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The new iTunes 11
Today, Apple released it’s the 11th version of iTunes. Apple announced the new iTunes 11 during it’s media event where it announced the iPhone 5 and iPod updates. In my opinion, it is the best iTunes yet. It has new features that I know all the people who have iTunes would enjoy. Plus, unlike most Apple products, it’s free. Let’s take a look at the new features and you’ll see why you should spend a few minutes of your time downloading the best iTunes yet.
New Design
iTunes 11 features a new, slick, simplistic design. First off, you’ll notice that the new iTunes logo looks a lot like the Mac App Store (for those of you who are Mac users). After you click on this new logo, your eyes will be amazed. The new design of the new iTunes looks spectacular. Going through it, you’ll notice the boring left side bar and accompanying list that was next to it are both gone. Instead, the whole space, besides the top music control bar, is taken up by what you are looking at, whether it be your music organized by song, artist etc. or the iTunes store. Instead of the annoying side bar, there a small drop down menu that allows you to select what you want, such as music, videos, TV shows etc. This is the library drop down menu. As you move down through your different categories, the “look at” options on a sidebar below the music control sidebar changes to match what category you are looking at. Also, you can have an expanded view of your artists and albums. Just click on the album or artist to see the songs by the artist or in the album, from there you can add to your queue (which I will discuss in a moment) or play any song from the artist/album. The design of the new iTunes is stunning and you really should see it for yourself so download it or check out the image above. Okay, so we expected the looks of the app to change as it always does, what are the new features?
Up Next
iTunes 11 has a new feature called Up Next, it allows you to add music that you want played in an order to a queue. You can add the songs to it randomly or you can select exactly when you want the music to be played. So for example, you scroll through your playlist and you want a song that you see to play next instead of whatever random song Shuffle will pick for you. Instead of waiting for the song that is currently on to change and hovering over the next song you want to play, just drag the song to the top music control bar and it is in your queue. Let’s say that you already put something in your queue but you want the song you just found to play next. At any time without pausing the song you’re on, you can change the song order, delete songs off your Up Next queue and add more to it. It really is a great feature and it particularly useful when you are working. Just search a song using the search bar, and drag the song into the queue. That’s it! This feature is also very useful with another feature called…
MiniPlayer
Let’s face it. The small minimized view of iTunes on iTunes 10 wasn’t very good. However, Apple saw this problem and decided to fi it and they did a great job with it. MiniPlayer allows you to play, pause, give a rating, add current song to queue or a playlist, you can go to the other songs by the band of the song that is playing if you have any other ones, you can see the song on the iTunes store and you can search any song that you want to play. In addition to being able to play the song, artist, genre etc. you look up, you can add them to your queue, whether it be a song, a 15 song album or all the songs of your favorite artist, you can add all the songs with one click, this goes for the search bar in regular sized iTunes as well. It can do all of this and the MiniPlayer is about the size of my pinky. It can do so much in such little space.
New Store Features
There are also new features from within the Store itself. There is now a history of the iTunes previews that you have listened to or watched in the past. Also, iCloud syncs these previews so that if you see a preview or listen to one on your iPhone on the go, you can see it again when you get home on your Mac, PC, iPad, iPod touch or another iPhone, any device anytime. All of the stores have been redesigned with simplicity in mind. There are easy to browse shelves that allow you to see popular music, movies, TV shows, apps etc. iTunes also has a genius-like feature which will give you recommendations based on music in your library, it’s called In The Store picks.
iCloud features
If Apple puts more and more emphasis on iCloud we are all going to run out of our 5 GB of free storage very quickly! Of course, none of what you do of what I’m about to tell you you can do with iTunes will use space but Apple is putting more emphasis on iCloud, for better or for worse. Anyways, there are a few new iCloud features in iTunes 11. With iCloud, you can access all of your content on all of your devices. Also, once you buy something off of iTunes on nay device, all of your other devices will have it too. If you’re online, you don’t even have to download it but if you want to download it for offline purposes, you can do that too with a press of a button. Also, iCloud will save your place on anything so that you can pause a video, be it a movie, TV show etc. on one device and continue playing it on another device at the same spot.
