Apple 'tablet' emerges

During Intel’s 40th birthday celebration in Munich, Intel Germany chief Hannes Schwaderer let out a monster secret. He said that Apple is indeed using Intel’s new Atom chips in a new device, that is slightly larger than the iPhone. According to the report, he said that the screen would be in the 720x480 area.

Like a lot of people, I am wondering how big a device this would actually be. Thankfully, there are already many products on the market with a small 720x480 screen. The most popular is the Nokia N810 pictured below against the iPhone.

Thanks Engadget for comparison picture...

If you've ever seen a Nokia N810, you'll know it is slightly clunkier than an iPhone (it has a physical keyboard, memory slots, etc. to account for) and could lose some space around the screen. The pixels are obviously spaced much closer together than the iPhone's 160 pixels per inch. For reference, the iPod Nano's screen is 204 pixels per inch. At this pixel depth, you are looking at a 4+ inch screen.

Another device, the Toshiba G900, has a resolution of 800x480 yet the screen only measures three inches diagonally. Apple, who doesn't put the highest resolution screens on its laptops, probably wouldn't go this low.

So, what we are looking at physically is a device somewhere between the two above. I could handle that in my pocket - this isn't a "tablet" in the traditional sense. It is more like a slightly bigger iPhone.

The real question is what kind of operating system this thing is going to run. Will it be more iPhone or Mac?

Unfortunately, Intel's Atom chips are more power misers than speed burners. According to the test below, they come up somewhere between a 900 Mhz Celeron and a 1.13 Ghz Pentium 3. MacOSX ain't going on that chip.

Therefore, I'd tend to think that the OS will be based more on the iPhone version of OSX. Perhaps with more video tricks, a more full featured browser and cut-and-paste type options.

Power-wise, it will likely be about the same thickness, but with more real estate for battery/internals, it should satisfy the larger screen power requirements.

Another burning question is "when?" If Intel is spilling the beans about it right before a product launch, I'd tend to say sooner (WWDC) rather than later (Back-to-School August iPod refresh). However, no "Intel" references have appeared in iPhone SDK releases so this whole move by Apple would appear to be in typical stealth mode and contrary to convential wisdom since their purchase of P.A Semi.

If we don't see this device at WWDC, Mr. Schwaderer has given me (and I'd venture to say a few others) yet another reason to wait to upgrade our iPhones - something Apple doesn't really want.

Update: Intel is backpedalling like crazy from the German's remarks which means either that Apple is (rightfully) furious or the head of Intel Germany doesn't know what products their processors are going into.

Update 2: Macrumors has more on this issue: 

The confusion, however, is not one of poor German-to-English translation, as the original ZDnet article clearly stated what was reported. In fact, ZDNet's original article is now linking to another account of the same event. PCGamesHardware.de confirms statements like these were made, though without direct quotes the exact interpretation of it remains up for debate (translated by Leo from Fscklog):
PCGH-Editor Daniel Waadt was there as well an can attest, that Schwaderer referred to the iPhone as an example for the use of the atom-processor from Intel. The Intel CEO mentioned furthermore, that the display on iPhone 2 would be bigger than on iPhone 1 (although it is already quite big). iPhone 2 is also thinner than iPhone 1. 

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