Toshiba Folio 100
 

http://iphonefreakz.com/wp-content/u...-folio-100.jpg
http://www.letsgodigital.org/images/...hiba-folio.jpg
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/02/t...o-100-preview/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0yqavIWSsg
I am very excited about a tablet announced by Toshiba it is called the Folio 100 and it is a 10.1inch Android tablet. There are indications of early 2011 release at a price off 400-500 dollars. There will also be a 3g version available.
Some Specs
Operating System: Android 2.2
Processor: Dual core Nvidia Tegra
Storage: 16gb plus full sized SDHC card slot.
Screen: 10.1inch 1024x600 capacitive touchscreen
Connectivity: USB Host port, HDMI Out, Wifi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1
Camera: 1.3mp webcam
MeeGo is going to have to do better than the Wetab.
Also this thing can run Flash 10.1

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Weird no one has responded.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

maybe because its not interesting???

like me... tired of android tablet... i might get interested if that is not an android tablet..

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Well what else would they use creating a MeeGo or Windows tablet would equate expensive hardware costs.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Thank for posting the spec. I am very interested. I think this is a very serious contender. I look forward to its review. In fact, mid nov would be just in time for me to compare with my low end a81e with the folio 100. Thanks for the spec.

bun

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Well Nokia had there chance with Maemo to create a popular Linux based smartphone OS and they missed there chance and now Android has all of the news and attention.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

That tablet is pretty awesome and interesting but it still has room for improvement, and areas which a company as big as Toshiba could easily improve.

1) use materials like aluminium/high grade plastic to make it seem dignified while keeping weight low
2) trim off the excess bezel, come on!
3) Use high quality touchscreen + display so that its bearable to us under sunlight.
3) optimize the system to run at 1.5GHz on 1Gb of RAM for high performance when needed
4) optimize the UX... erm "copy the MIUI ROM" ;)
5) optimize the battery life
6) keep the costs considerably lower than the iPad

... then I will give you a standing ovation!

Right now, its only slightly better than the best KIRF's (eLocity and Advant Vega).

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Isn't this the tablet Engadget tried out at the electronics show last month and said was rather rubbish in terms of build quality, screen, responsiveness?

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

@kangal: Have you handled any of the tablets? I'd recommend making a cardboard analog of one, if you haven't... because I think you will find that most new tablets will come with similarly sized bezels for usability reason.

Either that or they'll come with a handle area somewhere (keyboard bottoms, whatnot).

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

I agree a andriod tablet is not news. Toshiba did just do something ground breaking though, it's called:

Toshiba Libretto W105.

I got one, and while it's not for the everyday user, I find it to be an extremely useful and powerful UMPC.

2d

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

@ysss yes I've handled several including the iPad, 10.1" ones and 7" ones. It is hard to describe in words but that bezel makes a lot of difference. It is there for the user to grab the tablet but it really isn't necessary on the lanscape (long sides) for 10"+ tablets because it gets difficult to hold with a single hand. I have extra large hands/fingers so I can still grip it one-handed. But even I don't need all that flush space, it just eats up space.

I've tried that shockingly dodgy ePad (iPad clone with Android, fully cheap plastic and comes with an Internet Explorer icon on the box, lol), and that is a 7 incher where the bezel is 1.5inch on each side. I compared it to another Android 7" tablet (Huwei something) which had about 1cm on the lanscape sides and 2cm on the portrait sides. Both were easy to hold/grip, but the ePad was notably larger when you stow it in the inside pocket of your jacket (yeah I'm a guy, go figure). The pocket was just large enough for both but since the ePad was slightly taller, I could feel the upper side on my axilla as I walked. Not a comfortable feeling after 10mins I tell you, and with the other tablet I didn't have this brushing, and I even forgot I had it on me for a moment.

Well fyc, here's a little picture of how they could've shaved the bezel:
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/9336/bezel.jpg

Note: the top is the original Folio 100, the bottom image has been edited, but the screen size are the same on both images despite the bottom one looking much smaller = because it is when you trim off the bezel.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Needs to have meego on it - Android does not have full Java support, meego probably will.

