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Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

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Re: Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

#31

Post by greendestiny »

stevenj wrote: post #14

Honestly, I don't know why Apple would create an iPad mini. I have an iPad 2 and absolutely love it. There isn't another tablet I'd trade it in for (other than an iPad 3). I surely wouldn't trade it in for an iPad mini. Paul Buchheit once said: "If your product is great, it doesn't need to be good." To me, the iPad is a great product. Focus on making it better. As Steve Jobs has said: "It's what you don't do that mat…

Kids love the ipod touch and its mostly used as a gaming device. It also serves to stop more price sensitive buyers (particularly parents) from going down the Android route. I think this is going to replace the iPod touch (if it goes well) but will almost certainly be 1024x768 and run iPad apps. Hell its pretty obvious Apple have told Gruber the specs on this one way or another.

Re: Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

#32

Post by taligent »

illicium wrote: post #12
droithomme wrote: post #2

So now, with full screen interfaces only, we need to create artwork and a UI scaled and designed separately for: 1. iPhone/iPod 640×960 at 326ppi 2. iPad dimensions 1024x768 at 132PPI 3. Retina iPad 2048×1536 at 264PPI 4. iPad mini at 1024x768, but smaller pixels and yet expected same physical size controls, so interface has to be redone again specific for this one. 5. Whatever is after that. That's a lot of design v…

What about earlier-gen 320x240 iPhones (3GS; still in production!) and iPod touches? Does anyone develop with these screen sizes in mind? Reminds me of the "Android is fragmented" cliche.

And Android is fragmented not because of hardware but because of developer APIs/operating system versions.

Re: Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

#33

Post by simonh »

michaelpinto wrote: post #26

You know i wish someone would design a product that's really a different size: Imagine a device that's half the size of an iPhone or double the size of an iPad so it's like a big newspaper. Yeah I get the 7" form factor but I've already seen so many of those on the Android side that I'd like Apple to "Think Different".

Apple's real motto isn't think different, it's "think it through". The android handset manufacturers have tried every combination of sizes, technologies, features (3D, mini projectors, built in laser pointers), etc and left it to the buyer to find out if they were a good idea or not. Apple, for better or worse, does the work up front to decide what are the optimum combinations of sizes, shapes, technologies and features and aims its products at the sweet spots.

I have a friend who says he won't buy a tablet until they come out in full A4 size. I think he'll be waiting for years to come, and if one does come out it'll be from a company that made a tablet that size because it's a good size for paper, not because it's a good size for a tablet computer. I don't think that company will be Apple.

Re: Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

#34

Post by telcodud »

kamechan wrote: post #30
r00fus wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this how it's done in the Android world (and chastised by iOS developers)? Really, I'd like to know.

in android, one provides four different density-specific resources. ldpi: low-density screens (~120dpi) mdpi: medium-density (~160dpi) [baseline] hdpi: high-density (~240dpi) xhdpi: extra high-density (~320dpi) there is a nodpi qualifier which is intended for density-independent resources. there are also screen size qualifiers, small, normal, large, extra large.

These screen size qualifiers have been deprecated beginning with Android 3.2 (HoneyComb). See best practices on Android developers site: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support...

Re: Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

#35

Post by philh »

stevenj wrote: post #22
nirvana wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Retina iPad and I would trade it for an iPad mini. The iPhone is small enough to use every day, but it compromises in its smallness. The iPad is great- probably the best web browsing experience anywhere, and with apps like Flipboard and iBooks, etc, I just love it. But the iPad is too big. I use it a lot less because it is too cumbersome. An iPad mini might give me the greatness of the iPad in a smaller pack…

Interesting. Why and how is it cumbersome for you? I agree that reading a book on it isn't the best experience. But I personally just don't read many books anymore. I'm very selective as to the books I read now, as oppose to even 3 - 5 years earlier. And the ones I choose to read, I still prefer them in a physical copy. And I think, generally, people will continue reading (and buying) less books going forward, so try…

> Why and how is it cumbersome for you?

I don't personally have a full-sized tablet or a smartphone. But I have a Playbook (7"), and one of the main ways I use it is lying in bed, on my side, with one hand on top to keep it upright and scroll with. I get the feeling an iPad would be too big for that.

