Is this Apple’s real “tablet”?
I can’t tell you how I got these photos, but they come from a “trusted source” who claims that these could be of the much rumored “tablet” that Apple will introduce tomorrow.
First off, sorry for the poor quality of the photos. But they obviously are of some new device in the Apple labs. The size is said to be about 8 1/2 x 11 inches. The screen seems to be flush with the left and right edges, while it leaves a little room for the round on/off button along the bottom.
The little object on top is rumored to be a pocket-sized version of the big device. We don’t know if this is just a prototype, but some think it might be the 4G iPhone.
In another we see what is probably the back of the unit with the Apple logo clearly visible. This seems to be a 16G device. Kinda small for my tastes. The item in the upper right-hand corner looks like it could be a camera. Seems awkward to have a camera on the back of the thing. Hope it changes in future models.
After that we see that on the right side is apparently a USB port, so existing Apple keyboards can be used. While at the same time there is something that looks like a stylus resting on the screen. While the device is likely a touchscreen system, the stylus might be handy for text input when a finger is to fat, or the on screen keyboard just to slow. Perhaps some of the handwriting recognition software from the Newton was migrated up to this thing. Nothing about DVD or other mass storage means except by something called “pages,” which can be moved and resorted at will for the various kinds of data one might want to keep.
The final shot I received is a closeup of the upper right corner just showing the logo. From the looks of things, Apple might have another winner. I was told that it is incredibly lightweight, like a small stack of paper, flexible, very damage resistant and of course, extremely easy to use, resorting to the minimalistic UI philosophy that has made the iPad such a success.
I know I’ll be standing in line for one.
Update: Oh, nevermind.
