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Apple Announces 10.5-inch iPad Air and Refreshed iPad Mini (engadget.com) 112

Posted by msmash from the new-devices dept.
Ahead of a planned event next week, Apple today unveiled two new iPads. From a report: The new, larger, 10.5-inch iPad Air will arrive with a 70 percent performance boost compared to its predecessor, thanks to the company's A12 Bionic chip with Apple's Neural Engine. That'll be useful alongside the now 20-percent larger display -- which is compatible with the first-gen Apple Pencil too.

A new iPad Mini has been a long time coming. The 7.9-inch option will, barring screen size, match the Air on specs. The screen is also 25 percent brighter versus old iPad minis, and will also support Apple Pencil -- the tiniest model to do so. Both new iPads have a laminated display that brings the surface glass and screen closer together to improve visibility -- and making them at least a little more desirable than Apple's entry-level iPad. Neither has FaceID built-in, it seems. Look, there's that Home button. The new iPad mini starts at $399 for the Wi-Fi model and $529 for the variant that includes cellular support. The new iPad Air starts at $499 for Wi-Fi, and $629 for Wi-Fi and cellular model.
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Apple Announces 10.5-inch iPad Air and Refreshed iPad Mini More

Apple Announces 10.5-inch iPad Air and Refreshed iPad Mini

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  • I've still got an Air 2 that works fine for the light web-browsing and Netflix watching that it gets used for, and I think a lot of people are in the same situation as I am here. At least Apple has moved past putting 32 GB (or even 16 GB) on the base models. 64 GB feels like a sufficient amount for loading it up with stuff when going on a trip and not having to worry about the lack of space.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by fluffernutter ( 1411889 )
      If I was shopping for a tablet I'd get the most storage for the least price. Usually that means not buying an Apple product.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        When I go shopping for a tablet, I'd get the one that is still supported 2 years out. Usually that means buying an Apple product.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        If I was shopping for a tablet I'd get the most storage for the least price.

        A tablet that does not run the applications for which you bought a tablet isn't useful no matter how much storage you buy. Many paid phone and tablet apps and games are iOS-first if not iOS-only. If you just want storage and don't care about apps, you could always buy a USB flash drive.

        • Well if you're going to purchase iOS only apps then yeah you pay the Apple tax. You had better enjoy that app to make the total cost worth it.

          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            by fluffernutter ( 1411889 )
            I mean, technically if you're paying $200 more for an iPad so you can use one app that doesn't work on Android, you're paying $200 for that app.

            • Re: Meh (Score:1)

              by Anonymous Coward

              Unsophisticated and non-discriminating users such as yourself are well-served by 3rd tier tablets from the shopping network.

      • The question, why you need so much storage on a tablet? I mean, I understand the time when tablets and phones came with 16GB of storage, and that was a pain, always. But now 32-64GB base storage is now standard even on cheap throwaway Amazon Fire HD10. One hour of Prime Netflix HD stream compresses to something like less than 1GB. So even on a tablet or phone with only 32GB of storage I can download enough shows to last a long transatlantic flight. The 64GB version of iPad will pretty much end this discussi

    • The problem is the iPads, are still limited by iOS apps. So most iOS apps, will not be made to handle the newest models, because for one it needs to support on the lower power phones, and just change the screen display (to save on re-coding) and the fact that most people are not using the newest and wowest iPad.

      These are not PC laptops. These are low power devices and are limited in what they can do.

      • So most iOS apps, will not be made to handle the newest models

        I find that something like 90% of iOS apps handle new features within a year or so - like FaceID or the Files app.

        because for one it needs to support on the lower power phones, and just change the screen display (to save on re-coding)

        That is totally wrong, there are a lot of ways to easily provide for more complex UI on the iPad without much coding at all.

        On top of that there are a number of very powerful iPad only apps...

        These are low power dev

  • Headphone jack (Score:5, Interesting)

    by psergiu ( 67614 ) on Monday March 18, 2019 @12:08PM (#58292976)

    And both of them still have the headphone jack.

    • are they still stuck with a proprietary charging port or they moved on to USB-C ?

      • are they still stuck with a proprietary charging port or they moved on to USB-C ?

