The iPad is NOT an enlarged iPod or iPhone.

[The Dark Knight]

Ok. This argument comes up many times online. Let us set things right.

A LOT of people think the iPad (regardless of version) is just an enlarged iPod. It is NOT. Good developers actually sit and re-envision their apps for the iPad. There is a big difference in navigation and interaction in many apps for the iPad.

This discussion started a little while ago on another topic, I thought I would shift it here.

https://www.neowin.net/news/lenovo-windows-8-tablet-leaks-specs-splayed-for-all-to-see#comment-1870311

What do you all think?

[Wakers]

I think that iPad v1 was a larger iPod touch. Developers didn't treat it that much differently.

They're moving away from that now with each "revision" (read, minor upgrade) to the iPad.

They're not going to shake this perception while they're using a mobile phone OS though.

[Sulphy]

wow.... fanboy .... :D

[c3ntury]

I agree, pretty obvious it's not simply an enlarged iPod Touch from the fact it's a tablet.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

It IS! Let me set things right!

See how that works? I can post anything I want and just because I make a claim to be setting things right it means nothing more or less.

As far as my opinion goes? It runs the same OS on a larger screen, so in some respects yes, and some no. It's not always a case of "good developers", it's a numbers game also. There are a large percentage more iphone users than ipad users - so your audience is not the same people necessarily - and thus it becomes a numbers game. If a developer sees a large percentage of their appStore userbase installing to iPad, then re-task your app for an enlarged interface. If not, dont!

[BajiRav]

Oh ..it IS enlarged iPhone/iPod. You get more pixels and can make apps targeting those extra pixels.

[FiB3R]

I think it's just an enlarged iPod.

Obviously its size allows it to be more functional, but it's still a touch screen multimedia computing device. aka, an iPod, which it self is just a very small tablet, and stopped being an MP3 player a long time ago.

So therefore, if the iPod is a tablet, so is the iPad, which makes it the same as an iPod. Right?

[The Dark Knight]

I think that iPad v1 was a larger iPod touch. Developers didn't treat it that much differently.

They're moving away from that now with each "revision" (read, minor upgrade) to the iPad.

Correct. I forgot to mention this point here (I did in the original discussion on that other topic). The first iPad was pretty much an enlarged iPhone, because it did not have apps (other than from Apple maybe) that made use of the extra space.

wow.... fanboy .... :D

Please.....I am NOT a fanboy. If you care to go through my history, you will find a lot of posts with nothing but negative remarks about Apple. But the new iPad is something else altogether. And the apps ecosystem has really evolved.

[AJerman]

Yeah, mostly it is just an oversized iPod. Sure the apps are different, there's more screen space, doesn't make it any less of an oversized iPod. Same with Android tablets. Microsoft is the first to release a tablet that has some usefulness other than a big screened version of their base mobile OS.

Now that doesn't mean that the iPad doesn't have some nice apps available for it, but honestly the number of apps that really make you say "Whoa, I need an iPad for that app!" are few and far between, and usually specialized towards a specific function that only some people may need. Most apps are available on the iPod/iPhone, and probably have nearly all the same functionality, but display the data in a different way.

[Wakers]

If one were to look at it in depth - it has the same OS as an iPod touch despite being a tablet. It has a lot of the same features, the same apps, the same functions and the same interfaces.

It really depends on what people use it for. The crappy OS limits it in terms of being a proper tablet.

[The Dark Knight]

Oh ..it IS enlarged iPhone/iPod. You get more pixels and can make apps targeting those extra pixels.

You are contradicting your statements here. On the one hand you are sayng it is an enlarged iPhone. On the other you are saying apps target the extra available pixels. Don't you see? The extra pixels is what a lot of developers really make use of and deliver something very different!

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Please.....I am NOT a fanboy.

Capitalisation makes it a FACT!

[Doli]

"The iPad is NOT an enlarged iPod or iPhone."

Thank you for clearing that up for me because I didnt want to hold the iPad to my ear and start talking on it like it was a phone..................anymore.

