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Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it

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Re: Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it

#41

Post by ctdonath »

Apple need be careful what they insist others do - it may be done, and well, and Apple prohibited from doing it too. Example:

the color of the margin should be the same as the background color of the content

This after insisting on a sufficient inactive margin, and going on to say the technology doesn't exist. The thought ends with the conclusion of a one-inch-ish black margin.

But wait: what if a tablet DID run its display area to the edge? just with the understanding among developers that any user activity within a specified margin would be ignored, either for lack of sensors or programed disuse. Bingo: Apple's odd requirements of no margin (per se) and no black is satisfied and surpassed by a superior user experience of relevant, dynamic borders; anything from automatic color matching to extending a background image to the edges or even putting useful dynamic information & imagery in the margin may/would be preferred to a space-occupying dead black zone. ...then Samsung patents the idea, leaving Apple with, well, a dead black space-occupying margin.

Methinks the term "malicious obedience" applies. Careful what you ask for...

Re: Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it

#42

Post by twelvechairs »

Pewpewarrows wrote: post #17

I'll just leave this here for everyone saying that iPad-like designs never existed before the iPad: http://gdeluxe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111004-03455...

I think Apple definitely have a claim to revolutionising the tablet, but its much more to do with building a decent OS which is relatively simple to use, and making sure its backed up by decent hardware so it responds without a huge amount of lag. The physical design, whilst nice, was never the ground breaking element, but perhaps it is easier for the lawyers to claim patents over....

Re: Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it

#43

Post by D_Drake »

vecter wrote: post #35
Legion wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's plenty of use of the color black, rectangular shapes, rounded corners, and centered screens in the "before iPad" group.

And they all run Windows with a stylus. No capacitive touch screen, no custom app-based OS. It's a qualitative difference.

Incorrect. Once capacitive screens that could detect a finger were invented, they were immediately incorporated into tablet PCs. Many tablets incorporated an active digitizer underneath a resistive one, allowing both fingers and styli. As for a custom app-based OS, look no further than any tablet running Windows Mobile, like the HTC Shift X9500.

http://pastebin.com/6NKYY3Bf

Re: Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it

#44

Post by ctdonath »

tomp wrote: post #30
nimblegorilla wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I thought some of the points contradicted too. At one point he says a curved edge is better for holding, but it is "impossible" to engineer it that way due to batteries. Then he says the Sony S tablet's curve makes it unusable. hmmm.... I've never used the S tablet, but it does seem like it might be more comfortable to hold in portrait mode. I almost never use my iPad lying flat on the table and when I do it is…

His drawing of the "optimal" shape clearly shows that while the back is curved to follow the curve of the hand, the back is still symmetrical, so when the Pad is placed on the table, it lies flatly on the surface, and the front of the Pad is completely horizontal.

Two other key factors for the curved back:

- unless you look at the device edge-on right at 90 degrees, it looks much thinner than it in fact is

- when placed on the table, it gives a subtle illusion of floating.

Both contribute to a subjective "wow!" response, where other practical designs don't.

Re: Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it

#45

Post by Goladus »

Pewpewarrows wrote: post #17

I'll just leave this here for everyone saying that iPad-like designs never existed before the iPad: http://gdeluxe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111004-03455...

In my experience the main problem with older tablets (pre-2006) was that they had a horrible usability/cost ratio. If you had lots of cash to blow (from corporate IT budgets) on gadgets you could get a slow, awkward version of windows to browse the web and work with your powerpoint presentations. The touchscreens were finicky, power-saving features were crude, there was no 3G wireless, and multimedia capabilities weren't impressive.

The iPad wasn't feasible until those technical problems had been solved.

Re: Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it

#46

Post by blhack »

Oh for frak's sake, Apple. This design came out before the iPad and looks identical to it. HN readers, you especially should know about this since it was all over the front page forever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JooJoo

Here's an article from June 2009 that you could almost literally just swap the word Apple and iPad into.

http://techcrunch.com/2009/06/03/crunchpad-the-launch-protot...

Re: Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it

#47

Post by sbuk »

Pewpewarrows wrote: post #17

I'll just leave this here for everyone saying that iPad-like designs never existed before the iPad: http://gdeluxe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111004-03455...

Your examples aren't particularly good ones; it would appear none of the post-iPad images are of a Samsung device. The point can best be illustrated using the same approach that a judge did in one of the hearings; if you hold up any of the devices prior to the iPad and an iPad and ask a typical consumer to identify which one is the iPad, there is no question as to which one they'd instantly pick. Do the same with a a Galaxy 10.1 and iPad and I'm not so sure the same individual could immediately differentiate the two, in fact Samsung's lawyer couldn't identify which was which, kind of proving Apple's point. Do the same with pretty much every other tablet on the market and there is a significant enough difference to recognise which is an iPad in an instance, as illustrated by your picture. That's not to say Apple's approach is either valid or particularly warranted, however as an industrial designer looking at both products in the knowledge that one followed the other, I find it hard to believe that Samsung haven't be substantially "influenced" by Apple's design language; to the extent that were these design degree submissions, I'd be investigating plagiarism.

Re: Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it

#48

Post by nkassis »

sbuk wrote: post #47
Pewpewarrows wrote: post #17

I'll just leave this here for everyone saying that iPad-like designs never existed before the iPad: http://gdeluxe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111004-03455...

Your examples aren't particularly good ones; it would appear none of the post-iPad images are of a Samsung device. The point can best be illustrated using the same approach that a judge did in one of the hearings; if you hold up any of the devices prior to the iPad and an iPad and ask a typical consumer to identify which one is the iPad, there is no question as to which one they'd instantly pick. Do the same with a a…

Did they hide the samsung brand on the front and had it turned off? I mean most people are aware of the Apple brand and would know it's not and iPad just based on the lack of the apple logo.

Re: Apple Never Designed the iPad - They Undesigned it

#50

Post by Pedrom »

bergie wrote: post #18
jinushaun wrote: post #3

Well argued rebuttal of Apple's claim about Samsung copying its tablet design. Although I disagree on color. Before the iPhone, and after, electronic devices have been all sorts of color. For example, the Kindle debuted in off white. Moto Razrs came in pink. Black is not the only logical solution. As the Nokia Lumia 800 has shown, there is still a lot of room for design in smartphones that don't resemble the iPhone a…

There is probably a reason why most TVs come in black - it makes the colors and the picture to stand out more. Go and take a look at the flat-screen TV section of any electronics store. All of them look pretty much alike, and actually also very much like iPad. The main difference is size, and iPad's rounded corners which are nicer to have in a device that you hold in your hands. You can even compare Nokia's circa 200…

> There is probably a reason why most TVs come in black - it makes the colors and the picture to stand out more.

Not all flat monitors come in black thought. I actually I prefer them on white or light gray.

And for Flat TV's .. what about these ones?:

http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?scy=TH&...

http://www.techfresh.net/philips-aurea-ii-enhanced-fhd-1080p...

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