A different vision of Apple’s “Tablet”
A very flat enclosure built like the “Air” from solid aluminum. It will open like either a laptop or when turned sideways it will open like a book. Both sides of the enclosure will contain a screen. You will be able to use one screen as a virtual keyboard with the other side being a normal display. You will also be able to open it like a book with both sides being used for the display of magazines and books. It will be based on the iPhone OS with all the touch gestures. It will evolve into the computer of the future. This design answers many the questions raised on the internet.
John Gruber, Daring Fireball:
“What size is it? There?s a big difference between, say, 7- and 10-inch displays. How do you type on it? With all your fingers, like a laptop keyboard? Or like an iPhone, with only your thumbs? If you?re supposed to watch video on it, how do you prop it up? Holding it in your hands? Flat on a table seems like the wrong angle entirely; but a fold-out ?arm? to prop it up, ? la a picture frame, seems clumsy and inelegant. If it?s just a touchscreen tablet, how do you protect the screen while carrying it around? If it folds up somehow, how is it not just a laptop ? why not put a hardware keyboard on the part that folds up to cover the display? If it?s too big to fit in a pants pocket, how are you supposed to carry it around? And but if it does fit in a pants pocket, how is it bigger enough than an iPod Touch to justify existing? And so on.”
I don’t see it- what you’re describing is a MacBook Air or a big Nintendo DS already. Why make a big clamshell device and get rid of the keyboard? The whole concept of the tablet is you want to make it a single piece, no moving parts with interface and display as one.
A tablet is too fragile and too big (assuming 10”) to easily carry around. It will take the same effort, care and the same amount of inconvenience, as a laptop, to carry a large flat, frame with a full face of glass?maybe more. It needs protection. What better way to protect it than a machined aluminum cover. I am talking about .25” thick side including the screen that it would envelop. Sandwich two of these together with a total thickness of .5” and the only complexity is the hinge.
I didn’t mention a size before, but imagine one side roughly 4” x 6”. That dimension would hold a screen that is measured 7” diagonally. That would be 4 times as large as an iPhone screen?not bad for mobile movie viewing. How would you watch a movie on a tablet?hold it??lay it flat??prop it up on something? No, the best way is just like it is done on a laptop. You open this thing up, set it on one side (base), just like a laptop, and you can watch a movie.
In that position, you could surf the web and do other computing. The base would display the virtual keyboard and the display would respond to gestures.
Now, turn it ninety-degrees, the screen rotates, just like the iPhone?same technology?and now it functions like a book with a 2 page spread that is 6” x 8”. We know Apple has been courting magazine publishers. What could be more natural than reading a book or magazine just the way we are used to doing it. And in an orientation that publishers are already using.
Imagine carrying a device that is 4” x 6” x .5” and fully protected on the outside by very light, yet very strong aluminum and opens to 6” x 8”. Everything about a tablet is awkward. That’s why it has failed. What can Apple do to overcome that?