Not my invite.
All over the interwebz, the major blogs are showing off their respective invites to the next Apple event. I have always said that Apple’s marketing is good, and I think the cryptic message really tugs the heart-strings of the Apple faithful. Seems like it’s giving a huge hint that Apple has something new to dish out, not a rehash, not a refresh, not an upgrade, but a totally new product. Version numero uno. Of course, all rumours point to some sort of tablet device. Here’s what I hope the fabled tablet to be.
Secondary PC For Web Surfing
Most netbooks today suck. Make no mistake about it. They’re cute but just too small for actual work. The Atom CPU is sufficient, but the keyboard and screen real estate is a big tradeoff. As such, they are usually relegated to being nice portable machines for surfing on-the-go. That’s what I used my Dell Mini 9 for previously when I had it. Nice to play around with, try out different operating systems and surfing at Starbucks or MacDonald’s, but the keyboard and screen is too huge a compromise. Apple’s take on the netbook phenomena is probably this tablet. Use the tablet for surfing on-the-go while you’re out. It would be great if it had a SIM card slot for native 3G data. That would really be internet everywhere.
Input would be crucial. How could one enter google searches? Voice is nice, but not practical in my opinion. Try playing a NDS game outside and feel the shame when it asks you for voice input. I would expect some sort of on-screen keyboard but I wouldn’t be surprised if it has some sort of funky input, like handwriting recognition. The iPhone has showed us that an on-screen keyboard is indeed feasable. Why not handwriting recognition?
A tablet would also be too large to hold while surfing. One hand to hold, while the other makes inputs will give me carpal tunnel fast. Maybe the tablet could have some sort of stand to tilt it, and effectively its screen, while it is on the table, much like what a keyboard has. Of course, the tilt shouldn’t be too high, as inputs would push it backwards on the table.
An accelerometer is a given, since the tablet will need to know how to align itself automatically as the user holds it. A software switch to turn this off would be a nice feature as well. I hate the screen rotating while I’m surfing or gaming on my iPhone while lying in bed.
Secondary Monitor
Like the 27″ iMac, the tablet would make a nice secondary monitor as well. A sub-10″ additional screen is nice enough to complement my MacBook on the table. An stand accessory would be necessary in this case, probably adjustable to tilt it while on the table, like I described above. Why would I want this? Well, because something like the Mimo Monitors looks very cool.
Image from TUAW.
A small secondary window where I can place my IM chats, youtube video or iTunes while I work on my main is nice and provides an uninterrupted view of my main desktop. One can never have enough screen real estate anyway.
Touch Gaming Console
The iPhone and it’s radio-handicapped cousin, the iPod Touch, has surprised everyone as how good touch-screen gaming can be. Games are one of the App Store’s most popular category, and most of its top-grossing apps are games. The iPod Touch is also marketed towards gaming, so naturally, the tablet would be marketed as such as well. Too add fuel to the fire, I don’t really recall reading Kotaku ever scoring an invite to an Apple event before.
E-Book Reader
One of the earlier rumours suggested that Apple approached several publications. The tablet would be a natural fit as a reading device. However, it’s hard to imagine reading full novels on the tablet, unless Apple can put it into some sort of low-power mode to extend the battery life. And e-zines? Didn’t those died when broadband became affordable? Apple will probably conjure up something here that my simple mind can’t yet fathom.
Besides the four functions I mentioned, is there any other functionality that we don’t need right now but require immediately the moment Steve Jobs announces something?
Of course, just like any other Apple product, I fully expect this first one to suck. Make no mistake about it. It will be undeniably cool, but its defects could possibly be a dealbreaker. Maybe in terms of performance, or battery life. Or perhaps even the screen, like the latest iMac 27″. It took 3 iterations of the iPhone and 3 generations of the software for me to be truly satisfied with it. My earlier experiences with the iPhone 3G wasn’t as good. It was crashy and laggy, and graphically intensive games would either crash or stutter. Only after switching to the iPhone 3GS with the 3.1.2 iPhone OS does it truly rock.