As you can see the new iTunes 11 has many new features that are very hard to turn down even if the program wasn’t free. So go and spend a few minutes of your time downloading it, it will be well worth your time.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Image courtesy: Apple
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A year at The Church of Apple
Today marks a year that I have been writing for the Church of Apple. It has been a long time and it has been worth it. I just want to take the time today to thank our readers for following us and helping us to become a successful website. Before I joined, this page was not taken seriously due to the lack of journalistic value that had been featured on the page. After I joined and we fixed all of that, the page has improved dramatically. We are now a seriously taken informative website, instead of a website that was taken as a joke. It has been an eventful year with different Apple events to cover, an art contest several months back, a new reviews page, which has been successful thanks to different companies providing us some great products to review (our thanks goes out to them as well today) and the Facebook contest that has ended today. I am so very proud to write for a site that brings you up-to-date information about Apple and reviews on different products that can enrich the lives of Apple device users everywhere but I am even more proud of Apple itself. It has gone more than a year without Steve and it has been an eventful year. And despite the interesting turn the stock markets have had lately, I remain proud to be an Apple guy. My hope for this website is to help you become an Apple person too because we are the cool people.:) Thanks once again to our thousands of readers to a successful year and to the companies that have helped us launch our successful reviews page. You are all great.
Thanks for a great year,
Joe
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New Mac mini- Way more power. Way same size.
At a recent event, Apple announced, among other Macs, an updated Mac mini with updated hardware to be even faster than last year’s models. This Mac mini is turning out to be the most powerful yet.
History
The history of the Mac mini goes back to a wonderfully designed yet failed computer that Apple had back in 2000 and 2001 called the G4 Cube. Apple failed with this small computer but did not fail with it’s successor, the Mac mini, released in 2005. The Mac mini has been one of Apple’s most successful products since it is Apple’s cheapest Mac yet it is high-powered. To me, you get the most out of your money from the Mac mini.
Design
The design of the Mac mini has not changed this time around. Made from a single piece of aluminum, just like other Macs, it is lightweight and durable. It is the smallest computer that Apple sells. The mini is only 7.7 inch x 7.7inch x 1.4 inch and weighs 2.7 pounds. It’s incredible! The Mac mini is stylish on any desk that is lucky enough to have it on. There is a removable panel on the bottom that allows you to add RAM. There is no power brick on the power cord. It’s just the small details in the Mac mini that make it a one-of-a-kind computer.
Technical Specs
As with the other Mac computers, the Mac mini has been updated with Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors. The lower end Mac mini will feature a 2.5 GHz dual-core i5 while the higher end will have a 2.3 GHz Quad-Core i7 processor, the second fastest processor on a computer that size. This particular model is also configurable to an incredible 2.6 GHz Quad-Core i7 processor, the fastest processor on a computer this size. The lower end 2.5 dual-core i5 can TurboBoost up to 3.1 GHz and the higher end 2.3 GHz can TurboBoost up to 3.3 GHz and the highest end Mac mini (2.6 GHz Quad-Core i7) can TurboBoost up to 3.6 GHz. We are getting closer to seeing 3 GHz Mac minis! Give it a few years, they’ll be out there.
Both Mac minis come standard with 4 GB of RAM but can be configured with up to 16 GB of RAM according to Apple. The RAM is not soldered in and you can replace it or add more to it with a few very simple steps. Of course, you can usually put in more RAM than Apple tells you you can so I would predict that you could try for 20 GB up to 36 GB of RAM. I do not see the need to do so, however.
The Mac minis have a few options for storage space. The lower end Mac mini is stuck at 500 GB of HDD space. The higher end comes standard with 1 TB (1000 GB) of space. You can also configure the higher end Mac mini with either a TB Fusion drive (takes the best things from HDD and SDD and combines them into one drive, it puts frequently used things on a SDD and less used stuff on the HDD) or a 256 GB SDD.
The graphics performance on the Mac mini is impressive too with an Intel HD 4000 graphics card which is 65 percent more graphics performance than last years Intel HD 3000 on the Mac mini.
The Mac mini offers a very versatile port selection. It has a gigabit ethernet slot, a FireWire 800 slot, HDMI slot, a Thunderbolt slot, four USB 3.0 slots, and a SDXC card slot. It also features a 802.11n Wifi, the fastest wifi available. It also has the new Bluetooth 4.0, just like Apple’s new computers.
Prices and Availability
The Mac mini is available now. The low end Mac mini is $599 while the higher end starts at $799 (it will cost more to add more things to it, such as a different drive than the standard 1 TB HDD). Anyone with last years model, I do not suggest upgrading. However, anyone with a Mac mini older than last years model or someone who doesn’t have a Mac mini, you may want to consider upgrading.