Re: Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

#36

Post by [deleted] »

telcodud wrote: post #34
kamechan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in android, one provides four different density-specific resources. ldpi: low-density screens (~120dpi) mdpi: medium-density (~160dpi) [baseline] hdpi: high-density (~240dpi) xhdpi: extra high-density (~320dpi) there is a nodpi qualifier which is intended for density-independent resources. there are also screen size qualifiers, small, normal, large, extra large.

These screen size qualifiers have been deprecated beginning with Android 3.2 (HoneyComb). See best practices on Android developers site: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support...

[deleted]

Re: Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

#37

Post by kamechan »

telcodud wrote: post #34
kamechan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in android, one provides four different density-specific resources. ldpi: low-density screens (~120dpi) mdpi: medium-density (~160dpi) [baseline] hdpi: high-density (~240dpi) xhdpi: extra high-density (~320dpi) there is a nodpi qualifier which is intended for density-independent resources. there are also screen size qualifiers, small, normal, large, extra large.

These screen size qualifiers have been deprecated beginning with Android 3.2 (HoneyComb). See best practices on Android developers site: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support...

i never used the screen-size qualifiers myself, but good to know they've deprecated them in favor of what seems to be simpler.

AFAIK, the density qualifiers are still being used, and are mentioned in the "new" design guidelines document as well, giving me the impression they may stick around for a while. http://developer.android.com/design/style/devices-displays.h...

Re: Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

#38

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

stevenj wrote: post #14

Honestly, I don't know why Apple would create an iPad mini. I have an iPad 2 and absolutely love it. There isn't another tablet I'd trade it in for (other than an iPad 3). I surely wouldn't trade it in for an iPad mini. Paul Buchheit once said: "If your product is great, it doesn't need to be good." To me, the iPad is a great product. Focus on making it better. As Steve Jobs has said: "It's what you don't do that mat…

Reading books. If you spend a lot of time reading novels, the iPad is waaaaay to big. 7ish inches is about the right size.

Re: Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

#39

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

mrtron wrote: post #20
stevenj wrote: post #14

Honestly, I don't know why Apple would create an iPad mini. I have an iPad 2 and absolutely love it. There isn't another tablet I'd trade it in for (other than an iPad 3). I surely wouldn't trade it in for an iPad mini. Paul Buchheit once said: "If your product is great, it doesn't need to be good." To me, the iPad is a great product. Focus on making it better. As Steve Jobs has said: "It's what you don't do that mat…

Apple is just getting back to its roots of success - multiple product versions. Obviously an iPod was amazing, but they captured a huge chunk of the market when they came out with the lesser Nano. I think tablets are hitting the phase where it is less about the features and more about true mass market adoption. The key to this is grabbing the huge chunk of the more price sensitive buyers - who appear to be quickly ru…

> Apple and Google are fighting to make money on the backend from each tablet sold. Content distribution tax will likely propel one or both of them to new heights in revenue.

Not based on what we're seeing from Apple so far. Right now Apple make the vast majority of their money from hardware, relatively little from content. Google may have a different model (they're certainly not making anything if much from the Nexus 7 hardware) but the competition in the content market at the moment means that there's not a huge profit to be made there.

Re: Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through

#40

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

stevenj wrote: post #23
mrtron wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is just getting back to its roots of success - multiple product versions. Obviously an iPod was amazing, but they captured a huge chunk of the market when they came out with the lesser Nano. I think tablets are hitting the phase where it is less about the features and more about true mass market adoption. The key to this is grabbing the huge chunk of the more price sensitive buyers - who appear to be quickly ru…

>Obviously an iPod was amazing, but they captured a huge chunk of the market when they came out with the lesser Nano. Why haven't we seen an iPhone Nano yet? Do you think we will? If so, why? >I think tablets are hitting the phase where it is less about the features and more about true mass market adoption. The key to this is grabbing the huge chunk of the more price sensitive buyers - who appear to be quickly runnin…

There are a whole load of reasons why we've not seen an iPhone Nano but primarily I think it's that a smaller screen is just a bad form factor for a smart phone. where the move is generally towards larger screens and the current iPhone screen is already seen by many as too small.

Beyond that there are a host of practical things - that getting everything into the existing phone at that size is already a challenge, battery life given the need for a far smaller battery, developers having to cope with another screen resolution.

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