Wishes for the Apple iTablet

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few months, you no doubt know that tomorrow will be a potentially very exciting day for everyone that has been dreaming of an Apple tablet. Our buddy Steve Jobs will be unveiling something new at 10 AM PST at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, California. The invites went out last week for the invitation only event, offering only a vague teaser that asked reporters to “Come see our latest creation.”

Even with the never ending juggernaut of hype that we’ve all had to put up with, Dave Rees and I have been praying to the gadget gods that tomorrow will FINALLY reveal the iTablet, iSlate, iPad, iWhateverTheHeckItWillBeCalled. We plan to do a dual review as soon as we can each get our hands on one. In anticipation of tomorrow’s news, we’re listing our top wishes for this fabled device.

Dave’s comments are in Blue italics and mine are in Black.

I’m going to start out by talking about what I hope the tablet will be like physically. I’m guessing that I want it to be smaller than most people will. Some of the rumors have said it will have a 10 inch display and that sounds too big to me. I imagine a footprint in the ball park of 7 x 4 inches and a thickness no more than the iPhone 3GS.

Form Factor: Thin and light. It needs to be a Touch on steriods. Imagine 4 touches setting two by two, making it more or less 8″ wide and 4″ tall. It should be no thicker than a iPhone, leaning more towards the thickness of the Touch. It should weigh less than 1.5 lbs (aka half the weight of the MacBook Air).

I think we’re pretty much hoping for the same thing so far…

Material Types: Aluminum and glass. Apple’s tablet, being an all purpose device, needs to be rugged enough to take with you most everywhere you go. And let’s face it, the plastic back of the iPhone is less than indestructible. It should be as if you ripped off the screen of a MacBook Pro (but smaller).

I’m hoping for the same type of glass display as the iPhone and Touch, but I don’t want it to have a chrome bezel or a chrome back. And guess what? I actually won’t mind if it has a plastic back as long as it’s rugged and not all shiny. Yeah, I don’t like chrome or shiny plastic. Sue me.

One thing I’m really wishing for, but have pretty much zero confidence that my wish will come true is… buttons! What I’m thinking here is that the tablet needs a couple gaming control buttons because I want to be able to play all kinds of games on it.

Operating System: It needs to have an OS somewhere between the iPhone/Touch and Snow Leopard. Its OS (and corresponding chipset) needs to be robust enough to do high end games, multi-task, and some ‘real’ computer work. But not be so top heavy that the device bogs down.

I think we’re on the same page here too. Especially with the multi-tasking comment. But I don’t want it to be a Macbook with no keyboard. No Modbook please. I really wish that the tablet will have access to the existing app store and be able to run the same apps that already run on the iPhone and Touch. I can also wish that Apple isn’t so freaking anal with this device and allows developers to go crazy and not lock everything tighter than a drum. Pipe dream? Sadly, probably.

As far as what will power the tablet, I’m hoping it will be very capable. It has to be fast, but at the same time it has to have a crazy long battery life. If I have to plug it in every 4-5hrs, I won’t be a happy camper.

Specifications: Chip speed and capacity. The device needs to be zippy and have enough space to hold a ton of music, movies, applications, documents, ebooks, etc. Once again, if this multi-purpose device is going to be ones constant companion, it needs the capacity to hold my world within. Like the latest iPhone 3GS and 3rd generation Touch, all tasks need to happen almost instantaneously.

At least 64gb would be nice and while we’re at it, throw in a memory card slot for some expansion. I’ll take a couple USB ports too please 🙂

Connectivity: Choices. Obviously it will need WiFi. Plus I would like to see the ability to choose whether or not to have (affordable) 3G service (aka not be mandated or tied to a carrier). Along with having that capability, service at a reasonable monthly cost is a must as well.

This is where I get worried. I would be more than happy if all it has is WiFi. I don’t want or care if it has 3G. I say this mainly because we don’t have 3G coverage in my area. If we did, I might have a different opinion. I just fear that if it is tied to a carrier, that it will require a multi-year contract and insane monthly service fees. So, just give me WiFi please.

All that being said, cost is an issue as well. If Apple’s iTablet costs too much it will forever remain a niche product for the Mac-fanboys. If Apple wants the iPad to reach all facets of society, like the iPhone has, they must make it priced for the common person during lean times.

I agree with you. The rumored $1000 price tag that we’ve all seen mentioned is crazy in my opinion. Yeah, I’ll buy one anyway, but that’s because I’m slightly deranged and I want to review it for you guys. 😉 I think the perfect price would be $549 for a 64GB device. That’s about $150 more than the high end Touch. Again, pipe dream? Probably, but it’s my dream.

When it comes down to it, I want to use the tablet as an eBook reader, magazine reader, couch surfing device and gaming device. Basically everything that I’m already doing with my iPhone 3GS now (except for surfing, which I don’t use it for) but with a bigger display, added horse power and hopefully some really cool surprises.

This may sound lame, but it almost feels like Christmas Eve night as a child. What will Santa – I mean Steve bring tomorrow? I for one can’t wait to find out. 🙂