iPad Development
August 23rd, 2011 at 1:23 PM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
As Apple continues to ramp up to the release of their third generation iPad, the company is starting to enlist some real heavyweights when it comes to component construction. Reports are continuing to surface that the iPad 3 will be released next year as opposed to this fall. That is a bit of a set back for the computer giant as Apple had originally wanted to release the newest iPad alongside their newest iteration of the iPhone. Component problems were the culprit for the company to moving back its expected release date, but it appears that a spring 2012 release is eminently doable.
In preparation for next year, reports say that Apple has already secured three primary LCD makers and two different backlight-unit suppliers. The main problem with the iPad 3 has been the ability to get the quality to actually approach what Apple refers to as “Retina” display, but with the signing on of Samsung, Sharp and the biggest LCD panel supplier being LG, it appears Apple has found a combination of manufacturers its comfortable with.
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August 19th, 2011 at 10:01 AM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
Rumors of the iPad 3 continue to be churned out on an almost daily basis, but the rumors that are floating out there today don’t seem to be all that rosy for those expecting the next generation iPad to be available later this year.
While it has long been mentioned that Apple would like to be able to provide a “Retina” display on the iPad 3, producers of the components the iPad 3 will use are having a problem getting up to snuff. Producing a screen that has actual Retina display capabilities is proving so difficult that at least one company has actually been decertified as producers of the LCD for the next generation of iPads. Chimei Innolux (CMI) is thought to be one of the producers of LCD screens for the current iPad 3 but the increased resolution demands of the iPad 3.
It appears to be that the design problems that are floating around Apple wanting to put out a screen that has 2048×1536 resolution might be the final straw on the camel’s back when it comes to being able to meet the rumored launch date of October of this year. The Wall Street Journal has now put out a report that seems to back up the rumors that the iPad 3 will indeed have the even more high definition Retina display, but because companies are having problems producing it, the newest device won’t be available to the masses until early in 2012.
However, the Wall Street Journal also seems to shed some light on just where all these rumors of the release being sooner, rather than later are coming from. According to that newspaper Apple is planning to release a limited “trial run” in October of 2011 that will allow the company to see just how the Retina display goes over with their consumers.
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August 15th, 2011 at 11:29 AM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
Being both an avid sports fan and an iPad geek it is hard for me to figure out what has gotten me more revved up as the summer winds down. On the one hand there was the almost hourly rumors flying around about who would be moved and where in the run up of the Major League Baseball trade deadline. On the other hand is the daily whispers that continue to come about when the next iPad and iPhone will be hitting the market.
While there have been a ton of rumors about the fact that the iPad 3 is going to be coming out this fall along with what is commonly referred to as the iPhone 4S, the newest rumblings seem to not only be backing up a fall of 2011 release but also the month it will be hitting shelves. According to several reports, both the iPhone 5 or 4S and the iPad 3 will go into full production in the first week of September and will start being offered to consumers in October.
Here’s where the story gets a bit interesting though. Reports have been circulating for months now that we can expect the iPad 3 to be hitting shelves this fall, but many industry analysts are also now claiming that the iPad 3 will need the new A6 chip in order to run properly and to the height of its possibilities. The hitch here is that rumors don’t have this new A6 chip being produced until early 2012. The chip of course will lead to faster processors and has long been thought to be getting released in time for the iPhone 6 so that device will blow away other smart phones. But if this particular chip is also slated to be put into the iPad 3 then something is clearly just not adding up. The news of this particular chip is also interesting because TSMC is supposedly the company that will contracted to make the new chip, replacing long time Apple partner Samsung who has been producing the A4 and A5 chips for years now.
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July 8th, 2011 at 4:42 PM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
Since the invention of the iPhone and the iPad there have been people who have been trying to make the devices able to be used outside the admittedly stringent regulations of Apple. The ability to untether these devices from the Apple store has been called Jailbreaking and while there are some definite downsides to this process there are plenty of people who want to be able to use a jailbroken device and because of this there are plenty of people who are working around the clock in order to find the newest way to jailbreak the newest devices.
