[NTLK] (OT) re: Courier

Wed Apr 7 11:17:58 EDT 2010

Many of your proposed modifications are infeasible.

There isn't anywhere you can "shave off" half a pound.  The overwhelming majority of the weight is in the structure of the device.  .5 pounds is about 226 grams.  The battery is 148 grams with its casing.  The aluminum body is 138 grams.  Can't cut weight there without affecting the integrity of the device.  Everything else in the body combined is about 64 grams.  The LCD is 153 grams and the front glass protecting it is 193 grams.  The LCD's weight can't really be reduced, and the glass weight can only be reduced by switching away from glass.  There simply isn't that much weight to spare.

I agree that a ring of rubber around the back would be good, but I don't find it slippery at all.  I've never had a problem holding on to my phone either and I've never dropped an iPod (though one has taken a dive when I bent down and forgot it was in my breast pocket).  Maybe I just have gecko fingers.

A matte finish on a touchscreen you're supposed to use with your fingers would blur the display substantially.  The finish would have to be similar to the finish on the glass trackpads in the unibody laptops.  With the distance between the finish and the display itself, you would get blur and halos which would make the display look terrible.  It would also necessitate the glass being slightly thicker and therefore heavier.

If they could drop the prices, I would agree that they should drop the 16 GB model.  For now, I think it is important that they have one at $500.  It's sort of a psychological thing.

As for touch-sensitive regions on the back, that might be useful, but I suspect it would just be confusing for most people.  There is very little in these devices that feels like "That's just the way it is" rather than "That's the way it should be".  I think rear touch-sensitive surfaces and other exotic control mechanisms like that would move it away from the latter and back into the former.  At that point, how is it better than a desktop where so much is unintuitive because of bad design decisions made twenty years ago?

--

 Robert Zimmerman

On Apr 7, 2010, at 12:41 AM, Ryan wrote:

> Hi Dan:
> 
> You make some good points.  However, there is some validity to the complaints out there.  I think what is really the killer app on the iPad, what a lot of people want to do with it, is read/browse the web.
> 
> Now you can't browse the web on a Kindle really, or on the Sony eReaders, but the proposition is to use the iPad in lieu of an eReader like the Kindle.  The reality is that the Kindle is much lighter, and has way better battery life.  Of course it can only do a fraction of what the iPad can, but I want to focus on reading, because I think that is the killer app of tablets.
> 
> The eInk screens are way better in natural light/well lit environments, whereas the iPad suffers.  The iPad is only good for reading in lower light conditions.  And eInk is much easier on the eyes.
> 
> Although 1.5 pounds may not seem that heavy, people have slowly gotten used to reading with Kindles and the like, that are several times lighter than the iPad.  I've seen now many people complain about the weight, and I suspect they are experienced with eReaders.
> 
> The result of this is that the iPad may not replace eReaders, only augment them.  That is all fine, but it starts taking away from the utility of the device.  And with the coming color eInk screens with faster refresh rates and backlights, eReaders may have a lot more staying power than what the pundits ever thought.
> 
> And if people prefer to just keep their eReaders, there is much less of a case for them to go out and buy the iPad.
> 
> Some things I wish Apple would do with the iPad:
> 
> -Shave off .5 lbs (invest heavily in battery development and reduce the size of the iPad's battery: it's huge and makes up a lot of the weight)
> -Shoot some rubber on the back like the Sony eReader.  It's too slippery as it is.  The rubber would help the user hold it snugly, as well as protect it from falls and bumps.  As it is, it is just slick aluminum and glass.  That is a recipe for disaster in many respects.
> -Offer a matte screen finish.
> -Get rid of the 16 GB model, just offer 32 and 64 GB models.
> -Embed touch sensors strips on each side of the back so a user can gesture without having to move his hands while holding the unit, and without having to touch the screen.  This will make computing even more efficient and reduce smudges.  Looking at some units in store, and personally, the smudges are an annoyance.  I hardly ever notice the smudges on my Sony eReader display (it's the touch screen model).
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Ryan
> 
> 
> On Tuesday, April 06, 2010, at 09:59PM, "Daniel Jagendorf" <bufoamer at nyct.net> wrote:
>> One thing to keep in mind is that Courier doesn't exist.
>> 
>> The presentation is a computer graphic video of a product without any specifications (similar to the original knowledge navigator ad).  This is Microsoft's old tactic of FUD, trying to stifle a competing product by making an announcement about something that they will produce badly 10 years later.  The name was originally meant for a mobile standard used to sync info between home and business pc's.
>> 
>> 
> 
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