This latest update on the Mac mini shows the sheer power of the Mac mini’s performance. It may be small but it packs a huge punch, bigger than a lot of computers 5-10 times as big. It really is a small, powerful machine.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Image courtesy: www.apple.com/mac-mini/
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New 13 inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display
In a recent event, Apple announced a new 13 inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display. This was the computer that I wanted to buy back in June but Apple only announced a new 15 inch MBPR then. Even now, they are still too expensive for the average consumer. Despite this, many others will be interested in this great computer. Let’s go into detail of Apple’s new laptop.
Name
The new laptop has been called by Apple the 13 inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Unsurprisingly, the name of the computer is not on the bottom edge on the screen like the MBA’s and regular MBP’s but on the bottom. Imagine “MacBook Pro with Retina Display” on the side of the screen! I’m just glad that its not called the “New 13 inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display and other things”.
Design
The new MacBook Pro has the same great design as the 15 inch MBPR. The new 13 inch MacBook is a pound lighter and 20 percent thinner. The new laptop will take away the SuperDrive, making it thinner and lighter. The MBPR is the lightest 13 inch MBP ever. It is 3.57 pounds. The computer is also all flash and minimizes the risks for breaking. As with all Macs, the MBPRs are very well crafted. The new computers, like Apple’s other computers are made out of the same unibody aluminum body. The MBPR does not have the name of the computer on the front display. It is now located on the back, out of the way. It makes sense. The name on the front display takes away from the simplicity and design of Apple’s computers, so I’m glad that it is now on the bottom. The computer is simply beautiful, just are all of Apple’s products.
Tech Specs
As with the other computers that have been updated in the past few months, the MBPR 13 inch has been given Ivy Bridge processors from Intel. Both models are 2.5 GHz i5 processors. They both Turbo-Boost to 3.1 GHz. They both are configurable to a 2.9 GHz processor. Apple has put some pretty powerful processors in the new 13 inch MBPRs.
Unlike the regular MBP’s standard of 4 GB of RAM, the 13 inch MBPR comes standard with 8 GB. This is not configurable in any other way. Like the 15 inch MBPR, the RAM is soldered into the MBPR so you will not be able to add RAM should you so desire. The 15 inch MBPRs are, however, upgradable to 16 GB of RAM should you desire that.
The storage space on the MBPR has a 128 GB (upgradable to 512 or 756 GB) flash storage on the lower end and has 256 GB (upgradable to 512 or 756 GB) on the higher end. The space, admittedly, is smaller than it should be for the price, but despite that, the computer is still worth it. As I mentioned, the drive is flash storage. Flash storage, like SSD, does not have moving parts. Moving parts cause HDDs to break easily. Flash storage also is faster and more reliable than HDDs. Flash storage, however, is expensive and costs a lot more for storage. I believe, however, that the pros of flash storage cancel the negatives of it, ten-fold.
The laptops, like the new MBAs and MBPs introduced in June as well as the new iMac and Mac mini has an Intel 4000 graphics card. This graphics card is a very great graphics card and runs fast providing you with some of the best graphics. However, the switch to Intel from Nvidia, may or may not be the best move since Nvidia has worked well with them.
I/O
The new 13 inch MBP consists of a MagSafe 2 port for charging, 2 thunderbolt ports, 2 USB 3.0 ports, HDMI port, headphone jack, and dual mics. It also has Bluetooth 4.0. It no longer has a SuperDrive due to the size of the SuperDrive. Not bad for a great, thin computer, though I would have like to have seen more USB ports.
Prices and Availability
The new 13 inch MBPRs are available from Apple now, as are the 15 inch MBPRs as they have been around for a few months now. The lower end MBPR with 128 GB is available for $1699. The higher end will be available for $1999. To me, these prices are still too much for me to go to the Apple Store and pick one up on the whim.
I believe that these new MBPRs will be the future of the MBPs and will eventually replace the current MBPs after an undetermined amount of time, assuming once the price of the cost to make these computers goes down and they can decrease the price of the computers. The new MBPRs are the future and I’m looking forward to the future.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
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New iMacs
Among the other goodies Apple introduced at it’s Media Event, Apple introduced their new iMacs set to be released this month and next month. The iMac looks amazing and IS amazing. Let’s review what has change in the iMac
History
The iMac was first introduced in 1998 by then-CEO Steve Jobs. The iMac was the device that brought Apple back from the dead. It’s lollypop-like colors and nice design and better affordability made it an ideal home computer. It brought Apple back from profitability and Apple is forever changed because of the iMac. The iMac has had 7 updates and this update is it’s eighth. In my opinion, Apple has knocked it straight out of the park.
