First of all, I feel for those who bought the iPad 3. In less than 7 months, it’s now being replaced by the iPad 4 which was announced alongside Apple’s brand new baby, the iPad mini.
Anyway, the iPad mini is now official and if you’re wondering what it’s like, here’s the rundown.
The Apple iPad mini is, in the simplest form, a smaller version of the iPad which can easily be held in one hand. It has a 7.9-inch display which is slightly bigger than the average 7-inch tablet. The screen is surrounded by a thin bezel and still has the same 1024 x 768 resolution as the iPad 2 so app developers won’t have to do any work on their apps.
At 7.2mm thick, it’s just 1/4 thicker than the fourth-gen iPad. And at .68 lbs, it half as light as the iPad, as light as a legal notepad. It comes in black and white, with the black model having the same anodization as the iPhone 5.
Powering the iPad mini is the same dual-core A5 processor powering the previous iPad and iPod Touch 5th gen. It also gets FaceTime HD camera up front and a 5-megapixel iSight camera at the back capable of 1080p recording.
Battery life is still rated at 10 hours, same as the bigger iPad. It will also be using the Lightning connector which is now the de facto port in new Apple handheld devices.
The iPad mini will be available in WiFi or cellular model which is also capable of LTE. WiFi will start shipping on November 2 to select countries while the cellular model will follow after a few weeks.
Pricing are as follows:
iPad mini WiFi | iPad mini WiFi + cellular | |
---|---|---|
16GB | $329 | $459 |
32GB | $429 | $559 |
64GB | $529 | $659 |
That’s a really good price. Just $30 more than the new 32GB iPod Touch. Now the big decision, an iPad mini or an iPod Touch?