{"id":310,"date":"2012-07-11T03:57:35","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T03:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/?p=310"},"modified":"2012-07-19T14:42:35","modified_gmt":"2012-07-19T14:42:35","slug":"device-sizes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/?p=310","title":{"rendered":"Device Sizes"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been blog chatter over this since Tim Bray posted his blog entry<\/a>, and this is something I have had strong opinions about since the Newton, and even earlier (remember Steve Ciarcia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lunchbox CP\/M computer in Byte? It seems highly unlikely that anyone does).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about portable devices, and I have my doubts that a 17″ laptop would count, just as an Osborne 1 or early Compaq didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really count, although people still lugged them around. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about how you carry them – a portable device can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take a hand out of action; that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s axiomatic. Which means that we can use shirt pockets\/trouser pockets, which are roughly the same size, and correspond closely to a small purse for size. Everyone can be assumed to have one of these available to carry devices. The next size up is a suit jacket pocket or a pocket in cargo trousers, etc. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m ignoring back pockets in jeans, as we still shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sit on computing devices, for more reasons than just fragility (as a certain sub on PC Pro should know). Once we cross that mark, you need a bag (or Scottevest) to carry any larger device, and that is less than optimal for portability.<\/p>\n

So truly portable devices are iPhone size (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll naturally accept some of the slightly larger Androids in this capacity, although we could debate the exact ideal size). The original Newton MP100 was the largest that could (barely) be carried in a jacket pocket. These tablets are great, and anyone can carry one: but they are best controlled more like a remote than a keyboard. Jacket pockets are the province of 7″ tablets, like the Kindles. Both sizes are viable, and I can see situations where someone might pick both, or just one; not everyone wants voice comms, and a Bluetooth headset covers that adequately.<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it; end of story. Nothing else is portable in any meaningful sense.<\/p>\n

The genuine iPad is semi-portable, at best.\u00c2\u00a0if you’ve ever seen someone talking into an iPad held to their ear, or filming with one, you’ll know that tablets really aren’t suitable for some things that they are theoretically capable of. It (10″ iPad) is still the best size for a tablet, because if fits the DynaBook spec perfectly, although the software falls a little short (go use Google, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a PDF of the original paper out there). When you read the document, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see that DynaBook was a landscape device, 10″ diagonal as the optimal size, with a keyboard; the on-screen keyboard of the iPad doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t breach the spec, in my judgement, although one of the Logitech keyboard covers makes it much closer. It works to simulate two pages of a book in landscape orientation. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the question: does anyone actually use an iPad in portrait orientation? Certainly I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, and very few of the apps I have written are even capable of displaying portrait mode.<\/p>\n

So where 10\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 iPads sit covers the small, semi portable slot perfectly well, exactly as it has always been sold, for people sitting on sofas or in armchairs. People who get steamed up about the various options don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the market options, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as simple as that. A 7\u00e2\u20ac\u009d iPad would be a new niche, much more of a pure content consumption device, as both the Amazon and Google tablets are intended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been blog chatter over this since Tim Bray posted his blog entry, and this is something I have had strong opinions about since the Newton, and even earlier (remember Steve Ciarcia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lunchbox CP\/M computer in Byte? It seems highly unlikely that anyone does).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paullynch.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}