News tagged ‘display’

9to5Mac has recently posted photo of the iPad 3 home buttons that was obtained from a Chinese source. Noteworthy, claimed iPad 3 parts have been circulating for some time already in China, but only now photos of the iPad 3’ home button have stated leaking out. No real surprises, though it should help kill already sketchy rumors that Apple might do away with a home button altogether.

The above image is a comparison of an iPad 2 home button and an iPad 3 home button. At the surface, not much as changed, but the prospects of some minor structural tweaks do hint at something greater. The iPad 3 home button, which has been handled in both black and white flavors, looks almost identical to the iPad 2 home button. However, the gray glyph representing the frame of a home screen application icon is slightly thicker.

Perhaps the most interesting part about the iPad 3 home button is that its internal structuring is smaller than the iPad 2′s connector. According to the rumors, Apple had to make home button size smaller to accommodate a more pixel-dense Retina Display.

Basing on this photo, we may suggest the following:

• The iPad 3 will likely to be launched in both black and white colors
• The buttons floating around right now-in large quantities-signal that the iPad 3 is either in production or close to the production stage
• The iPad 3 will have the home button in spite of the rumors claiming that the iOS devices could soon loose the home button

Analyst Brian Blair with Wedge Partners said in a note to investors this week that though Apple is believed to have built prototypes for a 7-inch iPad, and rumors of such a device launching persist, he doesn't believe Apple will release a 7-inch tablet in 2012.

"Jobs was emphatic in his view that 7-inch tablets were dead on arrival," Blair wrote, "and we believe it would be unlikely to see the company test the waters in this category anytime soon."

Blair thinks it's more likely that after the launch of a third-generation iPad Apple will keep its current iPad 2 on the production to decrease its price and address demand at the mid-tier range.

"We believe iPad 2's price drop could drop to the $349 to $399 range with Apple offering a single 16GB model," he said.

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When a 21-year-old Steve Jobs was starting his Apple’s empire, he was met with skepticism in Silicon Valley. The handwritten note, brought to light this week by Bloomberg, was written by  Mike Rose, who ran an advertising agency in Los Altos, Calif., in 1976, and where he expressed concern over Jobs and his partner, Steve Wozniak, who he felt were "flakey" after having met them. In the letter, Rose referred to Jobs as a "joker." When a young man, Jobs displayed some of the same characteristics that would eventually become known around the world.

Rose noted that Jobs looked like a secretive men, who "wouldn't trust" him. Rose and Jobs met because he needed someone to print the manual for the Apple I computer, the first product he and Wozniak had created.

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We already reported that Apple is working on "HiDPI" modes in OS X Lion for supporting ultra high-resolution displays to achieve image quality that is seen on the iPhone with "Retina" display.

With new claims that Apple is set to release a new 15" MacBook Pro offering a resolution of 2880x1800 early next year, Apple's work on its HiDPI software support has also been gaining renewed attention. By doubling the resolution in each dimension over the existing 1440x900 MacBook Pro, Apple would achieve four times the number of pixels and provide developers with an easy way to scale existing artwork.

Evidence of Apple work on HiDPI was found in developer builds of OS X 10.7.3, with the "Get Info" window for applications seeing the addition of an "Open in HIDPI mode" checkbox, though it is not functional. Despite the fact that with yesterday's release of Build 11D36 to developers, Apple has now removed that checkbox from the "Get Info" window, it indicates that Apple is indeed likely actively working on the feature.

According to a report from DigiTimes, Apple may be preparing to launch a high-resolution MacBook Pro as early as the second quarter of 2012. The report cites sources from supply chain which claim that Apple is going to double the display resolution of its new MacBook Pro to 2880x1800 pixels.

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Apple suppliers now claim that the next generation of iPads will arrive on the market in the next 3-4 months. Manufacturing partners of the company have reportedly begun delivering parts and components for the third-generation iPad while reducing the iPad 2 production, through it is expected to remain steady at 14-15 million units in the December quarter, before declining to 4-5 million units in the first quarter of 2012. The same sources said that production of the iPad 3 will reach 9.5-9.8 million units next quarter.