Plus meego is fully open and apps are native android is not.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Well there is Java Me support for Android. Android is also fully open source. What is closed source on Android is the software that is installed by manufacturers and MeeGo will be the same. If you need to develop apps natively for Android you can use the NDK http://developer.android.com/sdk/ndk/index.html. I wonder does the MeeGo tablet UX run on ARM?

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

You still run into the problem that the libc and toolkits Android use are unique to Android, never mind going through JNI.

No reason it can't, seeing as how MeeGo is supposed to be architecture independent.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Well thanks for informing me on that.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

What about Bluetooth :
- connecting to an external GPS
- connecting to a 3G phone ?

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

I heard this might have GPS built in but you should also be able to connect via bluetooth. Well this thing should be able to tether phones over bluetooth however if the functionality isn't there you could find an app.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Yes the Libretto is cool but it costs you an arm and a leg (not literally). So I think it is worth it to spend less money on something else.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

^the Toshiba Libretto W105.

Just read several reviews, I would say it was a bad attempt at a good idea, and in my book that isn't something worthy of ground-breaking title.

I really didn't think it is for the everyday user, and I think everyone (everyday users and tinkeres) would benefit much more with a new-model Eee PC (portability, quality, versatility and if you have to factor it: price).

However, if Toshiba actually manages to make the Folio 100 as good in real life as it is on-paper... then I think it would be worthy of "ground-breaking". Seriously, there are so many potential iPad killers that always lack one or more feature/attribute, that it becomes ridiculously disappointing. If there is one to emerge, it then is "ground breaking", and I'm keeping my hopes up that this will be it........unless I see something better that is ;)

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

There is only one tablet worth purchasing; WeTab. Runs on MeeGo :) An Android tab is really nothing compared with this.

http://wetab.mobi/files/We_Tab-140-Motiv_4-3_0.jpg

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Eh, I'd rather not spend more money on battery-powered Atom-based devices. My Aspire One gets terrible battery life as it is. I want more decently spec'd ARM based tablets.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

WeTab got 6 h battery life. Show me an ARM based tablet that will do better (rather don't as you probably will find some :) ). How much do you need? What do you consider enough from a practical point of view. This is not a phone after all.

The point is that at these sizes, 10 inch, battery starts to get irrelevant. The screen draws lots of power, and there are lots of space for batteries in there, even cheap ones.

A phone OS on a tablet is just wrong, poor design, bad engineering. Just because it works doesn't mean it is good, or even is cool.

Video

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

My Nokia N900 has an 800x480, 3.6" screen, and a PPI of 266(google'd for that number). That means I have a screen that's ~3"x1.8".
This means that a 1024x600 screen should be ~3.85"x2.26", or ~4.5".
A device like that - if the bezel was small enough - a tablet like this could fit in my pocket! Yet, they are using a screen that's a bit over two times the minimum size for that resolution.

Yea... I'm not entirely impressed.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

WeTab, the only tablet worth purchasing (besides the iPad)... nah/meh/noway/getouttatown

And the UX with MeeGo on the WeTab = deadful (its like a vomit of ubuntu and windows mobile).

I much rather an Android tablet (10" with trimmed bezel ofcourse) running MIUI but with my own optimization such as:
- with 6 x 6 tiles on the homescreens (for widgets/apps) instead of the 4x4 original
- with adding upto 9 apps into the quicklauncher instead of 6 in the original
- with 6 x 4 tiles within folders (more revealed by swiping down) instead of 4 x 3 original (more revealed by swiping down)
- supporting 4 x 4 tiles (when previewing homescreens) instead of 3x3
- and when you goto the screen to place a widget it should display: 1x4 tiles of homescreens + the widget-box displays 3x4 widgets .... vs the original that has 1x3 homescreen tiles + 2x3 widgets
- and other minor one's found on this list

Video demo 1 -skip to 2min20sec
Video demo 2
Video demo 3
Youtube "MIUI" to find more videos.

Serious intuitiveness + simpleness + customizations + advanced functions(Widgets/LiveWallppr) === WIN!

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

I agree, I'm sick of all these devices with 1024x600 10" screens. The manufacturers choose these screens because they are cheap, but it really isn't good enough compared to my N900. What I'd find interesting is a 1280x800 6" screen.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

If you think about it, that much (>220) PPI is completely unnecessary and this becomes more evident as the screen size increases.

