The official iPad 3 rumors, speculation, and wants thread

[BD2003]

I think it's worth noting that increased clock speed would help more with web browsing than adding more cores.

But there is no indication that Apple would increase clock speed, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

If they suddenly come out and say the A5X is the A5 but runs at 2GHz, I don't think I can resist that...

AT's iPhone 4s review seems to imply otherwise:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4971/apple-iphone-4s-review-att-verizon/4

Same clock speed, twice the cores, much higher performance. Obviously there are diminishing returns but a clock speed doubling seems far less likely.

 

[Atty]

I don't think it'll have a dual core. Unless there was absolutely no way to maintain battery life with quad core. Still, they'd need a huge revamp to that processor to handle 1080p without having to worry about sluggish performance or operating at the top end all the time and ruining battery life, remember the iPad 2's 10 hour battery life is capable with a 10 hour video loop.

 

[BD2003]

I don't think it'll have a dual core. Unless there was absolutely no way to maintain battery life with quad core. Still, they'd need a huge revamp to that processor to handle 1080p without having to worry about sluggish performance or operating at the top end all the time and ruining battery life, remember the iPad 2's 10 hour battery life is capable with a 10 hour video loop.

Well, the leaked info on the A5X processor looks very, very convincing, so it is looking like dual core. It had better burn down the performance charts for me to consider it at this point.

 

[bearxor]

I don't think it'll have a dual core. Unless there was absolutely no way to maintain battery life with quad core. Still, they'd need a huge revamp to that processor to handle 1080p without having to worry about sluggish performance or operating at the top end all the time and ruining battery life, remember the iPad 2's 10 hour battery life is capable with a 10 hour video loop.

The A5 is a very powerful SoC, even now for being almost a year old. The GPU is still plenty fast and it stands toe to toe with the Tegra 3. It can handle 1080p just fine if done via hardware decoding. Heck, the A4 can handle 1080p just fine.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

The A5 is a very powerful SoC, even now for being almost a year old. The GPU is still plenty fast and it stands toe to toe with the Tegra 3. It can handle 1080p just fine if done via hardware decoding. Heck, the A4 can handle 1080p just fine.

I think that's what's amazing to me. The GPU in the A5 is still the fastest GPU out there and only now are other SoCs catching up.

 

[amdhunter]

These are my "wants"
Keyboard, MicroSD, Higher Res Screen + Beefier OS.

 

[alfa147x]

MicroSD would be nice. Doubt it's going to happen.
Keyboard? Hell no.
Hi-res screen? Hell yes!
Beefier OS? Sure?

 

[amdhunter]

I was just thinking. Apple wanted to show off an A5-powered MacBook Air. Wouldn't it be crazy if the big coming announcement was that?

Also - has Apple even confirmed any date to actually show off anything?

 

[amdhunter]

MicroSD would be nice. Doubt it's going to happen.
Keyboard? Hell no.
Hi-res screen? Hell yes!
Beefier OS? Sure?

Well, I was thinking an attachment like the Asus Transformers.

 

[alfa147x]

Well, I was thinking an attachment like the Asus Transformers.

Plenty of cases that do the same.
http://www.zagg.com/accessories/logitech-ipad-2-keyboard-case
http://www.macworld.com/article/164210/2011/12/macworld_buying_guide_ipad_keyboards.html

 

[alfa147x]

Also - has Apple even confirmed any date to actually show off anything?

I was thinking the same

 

[mmntech]

The A5 is a very powerful SoC, even now for being almost a year old. The GPU is still plenty fast and it stands toe to toe with the Tegra 3. It can handle 1080p just fine if done via hardware decoding. Heck, the A4 can handle 1080p just fine.

I've seen the iPad 2 stand even with the Transformer Prime in benchmarks, which is very impressive indeed for a device that's a year older. Personally, I'd be happy with a speed bump and increasing the RAM to 1gb. More memory would be a huge improvement.

 

[BD2003]

I was just thinking. Apple wanted to show off an A5-powered MacBook Air. Wouldn't it be crazy if the big coming announcement was that?

Also - has Apple even confirmed any date to actually show off anything?

Nothing confirmed but it's clearly imminent.

An A5 powered air just wouldn't make sense. These SoCs are great on these low power devices with software tailored specifically for them. But take that advantage away and they're still comparative weaklings. They've got a long way to go before they can handle desktop duty.

 

[Synomenon]

Anyone really expecting a smaller iPad?