China's Commercial Times has reported that Apple will begin producing the device in January ahead of large-scale production in February. Moreover, analysts suggest that there left no significant technical hurdles for the device.

The iPad 3 is expected to include a high resolution Retina Display. Last month we reported that Apple invested in a Sharp factory for production of LCD panels for the next iPad that will be utilize IGZO (indium, gallium, zinc) technology to provide a thinner design and improve battery life. However, the recent report from Japanese source claims that iPad 3 will be little thicker that the current-generation Apple’s tablet because of unknown reasons.

BGR reports that Samsung is preparing to launch its own high resolution tablet that will carry a 2560 x 1600 resolution screen that would beat the 2048x1536 display that the iPad 3 has been rumored to have.

Even though the tablet features a larger display than Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, we’re told that the tablet is “barely larger” due to the fact the slate will have a thinner bezel with a whopping 2560 x 1600 resolution, 11.6-inch screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio.

Samsung introduced a similar 2560x1600 screen that uses the less conventional PenTile technology to achieve its high resolution back in May at SID Display Week 2011 International Symposium.

The PenTile display uses a series of local filter operations to convert the underlying image into display intensities, including convolution, thresholding, color curve adjustment, and postprocessing with locally-adaptive filters. In practice, this means the display blurs the red and blue channels by dispersing these color intensities to the nearest subpixel element of the right color, and then also implements subpixel positioning to increase the apparent resolution again. However, subpixel spacing is not constant across the display, making the real apparent resolution complicated to estimate.

Rumors that Apple has been working on the high resolution display have been circulating about a year. Apple's iPad 3 is expected to carry a resolution of 2048x1536 both vertical and horizontal ones. Rumors have suggested that there have been production constrains on creating these high resolution screens in quantities that are enough to satisfy Apple’s needs.

The ongoing competition between Apple and Samsung may become more intense in February. According to BGR report, Samsung is going to launch 11.6 inch tablet that will have 2560 x 1600 resolution display.

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According to a research note issued by Citi analyst Richard Gardner, the next-generation iPad will be introduced in February.

According to "several sources" the next iPad will launch in February, and it will sport a screen with double the resolution of the current model.

Gardner says, "there do not appear to be any significant technical hurdles remaining" to prevent a launch of a high-resolution iPad, despite rumors to the contrary.

Some of the prior reports of a mid-winter launch for the iPad 3 suggested that Apple's display suppliers were struggling with mass production of the higher-resolution 2048x1536 displays.  It still unclear is whether the next-generation Apple’s tablet will be thinner or slightly thicker than the iPad 2. Some sources claim that it will be slightly thicker due to use a dual light bar system that is necessary for the Retina Display. But others suggest that Apple will use a new technology that will allow the iPad 3 to be slightly thinner than the current model.

Apple took down the tarps covering the front of its soon-to-open Grand Central Terminal Store. Visitors may see now the entrance to one of Apple’s largest retail locations in the world, the stairs leading up to the store that were previously blocked off by a large black display with digital sign teasing the forthcoming grand opening, as well as a glowing Apple logo, on the east balcony. The store is lit by chandeliers hanging overhead. Apple’s products are placed on the maple wood tables. 315 employees will serve customers.

The 23,000-square-foot store will be one of Apple's largest retail locations in the world. It sits in a prime location in Grand Central Terminal, though which an estimated 700,000 people pass every day. Apple sent out a press release on Wednesday, announcing that the new Grand Central store will open at 10 a.m. this Friday, Dec. 9. It noted that the store overlooks the historic Main concourse from the East and North East balconies of Grand Central Terminal, and features two Genius Bars.

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The pioneer of cloud gaming OnLive has announced the release of its playable app for tablets and mobile devices. Now top-tier, console-class games that was previously limited only to computers and consoles are available for playing through the free OnLive app on more than half a million mobile devices over mobile networks and Wi-Fi in the UK and US.

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Citing an Asian supplier who is allegedly crafting components for Apple's next iPad, Japanese blog Macotakara claims that Apple's third-generation iPad will be slightly thicker than the iPad 2 for an "unknown reason." That means that third-party cases that cover the back side of the device won’t fit to the iPad 3, but Apple’s Smart Covers will remain compatible with the next-generation Apple’s tablet.

