Rumors of a smaller iPad were back again this week with a report from Bloomberg and since then the rumor mill has been in full swing. Not much detail was in the rumor, other than it’s a smaller iPad and that it’ll launch later this year. Earlier in the year, the display was rumored to be around 7.85″ and A.T. Faust of AppAdvice gave compelling reasons as to why it makes sense. That number seems to have stuck around with this latest round of iPad mini rumors.

“The reason we [won't] make a 7-inch tablet isn’t because we don’t want to hit [a lower] price point,” Jobs said. “It’s because we think the screen is too small to express the software. As a software driven company, we think about the software strategies first.” – AllThingsD

When I read the rumors this week I sighed, not again. I wasn’t the only one either, an iPad mini seems like a compromise, with little advantage. Plus the old Steve Jobs quote about 7 inch iPads just kept circling around. But others weren’t so closed minded and were considering whether it might actually have a place in Apple’s product line.

The biggest issue I have is with the screen, and whether the screen can still be sufficiently useful at the smaller size. To find out, I decided to do the old hack of making a little paper template of the iPad mini and see how it looked. I decided to stick with the 7.85″ diagonal display size suggested and use a bezel only slightly smaller than those on the current iPad. For comparison I also made a paper template for the current iPad and versions of both with the bevel colored in. You can download, print and cut them out for yourself.

• iPad mini
• iPad mini (Black)
• iPad
• iPad (Black)

That was all good and well, but it didn’t really give me a sense of what the UI might look like on an iPad mini. So I decided to take some screenshots and shrink them down to the appropriate size. But I also made a duplicate copy of the screenshot and using Photoshop, reconfigured the UI to fit on a 7.85″ display without adjusting the size of the buttons. To my mind that’s the only way that Apple would do this – Apple does frequently remind iOS designers to keep buttons at a tappable size (mentioned prominently in iOS Human Interface Guide), just shrinking the current iPad display would make buttons more difficult to tap.

Finally I put it all together into a Keynote presentation so that I could view it on my iPad and visibly see and compare how it would look. I’ve uploaded it, so you can do the same yourself. You just need Keynote for iOS and go into presentation mode to look at it yourself. If you want to go the extra step, cut your iPad mini template out and place it on top of your iPad whilst viewing the screenshots.

• Download the Keynote presentation (requires Keynote for iOS)
• Alternatively: download printable versions of the comparisons

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Earlier this week, it was reported the final version of iOS 5 for the next-generation iPhone would include a new functionality called “Assistant”. Based on the acquisition of Siri in 2010 and allegedly using some of Nuance’s voice recognition technologies, Assistant is said to be the next iPhone’s biggest new software feature, which will allow users to “speak” to their device to complete a variety of tasks such as sending text messages, creating calendar events and reminders, or get information on a specific topic only with their voice. Assistant will apparently put the next iPhone’s A5 CPU and 1 GB of RAM to use, providing an effortless experience to execute voice commands with a natural language.

Based on this week’s report and details from “sources with knowledge of the feature”, MacRumors has mocked up Assistant’s activation screen and asked Jan-Michael Cart (author of several iOS 5 and OS X concept videos) to create a quick demo showing what Assistant should look like.

After a long press on the home button, the screen fades and slides up, just like with the multitasking interface. Revealed is a silver icon with an animated orbiting purple flare which indicates a ready state. From what we’ve been told, this image is a close representation of the actual Assistant interface.

From there, the user may be taken to a conversation view that somewhat mimics Siri’s original interface, but in Apple’s own styling.

You may remember MacRumors also commissioned a mockup of the iPhone 5 design in what has become an unofficial representation of the rumored “completely redesigned” device. The Assistant mockup posted today shows an equal attention to detail, and undoubtedly resembles something Apple could do with the multitasking tray, linen background, and styled buttons. Obviously, Apple’s official design will be different, but you can get the basic idea of this feature by looking at the video below.

Voice commands aren’t new to smartphones, but looking at the video and trying to imagine what would Apple do with reliable voice recognition tech, I assume Assistant could still feel “revolutionary” in some way, especially if Apple has really managed to build a “conversation view” that would let you give detailed instructions to your phone. Imagine being able to create quick reminders when you don’t have time to type (for example, while you’re driving) or dictate long emails and text messages directly to your iPhone, which would transcribe everything for you. Assistant is still a rumor, but an exciting one to think about.

