iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 3 and iMac Retina Display were presented last night by the Apple company, the three products being developed to help the American company attract the interest of users during the winter holidays, the most profitable of its fiscal year. If the last of them can already be bought in stores, the two tablets are only available for pre-order for now, they will go on sale from October 24, and below you will have the important details about all of them.
iPad Air 2
iPad Air 2 is the official name of the new iPad tablet presented this evening by the Apple company, it being presented in an image of a user guide of iOS 8 published yesterday in the iBookStore. Tim Cook submitted iPad Air 2 last evening at an Apple conference, it being the thinnest iPad tablet released so far, being only 6.1 mm thick, being 2 times thinner than the iPad tablet released by Apple in 2010.
iPad Air 2 DESIGN
iPad Air 2 is 18% thinner than iPad Air and is presented by the Apple company right the thinnest existing tablet on the globe with a thickness of only 6.1mm. The new tablet is available in a gold version, as rumored in numerous published rumors, with silver and space gray colors also available for purchase from Apple stores.
The new design brings an elimination of the Mute/screen orientation lock button, brings a new design for the volume buttons, they resemble those of iPhone 6 si 6 iPhone Plus, repositioned microphones to record video clips with better audio content and a rethinking of the speaker grills at the base of the tablet.
iPad Air 2 SCREEN
As I have told you many times so far, the tablet Apple's iPad Air 2 has a 9.7-inch Retina display which keeps resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels of the previous model. Unlike it, the new tablet now has a laminated screen, just like the iPhone terminals, so the LCD, the multitouch foil and the front panel are glued together, air cannot penetrate between them, the displayed images being much clearer than in the case of previous models.
Moreover, the screen of the new tablet is treated with a special substance that reduces reflections by up to 56%, so you will be able to see the images without problems even when you use the tablet in conditions of intense brightness.
iPad Air 2 A8X chip and 10 hours of autonomy
I told you in several articles that iPad Air 2 will have a chip available 8-bit A64X, Apple confirming its implementation today, with 3 billion transistors, 40% more processing power than the iPad Air, and a graphics card 2.5 times more powerful. In the same A8X chip we also find the M8 motion co-processor available in iPhone 6 si iPhone 6 Pluss, offering users no less than 10 hours of autonomy, i.e. exactly like any other iPad tablet so far.
The new A8X chip brings an M8 motion co-processor, but also a barometer, so that in fitness applications, such as the Health of iOS 8, you will also be able to measure the altitude or the steep steps inside the buildings. Finally, the iPad Air 2 could also have 2 GB of RAM, but we have to wait for the product to be actually launched on the market and disassembled to confirm this.
iPad Air 2 camera
In iPad Air 2, Apple has implemented an 8 megapixel camera, compared to the 5 megapixel one available in the iPad Air, she having 1.12µ pixels, f/2.4 aperture and the possibility to record Full HD video clips in 1080p format. The new Camera application for iPad Air 2 is able to record panoramic photos that have up to 43 megapixels, it has the function available Burst Mode for recording a maximum of 10 photos per second, it has available the Timelapse module and a timer for scheduling photo recording.
More than that, iPad Air 2 is capable of recording slow-motion videos in 720p format, here stopping the news for the main room. For the front camera we have a new image sensor with f/2.3 aperture, which records clearer pictures and movies, including in low light conditions because it captures up to 81% more light. The main camera automatically focuses on users' faces more easily and allows FaceTime HD calls with any compatible Apple products.
iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi and 4G connectivity
Because we are talking about an A8 chip, the Apple company has implemented in its new tablet Wi-Fi connectivity with up to 2.8 times faster than in the case of the iPad Air, users being able to reach Internet browsing or data transfer speeds of up to 866 Mbps. In the case of 4G we are talking about compatibility with over 20 frequencies around the globe and the ability to touch Internet browsing speeds of up to 150 Mbps, that is exactly what the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus terminals have available.
Apple SIM – universal Apple card
An extremely interesting surprise included by the company Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), in iPad Air 2 this Apple SIMor Apple SIM card, allowing users to quickly change mobile phone operators whenever they want. Apple SIM it is implemented only in tablets iPad Air 2 4G marketed in the USA and as you can see from the image above, it offers the option of choosing tariff plans from one of the 3 major operators in the country, without having their card inserted into the product.
Practice this Apple SIM card allows users to quickly change the tariff plans used for internet 4G In the USA, Apple offers options for 3 of the major American operators, they are available in the tablet's settings menu. Inclusion Apple SIM in iPad Air 2 will simplify the process of using the services of a mobile phone operator, users no longer having to ask for a card from them and stay with it even if they are not satisfied.