The screen of the iPad 3 will have the same 9.7-inch screen size as the iPad 2, but Apple is rumored to implement the Retina Display technology into the next-generation iPad. One reason for a thicker frame on the iPad 3 could be the components necessary to include a high-resolution Retina Display.

In order to include a Retina Display, Apple may adopt entirely new display technology. One report in November suggested Apple would use IGZO displays from Sharp to reach a 330 dots-per-inch screen resolution. But that report claimed the IGZO display would also allow for a future iPad to be thinner, not thicker. Other reports, however, claimed that Apple would utilize a dual-LED light bar system to illuminate the Retina Display of a third-generation iPad. Apple's apparent difficulties with the higher resolution displays and new LED backlight designs were said to have already affected the launch schedule of the next iPad.

The Retina Display technology was firstly introduced by Apple with the 2010 iPhone 4. Apple boasts that an individual pixel on such screen is so small that cannot be distinguished by the human eye.

Intel intends to launch its mobile Ivy Bridge processors in April and May of next year. The report posted yesterday ttracts special attention to the fact that the Ivy Bridge platform, both mobile and desktop, will provide support up to three independent displays. Noteworthy, one of those displays will be an internal one.

While we're talking about graphics, as with the desktop Ivy Bridge processors, the mobile processors also support up to three independent displays, although one of these will be the built in display in the notebook, but hopefully we'll see notebooks with a DisplayPort connector as standard come next year.

The current Sandy Bridge platform supports only two independent displays. For example, the 13-inch MacBook Pro can only drive two external displays by turning off its internal display. More powerful MacBook Pro models can currently drive two external displays in addition to the internal one. But Ivy Bridge opens door to a direct support of three displays. Users of the MacBook Air will be able to connect to two external displays.

Citing sources in Japan, Australia's SmartHouse reported that the new Apple television will arrive at the end of 2012 in three screen sizes. It did not indicate exactly what screen size the third model would feature, falling somewhere between the low end with 32 inches and maximum size of 55 inches.

The source that is claimed to be a "major Japanese company" confirms that the Apple television will feature Siri integration, allowing users to control the TV set with their voice. Smarthouse claims that the television will be powered by a new processor (presumably the A6) set to debut in Apple's third-generation iPad, which the publication said will arrive "midway through 2012."

Sources at a major Japanese company who are involved in manufacturing the TV believe that the 55" model will compete with new Smart TVs from Samsung and LG that will have new processors built in while offering a combination of OLED display, as well as new Super HD TV technology from LG.

Last week, Piper Jaffray analyst and long-time Apple television set proponent Gene Munster offered his speculation on what Apple's plans might be. He suggested that Apple's anticipated television set couldl arrive in three screen sizes and no early as mid 2012, while others have seen Apple announcing it in late 2012 for an early 2013 sale date.

Late last week, a U.S. judge Lucy Koh declined to award a preliminary injunction over Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets in the United States. The Judge admitted that Samsung infringed some of Apple's patents, but she declined to issue a ban, because of a lack of evidences.

In her ruling, Koh wrote that for some of the smartphones, "Apple has established a likelihood of success on the merits at trial."

Koh added that Apple would likely prove Samsung infringed one of its tablet patents. However, Apple had not shown that it was likely to overcome Samsung's challenges to the patent's validity, Koh wrote.

Apple must demonstrate both infringement and validity to succeed in its lawsuit.

Interestingly, Apple has licensed to third parties one key iOS patent covering the "scrollback" feature displaying the linen texture when elastically scrolling beyond the end of a document or webpage. Licenses for the patent were obtained by Nokia and IBM, and Apple offered a license to Samsung.

Apple asserted this patent against Samsung as part of its failed attempt to get an injunction against Galaxy devices, and the court order denying the injunction includes general discussion of how past licensing behavior affects the decision of whether or not to grant an injunction. The discussion is nestled among two redacted statements shown to The Verge that confirm the '381 patent was licensed to IBM and Nokia, and that Apple offered a license to Samsung in November of 2010 as part of settlement negotiations.

The fact that Apple has been willing to gain profit from a license offered to other companies undermines its argument that it is being irreparably harmed by Samsung's alleged infringement.