It's been a busy week here at iMore. iPhone 5 and iPad mini rumors have been heating up, my Google Nexus 7 tablet arrived, a bunch of apps were bought by big companies, a bunch more great apps weren't, and we've started doing a ton more videos and a ton more contests.
So let's get to it.
Nexified
Only Nixon could go to China and only the editor-in-chief of iMore can pick up the new Google Nexus 7 tablet and tell you how it really compares the the iPad. The video above is just for fun, but check out my initial impressions via the link below, and I'll be following up on Monday with more. Stay tuned.
- Google Nexus 7 vs. iPad 3, unboxing and first impressions -- from iMore!
iPad mini not iPod maxi
The Nexus 7 to me, so far, is more of a super iPod touch than a small iPad. And that the exact opposite of the approach I believe Apple is taking with the rumored iPad mini. It's an important distinction two. The iPhone and iPod touch branch of iOS, and the screen size that it's optimized for, are different in kind to the iPad branch. Look no further than the interface, and the apps, work on one compared to the other.
The iPad mini will use the iPad version of iOS, which means the iPad interface and iPad apps. It may not be as easy to do everything on a 7.x-inch screen as it is on a 9.7-inch, but it will be possible.
You can't run iPad apps on an iPhone or iPod touch. You'll be able to run iPad apps on an iPad mini.
It's an important distinction. It's why the iPod touch sounds like it will be sticking around. And it's why the iPad mini sounds like it's being launched to begin with.
- The name game: What Apple could call the 7-inch iPad.
- Regarding Retina: How Apple could handle the 7-inch iPad mini display:
- What happens to the iPod touch in a post-iPad mini world?.
Contests
Lots of stuff to be won this week on iMore, have you entered them all? (What, you don't want free stuff?)
- Weekly Photo Contest: Gadgets!
- Make your own Apple/Samsung apology
- Win a Mobile Nations dream device of YOUR choice!
- Twitter Treasure Hunt: Find, follow, and retweet your way to over $500 in prizes!
Daily Shows
We've launched a new, quasi-daily show -- iMore today. It's designed to bring you all the Apple news you need to know... in about 3 minutes. We're keeping it light and snarky for now, but would love to know what you think of it so far. Also, quite a few of you have asked for RSS and iTunes versions. At 3 min. long it seems a little brief for that, but if enough of you want it, we'll get it done. How about it?
Meanwhile, over on the weekly iMore Show, with Georgia away this week, Seth and I got our geek on about Apple vs Samsung, iOS vs. Android, and the iPad mini. Watch it below.
Features
- How to take spectacular photos of your car with your iPhone. Leanna Lofte continues her amazing iPhoneography series, this time taking it to the streets -- or at least the vehicles on them.
- Which next-gen iOS device do you want the most?
- Regarding reaction to the reaction to Sparrow being end-of-lined. Passionate, engaged users have every right complain about the software they love.
- AT&T vs Verizon: Which shared data plan should you get?. Leanna Lofte shows that sometimes you do need to bring a math professor to a carrier plan fight.
- iOS 6: How many betas will there be?. Yet more of your questions, answered.
- Checkmark vs. Due vs. TellMeLater: iPhone reminder app shootout!. Ally Kazmucha once again pits app-vs-app until a winner emerges.
- How iOS 6's flagship features compare to past versions, and to Android 4.1, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone 8. Spoiler: iOS 6 is more platform than user-centric.
Recommended reading
- Mid Atlantic Consulting is full of shit. Jim Dalrymple doing what he does best -- putting internet fist to internet dumb.
- Unicorns and Jaguars. Kevin Michaluk wrote it, but it's Phil Nickinson's Photoshop work on the top that crowns it.
- Brief History of the iPad. Dave Caolo's serialized look at the events leading up the iPad launch in 2010.
- New Apps & Tools For More Efficient Writing. Federico Viticci shares his tools of craft. I love behind the scenes looks at process, and Viticci is one of the most thoughtful writers in the industry, so these types of pieces are always great to see.
- 50 Things I’ve Learned About Publishing a Weblog. Shawn Blanc, speaking of behind-the-scenes and thoughtful.
- Why bother? The sad state of Office 2013 touch support. Peter Bright on why making something look like the widely acclaimed Metro interface doesn't actually make it mobile-native like Metro. Sad indeed.
- Android Central Podcast 103: Live nude Jelly Bean flashing, Nexus abounds, group data love. Phil Nickinson gives one of the best names ever to one of the best episodes ever of the Android Central podcast. A podcast which, truth be told, Phil spent shopping for tablets, writing posts, flashing ROMs, and otherwise not podcasting. And it worked brilliantly. (Disclaimer: I produce the show, so I'm obviously biased.)
- Talent acquisitions. Marco Arment on the Sparrow and Acrylic acquisitions.
- Why Did Sparrow Sell Out?. Matthew Panzarino on the specific of Sparrow's case, and how the Google deal could simply have been their best exit strategy.
Next stop -- The Wall... er... 'Peg
I'm flying the Winnipeg, Manitoba -- you may know it as The Wall from the HBO show, Game of Thrones -- on Wednesday for a Mobile Nations Summit with my fellow editors-in-chief, Kevin Michaluk of CrackBerry.com, Phil Nickinson of AndroidCentral.com, and the newly full-time Daniel Rubino of WPCentral.com.
As anyone who's ever met Kevin knows, he puts the hy in hyper, so we'll be working around the clock, but there should be some time for at least one live Mobile Nations podcast, and some great phone-vs-phone and tablet-vs-tablet action.
Keep it locked on the whole Mobile Nations network. And keep some bail money ready for us, just in case. (Apparently, Manitoba Mounties don't play.)
See you on the other side.
