Apple unveils iPad mini, upgrades its big brother
Yes, it's called the iPad mini – and that was one of the few heretofore unknown facts about the new iPad that Apple rolled out at its "a lttle more" event on Tuesday in San José, California. That and its price: $329 for the entry-level, Wi-Fi model. Pre-announcement speculation was somewhere in the $299 range, with some overly …
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Off a cliff at a drag,
It is such base technology one should really just drag and drop it off a cliff.
But of course it can't even do that.
The best thing about my Nexus 7
It's not from Apple.
Nobody can look at me playing with my tablet and think that I decided to get it before the manufacturer announced its existence, Nobody can see it as an "aspirational device" whose purpose in life is to make me into a more beautiful, smarter, more managerial or just cooler peson.
They will see something that probably cost £159 and i not sold by a company whose biggest activity is spurious lawsuits.
If they look at an iPad mini they will see a blatant copy of something that has existed in the Android "world" for some time.
(That's my "I hate Apple" rant over for the week.)
Re: The best thing about my Nexus 7
Man, you put WAY too much thought into what someone thinks about you.
Tough year for the Apple addict.
Three iPads (new, newer, mini): $1500
iPod Touch5: $300
iPhone5: $200 (with new contract)
MacBook Pro retina display: $2200
new iMac: $1700
apps: $?
cases/covers/pillows: $?
adaptors/connectors: $?
Man, that's almost like a downpayment for a house.
Didnt he say updated iPad??
So doesnt that make the big one the iPad 4 (or possibly 3S??)
Wont be buying one - even my fanboi son has suddenly announce he is buying a Samsung next time - and after watching his GF playing with her new SIII for only two days!
Colour me confused
This is definitely not Apple, they haven't blamed the users for the hardware bugs in the last models yet but they're releasing new bug fixed stuff?
@Gary F
I too have a cheapo Android tablet - and feel quietly pleased about its high functionality/price ratio - but you wouldn't show it off to your mates. For that, Apple will happily charge you a premium.
Bigger screen?
Isn't that what the standard iPad has?
It's nice to see Apple reversing everything that idiot Steve Jobs did. Simplified product range! No way, more is obviously better. No smaller iPad, don't be silly, ditto larger screen on the iPhone. One release a year? No, every few months makes much more sense.
Steve Jobs obviously had it all wrong, just think where Apple could be now had he not gone back? And where they could go now....
GPS
Yes but it seems that to get GPS I still need a 3G one. I don't need 3G on a tablet. But I do need GPS. So I won't be getting one.
Which is exactly why I haven't got an iPad before now, and is why I am typing this on a perfectly usable - in fact more so since it does have GPS - Android tablet.
Apple differentiate their models on the daftest things.
Re: GPS
The reason you have to get a cellular one for GPS is that the GPS system relies heavily on data downloaded over the mobile network. Yes you could have GPS without mobile data but Apple don't want to diminish the experience or other such marketing slogan.
Re: GPS
There are plenty of reasons for wanting GPS but not needing always-on data.
SkyDemon, for one, an aviation navigation app. That would have been a perfect use for an 8" tablet with GPS. and no real need for an always-on connection.
I also have an option of more than enough mapping apps on Android, not least Google's offline maps, that don't require mobile data.
The old argument used to be that the chipset was 3G+GPS. Didn't believe it at the time, and so it has been proven since.
Re: the GPS system relies heavily on data downloaded over the mobile network
Do you have ANY concept of how GPS works?
Re: the GPS system relies heavily on data downloaded over the mobile network
Clearly he does. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS
I've always thought the iPad is too big and too heavy, so I'm looking forward to trying one of these. It'll just be a replacement for using my phone on the sofa.
Of course there will be a retina display version launced in October 2013 - but then isn't there always something better on the horizon?
Marketing Strategy
I don't quite get all the analysts hand-wringing "is this the beginning of the end" etc. There seems to be an assumption that, because Apple has followed into a market, instead of leading, they are suddenly doing something different. Apple have done this in the past and they did it for one reason - to make some more money. For all the "experts" talking about marketing etc Apple make money. The iPod was a premium product and completely defined the high end of the market. But, when other manufacturers released cheaper, smaller, flash-based products Apple followed suit. It didn't treat the iPod nano or iClippy-whatever it is called too seriously. It didn't make a song and dance. Sure, they devoted the usual attention to detail and made them lovely to look at (and more expensive than their rivals) but there was never any all encompassing market-domination strategy behind them. They were devices designed to sell a couple of 10s of million and sell a bunch of songs/videos through iTunes.