Well to determine if the resolution is too low, just right, or unnecessarily high for any device you need to know:
1) how many pixels
2) screen size
3) the intended distance of device to user

For a 4" phone, if you used VGA (640x480) compared to a WVGA (854x480) at a distace of about 40cm from your face (normal distance), the difference would be so miniscule that its actually funny. If you upgraded to in iPhone4 due simply because of this you were uninformed, and became Apple's bich. Infact, VGA at 5" is still a good quality for a phone, good/average but its no HD mind you.

A 50" plasma has 1080p, do you know the PPI of that? It's 44! Yet viewing on such TV's are not atrocious (depending on brand). Why... because you're seated about 2metres away!

A tablet is larger than a phone, so naturally the user should have it distanced further, but because of the nature of Apps used (eg Drawing) it keeps the user a little bit closer.... so that a typical tablet will be about the same distance as a phone (50cm from eyes).

Going by the mathematics of VGA@5" is acceptable at 50cm, this equals 160PPI. So an acceptable density at 50cm from face is within the range of 150-170PPI.
So for a 10" slate at 50cm, the screen resolution should be ~1366 x 768 (157PPI). And that's the resolution I recommend!

However, did you ask yourself why 1024 x 600? Its because that's the highest resolution offered by Android upto Froyo (Gingerbread is supposed to hit HD). That's why they are used by most OEMs, so they always have the option of marketing it with Android onboard.

Let's start with the "lower grade" tablets (WVGA) and determine the maximum size before they lose sharpness. Those tablets should be no larger than 6.2", where they begin to lose the sharpness.

So let's see how "pathetic" that limit is on larger tablets:
Using this, with that 1024x600 resolution we begin losing sharpness (148PPI) with any screen size larger than 8inch. So the Galaxy Tab's screen really makes sense here.

Well lets see how that resolution handles for 10" screen: we get 119PPI. Which is actually lower than average, but not too bad. User's will notice slightly less sharper images, such as on icons, but not so difference with fast moving pictures or a video.

With that knowledge in mind, WOULD I still personally recommend a:
10" tablet (trimmed bezel) that has low (119PPI) screen resolution, over a 7" tablet (normal bezel) that has a normal (170PPI) screen resolution?

The Answer is yes;
(but not as enthusiastically as before)
because it may not squeeze in any more content and the sharpness will be slightly reduced, what you get are larger text/links/icons and better accuracy when touching the screen.

Have I enlightened anyone?

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

With the current standard of thick bezel, you can grab the slate naturally as you would a (paper) notepad; there's no need to artificially adapt your gestures to accommodate thinner bezels.

If there's any company that puts so much weight on how their products look. So vain. It's Apple. It's Steve Jobs. I can imagine him having many a sleepness night trying to find ways to shave off the sides of the iPad and still maintain high level of usability. Look at where it's at today.


The thinner bezel looks nicer, but all it does is conjure the many many usability problems I've had with all my past (Windows) tablets/convertibles....

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

To be honest, I completely disagree. The whole benefit of a high PPI screen is that you have trouble seeing individual pixels - Things look "smooth" vs "chunky".
I have a N770 with its 4.x" screen, and my N900. Do things look sharper on the N900? Heck yea. Which would I prefer? My N900's screen definitely.
I have a ~100ppi 23" desktop screen(1920x1080), and at a distance of 18" or so, I can see individual pixels clearly; a single pixel out of place on a font looks bad, and if something's spaced slightly off its easily noticeable.
I have a bit better, 15" laptop screen that's 1680x1050(Not sure PPI, but its higher). Its significantly sharper than my desktop screen, and I have to have it around 12" from my face to see individual pixels.

My N900 is even better - I really have to strain to see individual pixels, and AA on games isn't even really required for it to appear sharp and clear; On my desktop screen, 4XAA is required for a game to look good. On my laptop, 2X is sort of required.

Personally, I'd love to see a 24" screen with like 3840x2160 - Pixels would be extremely small, and anti-aliased fonts would still look sharp and easy to read. However, that would require dual-link DVI for 60hz, and I doubt its even realistically possible until really cheap OLED tech becomes standard.

If you'd ever played a 640x480 video on your N900, you'd realize that this isn't correct. You end up with around a half-inch of extra pixels, and it's definitely noticeable, even holding it at arm's length.