Design
For those of you who like the current iMac form factor, you are in for a surprise. Apple did not change the form factor of the iMac but did perform some drastic changes to the design of it. When you look at the computer, you ask yourself, where is the computer? To you, it would look like just a monitor. Yes, that is how thin it is. You would think to yourself that this is just a monitor when it is actually the whole computer. The iMac is an incredible 5 mm at the the edge with 40% less volume. It is so thin it can rival iOS devices! The display has some changes as well. It will no longer reflect the sun into your eyes. The new iMac has a 80% less reflection in it’s screen. It’s incredible! Of course, the iMac, in terms of aesthetics have always been incredible but it has reached a whole new level.
Technical Specs
As with the other newest updates to Mac (MacBooks and Mac minis), the new iMac will feature the new Ivy Bridge processors from Intel. The lowest end iMac will feature a 2.7 Ghz i5 processor while the highest end iMac will feature a 3.2 Ghz i7 processor, making the iMac faster and faster than the current Mac Pros (which could be discontinued). The lower end can Turbo Boost up to 3.2 Ghz and the highest end can Turbo Boost up to 3.6 Ghz. Remember when Steve was on stage telling us we’d be at 3 Ghz? Well, that finally has come. It took them awhile but they did it.
Also 8 GB of RAM comes standard with the iMac. The 21.5 inch iMacs have their RAM soldered in but the 27 inch iMacs do not. They have 4 user accessible slots that can have up to 32 GB of RAM which is incredible and that’s what Apple tells you. Usually you can put even more than Apple tells you you can. If that is true this time as well, the user may be able to have 64 GB of RAM, though I would see no point in having that much.
The storage space on the iMac is now a 1TB standard configurable up to 3TB if you get a 27 inch iMac. Also, there is something new in the 27 inch iMacs. It is called Fusion Drive. An Apple Fusion Drive is a hybrid between HDD and SDD that gives you the space overload of the HDD and the speed increases and instant on gives you in SDD. It gives you the best of both worlds. This Fusion Drive comes in an incredible 3 TB of space but yet is very fast. HDDs are cheap sources of incredible amounts of space but they are slower and break easily. SDDs are faster and more reliable but are more expensive and don’t have as much space on them. That’s where combining the two come in. The good and bad of each cancel each other’s bad out and leaves you with the good of both. Of course, if you rather would have an all flash solution, Apple has the option for a 756 GB Flash storage option.
The graphics are also turning out to be incredible. The iMac will have NVIDIA graphics chip installed with each model having a better chip. The lowest end will have a NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M with 512 MB memory and the highest end will have a NVIDIA GeForce 675MX graphics with 1 GB of memory configurable up to 2GB of memory.
As for ports, it is almost exactly the same as the 2011 iMac but the new one comes with Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 3.0 ports.
Prices and availability
The 21.5 inch iMac will be available sometime this month with the 27 inch coming in December, just in time for Christmas. The low end 21 inch iMac will be $1299, $100 more than the last model, but with the new design and incredible performance, it’s more than worth it. The high end 21.5 inch will be $1499. The low end 27 inch will be $1799 and the high end will be $1999. These prices may be high and those who have the 2011 iMacs, I would not recommend buying the new one. However, anyone with a model earlier than that I would recommend the iMac. Of course, anyone who doesn’t have an iMac or a Mac for that matter should get one. If there is anytime to get an iMac, it is now.
The iMac has always been a great computer and with the new iMac coming out by the end of the month, the computer will be even more great! Apple has really outdone themselves here, more so than any other product they have released in the past few months, in my opinion. It has great promise and I can’t wait to get a hands-on look at these incredible new iMacs.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Image Courtesy: http://www.apple.com/imac/
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New iPad with Retina Display
Apple announced a new iPad at it’s media event and it has been released at it’s stores and elsewhere today. The iPad, in my opinion doesn’t add a whole lot but yet it does. What the features lack in quantity it makes up for in quality. The iPad with Retina Display (it’s official name) or simply the iPad 4 (or 3S depending on how you look at it) adds a new chip called the Apple A6X chip and it adds Apple’s new controversial Lightning connector. This doesn’t sound like much but it’s actually huge. If you have not seen the kind of graphics the iPhone 5 has, check out Apple’s iPhone 5 announcement video and you’ll see how stunning it came out to be. Let’s discuss the new iPad 4.