Apple will hold a press conference in Cupertino on Tuesday, October 4th, where it’s widely expected to unveil the new iPhone.
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Just about everyone is talking about the iPhone 5, and while I remain skeptical of most rumors, I have to give MacRumors some props for commissioning CiccareseDesign to create a mockup based on a leak of the phone’s design specifications. Before we dig into the MacRumors’ render, I’m going to put my thoughts on the table (might as well at this point — all the cool kids are doing it). We don’t talk about these iPhone 5 rumors too often.

When This Is My Next published a crude mockup of the iPhone 5, Joshua Topolsky introduced his take on a tapered design — that the next iPhone would have a shape similar to the MacBook Air with a fat top which tapers down to a smaller edge at the bottom of the phone. But I think the tapered design means this: that the next iPhone is going to follow the iPod touch 4th gen’s design in that the buttons are going to be hidden underneath the display along the curved edges. Apple re-used the iPod touch’s 4th generation design with the iPad 2, and I see them continuing this design ethos with iPhone. When you look at the front of the phone, I do think Apple only wants you to see the display. Apple wants the lines of the phone to be very clean. I also agree with the idea that Apple will move away from the glass backing since it’s fragile and easily cracks when dropped — Apple doesn’t want damaged phones in the press or in Flickr photos online.

MacRumors’ “take-it-to-the-max” mockup of the iPhone 5 is interesting simply because it matches my idea of what Apple will do with the next iPhone. It nicely takes most of the rumors we’ve heard about for the last months and wraps it one nice package that looks believeable: you’ve got your oval home button (which could very well be a gesture area for flicking between apps as suggested by Gruber on The Talk Show), your edge-to-edge display (although MacRumors shows a 4″ display — I think it’ll be smaller), and tapered edges which hide the volume buttons underneath the glass of the phone.

The final dimensions of the new design are calculated to be: 4.33″ x 2.36″ and .27″ thickness at the top and .21″ at the bottom In comparison, the iPhone 4 dimensions are: 4.5″ x 2.31″ x .37″. So the new design is actually shorter than the existing iPhone 4, but slightly wider and thinner.

I think MacRumors’ mockup captures the idea that the next iPhone will be thin, a little wider, and more comfortable in the hand. The phone can’t be too thin — battery technology is still going to be a concern with iOS 5 between the Notification Center and new uses for location based data. We’re at point now with these rumors where we’ve gotten the general idea of what the iPhone will look like, and a lot of sites have shifted focus to release dates instead of speculating on features. Federico and I have been very careful not to spew a lot of these rumors onto the site (they’re not interesting enough most of the time), but MacRumors took a lot of these bits and pieces and actually did something very cool with it.

My concern — as always with rumors — is that it sets us up for a lot of false hope. “Man this iPhone looks so good I hope it looks just like this!” Then when the iPhone comes out, people are disappointed when a site’s mockup doesn’t turn out to be the real thing that they wanted. My suggestion is to look at the MacRumors’ mockup as the summary (but not the conclusion) of where we are with rumors and speculation on the iPhone. They’re confident that their rendering is very close to the final product, but I think seeing the final product will ultimately be more impressive.

[via MacRumors]

With much talk going around about iOS notifications and Apple’s plans to purchase a third-party developer to improve the system in iOS 5, it doesn’t come as a surprise that someone decided to realize yet another mockup of how notifications should work. What is interesting this time, though, is that the brief concept video put together by Tapmates is actually based on Apple’s Smart Cover promo video, with a twist. Tapmates thought that the possibility to quickly open the Smart Cover and take a peek at the iPad’s screen would make for a perfect implementation of the new iOS unread badges / notifications. If the Smart Cover reveals a portion of the screen when you start opening it but you can’t use the iPad like that, wouldn’t that portion of the screen be perfect for quick notifications?