So, in conclusion, I completely disagree, and don't think you know what you know what you are talking about.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

I think the pitfall here is how this particular feature is 'classed'. When you say something is 'necessary' or not, then you get very2 subjective.

ie: Is it a necessity for anyone here to own a 7 or 10" internet tablet?

Generally I agree. But the distance can vary a lot and there's one more element here that I think is crucial, which was the saving grace of past iPhone\Touch's low ppi screens:

- Zoom capability of the OS. (How fast, how easy, how available)

Yes, because you're comparing a 4:3 screen with a 16:9 screen. It's not a direct ppi comparison, you're unnecessarily introducing another element in this comparison.

I did upgrade my 3GS to iPhone4 and I was quite informed and I was still pleasantly surprised and happy with the increase of ppi. It was really useful; for example to determine if the pictures I've taken was properly focused or not.
Although I admit that I'm still Apple's bi+ch.


Subjective. People may mistake this to you having less sensitivity to high quality picture or having low standards.

You forget that the general limiting variable here that limits viewing distance is the user's hand. You don't artificially stretch (and sprain/discomfort) your arms just because you're holding something bigger.

iPad's resolution is not bad, but I am quite certain Jobs will put retina-class display on the next one. I certainly could use a higher ppi on the iPad when reading publications (ie: zinio) on it.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

I would guess that the major resistive-force acting against a large ultra-high PPI display is the number of pixels. Pushing all of those pixels on a mobile chipset may be beyond the capabilities of current chips, especially for 3D (a major facet of iOS software). As I understand it, desktop/laptop GPUs struggle to display at high resolutions.

The second resistive-force, I would imagine to be cost. 1024x768 displays at 10" are somewhat common, but something higher like 1920x1200 may be too expensive for the benefit of bragging rights or slightly clearer text.

The third resistive-force, I would imagine is the software resolution. As I understand it, iOS is resolution fixed (unless this is changed with the iPad SDK), and introducing a new resolution may break a lot of apps or split the young iPad market prematurely.

I would actually be surprised if the next iPad had a retina-type display. I would guess that there would be bump in processor spec, perhaps some cameras attached, the announcement of a complementary iPad-mini @ 7", and/or even dynamic LED backlighting for further power savings and AMOLED-esque contrast. But I would actually be shocked if the iPad-line had anything but a 1024x768 display for the next generation.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

The WeTab is nice but seriously 800 dollars way to much money.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

@ Kangal: Firstly, what are you doing editing your post to quote what I wrote after your original post? It makes it hard to follow the the flow of the discussion and see what new stuff has been written. Keep the edits for fixing mistakes and make a new post for adding new comments or clarifying your original points.

Now, to address the rest of your post, it is all based on a flawed assumption about viewing distance. I can tell you that I typically hold my N900 between 10-20 cm from my face; while I may struggle to see individual pixels at 20 cm, I can see them at 10, therefore >220 PPI clearly isn't too much since the N900 has 266 PPI and I can still see individual pixels.

At one point in your post you make the assumption that a 10" tablet would be used at 50cm, I don't have my netbook screen that far away when I'm actually using it (unless I'm watching video), so why on earth would I stretch my arm to hold a tablet at that distance. For a tablet computer, if the resolution is so high I can't see the detail I can bring it closer to my face, there is a point where increased resolution will be superfluous and it does depend on viewing distance, however most devices these days (generally excepting TVs) don't come close.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

famous toshiba plastic-fantastic design takes another !win

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

This one'c going to be a big post so I'll split it into 3 topics (size, bezel, screen)

@retsaw
Sorry about switching them around, I thought I covered enough ground that we wouldn't be discussing screen resolution and screen size anymore, and that I was enthusiastic to see your views on having a tablet running MIUI (with optimizations like I've listed).

Firstly: Size.

Has anyone here actually tried carrying an iPad around campus You notice after a while that it is very large and awkward and its actually very comfortable and small in your bag. However, the iPad may be awkward to carry by hand/grapsed in arm, it was actually to the point where it was bearable even when on foot for >25mins. And it certainly was better grasping it with a protector than continuously going into my bag to retrieve it. I've just graduated from the University of Queensland, and this is one of the largest campuses around fyi. So Steve Jobs, you've done a great thing on finding the largest size bearable, congratulations and good luck.
In addition, if you compare a tablet with 16:9 10" screen with thin bezel you see it is less wide but slightly longer than the iPad. But it's still slightly larger but within the confines of the iPad's size. I would love to grab a tablet I've described and do the whole "campus test", but money doesn't grow on trees here.