A6X Chip
The A6X chip is advertised by Apple to be dual-core but with quad-core graphics. That’s incredible! The graphics on this device are the best Apple has produced on any of it’s devices thus far. I once said that the chip on the iPhone could rival this generation gaming consoles (PS3/360), this iPad CAN rival those gaming consoles and in some tests win. The chip adds a lot to the device and people who have the iPad 1 or 2, it is now the time to upgrade, if you don’t have and iPad yet, now is the time to buy one.
Lightning Connector
The iPad now has the new Lightning connector. This controversial connector has raised a lot of concern and people have asked the question, “Was this necessary?”. While some answers have been no, my answer is yes. I believe it was necessary. I know that Apple has had it’s original dock connector for 5 years and every Apple accessory manufacturer has produced accessories for that particular connector for the past 5 years. The thing is, Apple doesn’t work for these manufacturers and if it feels it needs to change something, it will. I think that in order for Apple to have continued it’s thinner/lighter device philosophy, they needed a thinner, lighter cord. Plus, I like the cord myself. The 30-Pin dock connector is not reversible and can be a pain when plugging your device in. The Lightning connector, like the MagSafe connector on current MacBooks, is reversible. Also, many accessory makers in the past have changed whatever needed to be changed in the past and they will continue to do so. I do believe that Apple handed them a bigger speed bump than usual but it was necessary for Apple to have done so. I am, however, not a fan of Apple’s buy-an-adapter strategy. I feel that if they are going to inconvenience people for a little while, they may as well do it without charging them for the necessary inconvenience.
Who should buy this iPad?
If you are an owner of an iPad 3, just wait on this one, it isn’t a huge change and isn’t worth selling your iPad 3 or what not. However, if you have an iPad 1, iPad 2, have a junky Android tablet you dislike, or if you don’t even have an iPad at all, NOW is the time to get one. It is the best iPad that Apple has ever produced but if you have the now second-best (iPad 3), you aren’t too far down the track, so don’t worry. You’re iPad 3s aren’t obsolete yet. Think about it…
iPad 2s are STILL for sale
Apple just doesn’t want to let the iPad 2 go and I don’t blame them. The iPad 2 was one of their most successful products in history. I have one myself and I can’t imagine life without it even though I have only had it for a year and 8 months (I got it the day it came out). It truly is a great iPad. If history is to repeat itself, it will cut the iPad 2 once the next iPad comes out (probably the iPad with Retina Display 2 or something like that, Apple never has been super great at naming things).
The new iPad with Retina Display isn’t the biggest update to iPads to-date (I believe the iPad to the iPad 2 was) but it is a pretty good update. Apple didn’t need to change anything in the iPad very much because the iPad, like the iPhone, is maturing. It is growing up very fast. With that said, to me, there is nothing more scary than a company like Apple that doesn’t innovate. I only hope Apple does something big in the next iPad, otherwise they would be going into a bad direction and I don’t need to remind you, Steve can’t save the company again. Let’s hope Apple does what it needs to in order to innovate. Innovation always conquers laziness, hopefully Apple doesn’t forget that.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Image Courtesy: www.apple.com/ipad/overview/
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New iPad mini
Today, Apple announced a refresh of four different products and introduced a new one. The refreshes include the much faster iPad 4 (called “iPad with Retina Display), a new faster, lighter and thinner iMac, a new faster Mac mini and a new 13 inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. In this article we will discuss the new product, the iPad mini. First, we’ll start with the name.
Name
The name of the new product is indeed the iPad mini which, to me, is not the best they could have used. The iPad “mini” is not all that mini in comparison to the iPad. It is still over 75% the size of the iPad. I believe that a better name for it would have been the iPad Air, but oh well it is Apple, and Apple isn’t the best at naming things (just look at the iPad 4, it’s called the iPad with Retina Display”, um, we already knew it had a Retina Display).
