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The problem that Apple faces here is one of fragmentation. The UI on the 9.7" iPad isn't just going to scale down to a 7" without any problems -- look at the di
by mortenjorck 16y ago
The problem that Apple faces here is one of fragmentation. The UI on the 9.7" iPad isn't just going to scale down to a 7" without any problems -- look at the difference between using the portrait and landscape keyboards, and now imagine that kind of difference in physical scale applied to everything else in the UI.
So, that means they'll have to retool the iOS UI conventions once again. Which means a third target. Universal apps will now have to have usable interfaces on iPhones, big iPads, and small iPads. It seems like a lot of effort to support something bridging a relatively small gap, and I don't think Apple is going to see that as necessary until the tablet market has matured a lot more.
- cletus 16y agoI don't really agree on scaling down the UI. After all, the iPad's 10" UI is almost identical to the 3.5" iPhone's. I see no issues with using a 5x4 (or even 6x4) grid of icons on a 7" model. Also if the iPhone can manage a keyboard, a 7" tablet surely can too. That all being said, I still don't believe Apple is planning a 7" model.
- glhaynes 16y agoIt's not just the home screen/keyboard UIs, though, it's the UI of the apps themselves. Many iPhone apps written for a 4" screen don't feel at all right on a 10" iPad screen (though admittedly some do without much tweaking, like the home screen), so lots of apps would need to come in iPhone/Big iPad/Little iPad versions. Of course, at some point, developers don't care enough to tune for each and every size, so you might end up with a decrease in general app quality. On that note, it'll be interesting to see how Android deals with this. There's certainly a place for 7" tablets... and for 15" tablets, too.