Yes I realize this point, but I already took it into consideration. Well I agree Apple are notorious when testing their devices, and strive to get what they believe is perfection. But remember this is their idea of perfection, yours may vary. Example Apple thinks the perfect phone is the iPhone 4, I disagree because I much prefer the Milestone/Milestone2 (qwerty + removable battery + removable storage). Now with bezels it's kind of trickky and it all depends on the individual. Individuals with longer hands and fatter thumbs, will have increased chance of touching the screen when grabbing the tablet in portrait -style. There's three ways of grabbing the tablet (sandwhich, newspaper and book).
Firstly if you grab it the way you would a sandwhich-rotated (thumbs are parallel to the index, displaying the anatomical snuff box) it would maximize comfort and grip but it would also touch a large portion of the touchscreen. So I would grab this if I were watching a movie in portrait mode where my thumbs would not hit any links/buttons.
Secondly the newspaper method (your thumb wedges the tablet to the joint of the 4th and 5th phalanges of your index, and stabilizes with the lower-medial palm) was how Apple designed the iPad to be used. What this grip does is allow as much contact with your thumb on the bezel as possible, while clenching the bottom with only your index finger support. I can tell you after reading some scientific articles in that position for a while (>50min) you get a cramp on the medial-side of that joint in your surgical-hand one hand (for me it was my right-hand because I have better control and power there utilizing the left hand to flip pages every so minutes that I unconciensely avoided this). This can be easily avoided if the user knows about it and switches hands to do the page flicking. Overall, the amount of grip to the tablet is medium because the bottom is the slightly more important side needs contact but it only has one point of grip since the palm merely stabilizes the grip instead of providing full grip support.
Thirdly the book method. Ever grab a small novel and the way the page opens in a weird angle after reading for some time? Well that's because you slowly and unknowingly shift your grip from the newspaper-way to the book-way. This is when the top side is gripped with the medial-side of the thumbs (like in the newspaper method but your hand rolled to the side), your thumb grabs the tablet with hard and durant part of your thumb while not using the thick bezel. The lower part of the tablet is gripped (not stabilized) with the middle palm and all the fingers in an array. What you achieve is better grip than the newspaper way but your thumbs now only require half the bezel. Also, the endurance of this grip is higher and this is due to the fact that your inner-palm grabs the side of the tablet to relieve the stress from the thumb and fingers. With a trimmed bezel on the landscape sides, the user must adopt this form of gripping in portrait-style, if they want to avoid touching the screen, and the advantages are apparent. You can test all these grip methods yourself on a tablet or a thin notebook/netbook to get a better idea of this philosophy.
So you see, the Apple isn't perfect for me because I very much value those last cm's of screen-estate from the sides, and this is true when you open (MS/Open)Office and start viewing large webpages.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Now, sorry that last post was long. I just wanted to give you as much info as possible why I prefer a trimmed bezel on the landscape-side (holding-portrait) and why so on a 10" screen (readability, less zooming needed, links are easier to press and avoid).

This third section will involve resolution density (PPI values for short).

I've already discussed this and my stance is that a perfect tablet is 1366x768 on a 10" tablet. However, I've discussed why a 1024x600 on a 10" tablet is low-resolution but sufficient for a tablet, and more desired over a medium-resolution 1024x600 7" tablet. So instead I'm just going to let you flip back one-page to read it, and I will reply to the comments.

Agreed. And like I've said before, this is a personal choice for everyone: do you prefer:
1) seeing things more easily, avoid hitting things easily and easily hit things but get slightly "chunky" graphics.
2) seeing things harder, able to accidentally hit things more often, able to miss hitting things more often but get "smoother" graphics.

Are you Superman, a dbz character or a cyborg of some sort?!?
edit: sorry I misread your comment, yes I would notice slight "chunkiness" of a 100PPI display that is 45cm from my eyes. I thought it was 123PPI at 57cm from your eyes (sorry I'm tired).

