Apple unveils iPad Mini, iPad 4 and new Mac line
Staff Reporter 2012-10-24 15:41
A white iPad Mini. (Photo/CFP)
Apple's long-awaited iPad Mini was finally announced in California on Tuesday. The 7.9-inch tablet boasts a lighter and thinner aluminum body compared to Android tablets, and also boasts a 10-hour battery life and a resolution the same as the iPad 2.
The iPad Mini is 15% thinner than its predecessor and weighs only 308g. It runs on Apple's previous generation A5 processor with dual ARM cores. Although its screen is only 1024 x 768 pixels, its quad-core graphic processing unit boasts an image as sharp as other iPads, according to our sister newspaper China Times.
The tablet uses the new Lightning connector but its front and rear camera has the same 120 and 500 megapixels as the previous iPad. It is available in black and white and in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions.
Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs had told investors in October 2010 that a 7-inch screen is "too small to express the software that people want to put on these things." But Apple changed its mind after seeing its rivals including Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7 of Google gain popularity, according to Information Week.
Apple CEO Tim Cook also unveiled the 4th-generation iPad, which has a 9.7-inch screen and uses the Lightning connector that allows it to connect to cameras, SD cards, VGA and HDMI digital video sources, according to Information Week. Cook also presented the latest editions of the company's PC line including the 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac Mini and iMac.
The iPad Mini will be available for pre-order on Oct. 26 and its Wi-Fi version will be shipped on Nov. 2 while its 4G version will hit the market two weeks later. It is priced at US$329 with the 64GB cellular version at US$659. The iPad 4 starts from US$499.
