Comments on: Apple’s Next New Device – the NetPad!

By: Jaysen

Jaysen — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:47:08 +0000

All the talk revolves around Apple’s devices, and how their design and advanced technology overmaps others, but the reliability of such products has recently come into question, especially with the battery-life. Check out this article at The Music Void, which is interesting – http://bit.ly/aML9UT

By: dharey

dharey — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:28:42 +0000

my father told me about this new device and wanted to know if i will like to have one…….i didn’t give a reply cos i don’t know about it but now i know the qualities my answer would be yes.thanks to apple

By: lepton

lepton — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:56:28 +0000

Given the current rumor of Apple ordering 10″ screens, my device goes from being able to fit into a suit jacket pocket to making it as unwieldy as a book or clipboard.

A main use I see for such a device is as a second screen to another computer. Imagine the thing running Apple Remote Access. A manager or teacher could roam the floor, his device becoming the primary, secondary, or mirrored screen of any computer in the place, to control, observe, or collaborate. Or you could travel far away and remotely access your home or office computer over WiFi and the Internet on something as light as a clipboard. I see Apple Remote Access on a NetPad device as its killer app. Of course there are tons of other uses, from a MacKindle to a super duper iPod…

By: Samuel Packham

Samuel Packham — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:28:00 +0000

The bit I can’t get my head round in all this is:

-if it doesn’t have 3G, you can only use it in a wi-fi environment, in which case the convenience of a tablet is sorta wasted anyway; you’re likely to be sitting at a table: I can’t see any advantage to a normal laptop (except size, but then why not have a netbook – the iForbidden territory)

-if it does have 3G, it’s too unwieldy to put anywhere but a rucksack, defeating the object. It’ll be more expensive than an iPhone, it’ll necessitate new apps incompatible than the others, it’ll be too big for a phone and too incapable for a real computer.

I think both the tablet and PDA markets have died, giving way to small laptops and smart phones. Apple already makes one of these and has said it doesn’t want to make the other.

I also think that given the option of an illogical foray into a double/quadruple iPhone-sized device, Apple might keep from making any such device at all.

The fundamental problem I see is that there’s the full size keyboard and the tiny keyboard and nothing in between works. They’ve done really well with the iPhone keyboard but making a bigger device with a similar system would actually reduce the usability by making the thing harder to hold and two-thumb-type at the same time. The limit on that front has to be a double iPhone. Any bigger and you’ve gotta have a netbook keyboard, which is too much of a compromise for apple, and next stop after that is a full size keyboard. MBA.

I find that most of the products Apple release are a very definite solution to a problem. They might not be a solution to the most pressing problem, or the problem you wanted solving, and they seldom do it cheap. But I believe if they can’t do it properly, they won’t do it at all, and I can’t think of any proper way to do this tablet.

Anywho, I thoroughly enjoyed your article.

By: iMacmatician

iMacmatician — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:04:55 +0000

Did you even read the article?

By: Guess What

Guess What — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:08:19 +0000

Already here, it is called the iPod Touch, welcome to the real world.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:24:44 +0000

Hi, I have also been thinking that this sort of device is coming soon but some of what you wish for goes against Apple’s design aesthetic, they have been trying to do away with hinges & doors so maybe the only way to sit this thing up is in the dock so the iPod connector would be situated along the bottom edge.

Or perhaps Apple will shock the world by doing away with USB sync and have everything synced over WiFi

Steve.

By: geoff bunker

geoff bunker — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:45:31 +0000

Hi,

Great read Lepton! It’s good to see another dreamer, like myself, but one who is able to get the fantasy onto ‘paper’ for others to enjoy. Science Fiction? Maybe, but much of today’s reality was science fiction only a short decade or two ago.

I have been waiting for an Apple NetBook for about five years, but this device could be just what the Doctor ordered. Not having to open and close the device constantly would make for a great user experience.

Being able to “whip” the device out of ones’ pocket and “Jot That Down” would make he iPad so much more useful than any NetBook which is still too large and cumbersome in comparison with this over-sized iPod Touch device.

Keep Dreaming, please. Without dreams the World would be a very boring place.

Cheers. GB.

By: lepton

lepton — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:42:00 +0000

The PADD was one of the things I thought about when I worked out the dimensions of this thing. Someone was always passing the captain a little pad-thing to check out. A clipboard or a tablet is too big, and a shirt pocket device is too small. Even a netbook is too big if you ripped off the keyboard half of it. I started with a letter sized sheet of paper folded in half and shrank that a little so you could slip it into a business jacket pocket but still have a 720p HDTV screen on it. I admit, 190dpi is mighty dense. I think that's the right size device though, and by the way I had no info on today's rumor when I wrote this.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:17:36 +0000

I would love to see a device like this, however your prediction is very broad spectrum – you’ve literally mentioned everything that it’s possible to put in a NetPad device so that if Apple *do* release one, you’ll have at least something correct. ;o)

By the way – is it just me or does this device remind you a bit of the PADD’s from Star Trek?