What exclusive features will the iPad X bring other than FaceID and the world fastest mobile processor? Any ideas? I'm super excited for the launch!
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Exclusive Features for iPad X?
- Thread starter Jax7
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Lighter and longer battery life. Higher resolutions to allow users to work on more than 2 apps on the same screen at the same time. Cellular phone function.
New iPhone X-ish control scheme, better/larger screen, Face ID, A11X and therefore plenty of CPU/GPU improvements, better camera, a new/updated design that is overdue since a while, Bluetooth 5.0, and if we go into the realm of less certain improvements, we also have the possibility of more RAM, more/larger storage options, revamped internals for longer battery life, the inclusion of more iPhone features like Force Touch, an Apple Pencil v2...
The more interesting question might be, what's there that likely won't get an update?
Its going to freeze quite a bit , come with a notch, have a hit and miss face recognition, and be overpriced, just like my iPhone X. Woooohooo, excited!
I'm not updating my iPad this year regardless, but I think a lot of people have really got their imaginations working in overdrive as far as how much of a design difference there will be in the next Pro line. Not that there's anything wrong with that--this is common with Apple products. But I have some theories on some more down to earth updates.New iPhone X-ish control scheme, better/larger screen, Face ID, A11X and therefore plenty of CPU/GPU improvements, better camera, a new/updated design that is overdue since a while, Bluetooth 5.0, and if we go into the realm of less certain improvements, we also have the possibility of more RAM, more/larger storage options, revamped internals for longer battery life, the inclusion of more iPhone features like Force Touch, an Apple Pencil v2...
The more interesting question might be, what's there that likely won't get an update?
Processor: A11X. Will be a huge upgrade. This is a given at this point.
Camera: Probably same.
RAM: I don't expect a bump up from 4 GB yet.
FaceID: I'd say this is a 90% given. I have a strange feeling that they're going to put TrueDepth hardware on either end of the iPad where the bezels are now. One of Steve Jobs' original marketing points for iPad was that you could hold it in absolutely any orientation and the screen would adjust. In order to keep that intact, they'd have to have TrueDepth components in place that could see you from any angle in any position you would normally hold/use the iPad.
Screen: This is tricky. If they're going to make the screen bigger by taking away the Home button, it won't be dramatically bigger, because they still have to leave room for True Depth hardware, especially if my theory is correct and they're adding it on both sides of the unit. If the plan is to keep the screen the same size but shrink down the chassis, I don't see much sense in that considering what an improvement the 10.5" Smart Keyboard AND on screen keyboard was over the 9.7". It doesn't look a lot bigger, but it made a huge difference in the end. My prediction is probably either the same 10.5" screen with same chassis size and TrueDepth or slightly bigger ~11" screen with same chassis size to accommodate for the keyboard layout.
UI: Goes without saying, if the home button is gone, the iPhone X UI enters.
Design: I think the biggest two things they could change are the screen size (that's a toss up I think at this point) and what the back is made out of. With the limitations of Qi, I highly doubt iPad is getting magnetic inductive charging this year like the iPhone 8/X got. It's just still too slow to charge that huge battery in a reasonable amount of time. Therefore, I don't think they're going to change the back materials this year either. No point in going back to glass if there is no functional reason to do so.
That's just my 2c. Not saying anyone is wrong or right.
If you really want to stay super excited for the launch, then don't over-hype the event in your head and speculate about all the great new things it will have, as you'll surely be disappointed in the end....
I think a big part of why people have "really got their imaginations working in overdrive as far as how much of a design difference there will be in the next Pro line" is because of some rumors suggesting so. I mean it's easy to overhype and expect too much, but it would be very plausible for the iPad this time around to get one of the biggest updates in its history. If you compare the iPhone 7 and the iPhone X in terms of features and design... that's about the jump I would say is realistic to expect from the 2017 iPad Pro to the 2018 "iPad X".
I would say Face ID is 99% given. The issue you're bringing up that it currently won't work from any angle on the iPhone X could easily be solved, probably already via a software update, but definitely in a new hardware iteration. The "naive" but very simple way to do it would be to just perform a Face ID scan, compare it to the Secure Enclave data, if it won't match then return it 90°, compare it again, and so on. It would be easily implementable via software.
But like I said, that would be just the simplest and most naive way to do it, and it might add some time to the unlock process. Realistically, I expect Apple to add in a smart algorithm that detects the exact angle of the face looking at it (not just in 90° steps but probably any direction) and then rotate it accordingly. The little amount of time this might add to the process would probably be compensated by the faster hardware already.
Design-wise I think an update is overdue, the iPhone has gotten a redesign each 1-2 years now, with the 2017 iPhones even having two simultaneous redesigns. On the iPad Pro, we're still on the iPad Air 2 design from 2014, and on the normal iPad we're design-wise still on the iPad Air 1 from 2013. Now the low-end iPad I can understand, but there's no reason for Apple not to refresh the same-old iPad Pro design a little and to make it look and feel more like the current iPhone line. The chassis still resembles the old 6/6s design, and the way the back/sides of the chassis transition into the front with such a hard cut-off doesn't look very appealing when you compare it to the sides of the iPhone X and Apple Watch which are so perfectly rounded off and transition smoothly into the display.
My guess is that the iPad Pro will adapt the overall design of the current iPhone X. Probably an aluminium back instead of a glass one, but this seems like the perfect opportunity to unify the design languages more instead of carrying around the iPad Air 2 design for another year.
Outside of that I pretty much agree with your points.
I think an iPhone X style redesign could be plausible, but they haven’t always been willing to unify design language just because the iPhone did it too. They’ll do what they think most makes sense for the iPad. We’ll have to see!
Umm why should they be exclusive to an "iPad X" model? Do you not think that the current hardware could handle a native calculator app?
I think they just said that because I think no iPads have native calculator apps.Umm why should they be exclusive to an "iPad X" model? Do you not think that the current hardware could handle a native calculator app?
Probably. I was more joking about the hardware part since they left that suggestion on a thread specifically asking for iPad X-exclusive features of all places.