Why dont people tell me this **** sooner :wacko:

[deactivated_]

Pfft, they are ALL just over-sized Palm Pilots with better screens, better apps, better styli .... better, oh, everything. So pick any one of 'em up and enjoy!

[jagowar]

It IS! Let me set things right!

See how that works? I can post anything I want and just because I make a claim to be setting things right it means nothing more or less.

As far as my opinion goes? It runs the same OS on a larger screen, so in some respects yes, and some no. It's not always a case of "good developers", it's a numbers game also. There are a large percentage more iphone users than ipad users - so your audience is not the same people necessarily - and thus it becomes a numbers game. If a developer sees a large percentage of their appStore userbase installing to iPad, then re-task your app for an enlarged interface. If not, dont!

The core os basically works and functions the same as it does between ipad/iphone... that to me says it is a blown up iphone. Some apps might be utilizing the extra space but the core os does not.

Wp8/win8 is a good example of how to do this right.... the theme on both is metro but each is optimized for their respective screen types.

[The Angry Bunny]

You're right... the iPod is just a miniaturized iPad...

I kid, but in all seriousness it is just a bigger iPod. Sure it it has more pixels, but that's what you get when you enlarge a product like that.

[HSoft]

It's basically a bigger ipod touch giving it more screen real estate (higher resolution).

[The Dark Knight]

the number of apps that really make you say "Whoa, I need an iPad for that app!" are few and far between, and usually specialized towards a specific function that only some people may need. Most apps are available on the iPod/iPhone, and probably have nearly all the same functionality, but display the data in a different way.

That is true. But the number of apps that make you think you need an iPad are increasing pretty fast! :)

"Same functionality, but display the data in a different way". EXACTLY. It is how the data is presented that differentiates it from the iPhone version! :)

[Shadrack]

Reading books and magazines on my iPhone is just not as good of an experience as it is on my iPad. At the same time, I usually do all my IMing on my iPhone. Even when I'm using my iPad, I'll set it down to respond to IMs on my phone.

[The_Decimator]

The iPad is a lot closer to the iPod Touch than it was earlier in the iPad's development, BTW...

[The Dark Knight]

It's not always a case of "good developers", it's a numbers game also. There are a large percentage more iphone users than ipad users - so your audience is not the same people necessarily - and thus it becomes a numbers game. If a developer sees a large percentage of their appStore userbase installing to iPad, then re-task your app for an enlarged interface. If not, dont!

Hmmm, good point.

The crappy OS limits it in terms of being a proper tablet.

I personally feel it is a little crappy because of some of their ridiculous restrictions. For example, you need to JB just to change your default browser! You can't rearrange icons on the Home screen however you like, it has to be in that grid. Folders have a limit on apps within them. And so on and so forth.

Wp8/win8 is a good example of how to do this right.... the theme on both is metro but each is optimized for their respective screen types.

I disagree slightly. Windows Phone 8 (and 7) is done right. Windows 8 on tablets is done right. But Windows 8 on traditional desktops and laptops is not.

[Vice]

I have an iPad 2 and an iPhone 4S and I do agree that the apps on the iPhone and iPad are different. Even if it's the same binary running on both the interfaces are 90% of the time completely different with the iPad version usually feeling much richer.

I find my iPad a joy to use for completely different reasons to my iPhone because of this. It feels closer to a tablet computer than a large phone to me due to the quality of the applications.

Contrast that with Android tablets and when I use those the Apps look just like blown up phone apps. The interfaces don't change they just move to the edges of the larger tablet screen, no new menus or buttons or features appear at all. That is something Google need to fix either by providing better tools or allowing developers to submit tablet only apps to the Play store.

[Dashel]

Its a big iPod. Just because they slapped a larger, higher resolution display that required apps optimize their UI (something MS is trying to sidestep with WinRT) doesn't make it a 'real' OS which is the main difference. If it ran OS X then you can call it a tablet. Sorry, just a slate.

[Escape]

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...

[giantpotato]

Ok, so let's say Apple created a new product, the iPod Touch 10". Explain to me the differences between the iPod Touch 10" and the iPad. :/