Price and Storage
The iPad mini has been criticized for it’s higher price point for a 7 inch-ish tablet. The Google Nexus 7 for example is $199 (granted it is less featured than the iPad mini), the Fire starts at $159 (again with the less featured part), the 16 GB low end iPad mini starts at $329. That is a difference of $170 from the Fire, more than the price of the Fire itself. The price points of the iPad mini are as follows: 16 GB mini: $329, 32 GB mini: $429 and the 64 GB is $529. These points are expensive but in the next paragraphs, I’ll show you why, despite the price, the iPad mini is the one you will want to buy.
Design
The iPad mini comes with the best design in a tablet. The iPad mini has a stunning 7.9 inch display (just slightly off from everyone’s 7.8 inch guess) and features in 2 color choices, White and Silver and Black and Slate. It is 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter than the full iPad. It is 7.2 mm and 0.68 pounds, which is the thinnest and lightest iPad shipped yet (of course granted, it is a mini iPad so one would assume this to be the case). The battery is a single cell battery that fits in less space but provides the same power. The cameras are smaller but yet still takes the same 5 MP pictures as the iPad. The iPad has the same resolution as the iPad 2, in a smaller size of course, which makes it a better display than the iPad 2. It also has 35% more space on it than a 7 inch tablet, therefore everything is easier to read and yet it still provides a smaller profile. The distance between the screen and the edges is also thinner providing a more prominent display. The casing is an aluminum unibody providing a light, smooth feel. The design of this iPad is some of the best design work yet from Apple, and that’s saying something!
Processor
The iPad mini will have the A5 chip, the same one put into the iPad 2. The iPad 2 is a very strong and fast tablet that retains battery life like the sun retains light, it never dies. The specs of the A5 are some that we are familiar with and I am slightly disappointed they didn’t put something with a bit more power but with that said, the A5 is still very powerful.
Display
The screen is 7.9 inches and is not Retina Display. Despite that, the iPad mini does have more pixels per inch than the iPad 2 (iPad 2 has 132 ppi and the iPad mini has 163 ppi) and let’s not forget it is smaller than the iPad 2 so the screen definitely isn’t shabby.
Camara
It has a 1.2 MP camera in the front and is capable of 720p video on the front camera. The camera of course is the FaceTime camera and it will be even better than ever. It has face detection. The iSight camera on the back has 5MP and has autofocus, face detection, five-element lenses and a Hybrid IR filter. All these features add to the betterment of the camera. It is also capable of filming 1080p video, helping Apple destroy the consumer camera industry. It has video stabilization and face detection technologies. The camera is again the same as the one on the iPad, even though the mini is thinner, lighter and more portable.
Lightning Port
As with all devices that Apple sells now (including the iPad), it has the new thinner, lighter Lightning connector. People are complaining about the connector because their accessories won’t work with any future Apple products they buy. Of course, they can buy an adapter but as time moves on they can buy updated accessories. If you bought it from Costco, you can return it at any time and get a new one. There are ways you can avoid paying for Apple’s connector change. The new devices are thinner and lighter partly due to the new connector. Also, the connector is faster at charging the 10 hour battery.
4G and LTE
One of the best things Apple did with the iPad mini is make it available for 4G and LTE instead of settling for 3G. It also has the Nano-SIM card instead of the bigger Micro-SIM card.
Siri
Apple is continuing the “all devices will have Siri” tradition it started after iOS 6 gave the iPad and the iPod touch Siri. Siri is your personal assistant, capable of providing you information, make messages, set reminders, do web searches, check weather and much more.
Conclusion
The iPad mini is Apple’s solution to take the 7 inch tablet industry. It may be a bit more expensive than other 7 inch tablets, but it’s beautiful slightly-bigger-than-7-inch screen, camera, iOS 6, Siri, LTE availability, beautiful, not to be matched design, lightweight and thin profile, lightning port and powerful processor will allow Apple to be a very well developed and powerful competitor against other 7-inch tablet makers such as Google and Amazon. Only time will tell how much Apple can take from them.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Image courtesy: www.apple.com/ipad-mini/overview/
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iPad (mini): What to expect
After Apple has all but announced that they are holding an event on October 23rd, rumors around the internet went crazy about a new iPad mini. I for one happen to disagree about an opinion made apparent by Dillon a few months ago about the iPad mini. He disagreed so much with the idea that he even sent an email to Tim Cook. I am not as quick to jump the gun and send Cook an email. It is my opinion that Apple should enter the 7 inch tablet market because it would allow it to enter another market it could easily succeed at. After all, many Android tablets are 7 inch tablets so it would help Apple take over the industry further. With all that said, what will Apple include in the iPad mini anyways? Let’s find out.
