Apple’s next-generation version of the iPad, presumably due in early 2011, should ship with improvements that make up for the first generation’s shortcomings.
Now that the iPhone 4 is out in the wild, and Apple customers are now enjoying the benefits of iOS 4 and the hardware capabilities of that device, it is only natural that the armchair tech industry quarterbacks — yours truly included — have been wondering about what enhancements the iPhone 4’s big brother, the iPad, is going to get in 2011.
I think we can immediately assume that the current generation iPad will get its iOS 4 update in the fall, bringing it to software parity with the current iPhones. But in terms of hardware improvements, what should — and what can Apple realistically deliver in the next model?
Firstly we can say that right off the bat, the new iPad will almost certainly have the same built-in gyroscope that the iPhone 4 has in addition to the accelerometer. This is a no-brainer addition, as it vastly improves responsiveness and precision control for games and also will permit the creation of even more immersive augmented-reality applications on the tablet.
The second is the question of a front-facing camera and FaceTime. While FaceTime is undoubtedly one of the best features of the iPhone 4, it may prove difficult to implement in the iPad without radically changing the existing hardware design.
The reason being that with the much larger form factor, aiming the camera towards the subject is going to be a lot more difficult unless the camera itself is on an adjustable swivel mechanism or is much higher resolution (higher than VGA, such as 2-5Megapixels).
A higher-res fixed position camera would work more like a desktop webcam and could electronically adjust the field of view and track subject head movement, much like Logitech’s webcam software does on the PC.
This could also possibly be remedied by supplying a snap-on, adjustable webcam accessory for current and future iPad designs through the connector port, but an integrated camera would be a much more desirable feature and more consistent with Apple’s streamlined approach.
It should also be stated that the next-generation iPad should be brought to parity or exceed the memory capabilities as its flagship phone counterpart. The iPhone 4 has 512MB of main memory in its A4 Package on a Package (PoP), but the iPad currently only has 256MB, the same as the iPhone 3GS.
Even a typical Android phone such as the Motorola Droid has 512MB of RAM, and it is expected that larger-format Android tablets that will compete with the iPad when they are released will have even more.
In my discussions with a number of iOS developers, the 256MB of RAM hard limit on the iPad has made it difficult to code and debug highly exploitable applications for the device — often resulting in system crashes in multimedia apps which use a lot of graphics and sounds — and has been probably the largest bottleneck in iOS programming.
While I can understand Apple’s desire to keep iOS application code tight and not succumb to the potential bloatware nightmares of Windows, I don’t see 1GB at a bare minimum being an outrageous amount of memory to supply in the next iPad.
The current 1Ghz A4 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) processor in my opinion, interestingly enough, has been more than ample, but a dual-core and/or higher-clocked version of the chip with more integrated cache and improved integrated PowerVR graphics is probably in the works.
I wouldn’t consider these processor improvements a necessity in the next iPad, but it would certainly be nice to see. Certainly, more cores with a higher clock and better graphics performance would allow for more exploitative multitasking iOS 4 apps and better games.
The next is the issue of the display on the next-generation iPad, and this is where I think Apple could go down two different paths, depending on what market segment and what features they feel is more important.
It would certainly be possible to do a 9.7″ display using the high-density 326 pixel-per-inch “Retina” technology, allowing for the display true HD video at 720p or higher with an SXGA/UXGA resolution, but doing this would probably be hard to keep the entry-level version of the device at the $499.00 price point unless volume manufacturing of this technology improves significantly.
However, even should the “Retina” technology become affordable to use in a larger format device, Apple might want to go in an entirely different direction with the next iPad — such as by using “Transflective” color LCD technology.
Widespread use of Transflective technology would allow the iPad to be used outdoors in bright sunlight, consume significantly less power and would completely replace E-Ink displays, effectively heralding the end of dedicated e-Reader devices such as the Kindle and the Nook.
Recently, Pixel Qi, the most well-known manufacturer of Transfective LCD screens, released 10.1″ 1024×600 parts at developer pricing for $275.00 each. While such pricing at low volumes still makes tablets like the iPad prohibitively expensive, the target price for Q1M is probably around $100.00 or less per part if Apple and other manufacturers (such as those working on Android tablets) were to make substantial commitments with Pixel Qi or another manufacturer in Asia working on similar technology.
Still, even with such commitments, ramping up production of these Transflective screens (and it’s clear the iPad would probably stick with it’s current 4:3 form factor, requiring a completely new part) would take at least another refresh cycle, so we might not see this technology in tablets from Apple until 2012 should the company go this route. So “Retinized” iPads or ones which use a variant of OLED are probably more likely in 2011.
While a subject that is largely ignored in relation to the iPad, I happen to think that the device needs a serious audio upgrade. Although I tend to use the device with headphones, I find the speakers to be anemic in terms of their overall volume and dynamic range — hopefully the next version will have nicer built-in speakers.
I also think that given the capabilities of the latest generation of Android smartphones and impending tablets, the next iPad should definitely have a way to output HDMI video, be it using an updated video output accessory (the current VGA kit is next to useless, even with Netflix support in the current software) or even with an actual integrated HDMI port.
There are many other features which I would like to see in the next iPad, but the ones I’ve described above are absolute requirements in my opinion.
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