plausible economic reason for Apple to make one, I still kind of hope they do introduce something like an iPad mini just so the rumor blogs will finally shut up about it. DigiTimes We haven't heard much from DigiTimes in a while after the very public beating the site's credibility took. My systematic dismantling of any claim the site had to being mentioned in the same sentence as the word "reliable" would have been enough, but Harry McCracken coincidentally took it to the next level on Time Techland and abused the site so thoroughly that I thought we'd never hear from it again. Indeed, weeks passed where sites like MacRumors passed on reporting the latest rubbish from DigiTimes while sites like BGR and AppleInsider were happy to carry on looking foolish by taking them seriously. Even so, DigiTimes stopped being the regular rumor fixture it was in the past, and for a sweet, short while it seemed the site would fade into obscurity at last. Alas, it was not to be. Perhaps counting on the Internet's short attention span and hoping we'd already forgotten how completely inaccurate the site is, the rumor blogs positively bursted with DigiTimes-sourced "news" this week. Here's a selection of the truth-free flotsam clogging the Internet's tubes this week. I've only cited the first site to gleefully feed on the nonsense, but rest assured they are all equally culpable. No links, because as of now I'm not linking to DigiTimes-sourced claptrap anymore: More Claims of October Launch for Updated iMac Models (MacRumors) Rumor: Apple readying minor revisions to new iPad battery, lens (AppleInsider) Apple's next iPhone rumored to feature quad-core processor (AppleInsider) Apple rumored to revise backlight for iPad update (AppleInsider) Apple to continue dominating ultra-thin notebook market following Windows 8 launch (BGR) Aside from the iMac story, which at least has supporting evidence speculation from other sources, every other story has DigiTimes as its sole source. That means if there's one thing you can count on, none of these things will actually happen. It's interesting to see how the various rumor blogs are treating rumors sourced from DigiTimes. To its credit, 9to5 Mac now usually refrains from posting them at all. BGR pounces on them with wild abandon and never goes out of its way to acknowledge the site's less-than-reputable track record. AppleInsider posts absolutely every DigiTimes rumor it can get its hands on, and its only nod in the general direction of credibility is appending "sometimes reliable" to DigiTimes' name. MacRumors is the most interesting case, particularly since it swore off DigiTimes rumors for several weeks. I've seen site founder Arn defend the site on Twitter, and a snippet from one of this week's posts does the same: DigiTimes has come under increasing criticism for a number of claims that have not been borne out, but the publication does occasionally offer correct information and weighing its information with other rumors can still help fill out a picture of Apple's roadmap. MacRumors points to the one thing DigiTimes managed to get right in two years of speculative nonsense, a report about the MacBook Pro's forthcoming Retina Display which merely echoed speculation found in countless sources elsewhere on the Internet. Look, even a broken clock is right twice a day -- but that's more often than some rumor sites.
