Hasta La Gadget!

Along with the announcement of a new iPad Mini with a Retina display, Apple dropped the price of the original iPad Mini down to just $300. That’s still not a great deal for a device with low-quality screen compared to, say, the Nexus 7 but it’s better than it used to be.

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Those of you in the market for a new iPad, Apple just made your day, announcing new and improved versions of both of their major tablets. The full-size iPad, got a boost in speed, camera quality and slimmed down at the same time. It also got a new name, the iPad Air.

The first thing you’ll notice about the new iPad is how much thinner it is than the last generation. The iPad Air measures just 7.5mm vs 9.4mm – 20% thinner.

But the biggest difference is how much lighter it is, weighing just 1 pound, vs. 1.4 pounds for the last model.

The new model still has a 9.7″ Retina 2048×1536 resolution screen, but the bezel width has been substantially decreased, measuring 43% smaller than the last-gen iPad. The touchscreen also has a new touch-rejection algorithm that can detect when you’re accidentally touching the edge of the screen from the slimmed-down bezel, or if you really are interacting with the screen.

In addition, the iPad Air sports the fast 64-bit A7 processor found in the iPhone 5S. It also comes with the same M7 motion processor. It’s also got MIMO antenna technology for improved wireless throughput. Part of slimming down the iPad Air meant a smaller, lighter battery, but Apple still claims the device can run for 10 hours on a charge. Keep in mind that the current gen’s battery has 42.5 watt-hours, while the iPad Air’s battery is 32.4 watt-hours. Only time will tell if the faster and more efficient hardware of the new model will get shorter run time off of a much smaller battery.

The iPad Air has also got a shiny new 5-megapixel iSight camera with 1080p video support, improved backside illumination, and a new FaceTime HD camera with larger pixels for improved video quality. Also, it’s the first time the iPad comes with dual microphones. All iPad Airs come with iOS7 and a huge number of pre-installed apps, as well as iMovie, iPhone, GarageBand, Keynote, Numbers and Pages – for free.

Like the iPhone 5S, you can get the new iPad 5 in Silver and White or Space Grey and Black. Unfortunately, there’s no gold version – at least not yet.

Pricing for the new iPad Air is the same as previous generations, with the Wi-Fi version selling for $499, $599, $699 and $799 (USD) for 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models, respectively, and the 4G LTE models going for $629, $729, $829 and $929 in the same memory configurations.

The iPad Air will be available for ordering in the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan, among other countries on November 1 from the Apple Store.

Three years ago, Apple unveiled the original iPad, boxy and thick and heavy by comparison. Four iPads later, we’re here, welcoming the fifth generation iPad into the world.

And boy is it a beauty!

You’ve been waiting long enough, through a summer of rumors, so let’s just get right down to business on the new Apple tablet.

New Design

For the first time since the iPad 2, we’re seeing a brand new design for the iPad (fifth generation).

The new iPad sports the same 9.7-inch display as all of its predecessors, but with an updated shape following the design language of the iPad mini. It weighs just one pound, making it the lightest full size tablet in the world. It’s .4 lbs lighter than previous generations. Also, the iPad Air only 7.5mm thick, which is 25 percent thinner than previous iPads.

The bezel is 43 percent thinner on the sides and the edges of the device are tapered the same way the iPad mini drastically curves along the sides, as opposed to the gradual slope of older iPads.

Unfortunately, there’s no TouchID on this bad boy.

Processor

Apple has updated the new iPad’s processor to the A7, the same you’ll find in the iPhone 5s. It’s 8x faster than the first generation and graphics are 72 times faster than then the first generation iPad. Of course, it would be interesting to hear stats on fourth generation iPad comparison, but you can’t always get what you want from an Apple announcement.

The new processor is also accompanied by that M7 motion co-processor that was used in the iPhone 5s, which focuses on computing information generated from the sensors to make the device smarter all around.

The new A7 processor runs on a 64-bit architecture, like all the new Apple products, with more than 1 billion transistors. Apple also tossed in MIMO technology to help with reliable Wifi, and all that with 10 hours of battery life, according to Apple.

Camera

The camera technology on current iPad models is incredibly outdated, to the point where it’s laughable to see someone hold up their iPad like a camera.

That said, Apple has decided to pay a little more attention to the iPad camera this time around, with an updated 5-megapixel iSight camera, with 1080p FaceTime camera in the front and dual-mics for video chat.

Pricing and Availability

The iPad (fifth generation) will be available in black, white, silver, and space gray (no gold, for some reason), and will replace the current generation (fourth) iPad at a $499 starting price. Wifi + Cellular starts at $629.

Meanwhile, the iPad 2 will remain in the line up for $399.

New iPads will be available on November 1, just in time for the holidays.

This post is being updated as information is available, so please refresh.

With the ushering in of new hardware on both the desktop and the mobile front, the folks at Apple this week have brought on a new collection of software updates as well. They’ve update iLife in full – working with new versions of iMovie, iPhoto, and Garageband for both iOS and OS X. These updates […]

Apple has announced today that its flagship MacBook Pro models will be receiving a slew of modest improvements. Here’s what’s the new 13 and 15 inch machines will have under their hoods.

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