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Retina iPad: confirmed. Also, I really doubt they are showing that iPad in landscape mode, which means that most likely the home button is gone. Not sure how I

Retina iPad: confirmed. Also, I really doubt they are showing that iPad in landscape mode, which means that most likely the home button is gone. Not sure how I feel about that one.

glhaynes 15y ago
Could it not just be turned 180 degrees (i.e. upside down)? The iPad can be held that way. Edit: I guess in that case, there'd be a camera there, assuming it hasn't moved.
- untog 15y ago
  Well it could be, but why on earth would Apple would choose to show an iPad in that kind of orientation?
bstar77 15y ago
Gizmodo did some investigating and determined that the icon spacing is consistent with portrait mode.
- roc 15y ago
  Their article ends with: "We tried to match the portrait iPad 2 and iPad 3, but we couldn't. The spacing is wrong no matter how many icons you put on the dock. The reflection intersect the icon's edge in the wrong place no matter where you position it." And after studying my own iPad, I concur. It's definitely closer in portrait than landscape, but there are still enough differences that clearly more variables are in play. (The wallpaper has likely changed, the dock's background image has likely changed, the spacing has changed, etc.)
fab13n 15y ago
> I really doubt they are showing that iPad in landscape mode They would, if showing it in portrait mode would have spoiled a design innovation.
roc 15y ago
For me, removing the Home button would turn an automatic upgrade into a wait-and-see. I've had too many bad experiences with capacitive buttons on everything from smartphones to laptops to keyboards. Not to mention the inherent problem of a capacitive button that lives on a bezel that people use to grasp the device. There'd be no grazing the home button while turning or moving your hand positions without possibly-activating that button. Absent some bullet-proof pressure-sensing technology, it would be incredibly frustrating. So mark me down for hoping that the "touch" bit is either an allusion to some haptic feedback technology, or some pressure-sensing technology, or even just an ad-copy play off "see" that people are reading too much into.
- chrisdroukas 15y ago
  <speculation> In all likelihood, multitasking is probably a 'swipe up' gesture from the bottom of the screen now, similar to what Apple is doing with the trackpad in Mountain Lion's notification system. I'm imagining a WebOS-style gesture, but the swipe action is from the screen edge, not the bezel. </speculation> I agree, though. Capacitive buttons are awful, especially on an iPad where there's so much room for an accidental press.
  - zephjc 15y ago
    iPad already does that (off by default): four-finger swipe up shows the list of apps, and four-finger swipe left or right takes you to other apps. Edit: and I think four-finger pinch takes you back to the home screen. The only real use for the Home button on an iPad now is for taking screenshots (remapping double-click the Power button could probably replace this)
    - ConstantineXVI 15y ago
      Trouble with the pinch gesture is the iPhone. The gesture is impossible to use with one hand, and even with two hands, it's still rather awkward on a small (sub-7") screen. Remove the iPhone home button in favor of this gesture and you ruin the user experience. Leave the home button and now we've broken consistency with the iPad (which is one of the main selling points on the iOS ecosystem). Not saying they can't drop the home button, they'd just need a more practical way to do it (for example, webOS/BBX/Win8-style edge swipes)
ctdonath 15y ago
I'd be happy. A 4-finger pinch would do nice, so long as it's reliable. The home button is too LOUD, distraction in quiet settings.
ajross 15y ago
Why do people insist on using Apple marketing terms for what are commodity components? It's a ~300DPI LCD. Apple didn't invent it, they just bought it from someone. Ditto for all the people talking about the performance of the "A5 CPU".
- jarcoal 15y ago
  "300DPI LCD" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue :)
  - ajross 15y ago
    "300dpi iPad confirmed" would have been clearer, more correct, less marketing polluted, and fit within the same number of message bytes. Believe it or not there are people in the world outside Apple's products who understand dots per inch but not what a "retina" display is.
    - lazerwalker 15y ago
      Say what you will about Apple polluting the landscape with marketing speak, but I think there's semantic value in thinking of it as a simple high-res display instead of a "300dpi LCD". Talking about it as a 300dpi display focuses on the technical implementation; calling it "retina" shifts the focus to the practical advantage, which is "it looks a lot better". Unless you're a developer, it doesn't make a lick of difference to you whether it's 300dpi or 302dpi. What matters is that the display is either "pixelly" or "not pixelly". "Retina" may be a silly-sounding name, but I think the idea is just fine.
      - ajross 15y ago
        Would you apply it to other devices then? Do the Galaxy Nexus or Droid RAZR have "Retina Displays"? Clearly not, because that's an Apple trademark. So I don't see what your point is. The apple-only term would be better than the generic if it wasn't an apple-only term. Well, sure. I just don't understand the desire on the part of Apple fans to embrace what are transparent attempts at rebranding generic components. In a non-technical environment sure. But on Hacker News? Really?
morrow 15y ago
I noticed that the bubbles had a unique-looking arrangement in the march 7 announcement photo, so I (crudely) compared it to an iPad 2 with that wallpaper in both landscape and portrait modes. Doing so seems to indicate that it is indeed oriented in portait mode: http://imgur.com/a/gbjyr http://imgur.com/a/gbjyr

