Michal Marek When it comes to looks and build, the iPad is without a doubt the prettiest, or at least one of the prettiest tablets on the market. It has a clean and simple design typical of Apple products. Noble materials are used to manufacture the iPad, and masses of customers around the world simply adore it. But as the images of the prototype, which was created sometime between 2002 and 2004, show, the iPad was not always beautiful, thin and elegant as it is today. At the time, the vision of an Apple tablet looked more like a cheap Dell laptop - thick and made of white plastic. (This impression is given by Killian Bell, the author of the article, rather it reminds us of an Apple iBook. Editor's note.)
Apple is known for its secrecy, so how is it even possible that photos of the prototype were leaked? The black-and-white images contained in this article were leaked from the personal records of Apple's in-house designer, Jony Ivo, which were used in December 2011 in legal disputes with Samsung. And how does their creator remember the first prototypes?
"My first memory of the iPad is very hazy, but I'd guess it was sometime between 2002 and 2004. But I do remember us building similar models and testing them and eventually it became the iPad."
Except for the thickness and the material used, Ivo's design at the time is not radically different from the current iPad. Even the docking connector is located in the same way - on the bottom of the device. The only thing missing from this early design is a hardware Home button.
Server Buzzfeed, although we do not know how, it was also possible to obtain this prototype physically, so we can compare it with the current form of the iPad. Designated as "035", the model featured rounded corners and a distinctive black-framed display. As it turned out, the original prototype had a much larger display, probably something around 12 inches, which is roughly 40 percent larger than the current iPad, which has a 9,7-inch display. However, we do not know the resolution of the original model. The 4:3 aspect ratio is the same as that of production tablets, and the entire device resembled an iBook. The prototype iPad was about 2,5 cm thick, which is 1,6 cm more than the current model. The iBook was then about 3,5 cm tall.
Thanks to progress in the miniaturization of individual components, Apple engineers were able to make the device significantly thinner in just a few years and thus give their tablet today's extraordinary elegance. Although we do not know the detailed technical specifications of the original prototype of the apple tablet, it is necessary to realize the speed at which progress is moving. How long before the current iPad looks as outdated as the prototype just discovered?
Well, for the fact that there is a difference of 8-10 years between them, I would not at all claim that it looks bad for that time or that it is fat, etc. Well, what, on the other hand, in 2002, where was the competition with similar devices? I don't think it's ugly and it doesn't look bad at all, it just couldn't have been so successful back then because it wasn't iOS. Today, if they made an iPad this thick, it would last about 10 days :D
Hmm, when I think about it, the iPad is exactly or almost exactly half the display of the MacBookpro. I would say that even the appearance when I look at it was probably inspired by the appearance of the MBP LCD display. Simple as a slap in the face, we cut it in half, the design is given and we have it painted. Just stuff the hose in there and that's it. Velky Ive probably didn't think too much about design.
Well, what else to come up with, the iPad looks great, in addition, the rest of the body is supposed to draw attention away from everything else and give the impression that the center of everything is the display, and the rest of the body is supposed to give way to the display so as not to disturb the user. Overall, I can't fault the design of anything from Apple.
I have one complaint about Apple's design... Sometimes they are so obsessed with design that they make a concession to quality... I hate that they use the same aluminum for everything... For example, they could use a harder material for the macbook pro... I run into it somewhere and it is already dented (in some places they are so finely milled that they are completely thin)... And that is a criticism of the design... But otherwise, all devices from Apple are absolutely fantastic in design...
That's true with the aluminum, unfortunately... I have a new iPad and about a month after I bought it, the neoprene bag in which I carry it wobbled, and despite a decent layer of neoprene, my clay flower pot made quite a large dent on the aluminum edge, so I bought a snapshield to at least he wasn't in sight and so it wouldn't happen to me again. Anyway, this is a property of aluminum, I don't know if the use of duralumin or high-grade aircraft aluminum would solve it. But liquid metal should definitely address that if they ever start using it. In addition, you need to think about the practical side of things, and that is that if the MBP were for example made of hardened stainless steel, then at that moment you would have to go to the gym every day to carry it ;) the weight would have doubled.
It's like when I put my two ntb iBook G4 (05) + MacBook (08) Alu next to each other.. :D