Hasta La Gadget!

Apple just showed off it’s newest-generation iPad, and no, it’s not the iPad mini (that’s still to come). It’s the fourth-generation 9.7-inch iPad. One of the big new features in this new iPad is better performance with the A6X chip, which doubles CPU and graphics power, and the Lightning connector is also present on the model.

The fourth-generation iPad also has the new image signal processor that’s found in the iPhone 5, and Apple says battery life won’t suffer — it’s still the same 10 hours as with the previous iPad model. The front-facing FaceTime camera has also been upgraded to 720p HD, just like on the MacBook Pros.

4G LTE capabilities in the new fourth-generation iPad has also received an update, bringing in support for the Now Network in the US and KDDI in Japan. It also has the 802.11a/b/g/n dual-band WiFi for your out-of-4G-range shenanigans. The display will also be the same Retina display on the third-generation iPad, with a 2048×1536 resolution.

Black and white versions will be available, and pricing will start at $499 for the 16GB WiFi-only model. The 16GB WiFi+4G model will start at $629. Pre-orders start on October 26 and will begin shipping on November 2.

iPad 4th generation detailed with Lightning and A6X chip is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Kia Motors, DC Entertainment, and RIDES Magazine unveiled their first of 8 Justice League-inspired Kias at the recent 2012 New York Comic Con. The launch was part of DC’s “We Can Be Heroes” campaign, which helps fight famine in Africa.

This Batman-inspired Optima was on display at New York’s Time Warner Center and is the beginning of a 10-month partnership based on the characters that make up the Justice League. They hope to raise awareness of the charity campaign, which Batman would certainly approve of.

I’m not sure that Batman would ever buy a Kia, but I love what they have done with this car. It certainly looks great with the whole Batman theme – especially that grill.

[via Newsarama]

Apple has unveiled its latest mobile chipset, the Apple A6X, replacing the already-capable A6 in the third-gen iPad, and doubling performance compared to the A5X along the way. The new chipset, a custom SoC using ARM cores, delivers not only that 2x CPU grunt but doubled graphics performance too. It’s the new chipset at the heart of the 4th-generation iPad.

Apple hasn’t detailed exactly what’s going on inside the SoC, and we’ll probably have to wait for the first teardowns and assessments to see which ARM cores exactly have been used. We do know that it gets new, next-generation ISP, however, for better multimedia performance.

What’s particularly interesting is how the A6X could fit into Apple’s rumored ambitions to do away with traditional Intel processors in its desktop line-up, and instead adopt ARM-based chips of its own design. That could prolong battery life as well as leave Apple in control of its own silicon.

That probably isn’t in the pipeline for some time, though, and we’ll likely see a couple of iterations of A-series chips before they appear in notebook form factors. More on the new iPad 4th-gen in our Apple Hub.

Apple A6X revealed: New flagship chip is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Until very recently, the iPad mini has been the stuff of legend. Bigfoot, lost-city-of-Atlantis, unicorn style legend. But no more — the iPad mini is finally real, as CEO Tim Cook has unveiled the slightly smaller Apple tablet on stage.

No reason to delay the deets any more than they already have been. Here’s the story:

Specs

Dimensions:

• 7.2mm thin
• 53 percent lighter
• .68 pounds

Design:

• Thinner bezels
• Ultra rounded edges
• Updated smart covers
• White and Black models
• Of course, a unibody design

Some Thoughts: We expected a pretty huge design refresh. Jony Ive said in the video that there is inherent loss in just shrinking a product.

Display:

• 7.9-inches
• LCD
• 1,024 x 768 resolution
• All software for original iPad works on iPad mini because they share the same screen resolution.

Some Thoughts:
Phil Schiller pit the iPad mini against the Nexus 7 on stage, and showed that the display is actually 49 percent larger in portrait, and 67 percent larger in landscape.

That has to do with a new design that makes the bezels much smaller than we’ve seen on the larger iPad models. Schiller showed off Yelp!, eBay and Pandora apps on both tablets, showing the difference between apps developed specifically for a tablet as opposed to apps that have been stretched from a smartphone.

Guts

• Dual-core A5
• Lightning dock
• 10 hours of battery life

Most of the parts you’re seeing above are included in the iPhone 4S. They’re components that Apple has already been sourcing from various manufacturers, meaning they’re much easier to procure this time around. By retooling the same components for the iPad Mini, Apple is likely cutting costs.

Connectivity

• Wifi
• 3G wireless
• 4G LTE wireless

Camera

• 5-megapixel camera
• FaceTime HD front-facing camera

Some Thoughts:

The iPad isn’t great for taking pictures. It’s just too big. But the iPad Mini will be even more portable than its big brother, and perhaps a bit more wieldy, too. The new iPod touch is clearly trying to replace the average digital point-and-shoot camera, and the iPad mini is to the iPad as the iPod touch is to the iPhone 5.

Attention to camera capabilities may be a nice counter to the lower-grade specs.

Pricing/Config

The iPad mini goes up for pre-order on October 26, and Wifi versions ship on November 2.

Apple just announced its new, fourth generation iPad, and it’s got a new chip, too. The A6X is, according to Apple, twice as fast on both general CPU tasks and graphics. We’ll let you know as we know more about the chip, but chances are it’s designed by Apple, just like the A6 was. More »