

Ask HN: How would you improve the iPad? - ajaimk

1 thing you would change about the iPad to make it better. It can be anything (including stuff that is not possible with today's technology).<p>I'm trying to get an idea of what the perfect tablet will be compare to what we have today.
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philwelch
Not much. I would make it maybe 1/4 the weight and 1/4 the cost, but that'll
take another few years. _An_ iPad is nice, about five of them scattered around
the house is better. (Ever see Star Trek? They have so many fucking PADDs
around they'll just _hand you one_ because they want you to read a single one
page report.)

I would implement "multitasking" but the UI would still work the same:
"closing" an app would just sleep the process and swap the memory out. I would
allow some processes to spawn "background services" to play audio and maybe a
couple other things.

They would be fully self-hosting machines with no dependence on a PC. Their
data would sync to some type of cloud storage in some optimized semi-lazy way.
For instance, if you download a recipe book on your bedroom iPad upon waking
up, it'll show up on your kitchen iPad by the time you get to the kitchen. (If
it's not actually loaded, opening it up will transfer it over, possibly p2p
from the other iPad.)

And of course, it would have infinite RAM, storage, bandwidth, and CPU.

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spitfire

       1. A bit more ram.
       2. A camera
       3. Lower price.
       4. Time to mature.

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endtime
Without too seriously violating the design goals of the iPad: add a camera.

But without that constraint, I'd make it run a full OS (my preference would be
Windows 7, but OS X would work for those who like it, I guess), with some kind
of clever gesture layer of course.

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ajaimk
Front facing or back?

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endtime
Front, for video chat.

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ajaimk
Make it foldable in half. Advantages, it fits into a blazer pocket and makes
carrying it much easier. And can also protect the screen. Here's for foldable
displays.

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cmelbye
Multitasking with an elegant interface (which is a given for Apple). Also,
maybe a little lighter. It's tiring to hold it up for long periods of time.