First of all there is a new jailbreak available for almost all the iOS devices as hackers have found a way to untether the device using the iPad or iPhone’s mobile safari browser and an apparent weakness in the devices’ PDF reader applications. This particular jailbreak can be used even on the Apple’s newest devices such as the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 (will it work on the iPad 2 Plus as well? We’ll have to see this fall.) Of course the main thing you need to be able to have on the iOS devices is that you must have either a 4.3.3 operating system on the iPad, iPad 2 and the third and fourth generation iPod touches. This particular jailbreak also works with iOS 4.2.6 through 4.2.8 for the CDMA iPhone 4.
This particular jailbreak, through the site jailbreakme.com is being touted as safe and completely reversible if people decide they want to go back to being tethered to Apple’s services. Still, jailbreaking a device will void Apple’s warranty so you should take every factor into consideration when looking into doing this to one of your devices.
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July 8th, 2011 at 1:35 PM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
There have been plenty of rumors about when the next iPad is going to come out and what exactly it will be called. We even alluded to the fact that what was once known as the iPad 3 is set to have a display that will set the other tablets on their ear. The high resolution screens that are being promised for the iPad 3 may actually be included or they may not quite hit the levels currently talked about but one thing is clear is that there will be yet another version of the iPad and it now appears that it will be coming by the end of this year.
Of course there does appear to be a few changes that weren’t necessarily expected including the name which appears to be the iPad 2 Plus as opposed to the iPad 3. What this means for the future of iPad owners is still unclear but it could mean that Apple is looking to make their own devices obsolete at a pretty historic rate. If the iPad 2 Plus is indeed going to be the precursor to the iPad 3 then it appears this fall’s version of the iPad will be more of a bridge than the next step in the evolution of the device.
The reports that the iPad 2 Plus is coming are due in large part to industry analysts who are seeing Apple asking component makers for quotes on how much it would cost to put together the new iPads. These component makers have told these same industry analysts that the iPad 2 Plus will indeed have some serious upgrades in the screen resolution. While the company didn’t both to improve the iPad 2’s resolution, they did make some subtle changes like a lighter weight and of course the cameras that so many other tablets have been sporting. There are a few reports that now that there is going to be a third iPad, the screen resolution will be improved from the current 132 pixels per inch, to 250 to 300ppi. Of course the same industry analysts are also saying they cannot say for certain that the level of improvement of the resolution is something that can’t be confirmed until Apple starts actually hyping their new product and people begin to know when the device is going to be coming to stores.
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June 15th, 2011 at 1:51 PM EST | by Oliver VanDervoort
With the iPad 2 just hitting the market a few months ago, it should come as no surprise that the public just wants more and more and more. Now rumors of an iPad 3 have become more than just rumors and plenty of people are starting to turn their attention to what will actually be in these new devices. Apple moves quicker than most when it comes to improving their products and while there are a number of different new features that will most likely be included in the third iteration of the iPad, the one making the most news is the supposed screen resolution.
According to several different sources it appears that the screen resolution for the iPad 3 could actually be about twice what the resolution is currently. All of these rumors popped up because of a couple of people managing to get a look at the screen resolution settings of a Twitter framework – of all things – and that little tip has started a bit of a tidal wave of speculation.
While current screen resolution settings are currently sitting at a very respectable 768 x 1024 the framework of the Twitter app makes it appear as though the images will appear with dimensions of 1536 x 2048. This number of pixels would be unheard of on any of the existing tablet PCs and it is the main reason that there is so much speculation about what the new iPad 3 is going to be doing. While increasing the screen resolution to twice what it currently is may seem like quite a tall order, but it is actually not something that is completely unheard of, especially when dealing with Apple. When introducing the “Retina” display on the iPhone 4, Apple had to jack up the screen resolution of their phones from 480 x 320 to 960 x 640 with an increase of pixels of 326 per inch.
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