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Apple iPad Mini Announced, Starts at $329

 

Apple really has to do something to improve the way it keeps its secrets.  The iPhone 5 is one of Apple’s worst-kept secrets.  It turns out, the iPad Mini has also been badly leaked like the iPhone 5.  The rumors and the renders turned out to be true, at least most of them.

Apple just unveiled the iPad Mini.  The rumored name was right all along.  The screen size, almost.  The rumors said 7.85-inch but the official display size is 7.9 inches.  The design that has been shown on renders is dead on.  The display ratio, the thin bezels, the ports and even the color options have been captured quite well in the leaks.   The iPad Mini is not just a shrunken iPad, it is quite different from the bigger brother.  It has a thinner bezel on the sides and sports an anodized finish, similar to the finish on the band of the iPhone 5.

If you were expecting a retina display, you’d be disappointed.  The 7.9-inch display has a 1,024 x 768 resolution, similar to the resolution of the iPad 2.  It’s 7.2mm thick and weighs .68 pounds.  That makes the iPad Mini 53% lighter and significantly thinner than the new iPad.

In terms of specs, the iPad Mini does not feature top specs.  It is powered by a dual-core Apple A5 processor and features a 5-megapixel camera and 802.11n Wi-Fi.  Just like the iPhone 5, it has a Lightning connector.  Battery life on the iPad Mini is 10 hours according to Apple.

The price?  It’s not as cheap as the $199 Google Nexus 7.  The base 16GB Wi-Fi iPad Mini model goes for $329 while the 32GB and 64GB variants cost $429 and $529, respectively.  There are also LTE variants with a price that’s more expensive by $130 for each model.  The iPad Mini is available for pre-order starting October 26 and will ship starting November 2.  It should be available in the Philippines shortly afterwards.

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3 Comments

  1. prophylaxis Reply

    i think $329 is the right price for it. compared with its main competitor, the nexus 7 (which is $250 for 16gb), it has an aluminum body, a larger screen and good quality rear and front facing cameras. Though it has a lower resolution (1024×768 vs 1280×800) display, i think it is  intended since most of the ipad apps are created in this resolution.  Making the display retina class will significantly increase its price (maybe even higher than that of the ipad 4) because a it will have a 2048-by-1536 resolution (greater pixel density=more difficult to process=more expensive).

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