Why Everyone will want an Apple Tablet
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010Because this is what it’s like trying to browse using the currently available ultra-portable computers (with 10″ screen):
The area in white is the “active” area of Google Reader, ie the bit that actually contains the content and scrolls— at 248 pixels high it comprises less than half the total screen, which is only 600 pixels to begin with. This is just ridiculous. It’s a total fucking waste of pixels.
Apple’s tablet (which I doubt will be called the iSlate because it sounds crummy and a bit like “isolate”… and at some point they’re bound to drop the “i” from their product line) will probably be used mostly in portrait orientation, immediately addressing the problem of the unreadable short and wide page. It will probably be higher resolution so text will be crisper (I’m guessing 1440 x 960, which would be lovely and would keep the 3:2 aspect of the iPod Touch and iPhone with dimensions scaled by a factor of 3). It will have a clean and unobtrusive UI minimizing the amount of unnecessary junk onscreen and reclaiming at least half of the real estate that standard desktop GUIs currently waste.
Even though I bought this junkbook (HP mini 110-1197TU) today*, I can’t wait for it to be rendered useless by a soon-to-be-announced reorientable multi-touch expensive thingamabob. As a friend pointed out recently, the greatest feature on a netbook is the “stand” — ie the fact that the keyboard part acts as a stable base. If Apple can solve this too, eg with an unobtrusive foldout for standing the thing up on its own (like a picture frame) then they will truly deserve their success.
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* for traveling with… I just wanted something small I can type and watch movies on, and the iPod Touch is a little too small and proprietary about its media support.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:33 am
I currently have a bunch of style-scripts to reduce google reader and firefox itself. And I’m using the windows-classic ui that is still available in vista & xp to shave a few extra pixels off.
Living with 800-vertical isn’t easy, can’t imagine 600.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:49 am
The situation can certainly be improved with a bit of tweaking, but after using computers for 20 years, and at least that many OS installs I grow tired of having to customize them just to make them useful. The time is ripe for a new system that “just works”.
January 21st, 2010 at 1:39 am
Will never happen, there is this little thing called “people”, I’m sure you’ve met some of them.
Either way, sign me up for JujuOS, where things “just work” & the default screensaver is drivey.
January 21st, 2010 at 5:34 am
I guess you know about F11 for full screen in Firefox (and IE) right? It’s the only way my little netbook becomes useful for browsing.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:09 am
I have the XP version, courtesy of a boxing day sale. I am always minimalist with toolbars, and yes F11 is very handy.
Beware of HP’s place on the laptop reliability charts - currently in last place http://tinyurl.com/ydw7mbm. I expect overheating and cheap components are the problem.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:23 am
Useful tips:
-F11, as mentioned.
OR
-classic windows theme, as mentioned
-using small icons on firefox toolbar
-you can always hide bookmarks toolbar to save space. (personally I don’t use the bookmarks toolbar. An addon for firefox which places icons on the status bar for some websites would be nice)
-move your tabs left/right, and hide it when you’re not using it (while using google reader for example, you spend a lot of time on just one tab). I don’t know if it’s configurable in only firefox, I use Tab Mix Plus, and now TreeTabs.
January 21st, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Hiding the tab bar when only single tab is indeed an option in Firefox (and is why I did screen cap with 2 tabs open).
I’m sure everyone has seen abused browsers with more craptacular toolbars like AOL, Norton, Google etc… this post is made with what I believe is representative of the amount of junk an average user will have on their screen (note that the Win7 task bar is in “small icons” view here, most people probably wouldn’t change that either).
In reality I do often use F11, but kind of resent the need to.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:36 am
Ok - FireFox is the worst browser when it comes to screen real-eastate (out-of-the-box). Best is Chrome and after it IE8.
Living with 12″ screen myself, which is also TochScreen (HP Tx2) - you can notice that screen realestate is a real issue and you do have to configure few programs to get the most out of it.
Especially Visual Studio (going from 2 monitors to 12″ monitor is painfull).
January 24th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Oh, I know that if only one tab is open, the tab bar can be hidden, what I meant is when you have multiple tabs open, but you’re planning to stay on a page for a while. (personally I hate the “hide tab bar when only one tab is open” option, because I usually open multiple webpages, and then start reading through all of them. I wouldn’t want to stop waiting for the tab bar to render, and more importantly, moving down my page view, thus the next link I want to click :)
But I think this has to do more with browsing habits than what’s optimal.
And I’m glad I don’t have to use a screen resolution smaller than 1024×768 (which I fill up with three lines of taskbary goodness at the bottom, to have one line of active programs, and big quick launch icons taking up two lines (I almost never use the desktop or the Start menu), and the total of three lines means the clock shows the full date on windows xp - who came up with the idea that the second line should contain the day of the week? A two-line clock should be showing the current time and date, and I’d be happy to use a two-line taskbar…)
Anyway, back to the point, obviously if I had to use a screen resolution lower than this, I’d reorganize my desktop, taskbar, etc. accordingly. I don’t think anyone would ever use an overcrowded web browser you pictured for long. :) On the other hand, a bigger resolution means more place to put taskbars and icons on, to make browsing/using the computer more comfortable.
What I try to say is, what “just works” greatly depends on what screen resolution you have to use, and what are you using your computer for. I mentioned browsing habits, it’s one of these factors. A general OS for a great audience can only meet a handful people’s expectations. I’m curious if they could be covered with a few templates which you can choose from - for example - during installation, or everyone would start tweaking and customizing anyway. And a few clicks don’t hurt, as opposed to the time and money spent on making those templates. :)