So, how can you glimpse at the future of new Apple devices and accessories? Simple. You just look at the patents they’re getting their hands on, and you’ll know exactly what’s on their mind
So, Apple just got their hands on a couple new patents, pretty recently. First, they’re planning on made your phone smart, then your watch, so what’s the next device to gain some new intelligence? How bout your iPad cover? They’re patenting a Smart cover device, that uses built-in induction charging technology, which will allow users to charge their iPads with the covers right on there. Right now, as we all know, we have to endure the hassle of taking our iPad covers off, and putting them back on again, each and every time we have to have to charge them, but thank god, that’s soon to be a thing of the past.
They’re also patenting a built-in camera, that will use optical zoom, as opposed to the normal digital zoom, which produces low quality images. These low quality images have just come to be accepted as what we have to deal with when we zoom in, but there’s a better way, and it’s coming soon from Apple.
As far as this new induction charger is concerned, it adds induction an coil within the new Smartcover which will allow it to transmit to the iPad, while it’s still in the case. Very clever. Of course, the cover itself would still need to be plugged in in order to charge both the iPad, and the cover itself (imagine, charging your iPad and iPad cover, instead of just the iPad itself). On the other hand, this new device could also have solar panels put onto it, in order to receive some free juice from the Sun (thanks Sun). It’s unclear at this point, how much actual power it would get from these panels, but hopefully, it will let people charge their iPad almost exclusively in the Sunlight (at least in the daytime).
What this also means, is it will give iPads the possible ability to be charged wirelessly, from 3rd-party designers. This will no doubt kick off a new round of innovation from Kickstarter, and other places. How neat would it be to just be able to charge your iPad without ever having to plug it into anything? That’s where this technology is most likely taking the iPad.
As far as the camera goes, this new camera will be an optical camera that’s actually small enough to fit right inside the iPhone 5 case, and will allow the camera to basically use the entire width of the phone to build its optical zoom element and lens (using a built-in mirror). This is very different from the cameras we have today. What this basically means, for us, the users, is that we would be able to zoom in quickly, and with crystal clear clarity of the images produced.
What these pattens prove, is that Apple is still continuing to innovate, and add very special, and useful technology to their future lines of tech. While these two pattens do represent relatively expected improvements in tech, it seems like Apple is grabbing the bull by the horns here, and implementing these new features ahead of everyone else (good for them). I’m excited to see what pattens come out of them next, who knows what these guys have in mind.