New Apple iPads

Well, with all the new products announced by Apple yesterday (incase you missed it, a new iPad Mini, iPad 4, iMac and MacBook Pro Retina), we thought we’d be kind and write a couple of summary posts of what’s new for each one on one nice and easy to read page.

For this post, the new Apple iPads – Click here for the post on iMac and MacBook Pro Retina.

iPad Mini;

Key Specifications

Size – 200 x 134.7 x 7.2 mm (7.87 x 5.30 x 0.28 in)
Screen – 7.9″ 1024 x 768 Backlit LED IPS (Retina) 163ppi
Weight – 308 g (10.86 oz)
CPU – Dual-Core 1 GHz Cortex-A9 (Apple A5)

UK Prices

Wi-Fi Only – Available from 2nd November
16GB – £269
32GB £349
64GB – £429

4G & Wi-Fi – Available from 16th November
16GB – £369
32GB £449
64GB – £529

The 4G version is listed as available through ‘select carriers’, so we’re see if that includes EE (EverythingEverywhere).

So seems a very small and compact device, using much of the hardware from previous generations on iPad, which isn’t a bad thing as they’re still quality products. But if you want a bit more speed in the palm of your hands, then look no further than the…

iPad 4;

Key Specifications

Size – 241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4 mm (9.50 x 7.31 x 0.37 in)
Screen – 9.7″ 1536 x 2048 Backlit LED IPS (Retina) 264ppi
Weight – 652 g (1.44 lb)
CPU – Dual-Core (Apple A6X) with Quad Core GPU

UK Prices

Wi-Fi Only – Available from 2nd November
16GB – £399
32GB £479
64GB – £559

4G & Wi-Fi – Available from 16th November
16GB – £499
32GB £579
64GB – £659

The 4G version appears to include EE (EverythingEverywhere).

Apple say the new CPU and GPU will double the performance over the previous A5 CPU used in the iPad 3 and the Wi-Fi will also be twice as fast as it now supports dual band 802.11n. Is it me, or do the majority of Apple announcements state that things will be ‘twice as fast’, or ‘double the speed’…? We remember similar quotes when the iPhone 5 was released.

Common Features on both models

Camera – 5 Megapixel Primary – 1.2 Megapixel Secondary
Battery Life – Up to 10 Hours
Connector – Lightning
Wireless – 802.11 a/b/g/n

Both the Apple iPad Mini and Apple iPad 4 will be available to pre-order from 26th October.

So, who’s willing to splash the cash? Who thinks it’s an anti-climax? Are Apple keeping up with the competition?

To add to the excitement of the new Apple products, Google are expected to be releasing new products on 29th October. ‘Rumours’ have it there’s a new Nexus 7 with more storage, a potential Nexus 10, you’ve guessed it, with a 10″ screen to go with the Nexus 7, 7″ screen and a new Nexus smartphone, rumoured to be made by LG.

This is a great time of year for new technology, but a bad time of year for the wallet, especially with the traditional annual expenditure of Christmas around the corner.