        The iPad Pro uses USB-C, so if that is a requirement you have a solution already. Nothing wrong with more consumer oriented gear that will not have much attached over a lifetime of the product using different ports.

    • What? But cables aren't good for anything! Totally obsolete. I love the sound of Bluetooth compression.

    • More room.

      The primary reason to get rid of the headphone jack on phones, is because the amount of empty space it takes up, which could be used for something else, or allow for enough space for battery expansion, and prevent explosions (Note 7).

      The iPad as more room to engineer around, so adding a headphone jack is less of an engineering trick.

      Could Apple design a phone with a headphone jack... Sure, but other then angering a bunch of people who wouldn't buy Apple anyways most people don't use headphones too

      • Except they ruled that out in tests where they take the phone apart.

      • More room.

        The primary reason to get rid of the headphone jack on phones, is because the amount of empty space it takes up, which could be used for something else, or allow for enough space for battery expansion, and prevent explosions (Note 7).

        I guess that's why a solitary hardware hacker was able to put a headphone jack in the iPhone 7 [youtube.com]... Because there was all that empty space in the non-headphone-equipped iPhone. The lack of a headphone jack has nothing to do with batteries or explosions or other stuff, it's about pushing sales of Bluetooth headphones - Airpods and Beats, specifically.

    • And both of them still have the headphone jack.

      Sadly, the demand to make iPhones toilet-water-proof far exceeded the need for headphone jacks.

      I'm guessing there are a lot fewer iPads regularly hovering over water.

    • The iPad Mini does not have stereo sound in landscape mode, which makes it crap for video streaming apps. All the sound is firing from the left or right of the screen. What a waste. One of the reasons I am sticking with Android tablets because almost all of them support stereo sound in landscape mode.

      Heck, I even would access a MONO sound if the speaker was placed in the center of the screen, but the way Apple iPad/Mini does it is just stupid.

  • Apple under Jobs introduced different and interesting products. Apple under Cook seems to produce nothing but iterations, gradual updates of old stuff. They're boring now.

    • Soon they will harness their Courage(TM) and release new models of the iPad and iPhone that have removed the next big thing...... The screen! Purchase this metal sheet with nothing more than a glowing apple on it! The iSlab.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      I be happy for another iteration of a cheese grater Mac tower. Instead all we get is this tat.

    • Which is a proof that the iSomething market has reached a level of good maturity a long time ago. If it wasn't for battery issues, I'd still be fine with using either iPhone 6S or Samsung Galaxy S5 both from something like four years ago. Having more than 16GB of storage would be nice, but besides that, those old iPhones and iPads would be perfect or acceptable to most users.
  • I'm disappointed at seeing Apple morphing into a toy company. It used to be a company, that, even while I was using Windows stuff, was at least a viable alternative for high end hardware and robust software. Now it's not even a viable alternative (for work... they make great toys). What a shame. Now my options are down to Windows... or Windows. Ugh. I wish desktop Linux was a viable alternative. That'd be pretty awesome.

  • At one time - this has been a couple years - you could only get free MS productivity apps on screens SMALLER than 10.1".
    If your tablet was larger than that, you had to pay for a consumer Office365 license because MS considered your device equivalent to a full desktop/laptop.

    Is this still in effect or has MS given that up?

  • Being so scared you are going to be hacked that you have to spend 2x on your device is quite a burden. How many actual Android phone/tablet attacks have there been in the wild?

    • Microsoft get so much shit about the security flaws in Windows and yet they support their software for 10 years or more. Suggesting that you might want Android updates for more than 18 months and the fanboys act like you're insane.

  • The 7.9-inch option will, barring screen size, match the Air on specs.

    And there's also a 7.9" model for men that's labeled 10.5" ...

  • Dunno if handheld computing is front and center at Apple any longer.

    Visited Apple Store and couldn't visibly see that Apple's line of iPads has advanced. Every one of the iPads looks like they did 4 years ago. Except now a 12" iPad looks small. WTF?

    No where was an iPad Mini on display.

    Effectively, Tim Cook has obfuscated consumer's ability to compare, contrast and plot a roadmap forward with handheld desktop portables and desktop portables .vs. wired desktop computing.

    -r

    • There's a reason there's a Genius there to help you. There's no need for you to compare anything, just walk in, and the Genius will tell you what you have to buy and you're set!

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