Name
Just what will this device be called? So far, it’s been called the new iPad mini, iPad mini, iPod touch pro, mini iPad, iPad air just to name a few with the first one being the one most people agree with. It will probably be called the iPad mini but hey we were all wrong when we said “the new iPad” would be called the iPad 3. We’ll just have to see.
Screen
While I stated that the new iPad mini will be 7 inches, I am slightly off. It is believed that the new iPad mini will actually be 7.85 inches, closer to 8 than 7 actually, but still smaller than the almost 10 inch iPad. I feel that the screen size is a compromise between now-deceased Jobs and the other execs. At first, Steve Jobs completely denounced the idea but it was revealed that in an early 2011 email from Eddie Cue, that Jobs became more and more interested and open to the idea. I believe that he ultimately fought the idea of the 7 inch tablet so they compromised to a slightly bigger 7.85 inch. Of course, that may not be what happened, but it isn’t unlikely. It is also not believed that the new iPad mini will have a Retina Display since Apple still needs to keep it’s famously high margins.
Lightning
I believe that Apple will never introduce a product with a 30-pin dock connector again. I believe this to be the case because once Apple drops something, its never brought back again. Therefore, one must conclude that the new iPad mini will have the new smaller, lighter Lightning connector. This is a good thing because unlike current iPhone users who have accessories with their iPhones that need an adapter, no accessories will need an adapter for the iPad mini, because there aren’t any to begin with! It’s a new, unreleased design. I’m glad I won’t need the adapter should I buy the iPad mini.
Design
The design will be very similar, if not identical to that of the iPad. There will be a few changes, such as the most apparent one, the screen size! Also, it will be lighter and thinner than the regular iPad. There is even speculation that it will be multi-colored like the new colored iPod touch that definitely would add a “fun” element to the device but let’s remember there are a lot of people who aren’t kids who use the iPad. A lawyer with a baby blue iPad just doesn’t seem right. Of course should they offer color, it wouldn’t matter anyways since they would offer the bland white and black one, so it actually isn’t a bad idea. A kid can have a blue iPad and a lawyer can have a blander white iPad, unless of course the lawyer wants the blue iPad, it’s his choice after all.
Processor
What power could this new device possess? The current iPad runs on a A5X chip and I think it will run on the same chip as we move to next March where the iPad will sport the A6 chip that is now only on the iPhone. Both the A5X and the A6 chips are incredible. The A5X chip provides great graphics and the A6 provides insanely great graphics. The A6 on the iPhone 5 is the most powerful processor they have shipped and it makes the graphics look stunning. They did an amazing job with both chips.
Camera
I believe that, like the iPhone, iPad, and the iPod touch that Apple will put a front facing FaceTime camera and a back facing camera on the new iPad mini. I believe that the new mini will sport a 4-5 MP camera, similar to that of the one in the iPad now. Of course, it is possible that it may only have a FaceTime camera or no camera at all with the latter of the two choices more likely since Apple’s gotta place a difference between the iPad and the mini.
Storage and Pricing
In order for Apple to keep profitable margins, they may need to move back a space. They may need to go to 8, 16 and maybe a high end 32 GB model. It’s been said that the 16 GB would cost $299 and the 32 GB would be $399, the price of the to-be-discontinued iPad 2. The 8 GB model would probably be at $249, but it remains to be seen what the pricing will be. They could of course pull a MBA vs. MBP, making the iPad mini close in price to the iPad now, just appealing to different markets. The MacBook Airs and Pros are priced fairly close together, especially the lower-end models. For instance, both the low end 13 inch MBA and MBP cost the same, they just appeal to different people, Air for consumer and Pro to Professionals or people who need more power. It would be the mini for the consumer and the iPad for the person who can afford the little bit more money for more features, a person who would need those features and be able to afford them. I am very interested to see how exactly Apple prices this thing.
3G/4G service?
I think that Apple will probably only ship the iPad mini with wifi as to keep the prices down. Of course, it is possible that it will have 3G/4G but Apple’s gotta make a profit so they probably will not.
Who will this appeal to?