Now Americans will be able to change the internet tariff plan whenever they are not satisfied with it, all without replacing the card in the tablet. The Apple SIM can be extracted from the tablet and replaced with another normal SIM.
touch ID
I learned from various rumors that Apple will implement Touch ID in iPad Air 2 si iPad Mini 3, and Phil Schiller confirmed this in last night's Apple conference. Touch ID will work in the new tablet exactly as in the iPhone terminals, except that it will not be able to authorize mobile payments at POS, so we will limit ourselves to authorizing payments made in the iTunes Store.
Unfortunately, the Apple company has not implemented an NFC chip to allow the authorization of mobile payments in partner stores, so using an Apple ID we will only be able to authorize payments for content purchased from the iTunes Store.
PRICE and RELEASE
iPad Air 2 is available for preorder starting today in the Apple Store, while the official launch will take place on October 24 in over 30 countries around the world, including Romania. iPad Air 2 it will cost €499 in the cheapest version in Romania, the ed at Orange announcing this morning that the tablet will be available for purchase in its network starting from October 24.
Along with the two new tablets, Apple will keep the iPad Mini, iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air on sale, the price difference between them not being that big, as you can see in the first image of this article.
iMac Retina Display
Announced in various rumors that have appeared over time, the iMac Retina Display was presented yesterday by the Apple company during its conference taking place in Cupertino. As you realized from the article, the new iMac comes equipped with a Retina Display that brings a double resolution compared to that normally offered by the original iMacs, but only the version with a 27-inch screen benefits from this type screen for now.
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Retina display
According to the company Apple, the new 27-inch iMac Retina screen offers resolution of 5210 x 2880 pixels for viewing images, being the PC with the highest resolution ever implemented for a screen of this type. According to Apple, the new Retina display The iMac displays 14.7 million pixels and is named 5K screen thanks to the enormous resolution that will display any type of content on the entire screen at the best possible quality.
iMac Retina Display has a screen that offers up to 7 times more pixels than an HD TV, 67% more pixels than a 4K TV, and all in one the case which is only 5 mm thick. To control the new screen, Apple implemented a chip called a timing controller, controlling the update rate of the information visible on the screen, so that users have the best experience for viewing information.
For this screen, Apple has implemented new technologies that reduce energy consumption by up to 30%, a new screen lighting system being used to achieve this truly interesting performance.
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Processor, RAM and graphics card
In the iMac Retina Display, Apple has implemented quad-core Intel i5 processors which have a basic working frequency of 3.5 GHz, users having the option to choose processors with base speeds of up to 4 GHz in the case of customized configurations. On the graphics side, Apple offers video cards AMD Radeon R9 extremely powerful and necessary to support the 5K resolution of the new screen without generating lag in scrolling through menus or watching movies.
Apple will also offer 8 GB of RAM in its new iMac, this becoming the standard for basic configurations, but of course users will be able to choose other options when they buy the product.
Fusion Drive - HDD and SSD
Fusion Drive is a technology implemented by the Apple company in Macs more than a year ago, allowing the combination of normal HDDs with SSDs in RAID-like setups. For the new iMac, Apple offers a standard 1 TB Fusion Drive and support for Thunderbolt 2, so users will have data transfer speeds of up to 1 Gbps with storage media capable of reaching them.
PRICE and RELEASE
The iMac Retina Display will have a standard price of $2499 in Apple Store and can be bought starting yesterday from Apple's physical and online stores, with deliveries starting yesterday. Considering that only the 27-inch model has the new screen, Apple will keep the old iMac model on the market at a price $700 lower, but also the version with a 21.5-inch screen that costs $1400 less.
iPad Mini 3
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iPad Mini 3 was presented by the company Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),, but without being part of a presentation on the stage of the conference in which I have already seen iPad Air 2, iMac Retina Display si Mac Mini 2014. The new tablet still comes with the old one M7 chip available for over 1 year, she keeping the old one the 5 megapixel camera provided by Apple in the past, the only important innovation implemented for it being touch IDfor reading fingerprints.
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iPad Mini 3 will include the same 7.9 inch Retina screen with 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution, but it will not benefit from the new technologies used to manufacture the screen iPad Air 2, Unfortunately. Basically, Apple has chosen to keep everything it has iPad Mini 2 in iPad Mini 3, to apply a Touch ID and a new name and to launch it on the market as a semi-new product that will be sold at the price used for its old tablet for a year.
Many will probably be disappointed by this decision by Apple, but the company needed something to differentiate its tablets, and this discrepancy in configurations will do it. iPad Mini 3 will be available for pre-order starting tomorrow in Apple Store, the launch in Romania will take place on October 24.