This is a curious mockup for something that will likely never happen, but it makes me wonder whether or not there’s more than just display awakening in the future of the Smart Cover. What about a “smart lockscreen” that takes advantage of the cover? This is an incomplete mockup, of course, but I like the idea of replacing a part of the screen with useful information. Perhaps unread badges aren’t perfect, though. Anyway, check out the fake promo video below and discuss below if you think Apple could re-imagine the way the Smart Covers work just a bit. (more…)

Japanese parts vendor iLab.cc [Google Translation] has posted some photos of a physical iPad 2 mockup built using information from case vendors and manufacturers near Apple’s facilities in Shenzen, China. The mockup, which you can see above and after the break, looks like the most realistic we’ve seen so far as it groups all the rumors we’ve been hearing about the second-gen iPad into one: flat back, tapered edges, front and rear-facing cameras, huge speaker grill. Compared to a current generation iPad, the mockup looks a lot thinner and, overall, flatter. It’s also very similar to other mockups we’ve seen before.

We wonder if Apple will really abandon the slightly curved design that made it easy for many people to hold the device on their lap while writing, reading, etc. Personally, I’d like a flat back much better as I hate when my iPad “moves” due to its design on my desk. What do you think? More pictures below. [via 9to5mac] (more…)

Designer Zach Forrester tried to imagine what would Front Row look like if Apple updated its interface with new shiny pixels, animations and a visualizer. The result, a series of mockups available here, is impressive: Zach took the basic concept underlying Front Row’s UI and the Apple TV’s browsing experience and re-imagined them with a bit of artistic sense and pixel perfection in mind.

I’m not sure about the keyboard as-you-type he designed, but everything else looks great: from the Movies view with larger poster art and slide-in animation for a single item, to the music player that includes a subtle visualizer on top of the Cover Flow navigation and next to the Now Playing album art.

More screenshots are available here, and there’s a limited web demo for you to play around as well. [via Beautiful Pixels] (more…)

One of the key areas users would like Apple to focus on for iOS 5 is the notification system. Currently, notifications on iOS are far from useful and unobtrusive: they get in the way too much, there’s no way to access a log of past notifications, if you’re playing a game and quickly dismiss a notification’s alert because you’re busy / concentrated, there’s no way to get that notification back. Many says notifications are the less Apple-like feature in iOS.

In the past, we have covered several alternative solutions to improve iOS’ notification system, like Notified. All these tweaks are available for jailbreakers in Cydia, and require a bit of manual hacking and configuration. The following mockup, realized by Youtube user hustn, shows a few ideas that we think might be a good fit for the next major update of iOS. Notifications that don’t get in the way but appear in a bar at the top, even multiple ones; possibility to tweak the settings with quiet times and display order; an additional section above the multitasking tray that shows the most recent notifications from all apps. It looks pretty good and interesting. As the creator explains:

This is a mockup of my current side project of designing an improved iPhone notification system. Unlike other attempts at improving the iPhone’s notification system, my approach is to use design direction from the current iPhone UI to create a seamless interface for the user.

This is purely theoretical. There is no code behind this; I’ve mocked this all up in Flash and Photoshop.

What do you think? The system looks a bit like the notifications seen in Palm’s webOS, and undoubtedly borrowing a few ideas from Palm wouldn’t be so bad for Apple. Especially considering that former Palm Senior UI Designer Rich Dellinger now works at Cupertino. [via Reddit]
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Our friends at Engadget spotted something really interesting while walking around CES booths: another case designed for the rumored iPad 2, with an actual iPad 2 mockup inside, made of aluminum. The case, created by Dexim and admittedly also looking good with its leather and detachable Bluetooth keyboard, sports the usual features we’ve been hearing in the rumors: front and rear-facing cameras, thinner design, bigger speaker. There are some curious new details to be noted as well.

First off, the iPad 2 mockup inside the case has the home button closer to the edge of the unit, and it’s got a flat back. It’s also got tapered edges as we heard last week, and when trying to put a current generation iPad in the case, Engadget was told that it wouldn’t fit because of its size. Accessory makers seem to be pretty sure that the next-generation iPad will be thinner, with a flat back and two cameras — clearly someone in China saw, or at least heard something, about the new iPad and told these manufacturers to follow certain guidelines.

Check out more iPad 2 mockup photos below and the full gallery on Engadget. (more…)