I think the iPad mini will appeal to people will can’t quite afford an iPad but want an iPad. People are strapped on cash and how perfect it is for Apple to release a more affordable iPad right before the holiday season. There are a few groups of people that it will particular appeal to when buying in mass. Businesses will buy it because of it’s cheaper price from the iPad. The iPad may finally get it’s biggest break in education yet. Many schools around the country use iPads and now with the mini, more and more school districts will be able to afford to get iPads into classrooms.
Conclusion
The new iPad mini has been speculated and debated about for some time now and it appears to be around the bend. With a 7.85 inch screen, lower price, hopefully colored chassis, thin body, Lightning connector, fast A5X processor, acceptance by more educational facilities, the new iPad mini will be an exciting new addition to the iPad family and I can’t wait to see it in person come a few months.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
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October 5, 2012
Today, we remember the life of a great man. This day one year ago, Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO and Chairman of Apple died. Steve was a man who did amazing things. He was the great innovator of our time, the Edison, the Tesla, the Franklin. His life was all about perfection but he did not lead a perfect life. While he did build and then rebuild the planet’s most valuable company in history, he did have some downfalls in his less public life. Decisions he made in his life were detrimental to some and hurtful to many, such as him shutting out his daughter or being a jerk to people he knew. He deceived, lied and whether I like to admit it or not, stole ideas. This goes without saying however that Steve wasn’t perfect but then again none of us are. We all exceed at something. Steve found what he was good at and exceeded in it. Most people, lucky people, find what they are passionate about and pursue it. He did just that. His pitfalls were surpassed by his ability to innovate and his life, his history shows that anyone, even a college dropout with a passion for something they love, can change the world. His philosophy, what he told people about life, to me, was inspiring. He told us to find something we are passionate about and never give up on it. He told us to explore until we have found our true passion. He told us to keep thinking outside the box and to think different. He told us that we should mold our life instead of just living in it. He told us these things in the hope that we would listen. I hope that you join me in that listening. Steve Jobs had some incredible things to say. Steve led his life through merits and ideals that we all could learn from. Of course, we must remember him by the products he left us. The Mac changed the way people use their computers, instead of being stuck in Orwell’s “1984”, we had just plain, old 1984. The iPod and iTunes has forever changed the music industry, no matter what happens to the industry itself. The iPhone changed the way we talk to each other and Steve once lived in the period of the Jetson’s and some of what he saw in that cartoon, he created for real people to use. The iPad has completely revolutionized the computer industry, making us more mobile in what we do. Desktop and Laptop sales has plummeted since the introduction of the iPad. All of that and his legacy burned into Apple like a brand on cattle. His legacy will ensure that Apple will continue to make insanely great products.
Apple has had a mixed year. The good being the iPhone 4S (granted it was introduced on October 4th, but still it was introduced under Cook), the new iPad, Mountain Lion, new MacBook lineup, quickly getting rid of things that didn’t work (Olympics commercials), the $1 billion+ win over Samsung and the new iPhone and stunning iPod lineup. They didn’t do so well on Apple Maps and iOS 6 in general, but all of the problems of iOS 6 are gradually being fixed such as Apple Maps’ improved accuracy. Of course what does raise a bit of concern for me is the fact that under Steve Jobs, iOS 6 would never have been released. It would have been delayed for as long as needed to fix the problem. Of course, it isn’t for certain that Apple knew about the problems of Apple Maps, but it is most likely. Also, I mentioned this before but I will do so again, Quarter 3 financial results weren’t up to expectations. Apple did disappoint that quarter a bit, but I believe that it was because it was an “in-between” quarter, a quarter in between major product releases such as the iPhone and iPad. Apple did introduce new Macs that quarter and granted they did sell four million of them that quarter. Also, Mac sales are increasing all the time while PC sales are declining, slowly but surely, Apple will gain market share. Despite the negative things that happened this year related to Apple, I believe that Apple is still going strong, they have just had a few speed bumps along the way. After all, it wasn’t under Jobs that Apple became the most valuable company in history, it was under Cook. Apple is only continuing to grow. They have the new iPad mini coming out soon, new MacBook Pro Retina 13 inches, a TV possibly on the way and God knows what else. Only Apple knows what Apple knows. The continuation of the success of Apple is the people at Apple’s way of celebrating Steve’s life, to celebrate his work is to celebrate the man. Steve Jobs, thank you for touching my life, for changing my life and many people around the world’s lives as well. You changed the world and the legacy you left behind will continue to change it. Continue to rest in peace Steven Paul Jobs. Thanks again.
Thanks for reading,
Joe