Categories

All the new screens

Aug 28, ’10 9:59 AM
Author Categories Uncategorized

There is a rush to market a whole new batch of tablets. Here’s another one.

Yet another tablet

They all bear an outward resemblance to another tablet that was widely panned.

So what strikes me about all of these designs is that they’re basically just shiny rectangular things. There is very little you can do as a vendor to stand out with any particular rendition of a rectangle.

This is also becoming obvious with the mechanical design of smartphones. They are all smaller rectangles with shiny black screens.

Which begs the question: as they are all just screens, shouldn’t what’s on the screen matter more than the screen itself?

It seems only one vendor shows what’s on their screen.

  • Rob Scott

    All those "BIG IPOD TOUCH" jokes from Engaget…

  • Steve W

    There are only two ways to show what's on the screen: you either show a working model with working apps, or you show an artist's rendition.

    For instance, you could take a picture of an iPad, cut and paste the screen image onto an artist's rendition of your iPad killer; and it would be believable. Right? That is, until someone asks to see the working model.

    If you don't have a working model with working apps, and you want to be believed, then put a blank screen on your artist's rendition.

  • Stu

    Best comment from the pocket-lint.com article on this iPadXL:

    "Apple's R&D spending is so efficient, it drives both Apple products and the rest of the computer industry."

  • Sevket Zaimoglu

    "It seems only one vendor shows what’s on their screen."

    This is simply not true. Here, a working android tablet, not a concept or sketch:
    http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/28/streamtv-eloci…

    Whether they can supply enough of these tablets to the end customer is another issue, though.

    • http://www.asymco.com asymco

      Is there a web page for the company selling this? I tried to google the company and the product name but only found links to blogs.

  • poru

    This reminds me of the Windows Mobile (6?) adverts I used to see in the London Tube. The phone screens looked basically OK from a distance but then the fine print in the ad always said "simulated screen image" or the like (in the tiniest of print).

    Notice how rarely mobile advertising campaigns feature actual photos of the browser? That's because with the exception of the iOS (mobile Safari) and I suppose the Android models the browsers all suck. (With the migration towards webkit adoption this will probably change, though the BB Torch has such a low-res screen it will still look crummy.)

    We'll see how the other tablet manufacturers market their devices. :)

  • Iphoned

    My guess is those crappy tablets will collectively outsell the iPad in a few years just as Android phones now outsell iPhone :-( . It seems almost inevitable I am afraid.

    • tim

      The jury is still out on who is outselling who. But what your comment misses is that iOS is present on iPod Touches, iPhones, and iPads. Android hasn't even touched two of those three experiences yet. Until they do – you can't say inevitable to anything. And to also assume that 2010 mobile market share has any relevance to 1990 PC market share is naive at best.

    • http://appleincanalysis.blogspot.com/ Lee Penick

      Yes, Android is awesome! Great products, great market share.

      Bought some Android shares last week. Really racking in the profits.

      I'd like to help you too. Send me your bank account # and I"ll buy you some shares also!

      Do no evil!

      (wait , I already have your account # in my servers full of your personal info, never mind.)

      • Iphoned

        I am no Android fan and I am long Apple. My sense is that Android is an inferior effort by a copycat spoiler. But one can't deny that Android phones are outselling iPhones (just iPhones I said) at the moment. The reasons I think are well understood – more choices via more channels by devices that appear (I said "appear") close-enough to iPhone.

        So I am just trying to handicap what could happen in the tablet space as it gets flooded by iPad knock offs. I think we are likely to have a similar dynamic emerge…

    • http://www.asymco.com asymco

      It may be inevitable but also note that most of these tablets will not run Windows. The times they are a-changin'.

  • Pingback: The Technology newsbucket: Brazil’s GPS census, wrong iPad forecasts, Facebook spam success and more | UmeedainTimes.com

  • http://www.displaysearch.com John Jacobs

    I would argue that the display (screen) – not just what appears on it – is quite important (once it is turned on). Apple has made it quite clear that IPS (also know as A-FFS in Apple's iteration) technology as used in their LCD, enhances the color and viewing angles which are, one must argue, essential features of a slate. Simply putting any old semi-modified notebook display – which have much narrower viewing angles (smaller viewing cone) and lower color saturation – into a slate provides a less rich and immersive experience. Yes, what's on the display matters most, but without a great platform to show what's on the display, the device also suffers.

    Just my humble opinion.

    -john

  • Pingback: The Technology newsbucket: Brazil’s GPS census, wrong iPad forecasts, Facebook spam success and more | Teh Lolz

  • http://www.av-lution.co.uk AVLution

    Can Apple actually be rivalled?

  • Pingback: The Technology newsbucket: Brazil’s GPS census, wrong iPad forecasts, Facebook spam success and more