 

[bearxor]

Anyone really expecting a smaller iPad?

No.

 

[BD2003]

Anyone really expecting a smaller iPad?

It'll happen eventually. They can get by with one model and form factor because they are at least a generation ahead of everyone in the tablet space. That won't be the case forever, and there's just too many good reasons to have a midsize option.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

It'll happen eventually. They can get by with one model and form factor because they are at least a generation ahead of everyone in the tablet space. That won't be the case forever, and there's just too many good reasons to have a midsize option.

Like them only having one size for a phone, because that hasn't worked out well for them.

 

[bearxor]

I think it's kind of funny how everyone says they wish the iPhone was bigger like its Android competitors, and them say how they wish the iPad was smaller like its Android competitors.

Not saying the line of reason or thinking is WRONG, necessarily. I just think its kind of funny.

 

[fatpat268]

I disagree. IOS is perfect for a touch based form factor.

I'd prefer it if iOS was redesigned to take advantage of a tablet in general.

4. Thunderbolt (I know they aren't going to do SD cards, and Wifi transfer blows chunks, so at least give us some way to move data - especially video - faster)

Thunderbolt would be pointless unless they add MUCH faster memory. Didn't iPad 2 have memory that clocked at something like 30mb/s? We might see increases here, but nothing standard USB couldn't handle. (Edit nevermind, already discussed).

 

[bearxor]

I'd prefer it if iOS was redesigned to take advantage of a tablet in general.

I don't get this. How do you think iPod isn't designed for a tablet? Is it just the unlock/homescreen that irritates you?

 

[BD2003]

Like them only having one size for a phone, because that hasn't worked out well for them.

It's entirely different. A phone needs to be held up to your face, and fit in your pocket. It can only be so big, and size and weight aren't a huge consideration. What does another inch really add there?

An iPad is really big. Its too unwieldy to be held in one hand, too large, too heavy. Shave 2-3 inches off and it's much more friendly to handle.

If one size really fit all, they'd sell just one laptop too.

 

[runawayprisoner]

AT's iPhone 4s review seems to imply otherwise:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4971/apple-iphone-4s-review-att-verizon/4

Same clock speed, twice the cores, much higher performance. Obviously there are diminishing returns but a clock speed doubling seems far less likely.

It's dual-core. I was talking more about the move to quad-core. There really is no browser in the world that makes better use of quad-core over dual-core as far as I know.

Plus the 4S has other things going for it, too, like faster memory and faster GPU, so it's really hard to tell if the improvement was just from having an extra core. It's an SoC vs SoC situation.

I believe that even without doubling the clock speed of the A5X, Apple would still be able to find a way to make it so that it's faster or on par with the current A5.

 

[fatpat268]

I don't get this. How do you think iPod isn't designed for a tablet? Is it just the unlock/homescreen that irritates you?

Actually no. Since I use a smart cover, I rarely ever see the unlock screen. It really just stems from the organization of iOS. iOS works fine on the iphone/ipod, as it was originally designed for the smaller screens. But I don't know about you, but I feel like a hell of a lot of screen space is wasted on the ipad by generously spacing out apps. I'm not saying we need more apps on the screen, but useful realtime info would be nice.

Not only that, the general organization of apps is atrocious. Why should all my games be clumped together with all my other apps? Of course the answer here, is to reorganize, put all games on a page and in folders categorizing them by genre. But here's where I'm going to ask a stupid question. Why doesn't iOS already do that for me? The app store is already laid out by type of app (games, productivity, video/photography, etc) and even by genre of games (platforming, puzzle, board, action, sports, etc). So why are all my apps thrown by default on this blank board for me to reorganize? For a company that is known for making good human UIs, it just seems backward.


And perhaps a lot of what I'm saying might be how android does it. I dunno, I can't say as I've only used android in the little time I installed it on a touchpad. I just know that apple could do a lot more to make the ipad's OS properly use a large screen.

 

[BD2003]

Well, however they get there, they need to improve web page loading by an order of magnitude. The time it takes to load a page should be measured in milliseconds, not seconds. There's so much room for improvement; the experience isn't even close to even a low spec PC.

 

[alfa147x]

Well, however they get there, they need to improve web page loading by an order of magnitude. The time it takes to load a page should be measured in milliseconds, not seconds. There's so much room for improvement; the experience isn't even close to even a low spec PC.

Your internet connection is slow. My iPhone pulls pages up just as fast as my desktop / laptop