AT&T, the nation's second-largest carrier, on Friday morning started accepting pre-orders for Apple's iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3, both announced at yesterday's media event. That came as a bit of surprise as Apple's own webstore, which went offline more than three hours ago, was late to the game and came back online after AT&T had already started collecting reservations for the new devices.
Well that’s all folks. Apple's iPad and Mac event has come, and gone. We'll continue talking about the announcements made today for many, many weeks, but the keynote itself and all of the speculation and rumors we heard leading up to it, are now over.
A lot has happened in the last 10 hours or so, and we understand that it might have been difficult to keep track of everything. So as usual, we’ve put together an awesome roundup for you of everything important that happened during and after today's event.
So you’ve watched Apple’s keynote, and you’ve been keeping up with the news today, but thus far you’ve only seen the new iPads and Retina iMac from either afar or in marketing materials. Obviously, the products are going to look good in photos, but what about in real life?
Following the event today, select journalists were given the chance to go hands on with the two new iPads, and 5K iMac, and have posted videos of their initial reactions. So naturally, we’ve rounded up some of these clips that show folks trying out the devices for the first time.
Folks who missed Apple’s keynote this morning, or would just like to watch it in its entirety, will be happy to hear that Apple has just posted the full video online for your streaming pleasure. Obviously, you can read everything you need to know about today’s event right here on iDB, but if you have the time, the video is worth watching.
Deciding between the original iPad mini and the iPad 4 was tedious due to a feature gap stemming from the notable hardware differences between the two. On the other hand, the choice between the iPad mini with Retina display (or the iPad mini 2, as it's now called) was a no-brainer. Both came outfitted with essentially the same hardware— from the sensors to the A7/M7 chips to the cameras — so the decision came down to picking your preferred screen size.
That said, brain work is required to make an informed purchasing decision concerning the latest iPads. In case you missed it, Apple's brought minor changes to the iPad mini 3 and the device got only like thirty seconds of stage time. Conversely, the iPad Air 2 is a much more substantial upgrade.
Here are ten iPad Air 2 features that the iPad mini 3 lacks which make the bigger model a better buy and arguably the right device to boost your tablet computing.
It's thinner, lighter, more powerful, and it comes with Touch ID and a faster processor. This is iPad Air 2, a somewhat significant upgrade from its predecessor, while still not being a revolutionary device. What it is though is a beautiful device, which now comes in a new color: gold. We've gone through Apple's website to collect a large amount of iPad Air 2 photos for you to enjoy.
Amongst the many new features included in the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, we've come across an interesting one specific to the cellular models. It's a new pre-installed, Apple-branded SIM that allows you to switch seamlessly between participating US and UK carriers.
We've seen a number of Apple-filed patents pertaining to such an invention over the years, with some even speculating that the company was looking to become a wireless provider. But it appears it just wanted to make it easier to use the iPad with short-term data plans.
Soon after its appearance on stage at Apple's iPad event today, Pixelmator has published a blog post featuring a sneak peak at Pixelmator for iPad, a full-featured version of its popular photo editing app for Mac.
Although several of its features are still under wraps, Pixelmator did announce that its iPad app will include a layer-based image editor with a true-to-life painting engine, color adjustments, retouching tools, effects, shapes, typography, selection tools, non-destructive layer styles, and even support for Photoshop documents.
Apple recently unveiled iPad Air 2, and while the new model is more evolutionary than revolutionary, there are still a few major differences between both the older and newer version of the device. Obviously, the form factor and Touch ID might be the most obvious differences between the two, but there are also a few differentiating factors, mostly internally. In this post, we'll show a comparison of the tech specs of iPad Air 2 and iPad Air.
Following today's announcements, Apple has refreshed its Smart Cover and Smart Case accessories for iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3. The Smart Covers are made of polyurethane and come in seven vibrant colors, while the Smart Cases have a leather construction and are available in five neutral colors.
Designed to fit the 6.1mm form factor of the iPad Air 2, Apple is selling its Smart Covers and Smart Cases at $39 and $79 respectively, with the iPad mini 3's versions being $39 and $69 respectively – the iPad mini 3's leather Smart Case coming in as $10 cheaper than its Air 2 counterpart.
The iPad event is now just 18 hours away, and we can't wait to see what announcements Apple has in store. A thinner, more powerful iPad Air 2 with Touch ID and a higher resolution display, refreshed iPad mini, and a 4K 27-inch iMac are just a few things rumored to be on the menu.
Apple has confirmed that it will be streaming the festivities to its website and various iOS devices, but for those who won’t be able to watch the keynote live, iDB has you covered. We will be here all day, providing coverage of all announcements made before, during and after the event.
An inadvertent (or is it?) slip-up on Apple’s iBooks Store on Wednesday all but confirmed that tomorrow's media event will in fact serve as a launchpad for a pair of iPad refreshes: a second-generation iPad Air and third-generation iPad mini. Furthermore, the images suggest Touch ID fingerprint scanning for both new tablets, in addition to Burst camera mode for the regular-size iPad.
These revelations were made public via iTunes screenshots for the iOS 8 iPad User Guide that can be downloaded to iBooks, as first discovered by the prolific Apple blogger Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac.