Lance Ulanoff thinks The 7-inch Apple iPad is a Stupid Idea:

Kidding aside, I have not heard one good argument for the existence of this device. What’s more worrisome to me is that some companies like Samsung appear to be carving out this space as if 7-inch tablets are the “new black.” Why are they doing this? Was there some consumer outcry for a 7-inch device that I missed?

The rumor of a smaller iPad has been floating around for the past couple days and I have to say, I’m psyched. Honestly, the first thing that came to mind when on that glorious Saturday when the iPad arrived was, “Huh, bigger than I imagined.” Why? For me, it’s all about the keyboard. In its current state, the iPad keyboard is oafish in landscape orientation. It’s simply too big to be comfortably used as a soft keyboard. Portrait mode is even worse: Stretching your thumbs to hit keys like “T” and “Y”, all while delicately cradling your iPad in a near top-heavy manor. At 7 inches, a smaller iPad would be far more comfortable to type on, in either situation. A smaller iPad would also be easier to store, easier to carry, and less intrusive in places like restaurants.

So, then, what’s to lose? I don’t want to make a career out of analyzing screen resolution, but think about this: If you upped the pixel density on a 7-inch iPad (132ppi) to that of a non-Retina iPhone (163 ppi), you get almost the exact same number of pixels. Put it this way: You could double the number of pixels on the current iPad, and still comfortably fit them in a Retina-display, 7-inch iPad. The current iPad’s battery, which constitutes the bulk of it’s weight/size, also lasts much longer than I need. With a smaller display, the loss of any battery space would go unnoticed.

Perhaps there was no consumer outcry for a 7-inch tablet, and no, being a little smaller won’t make the thing any more magical — but Apple doesn’t make products just because people ask for them. Instead, Apple tries to deliver on what you don’t know you need. In this case, a more portable, more usable device. It’s not an addition to the iPad line, it’s what the iPad was supposed to be. I can’t wait for the stupid thing.