Small Fish, Big Pond

Ha Ha! Fooled you into reading!

With the big news just a week or so away I wanted to get all this down and time stamped so I could play “How right was I?” later on.
90% or more = Minority Report Precogs
75% or more = Nostradamus
50% or more = Miss Cleo
25% or more = Nicholas Cage in that stupid movie where he sees 2 minutes into the future.

My Apple iPad predictions:

1. Name, iPad. I predicted this a few months ago based off the Padd Star Trek TNG reference. It’s silly but logical. And maybe true now???

2. 10” screen plus or minus a fraction of an inch.

3. No OLED

4. Thickness of .5 inch or less.

5. WiFi + Bluetooth. WiFi may required for certain web streaming features (to appease service providers)

6. iPhone to iPad Bluetooth tethering so that people don’t need to get a second data plan.

7. Optional 3G slot in case people want data only plan but don’t have iPhone.

8. MicroSD slot for storage expansion.

9. No USB ports. Dock/charger only. Headphone jack of course.

10. No video out. HDMI would have been awesome but “content must be controlled”

11. Front facing camera and mic for internet video calls. Well if a netbook can pull it off why not the iPad?

12. iPhone based OS, possibly identical to phone OS (think of version 4 being updated to handle resolutions larger than the iPhone but otherwise basically the same).

13. iPad will be able to handle HD video, but screen will likely be only capable of 720p (1280×768). 1080p will be shrunk to fit.

14. Main focus of the iPad will be multimedia. Video, music, TV (through appleTV or something, no integrated tuner), games, and e-reader stuff like magazines and newspapers. Major emphasis on video and games, secondary emphasis on e-reader functions.

15. iPad will also have full internet browsing functionality, not just iPhone optimized screens.

16. iPad will have Flash support. This will be a main focus of the device unveiling.

17. App store will allow apps that run on both, but existing apps would obviously need to be updated for larger interface. The store will list iPad compatible apps, so you will have iPhone only, iPad only, and both.

18. Non-iPad apps will run in a small interface, or 1/4 screen or something. With the Os so similar it’d be so easy to do that if Apple doesn’t it will be a missed opertunity.

Future Predictions in the week that follows announcement:

19. Jobs will hype phone to tablet tethering like he invented the idea. Although the reality is because people barely tolerate the plan prices on the iPhone alone and won’t spring for another data plan for a tablet.

20. High DPI (149 DPI by above HD resolution) will cause people to say “It’s the most beautiful screen on a portable device” even though many smartphones do better (mine has a DPI of 285, iPhone has 164).

21. In commercials and press images there will be many pictures of people in bed with their knees up and the iPad on their thighs. This is the only comfortable way to watch movies on a tablet for very long. Otherwise you may as well use a normal screen.

22. Everybody will ignore the elephant in the room that typing on the iPad soft keyboard screen is a bitch and a half. You not only have to set the tablet down on a flat surface, but the glare makes typing hard unless you hover directly over the tablet.

23. Similarly, people who badmouthed cramped keyboards on netbooks will be mum on the fact that two handed “ASDF JKL;” typing is hard as fuck on a touchscreen. But won’t stop touting that apple’s error correction algorithm makes up for it.

24. Apple’s typing error correction algorithm will be great and people will wish normal keyboards had it.

25. People will wail and moan how cool “augmented reality” would have been if the iPad had included a camera on the back.

26. Regardless of anything bad about it it will sell like hotcakes and become the bar upon which all tablets are measured.

27. I will continue to bad mouth the over-hyping of the iPad even though I post way too much on it. Hey, even I realize it will be a game changer, even if I don’t like it

And on that note I’m out (hopefully this is my last post on the damned thing till we actually see it).

Edited to add numbers. Predictions weren’t edited.