Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jason_wang 4614 days ago
The device I really wish exists is an iPad Air minus the computing power. Just a screen to stream videos to from a iPhone, a laptop or a cable box. A portable screen that's a lot less powerful than an iPad but a bit more powerful than a digital picture frame.

Surprisingly this is for my parents. They watch videos all the time and watching videos on an iPhone is too small, on a laptop is too bulky and on an iPad is too expensive.

5 comments

You're out of luck, the processor costs something like $10, taking it it out would hardly nudge the price. Get a cheap android tablet or a mini LED projector instead.
The processor alone would barely nudge the price, but removing the NAND, RAM, and camera modules along with it definitely would make huge difference. Even more if you can kill the touchscreen.

Unfortunately, the resulting product is also an incredibly limited niche.

How about a cheap Android tablet? If it is just for watching videos then there are plenty of very cheap Chinese tablets that will work.
This is where I'm leaning right now. A sub $200 Android tablet. But there's something to be said about not having to learn a whole new interview for my parents.
Apple TV doesn't suit their needs? Sit down on couch, take phone out of pocket, Air Play to TV. Do they watch videos a lot away from the room where the TV is located?

(I don't have an Apple TV, so maybe Air Play is not as convenient as I have been led to believe.)

This is basically why I bought an Apple TV for my parents. There's a good chance if a video loads on an apple device that it can be streamed to an Apple TV. They were watching videos all the time on iPads and the TV in the living room wasn't being used anymore.
A first generation iPad then?
The 1st-gen iPad I have has been upgraded into obsolescence. Even watching a YouTube video without the app running out of memory is almost impossible.
Easy to jailbreak and then MxTube is incredibly useful. Not only does it play any video without crashing, it can save them.