Apple iPad Mini packs a punch into a smaller size
Apple made the rumors official today when it unveiled its much-anticipated iPad Mini — a 7.9-inch screen tablet that weighs slightly over a half-pound.
After announcing that they’ve sold more than 100 million iPad units and unveiled a performance upgraded fourth-generation iPad (that is full-sized), Apple showed off its iPad Mini to the world, via a video live stream from California.
The smaller tablet is certainly smaller and thinner, but doesn’t look eye-strainingly smaller. Apple Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller showed off their new crown jewel, which starts at $329 for a WiFi only 16 GB model, only using one hand.
Apple produced a video showing the iPad Mini in action, as an easy-to-hold chart for doctors and learning tool for children in classrooms. The lighter price should certainly be a bigger appeal to public school districts, who continue to struggle with waning budgets. It also showed the smaller tablet easily being removed from the pocket of a jacket.
Apple’s newest and smallest tablet is only 7.2mm thin and 25 percent thinner than the current iPad.
“For a point of comparison, you could say it’s as thin as a pencil,” Schiller said to a packed crowd at the California Theatre. “And I guess you could say it weighs about as a pad of paper.”
Much to the relief of developers, the iPad Mini will retain the same resolution as the full-sized iPad — 1024×768 — which means those developers won’t have to update any of the 275,000-plus iPad apps currently found in Apple’s AppStore.
There were plenty of rumors flying around about the iPad Mini, including it coming in different colors. Apple will stick to its traditional black and white color, but the backing of the black will be a sleek slate color. “The white will retain its aluminum-colored background.
As for speed, the iPad Mini will utilize the A5 chip, which is also found in the iPad 2. The iPhone 5 released last month with an A6 chip.
It will retina its 10 hours of battery life, and gain a new 5 megapixel iSight camera on the back, in addition to a new FaceTime HD front-facing camera.
iPad Mini prices:
- 16 GB WiFi: $329
- 32 GB WiFi: $429
- 64 GB WiFi: $529
- 16 GB WiFi+4G LTE: $459
- 32 GB WiFi+4G LTE: $559
- 64 GB WiFi+4G LTE: $659
Preorders begin this Friday, likely at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time. WiFi models will ship one week later, with WiFi+4G models shipping two weeks later.
Will you be purchasing a new iPad Mini?
