There is a lot of rumors going around about what Apple will launch tomorrow. I think it is safe to say Apple will be launching a tablet device, but what kind of features will it have?
1. Extremely long battery life with 3G/CDMA disabled (more on that later)
Apple has been working on form fitting batteries for quite some time with the currently shipping MacBook Pros and Apple iPhones. These batteries are custom made to fit inside these enclosures and are built into the design rather than making them removable. This allows Apple to further think about packing more cells into a small space and not having to worry about designing a lock mechanism for batteries seen on other phones and laptops. Sadly this means you have to take it to the genius bar to get it replaced. That being said the Apple Tablet will be thin and contain a screen large enough that you have plenty of volume to pack a nice battery into. If I had to peg a time on battery life I’ll say 8 to 10 hours of browsing time.
2. Persistant Wireless Connection
I had previously written about the JooJoo explaining how it will fail with one reason being a lack of a persistent wireless connection. We are in an age where if a device can not access the internet easily and consistently it fails. Apple knows this and will bundle 802.11g/n on this device along with an optional data connection. My prediction for this is a built in 3G connection and on revision two a 4g. With 3g being a worldwide standard Apple could ship one standard model of device with unique firmware depending on the country its being sold in. 3G browsing is very expensive on battery life, I believe it uses nearly 40% more battery than browsing over 802.11 so expect Apple to make tweaks to the Operating System to quickly allow users to toggle between connections.
3. Verizon
AT&T’s exclusive contract with the iPhone doesn’t run out till June, but that does not apply to this device. Expect it to ship with a the dual band chip which isnt currently shipping, but will be by the time this device hits the market. It allows Apple to get maximum distribution on every network possible and get this device everywhere. Apple needs to bridge the gap until 4G is everywhere which wont be for 1 to 2 years.
4. Video Conferencing
I previously covered this in my article about what is coming to the iPhone in 2010. Video conferencing will be on this device. It will have enough power, cameras are small enough and cheap enough throwing them in is not expensive. It also opens up opportunities in the UI to do some cool stuff such as Facial Log In, picture taking ability and even video recording. Expect iChat to finally hit the iPhone OS with this announcement.
5. Nvidia
Manufacturing GPUs is tough, its why Apple doesn’t get into this space when they design motherboards. Nvidia will be coming back into the fold of Apple products after getting booted out of future MacBooks. In this device will be a product of the Tegra chipset giving the tablet enough horsepower to handle Web Video and gaming without nuking the battery life.
6. High Resolution
Sony has been shipping a laptop for awhile with a high res 10.1 inch screen. I expect Apple to use this in their first model, its 1366 x 768 inside a 10 inch space. Amazing. It will allow the tablet to display 720 p video which lines up with their push on iTunes for HD video as well as YouTube HD content.
I can’t wait for tomorrow.