Yes the more pixel density the better. But remember there is a limitation: your eyes and the CPU+RAM+GPU on the device. The more pixels you have, the more power you need, the less battery life you will get. On the topic of AA, you are comparing Apples to Oranges!

You are free to say what ever you want, but I respectfully disagree and so does my justifications. Let's agree to disagree?

I see what you did there. But all kidding aside, a high PPI does nothing but make things look smooth. I would love a Retina-display, would I need it, no. And think of other advantages you get with medium-resolution over high-resolution... like cost.

Yes I also pondered about this. But remember Android has pinch-to-zoom (and a great one at that, besting the iOS). And if you think outside-the-box, Windows has that natively within the explorer and so does webrowsers like Firefox. Good point, but one we don't need to worry about in this case.

Woops, sorry. I didn't mean the aspect ratio, I meant the PPI, as long as the message was successfully understood. Btw the PPI comparison between those two would be 160PPI vs 196PPI, and yes the difference between the two is hard to distinguish when its used at the intended distance from eyes.

I love HD. As for standards; I own a Samsung Galaxy S. This discussion is about why standard def is "acceptable". I've stated before 1366x768 (720p) on 10" is what I want, but if I have to settle for 1024x600, that is acceptable to a person of my techh-calibre.

Agreed, iPad's 132PPI display is good/nice. About the next generation iPad, I agree with Capt'NCrunch

I don't know about you but I've applied to be in the army and been through all the physical examinations and they told me I've got 20/20 vision. I want to keep it that way, that is why I keep my laptop and phone at the distance they were meant to be used. The laptop is exactly an arms length, my SGS is half of that. I haven't seen many people in the public keep their phones closer than that; a distance of roughly 38cm (I just measured!). And so it is completely valid that a tablet be used at a distance of 40/50cm (any closer and you'll get square-eyes :D

I will reiterate, the more the pixels; the merrier. But you do get to a point where we get greedy and those extra pixels mean nothing to the user experience (eg iPhone4 vs Galaxy S resolutions). If you can see individual pixels on your N900 on the homescreen etc, you have dead-pixels, or get that thing out from your face, or you are a Superhero/villian (and I'm gald to meet you).

Agreed that high PPI allows you to peek closer into the device (as discussed in my first post). I don't have my iPad anymore (I sold that and my netbook for a Acer 4810TG... great upgrade), BUT when I hold the screen like I would when I used the iPad the distance is 46cm (I measured just now). At that distance my arms are extended but not fully. It's like 3/4 the distance I use my 14" laptop, and its comfortable, and this is the distance I used the iPad and seen people use the iPad (unless they're trying to draw a picture with their fingers, that's always amusing to watch).

Have I left any other areas of discussion?
If not can we discuss this now because I think its great and I think it would make a perfect experience on a tablet.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

You're right. Most of the gpu in that class seems to max out at 1080p, at least for accelerated video decoding.

This part, I'm not sure. Apple has the market size to 'make things common' and I'm sure Jobs is itching to see retina-class display on the iPad if the technology is available and cheap enough. It's VERY apparent when you open PDF or ebooks (Zinio) on an iPad that the current resolution is not good enough.

They've done it on the old iPhone (original: 480x320, retina display: 960x640).
I don't see why they wouldn't do this on the iPad (original 1024x768, "retina" display: ?)

(ps: sure, it shouldn't be called retina display if it has a different ppi; BUT, Jobs may quote different usage distance (eye to screen) to justify the lower ppi to still have the 'retina effect'. See what he did here? He didn't commit to 300+ ppi with the 'retina display' branding.)

I'm certain it will be facetime enabled and I'm also quite certain that 7" is still a long way off, since he just publicly swore it off a few days ago. I'm still hoping for a bump up to 1440x900 or 1600x1200 ;p).

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

You're assuming all the source material has dynamically resizable elements?
What about PDF and eBooks with small types?
High res images?

So, no, it doesn't just 'make things look smooth'. It shows more details.

Android's pinch to zoom besting iOS? huh? (please elaborate)
Windows has it in explorer? what?

This matters. Quite a lot.

Remember what's it like before the mousewheel? You have to stop what you're doing, move your cursor over to the scroll bar to manipulate the view, then go back to what you were doing.
Sure, you can use the keyboard on a desktop/notebook (another ui consistency issue here), but we're talking about tablets/handhelds where keyboard should primarily be used just for data entry and navigation/data consumption should be optimized for 100% fingers use.

