There is a lot of hype surrounding what some have claimed is the mythical Apple tablet, here are some interesting details on what to expect this spring if Jack ran the universe.
12 “facts” about the tablet you probably didn’t know:
1) Battery life is upwards of 7 hours. I will believe that once I have seen it though. 😉
2) It is made to be a Kindle Killer. Thank heaven ” we have been waiting for this moment from Apple.
3) There is a forward facing camera that is on a swivel at the top of the device so you can click it into facing out like the iPhone is currently or it can view your own lovely face. This could finally be where video conferencing takes off. Maybe the only way it will take off.
4) It has multiple hi definition microphones ” what is great about this is it will allow for sound triangulation and greater sound fidelity. Much like the military’s sniper detector that detects where a sniper is shooting from the two microphones allow for the SDK to offer up a ” where did that sound come from?” ability. There are countless ways to use that tech!
5) It is packaged with a stereo Bluetooth headset/microphone that is just as cool looking as everything else Apple does. This is a lot like the Motorola S9HD but slicker looking.
6) The 10.1 inch touch screen is sensitive enough to use it as a scale. So all you frugal potheads don’t have to carry that tool any more. Yet another way Apple has changed the world.
7) The voice recorder app can index the speech it hears and that text can show up in the system wide search. Imagine sleeping through a meeting and searching the transcript later. The voice recognition has been greatly improved and made more intelligent, hopefully they will release this new applet to the 3GS as an update.
8) This may seem obvious but it will have GPS, Cellular, Wifi, Accelerometer, proximity sensor, tilt sensor, and multi touch. But the new temperature sensor allows for some really unique applications; imagine you are at the office and your wife or husband calls to tell you that you left your phone on your dash. The phone called your house because it started to get to hot ” or an exercise app that makes sure you don’t overheat on that ultramarathon.
9) Handwriting is a huge deal on the tablet ” this isn’t just a display device it is an input device that takes input to a new level. There isn’t a stylus ” you write with your finger almost like you are holding a pen. Of course there is a thumb able keyboard and also a landscape screen keyboard.
10) There are some killer applications for things like pictures, watching 1080p video, and safari is awesome. There still isn’t and won’t be support for flash. C’mon do you think they would let control of the app store go?
11) An RFID transmitter and reader didn’t make this version but it was secretly stubbed into the SDK. Is this for some peer to peer community action we haven’t seen before?
12) Objective C is the name of the game still, although there are some plans to revamp the app store approval process to speed it up. You are going to need to recompile and redesign to run on the tablet ” like some programmers expected; there is NOT a mini mode that will run your iPhone apps so stop hardcoding your screen sizes in your iPhone designs.
Remember you heard it here first 😉 – Jack