Gadgets Blog » iPhone

I’ll confess that I recently converted from the world of PCs. Perhaps I was drawn in by the shiny aluminum bodies the new MacBook computer possesses, or perhaps it was due to chronic frustration caused by Windows Vista on my old HP laptop. Regardless, I’ve been immensely satisfied with my MacBook Pro, although a few things do still bother me about the Apple brand as a whole.

Apple users, the sort with iPhone, iPod, MacBook, and additional Apple paraphernalia, can be bothersome to me at times. While yes, Apple makes some great electronics, the level of devotion to the brand can be a bit absurd. Nonetheless, Apple promises to give people something new to get excited over, as they announced a January 27 event to roll out their newest foray into the electronics market.

Inviting people to “Come see our latest creation,” the company has (wisely) left the exact content of the unveiling up in the air, leaving many people to speculate on what it will be. In all likelihood, the product will be Apple’s much-speculated upon tablet, as sources have told the Wall Street Journal that the new product is intended to ship in March. That makes it fairly certain that Apple will be showing it off starting on the 27th, unless they have something truly remarkable up their sleeves, which would be exciting in its own right.

With such an important company preparing to launch a tablet based computer, a look at what exactly such a unit would entail can give us a bit of a sneak preview of such a hypothetical Apple Tablet. First and foremost, the tablet would operated with touch screen type interface. The iPod Touch has been a tremendous success for the company, and its possible that this tablet would feature at least a portion of its menu arrangements in a similar style to the Touch and its cousin, the iPhone. The idea of a computer that is operated without a mouse is exciting, and the fact that this technology is now being adapted to larger units means some great new technology is in the future.

There are some questions that need to be asked about the tablet, however. First of all, price is a huge concern. Before its untimely demise, the CrunchPad was rumored to go on sale for around $400. The Apple Tablet has been speculated as high as $1000, which in some ways is unsurprising, given that this is an Apple product. The unit would likely have the same great wireless capability as Apple laptops, making connecting to and surfing the Internet a breeze.

However, what sort of operating system can we expect with the unit? Will it run Snow Leopard, or a more application based operating system similar to the iPhone? These types of specifications will likely be answered when the gadget is unveiled, but issues over what types of programs will be able to run on the computer will be a concern for most users.

The main question I have for the future of tablet computers is where they fit into the computing world as a whole. Will a tablet be able to have all the functionality of a normal laptop? This seems very unlikely, and let alone the fact that for effective word processing, an external keyboard would likely be needed. If the primary capabilities of the unit are Internet use, then why pay so much money for such a gadget? The flexibility the unit will have, as well as the fragility of the tablet design, is concerning for such an item. Nonetheless, it will be exciting to see Apple’s product when they (hopefully) unveil it. I’m just not sure if its something I’ll be adding to my wish list anytime soon.