Alleged photos of Apple's 7-inch tablet surface on Chinese and French sites. Looks like - you guessed it - a slightly shrunken iPad.
Like it or not, Apple is pretty much definitely building a 7-inch tablet, speculatively termed the "iPad mini" by tech bloggers. (In fairness, that sounds better than iPod Touch MAXX.) While it could be weeks or months before we know for sure whether or not the name stuck, looking at recently leaked pictures at the French site NoWhereElse and the Chinese site Bolopad, it certainly fits. The "iPad mini" looks almost exactly like Apple's latest iPad, only smaller.
Either this is a 7-inch tablet or this guy's hand is HUGE.
Here's what we think we know:
The iPad mini will have front- and rear-facing cameras. It will feature Apple's new "Lightning" dock connector, and the same wake/sleep, volume up/down and home buttons, and mute/lock orientation switch as its larger cousin.
It also looks like the bottom of the case, on either side of the dock-connector, will have perforations for better sound output. You'll be able to buy it in white or black, because this is Apple. And there appears to be a small hole an inch or two above the Apple-logo on the tablet's backside.
Source: news.com.au
Here's what we don't know:
What's that little hole on the backplate for? We have no clue. Also, there's no way of telling for sure what the resolution of that 7-inch screen will be (though it will probably keep pixel density above 220ppi to hang onto the Retina moniker). In both series of photos, icons for Youtube and Google Maps make it pretty obvious the tablets in these photos aren't running iOS 6, which means we're probably looking at mockup display.
And of course we don't know what Apple will try to cram inside. Will it get the latest iPad's A5X processor or the iPhone 5's A6? Will it be priced to under-bid Microsoft's 10.6-inch Surface tablets or to compete more directly with the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD 7"?
Given two separate, consistent leaks, we do think these photos show an actual iPad mini - at least the frame. But there's a lot they can't tell us. Like, maybe most importantly, when will it hit the market?
Source: news.com.au
As TechCrunch points out, it makes perfect sense that Apple waited to announce the iPad mini till it was sure it wouldn't steal the iPhone 5's spotlight. And given that we've already heard about the big iPod refreshes and iTunes update, it would also make sense for Apple to announce the device in lieu of its customary October music event.
How much would you shell out for an iPad mini this fall? Let us know in the comments.
�
0 comments:
Post a Comment