Apple's current iPad 3 continues to own the tablet market by increasing its market share to 68 percent and shipping 11.8 million units during this year's Q1. Competitors are still in awe of the iPad's specs and design.
But what users see now in the current iPad may not have been what Apple intended. According to analyst reports, Apple's original design for the current iPad was meant to be thinner and lighter. That would mean the would-have-been iPad should have been less than 0.37 inches in thickness and weighing less than 1.44 pounds.
Aside from the physical specifications, technological upgrades were also destined for hit the new iPad. According to sources from Digitimes, it was reported that an upgraded display was also planned for the iPad 3 using Sharp's IGZO panels to provide higher levels of resolution.
"The plan was to use this new technology called IGZO from Sharp -- a lot higher electron mobility that allows them to make the transistors a lot smaller and the circuit elements a lot smaller," CNet cited Raymond Soneria, CEO of DisplayMate Technologies, as saying.
Running on IGZO panels would mean the current iPad would have boasted higher counts of electron mobility and require fewer numbers of backlighting for brightness levels. The thinner panels combined with small transistors would affect the tablets overall size and weight.
Without the listed technology in the current iPad, one may consider the iPad 3 as a mere prototype for Apple's next fully enhanced tablet.
In another interesting development, Designer, Daniel Chase Hooper, has come up with a keyboard concept for the iPad where users can simply drag and edit text. Though, this is not endorsed by Apple, however, he wants the company to officially adopt the concept for faster, easier and quicker speed.
The iPad has a solid keyboard, though it lacks control of speed. However, the concept keyboard has a number of gesture commands which can be used to move the cursor around the page.
"The first is a simple drag motion along the x and/or y axis. This will move the cursor right, left, up, or down. A two-finger drag will move the cursor faster, by one word at a time instead of one letter (option+right or option+left on the Mac). Text selection would be handled by holding shift and then dragging, much like you would on the computer," reported in Geek.
"It's a cool keyboard concept and a nice combination of Apple's love for gestures with usability features that compensate for iOS' lack of arrow keys," the report added.
The feature could possibly see its way into the next iPad tablet, adding more unique and innovative technology Apple is known to deliver. Liquid metal was also rumored to be used on the next iPhone 5. Could the high tech material make its way into the next iPad?
For now, fans can enjoy the latest and greatest iPad 3. Though one may feel a bit disheartened after learning what Apple could have done with its current tablet.
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