Retina iPad: confirmed. Also, I really doubt they are showing that iPad in landscape mode, which means that most likely the home button is gone. Not sure how I feel about that one.

glhaynes 15y ago

Could it not just be turned 180 degrees (i.e. upside down)? The iPad can be held that way. Edit: I guess in that case, there'd be a camera there, assuming it hasn't moved.

untog 15y ago
Well it could be, but why on earth would Apple would choose to show an iPad in that kind of orientation?

bstar77 15y ago

Gizmodo did some investigating and determined that the icon spacing is consistent with portrait mode.

roc 15y ago
Their article ends with: "We tried to match the portrait iPad 2 and iPad 3, but we couldn't. The spacing is wrong no matter how many icons you put on the dock. The reflection intersect the icon's edge in the wrong place no matter where you position it." And after studying my own iPad, I concur. It's definitely closer in portrait than landscape, but there are still enough differences that clearly more variables are in play. (The wallpaper has likely changed, the dock's background image has likely changed, the spacing has changed, etc.)

fab13n 15y ago

> I really doubt they are showing that iPad in landscape mode They would, if showing it in portrait mode would have spoiled a design innovation.

roc 15y ago

For me, removing the Home button would turn an automatic upgrade into a wait-and-see. I've had too many bad experiences with capacitive buttons on everything from smartphones to laptops to keyboards. Not to mention the inherent problem of a capacitive button that lives on a bezel that people use to grasp the device. There'd be no grazing the home button while turning or moving your hand positions without possibly-activating that button. Absent some bullet-proof pressure-sensing technology, it would be incredibly frustrating. So mark me down for hoping that the "touch" bit is either an allusion to some haptic feedback technology, or some pressure-sensing technology, or even just an ad-copy play off "see" that people are reading too much into.

chrisdroukas 15y ago
<speculation> In all likelihood, multitasking is probably a 'swipe up' gesture from the bottom of the screen now, similar to what Apple is doing with the trackpad in Mountain Lion's notification system. I'm imagining a WebOS-style gesture, but the swipe action is from the screen edge, not the bezel. </speculation> I agree, though. Capacitive buttons are awful, especially on an iPad where there's so much room for an accidental press.
- zephjc 15y ago
  iPad already does that (off by default): four-finger swipe up shows the list of apps, and four-finger swipe left or right takes you to other apps. Edit: and I think four-finger pinch takes you back to the home screen. The only real use for the Home button on an iPad now is for taking screenshots (remapping double-click the Power button could probably replace this)
  - ConstantineXVI 15y ago
    Trouble with the pinch gesture is the iPhone. The gesture is impossible to use with one hand, and even with two hands, it's still rather awkward on a small (sub-7") screen. Remove the iPhone home button in favor of this gesture and you ruin the user experience. Leave the home button and now we've broken consistency with the iPad (which is one of the main selling points on the iOS ecosystem). Not saying they can't drop the home button, they'd just need a more practical way to do it (for example, webOS/BBX/Win8-style edge swipes)

ctdonath 15y ago

I'd be happy. A 4-finger pinch would do nice, so long as it's reliable. The home button is too LOUD, distraction in quiet settings.

ajross 15y ago

Why do people insist on using Apple marketing terms for what are commodity components? It's a ~300DPI LCD. Apple didn't invent it, they just bought it from someone. Ditto for all the people talking about the performance of the "A5 CPU".

jarcoal 15y ago
"300DPI LCD" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue :)
- ajross 15y ago
  "300dpi iPad confirmed" would have been clearer, more correct, less marketing polluted, and fit within the same number of message bytes. Believe it or not there are people in the world outside Apple's products who understand dots per inch but not what a "retina" display is.
  - lazerwalker 15y ago
    Say what you will about Apple polluting the landscape with marketing speak, but I think there's semantic value in thinking of it as a simple high-res display instead of a "300dpi LCD". Talking about it as a 300dpi display focuses on the technical implementation; calling it "retina" shifts the focus to the practical advantage, which is "it looks a lot better". Unless you're a developer, it doesn't make a lick of difference to you whether it's 300dpi or 302dpi. What matters is that the display is either "pixelly" or "not pixelly". "Retina" may be a silly-sounding name, but I think the idea is just fine.
    - ajross 15y ago
      Would you apply it to other devices then? Do the Galaxy Nexus or Droid RAZR have "Retina Displays"? Clearly not, because that's an Apple trademark. So I don't see what your point is. The apple-only term would be better than the generic if it wasn't an apple-only term. Well, sure. I just don't understand the desire on the part of Apple fans to embrace what are transparent attempts at rebranding generic components. In a non-technical environment sure. But on Hacker News? Really?

morrow 15y ago

I noticed that the bubbles had a unique-looking arrangement in the march 7 announcement photo, so I (crudely) compared it to an iPad 2 with that wallpaper in both landscape and portrait modes. Doing so seems to indicate that it is indeed oriented in portait mode: http://imgur.com/a/gbjyr http://imgur.com/a/gbjyr