25 Oct Apple’s New iPad Mini Event Delivers More Than A ‘Little’ iPad
Apple’s announcement of its new, shrunken down iPad on Tuesday in San Jose wasn’t all that much of a surprise. The infamous Apple rumour mill made sure of that. However, what did come as a total surprise was the announcement of an upgraded version of the iPad 3 (or as Apple call it The New iPad), which Apple have dubbed the 4th generation iPad.
4th Generation iPad
Despite having released the iPad 3 only a few months prior, Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook declared “we are not taking our foot off the gas,” offering a new and improved version of the iPad 3 with the following upgrades as outlined by Apple’s SVP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller:
- New LTE chipset that is compatible with Telstra’s 4G network
- Front camera now supports FaceTime with 720p HD video capture
- New A6X processor which doubles the graphics and CPU performance of the iPad 3
- 2x faster Wi-Fi connectivity
- New cables for SD and USB connectivity
- Upgraded connector pin to the Lightning connector as seen on the iPhone 5
- 10 hours of battery life
- iOS6
And Apple will offer all of these improvements for the same price as the iPad 3, which is $499 for the wi-fi only 16GB model, $599 for the wi-fi only 32GB model and $699 for the wi-fi only 64GB model. The models with cellular connectivity with be available for $130 extra at $529, $629 and $729 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models respectively.
Apple’s Miniature iPad: “As light as a pad of paper”
Truth be told, while the improvements found in the 4th generation iPad are impressive, the real news was in the unveiling of the iPad mini.
Schiller also unveiled the new iPad mini, proclaiming its aluminium and glass enclosure is “incredibly thin… as thin as a pencil” and “as light as a pad of paper.” Indeed, the iPad mini is only 7.2 mm thick and weighs only 0.3 kg. However, Jony Ive, SVP of Industrial Design at Apple made sure to emphasise in a video about the new iPad mini that it isn’t just a reduced version of the standard iPad, but rather a concentrated version that you can “hold in your hand”.
In terms of specs, the iPad mini features the following:
- 7.9-inch display
- Dual-core A5 processor
- 53 percent lighter than full-sized iPad at 0.68 lbs
- 7.2mm thin and 0.68 pounds light
- 23 percent thinner than 4th-gen iPad
- Same resolution as 1st- and 2nd-gen iPads: 1,024 by 768 pixels
- 2 x faster wi-fi than previous models of the iPad
- FaceTime HD front camera
- 5-megapixel iSight rear camera
- Lightning connector
- 10-hour battery life
- New Smart Covers available for iPad mini
- Comes in white and “slate black” — no aluminum hinge; all one matte material
- LTE chipset that is compatible with Telstra’s 4G network.
While the smaller screen may have caused concerns about how existing iPad apps will run on the iPad mini, the resolution of iPad mini is actually the same as the iPad 2 (1,024 X 768 
pixels), which means existing iPad apps will work seamlessly on the smaller screen.
If you’re still unsure whether the iPad mini will be the small tablet for you, check out this comparison of the iPad mini against its main competitors: Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD.
In terms of pricing, the iPad mini will be available in a variety of configurations, with the 16GB model (wi-fi only) at $329, the 32GB model at $429 and the 64GB model at $529. While the models with cellular connectivity will not be available until around mid November, you can expect the cost of the models with cellular connectivity to increase by about $129.
Pre-orders for the iPad mini and the 4th Generation iPad will begin this Friday, 26th October with both shipping on November 2 in most countries.
Telstra have confirmed that they will offer the iPad mini and the 4th generation iPad to their customers, however pricing and availability will only be announced in the coming days.
As a result, though we will be taking pre-orders for the wi-fi versions of both the iPad mini and the 4th generation iPad for Phonenomena’s customers, we cannot confirm when we will be receiving stock. If you would like to place an order, send us an email at sales [at] phonenomena [dot] com [dot] au.