Jan 08
The New York Times ran a piece today on all the new ‘reading and surfing’ devices that were revealed at the Consumers Electronics Show in Vegas this week. The article questions whether Apple’s new iSlate will be able to dominate this market, given the rumored price near $1000, when other devices will be available for a fraction of that cost.
The New York Times goes on to suggest that the new Apple tablet may come with a steep learning curve due to some of its innovative multi-touch UI:
“Conversations with several former Apple engineers who worked on the long-gestating tablet also suggest that Apple may be asking users to learn a somewhat complex new vocabulary of finger gestures to control it, making use of technology it acquired in the 2007 purchase of a company called FingerWorks.”
This is consistent with previous rumors emphasizing the role of new multi-touch technology in the iSlate (Apple iSlate Reviews – January 7th, 2009).
A multi-touch version of Apple’s iWork software is one feature that could help the iSlate reach beyond basic reading and surfing functionality, and thereby justify the higher price relative to its competition:
“Another former Apple designer said a team at the company had ’spent the past couple of years working on a multitouch version of iWork,’ Apple’s answer to Microsoft’s Office software suite. This could indicate that Apple wants the tablet to be a fully functional computer, rather than a more passive device for reading books and watching movies.”
Expectations are certainly high for the iSlate announcement and we can’t wait to see if Jobs manages to deliver.
Tagged with: $1000 • FingerWorks • iWork • multi-touch • price • reading • surfing
Jan 07
Daniel Ionescu from PCWorld quickly responded to Microsoft’s release of their new PC tablet today by writing:
“Apple must be patting themselves on the back, as the Hewlett-Packard (HP) tablet unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Wednesday night failed to wow those expecting a true competitor to the mythical Apple tablet.”
Ballmer demonstrates new Microsoft tablet
While Ballmer talked up the yet to be named tablet at the Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas, stating that it is “almost as portable as a phone and that it is as powerful as a PC running Windows 7″, it ultimately left much to be desired:
“The HP tablet is basically a color e-reader running Amazon Kindle software, with few other details besides a sub-$500 price point and an estimated arrival on the market by mid-2010. So disappointing was the release that Microsoft and HP’s shares fell yesterday according to BusinessWeek.”
The three tablets that were presented were essentially scaled down PCs without keyboards or any new tantalizing features. This leaves Apple very well positioned to take the stage with all eyes watching at the end of January when they present their (iSlate?) tablet. At that point the contrast in both tablets and presentations between Jobs and Ballmer may be just as glaring.
Tagged with: Ballmer • Hewlett-Packard • iSlate • Kindle • Microsoft • Windows 7
Jan 07
A brief report by Engadget today suggested that the new iSlate will look alot like a “big iPhone” but will be much more. Additionally, sources indicate multi-carrier support for the iSlate:
“Rumor…indicates that the device itself will have the internal hardware to work with multiple wireless providers, with Verizon apparently getting priority but there being no single-carrier tie here.”
The Business Insider added that sources who have seen the OS say it has “A Good Bit Of New Sexy To It,” which has raised expectations for a unique UI in the new tablet.
Tagged with: big iPhone • iPhone • multi-carrier • unique UI • verizon
Jan 07
Patently Apple reported that today the US Patent & Trademark Office published details of an Apple patent application related to new multi-touch screen technology.
The patent focuses on “displays in which capacitive elements of the pixels…also form part of a touch sensing system that senses touch events on or near the display.” It also addresses the use of “pixels with dual-function capacitive elements that translate into fewer moving parts and/or processor steps that could deliver thinner, brighter displays.”
The new displays will utilize low temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) technology which according to LG:
“LTPS provides more than a 100 times faster TFT mobility than the amorphous silicon(a-Si) technology.”
Of course these are only partial details of the patent application revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office and we can only speculate on its use without all the details, but it does seem that this new patent could be leveraged by Apple’s forthcoming iSlate tablet to improve both the quality and performance of the display, as well as possibly the user interface experience.
Tagged with: capacitive • iSlate • LTPS • multi-touch • patent
Jan 06
The Street reported today that Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar has confirmed with Apple manufacturing contacts that their new tablet will run on the Atom processor developed by P.A. Semi.
Apple iSlate Reviews first brought you this rumor in July of last year (Apple iSlate Reviews – July 24th, 2009).
The Street goes on to speculate regarding the impact that this decision may have on Intel:
If you believe that the closely-watched Apple Tablet will reshape the mobile computing landscape, then the snub deals Intel a significant defeat. Intel had a lock on the netbook market with its Atom processors and it was widely assumed that the chip giant would win the Tablet contract at all costs.
Tagged with: Atom • Intel • P.A. Semi
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