Do worry about it...

Another fallacy here. You assume that the same materials will be consumed on both platform.

Just some common sense here, you'd find different type of content and formatting on paperback-sized books and magazines.

I've owned a 10" netbook with 1024x600. It's 'acceptable' for basic apps (email, some web, etc), but I'm not happy with it.

When you talk about readability and detail on small screens, you need to remember where the source materials come from. If we talk about single-line display or 160x160 pda/smartphones, and we put a 320x320 screen on them without changing the content, then of course the extra pixels mean nothing.

Moreover, I think 'nod to zoom' (that is, getting your face closer to the screen) is an acceptable maneuver on a large screen device, rather than having to tinker with UI elements (clicking to open a pop-up window with the zoomed-in text/image, double clicking, etc). It wouldn't cause as much discomfort to your eyes as the ultra-small fine text on a 3.5" 960x640 screen.

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

While it's certainly possible, I think it's improbable. The iPhone 4's bump relative to the iPhone was significant, but 960x480 is within the limits of mobile processors (the Tab has extremely similar hardware and is moving 1024x600).

The main problem that I see is the number of pixels and the [assumed] limits of mobile GPUs for displaying 3D at those resolutions (as is the case with the hardware accelerated iOS UI). I just don't see the technology at that point yet where it can move that many pixels smoothly. I should note, that video is a different beast entirely, and yes 1080p is easily done with todays mobile processors.

The only viable option that I could see to support very high resolutions would be hardware upscaling for 3D rendered content (similar to BluRay players) and quick software switching for high resolutions on [mostly] static displays. But this could have some unpleasant side effects without a solid algorithm driving the switching. Dunno.

But this is all based on the assumption that 3D at 1440x900 or 1600x1200 would be a bit much for a mobile CPU/GPU, considering desktops slow down considerably when displaying games at these resolutions. But if the assumption is wrong, then my argument falls flat.

Oh, and wouldn't it be 1440x1080 to maintain the 4:3 ratio? ;)

I have no doubt that the iPad will see a higher resolution, but I would be very surprised if it were the next iteration of the device. But who knows? I've been wrong before. I'd be pleasantly surprised if they pulled it off!

I've noticed that apple products generally iterate with one or two big feature changes and some software updates. The iPhone 4 brought the camera, screen, and processor upgrade. If I were to guess (having heard Steve Job's disdain towards 7" panels), I would say that the next iPad would have a front facing camera, some new software that integrates more tightly with the Macbook line, and perhaps a slightly refined form-factor.

Anyone want to take that bet?

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Hold the phone! I may be wrong after all! If you look at the spec for the SAMSUNG S5PC110 (the core that's found in the Galaxy Tab), it seems it can push 1000Mpixels/s theoretical!
http://www.samsung.com/global/busine...0&xFmly_id=229

If this is indeed true, and it can move 1.5-2M pixels at interactive rates, then yes, a retina-class display would be indeed possible on the second-gen iPad (1440x1080 == 1.55Mpixels). This is *really* interesting. I wonder what the bus' practical limits are?

Anybody wise care to share a little insight before I start eating this hat? :D

Also, if this is true, why aren't these SoCs in note/net/smartbook computers?!?!

Re: Toshiba Folio 100
 

Capt'n Crunch you may be interested in perusing this:
http://sean-the-electrofreak.blogspo...agon-1ghz.html
Read the chapter about "GPU Performance".

I think there is a huge gap between "theoretical polygons per sec" compared to "reasonable/sustained polygons per sec".
Eg, the Moto Droid can push out ~14M, but actually pushes out ~10M.
the Nexus One can push out ~22M, but actually pushes out ~11M.
According to that blog, the Galaxy S/Galaxy Tab can push out 90M, but actually pushes out ~28M (still the highest figure available).

The only rivals are the new QSD (HTC Desire Z) with the Adreno205 which comes close, and the Tegra 2 which slightly exceeds the SGX540 (in actual tests not theoretical tests). However, the graphics on the Galaxy Tab are roughly equal to the Original Droid because apparently Samsung's coders are chimps (seriously no GPS, force closures, lagging ... low quality software on hi-end hardware!)