The iPad Mini looks like exactly the same thing. It is a shrunk down iPad 2. It isn't revolutionary. it isn't clever. It has nothing to make it stand out from the crowd. It isn't set to create or dominate a new market segment. But it will almost certainly sell a couple of 10s of million each year, it's a way for Apple to get rid of last years Big iPad components and it will generate a shed load of sales through iTunes. And at £300-odd quid a pop that is still a few extra billion in revenue. Why can't it just be about generating cash?
Re: Marketing Strategy
" it's a way for Apple to get rid of last years Big iPad components" - of course, well apart from the screen unless they found a way of cutting them down - and that's why I won't be getting one until next year at best, if ever, when it will get the better processor and retina display.
Massive fail.
Then there's the new iMac, which I was considering - until I heard it has only a midrange processor and NO optical drive. Sheesh. I have tons of assets on cd/dvd. I watch movies, rip CDs to itunes, burn playlists to CD, my kids make their own DVDs.. so, no way I'm going ot fork out that kind of cash for an "all-in-one" that clearly isn't when you have to have the desk littered up with a peripheral drive and cable - that you have to pay extra for. And for what? It's 5mm thinner? So what? Who the hell cares about that, it was thin enough anyway. Apple seem to have contracted supermodel-itis. Their products now embody bulimia and they have become fashionistas instead of trendsetters. Sad.
Massive fail.
I would have quite liked an iPod nano, That was *such* a nice design. Now, it's no longer nano and you can't wear it instead of a watch when running/cycling. And it won't dock on my hifi. This one - no thanks.
Massive fail.
My wife's iPhone5 is great - except that it's too tall for her hands to use comfortably. And the finish is cheap. And the maps are rubbish and there's no native youtube app and the music player doesn't have podcasts any more. And it won't dock on the HiFi (which links to the TV so we can watch shows & movies from it with kick-ass sound). What I want is a 4S with the new processor and camera, but, no dice.
Massive fail.
So all in all - you could say I'm a tad disappointed!
rant on!
Need to vent to fellow techy minded folks.
I bought an ipad 3 2 weeks ago, as a xmas present for my wife. Yeah i know, but she really wanted one. And now less than 7 months after it was released it been withdrawn from sale? By christ that was fast. Clearly thre ipad 3 was a stop gap, and has some issues that they needed to fix fast( from what i hear, the A5X isnt really fast enough for the retina). Im fairly pissed with apple, as they must have known when the released the ipad 3 that it was going to be superceded in a very short space of time.
So, my 1st apple purchase has been very short lived, i sent it back today. And it will be my last apple product. I knew they hoovered up money from customers but this is taking the piss. 2 google nexus's here i come!!
Re: rant on!
You have my sympathy - but don't think you can palm your wife off with anything less than an iPad if that's what she wanted! Or it could be a very frosty Xmas indeed!
If you *are* able to send the 3 back that's great. Get them to swap it for a 4 - in fact, wouldn't it be great if *everyone* who got suckered into buying a 3 did that? Think they's get the message?
Re: rant on!
Hi Mike, I'm no Apple apologist (don't own a single product) but their support IS (usually) excellent. They will normally exchange superseded products bought in the run up to a new launch. The window is usually 3-4 weeks so it is WELL worth contacting them, explaining how upset you are, and seeing if they'll swap it for the new model.
Re: rant on!
cheers guys. Im going to take the hit on this one. I was pretty anti apple before, but was willing to bend like a willow for my wife. But not now. I feel rather strongly about my hate for apple, and before i didnt really have any reasons, i do now. The good thing is she dosent know i got her one, and she wasnt massivly hinting either (i know the difference!) So the new nexus's that google announce will do just fine, preferably the 10 incher that has been rumoured.
Re: rant on!
So you hate Apple more than you love your wife? Wow.
Re: rant on!
lol. i can see why you might think that, but no. You havnt unearthed the most hate filled anti apple fanboy.
Suddenly not important
Si the iPad Mini has a bigger screen than the N7 and a lower resolution? I thought that display quality was important? I thought that screen quality for reading stuff was the most important thing in the world? So why have they reduced the DPI to something less than the current industry standard?
It's not a cut down version of the iPad3 or 4, it's a cut down version of the iPad 2.
As for the iPad 4, the only thing that has been made obsolete is the egos of iPad 3 owners; at the end of the day, the iPad 3 population still works. I pity the iPad 3 owning sheep who will buy an iPad 4 because they need to keep up with fashion.
Wake me up when Apple do something groundbreaking.
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