The minute Apple launches one hotly rumored device, be it the iPad Air or Retina iPad mini, a new rumored device races up to take its place in the mill. Enter a 13-inch “iPad Pro” – a concept that leapt to every geek’s mind the moment they heard Apple adopt that other MacBook brand. And since Apple’s already gone down in size, where’s left to go but up? Now I’m not so much interested in the rumor – there will always be rumors – but in how Apple could realize such an object. In how iOS could be scaled to that screen size, and what it would provide beyond the existing, 9.7-inch iPad, or the 11-inch or 13-inch MacBook Air.
After debating the ins and outs of how Apple might accomplish the iPad Pro, he concludes with:
Whether or not Apple will or even should make a 13-inch iPad Pro remains to be seen. Certainly a lot of artists, designers, photographers, maybe even gamers would love as big an iPad as Apple can provide. Regardless, increasing screen size is a painful thing. If Apple does indeed go to a 5-inch iPhone or a 13-inch iPad next year or at some point in the future, they’ll have to figure out the best way to handle it for them, for their customers, and for their developers. They may even have to re-visit the concept of how apps manifest on the screen. If and when they do, will it still be one step at a time? With the iPhone’s increase in size preface another increase in density? Will the iPad’s increase in density preface an increase in size? Or will Apple rip the resolution bandage off all at once?
I would likely snap up an iPad Pro in an instant.
Whilst in years gone by, I couldn’t imagine travelling without a full-fledged OS X laptop, I’m increasingly finding that the apps and features on my iPad allow me to accomplish the tasks as well, and in some cases better. Tools such as Jump Desktop and Prompt give me full server access, the Chrome browser gives me all my sites and bookmarks, 1Password has all my passwords and access details, Dropbox has all my files and EverNote has all my notes, images and snippets of code. Most of my favourite enterprise apps now have excellent mobile apps (way better than their desktop ones, if they exist) – Jive, IBM Connections, IBM Sametime etc. Add in great Twitter clients like Twitterrific and Tweetbot, and cool and powerful editors such as Editorial and I really do have my office with me wherever I go.
So if the more extreme of Rene’s ideas did come to fruition and we had a 13” iPad Pro with 4K display, I really do think that the days of trawling round with multiple kilos of keyboard, USB, SSD, trackpad and the like would be over. We shall see!
A few days ago I promised a series of posts covering the tools that I use in Collaboration Matters on a day-to-day basis.
Some will be must-have applications, others will be gadgets or accessories and others just a bit left-field! All take an important role in how I go about doing business. I’m calling this series ‘MyTools’…
At previous conferences you may have seen me using the ever popular Zoom H4N digital recorder to record snippets of audio or entire podcast episodes. The Zoom gets amazing quality stereo audio, runs for hours on a set of AAs and allows a wide range of adjustments for audio quality, tone and recording size. However, it’s both too heavy and rather too bulky to carry in a backpack on a regular basis.
So I’ve always looking for a more lightweight replacement that retains the audio quality and flexibility. Back at the start of the year, I found one in the form of the RØDE iXY mic for iPhone and iPad.
RØDE iXY
This retains the dual recording mics of the Zoom, but dispenses with the rest of the recording hardware in favour of using the iPhone or iPad that you already carry. This significantly reduces the weight and bulk of the device and thus means that I can carry the mic all-day every-day. Just as the smartphone becomes ‘the camera you always carry’, the iXY means that iPhone is also the high-quality digital recorder I always have with me.
The iXY package contains four key components:
The dual microphone accessory, including 30-pin dock connector and LED to indicate recording activity
A small but robust case for the microphone including clip to allow attaching to a belt or backpack
A foam wind muffler
User Guide containing a complimentary download key for the RØDE Rec digital recording app
At this juncture you’ll have spotted one of the key points to note – the RØDE iXY currently ships only with a 30-pin dock connector, so is ideal for connecting to iPhones up to the 4S and the iPad 3 and early models. It does work with the Lightning to 30-pin dock connector and so can be used on the iPhone 5/5s/5c, the iPad Mini and the iPad 4, however this isn’t ideal. RØDE say that they are working on a Lightning-equipped model of the iXY so this issue should be resolved soon.
RØDE iXY on iPad and iPhone
So what does the iXY give you? A really high quality recording device that is excellent at capturing both music and vocals at a short- to medium-range, with exception noise cancellation abilities. A great example of this was my recording of podcast-quality interviews at the Connect 2013 conference. Nothing unusual about that, except that those recordings were made in the Kimonos bar during the final evening of the conference, whilst Karaoke was being ‘sung’ about 3m away! Truly, the recordings were both clear and suffered from remarkably little background noise.
It’s a tiny and beautifully-manufatured piece of hardware that records full 24-bit 96khz stereo audio. The mic weighs just 41g.
Whilst the iXY can be used with any iOS recording app, it does work best with the RØDE Rec app. This app combines professional audio features with an intuitive and easy-to-learn interface, making it straightforward to record, edit and publish broadcast-quality audio directly from your iOS device.
The app features real-time waveforms, a pretty cool suite of non-linear editing capabilities and powerful EQ and gain controls. It even allows sharing to the popular social networks direct from the device. The app itself works with the onboard mic in the iPhone/iPad as well as the iXY so if you regularly record audio from your device, this might be a useful purchase in its own right. RØDE Rec costs $5.99/£3.99 from the App Store if you don’t have an iXY.
The iXY costs $199/£149 from Amazon and other retailers.
I’ve found it to be an excellent investment, using it for podcasts as well as for recording customer reference interviews, meetings and workshops. In addition, using a mount that I’ll mention on this blog next week, I’ve often attached my iPhone and this mic to the top of a DSLR or camcorder to capture an additional audio source when recording video.
I’d definitely recommend the iXY for anyone that has a suitable device quipped with a 30-pin dock connector and needs to record quality audio on the move. If you have a newer iPhone or iPad then I’d suggest waiting for a few more weeks for the Lightning-equipped iXY. Either way, it’s a great device.
But the Surface ends up proving the wisdom of Apple’s limitations. The iPad may not allow you to do everything, but Apple has made sure that it’s great at what it can do. The Surface, by contrast, will let you do everything you want. The problem is that you’ll have no fun doing it.
Samsung Electronics Co. won a legal ruling after a U.K. judge said its Galaxy tablets aren’t “cool” enough to be confused with Apple Inc.’s iPad.
The design for three Galaxy tablets doesn’t infringe Apple’s registered design, Judge Colin Birss said today in London in a court fight between the world’s two biggest makers of smartphones. Consumers aren’t likely to get the tablet computers mixed up, he said.
Judge Colin Birss said, the Galaxy tablets “do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design.”
The Galaxy tablets “do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design,” Birss said. “They are not as cool.”
In all the excitement about IBM’s announcement of formal support for Lotus Traveler (and thus Lotus Domino/Notes mail, calendaring and personal contacts) on the Apple iPad on Tuesday at the DNUG conference, I somehow missed this rather important statement:
“Several IBM collaboration products now offer browser based support of the iPad including Lotus Connections and Lotus Quickr for social networking and team collaboration and Lotus Sametime for instant messaging,” IBM said.
Now I haven’t seen any updates to formal product announcements, and Monday’s Lotus Quickr 8.5 for Portal announcement didn’t mention the iPad either, so I can only assume that this information came via interviews with IBM execs and/or press relations people.
So I wonder, do we now have formal support for Lotus Connections, Lotus Quickr and Lotus Sametime on the iPad, or is this just suggesting that the apps work on this platform (as they do in most cases)?
