Hasta La Gadget!

Today Apple had an event that blasted forth with a collection of smaller, thinner, and much more powerful devices including the iPad mini. This event started with the massive sales of the iPod family as well as the iPhone 5, the new fastest selling phone in history. They moved on with iOS 6 adoption with a 200 million iOS devices mark for the ecosystem – that’s quick! UPDATE: Check our hands-on with the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, iMac 2012 refresh, and iPad mini now!

This event showed iBooks app updated to a new version with Continuous Scrolling for the page-turn-weary. The Appstore that Apple releases this app in has reached 35 billion downloads while the Apple Mac is mentioned as taking the top spots in both notebooks and desktops across the USA.

On that desktop note, the iMac mini 2012 edition was revealed with Core i5 processors inside and starting in at $599 USD. The MacBook Pro with Retina display line was given a new Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro to take on another size market, now the 2nd highest definition display holder in the notebook segment as well. The entire MacBook family was priced as well. The iMac was refreshed with prices starting at $1,299 and busting out with a brand new super-thin body. This update works with a brand new Fusion Drive, a bit of the ol’ fabulous new-age technology on the innards.

The iPad was next on the blocks, of course with a sales number of 100 million units since the beginning. The next generation iPad 4 (or iPad 4th gen) will be working with an updated Apple A6X chip. The whole iPad family will benefit from the update to iBooks Author for authors joining the fun club.

Then of course there’s the iPad mini. This unit will be coming out for $329 for its wi-fi edition and $459 for 4G. Apple went directly for Google’s throat once the iPad mini was revealed with a straight up Nexus 7 vs iPad mini all-out fight on stage, and a full list of iPad wireless carrier partners was revealed as well.

Stay tuned to our giant Apple portal for more news as it pops up, including hands-on action with most or all of the devices listed above!

Apple iPad mini event full round-up [UPDATE] is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple announced the 4th-generation iPad today, and it came with some incremental updates compared to the third-gen model, including the new A6X chip, a better camera, and improved WiFi. While some may not see this as a huge update to warrant a completely new generation of the iPad, Apple did add other carriers to the 4G LTE mix.

Apple announced that the 4G LTE in the new fourth-generation iPad will now support the Now Network in the US, as well as KDDI in Japan, both of which are huge carriers that will undoubtedly see more wireless customers purchase the iPad. The tablet now supports over 20 carriers located around the world. Here’s the full list:

– AT&T
– Deutsche Telekom
– Sprint
– Verizon
– EE
– Rogers
– Bell
– Fido
– Koodo Mobile
– Telus
– Telstra
– SingTel
– KT
– SmarTone
– SK Telecom
– KDDI
– StarHub
– SoftBank
– Optus
– Virgin Mobile
– Hong Kong Telecom

If you missed the fourth-generation iPad announcement, here’s a quick recap of what the new tablet brings. It’s got Apple’s new A6X chip, which doubles the processor and graphics performance from the previous iPad model. The new iPad also now as a 720p HD front-facing FaceTime camera — great if you want to look even better for chatting with your friends.

The new iPad also has the new image signal processor that’s found in the iPhone 5, and will feature the same Retina display as the third-gen model, which is an insane 2048×1536 resolution. Battery life will remain the same 10 hours as previous models, and the 16GB WiFi-only base model will cost $499, while the 16GB WiFi+4G model will cost $629.

iPad 4th generation: Here’s all the supported carriers is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve all heard about the much-anticipated iPad mini, which is expected to be announced tomorrow at Apple‘s big event. It seems the iPad 4 is also in the making, with a picture purported to be the device’s lightening dock connector appearing on BGR yesterday. Now, earlier today, another two images have surfaced of a new iPad screen featuring an optically-bonded display and upgraded FaceTime camera. Whether the images belong to an upcoming iPad 4 or the anticipated iPad 3 refresh is unknown, according to BGR.

The images are via Apple.pro, and the source claims they are components for the upcoming iPad 4. Visible in the images is a larger FaceTime camera hole, indicating that Apple is adding a larger camera sensor into the device. Also new is an optically-bonded display, which will improve image quality while reducing glare.

Presently, the iPad features a 0.3MP FaceTime camera, and the iPhone 5 and 5th generation iPod Touch both feature a 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera. It seems likely that Apple plans to put the same 1.2MP camera into the iPad 4. Little else is known about the rumored device, except that it would likely be launched in spring of next year.

Presently, Apple seems to be focusing on a miniature iPad, which is said to feature a 7.85-inch display, and to be launched in white or black as 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models. Apple is holding an event tomorrow morning at 10AM PST, which we’ll be liveblogging, and is anticipated to announce the upcoming 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina.

[via BGR]

New iPad screen images surface featuring updated FaceTime camera is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.