Apple today introduced two new iPad Air 2 ads. The two clips began airing today during NFL broadcasts, and are both variations of a one minute video Apple posted on its website this weekend as part of its new 'Change' iPad campaign.
The new commercials differ from the previous 'Your Verse' spots, which each told stories of how various people used their iPads. Instead, the 'Change' ads each demonstrate how a variety of people use their tablets in unconventional ways.
Where do I even begin talking about selfies? Everyone loves a good selfie. They are wildly popular across the world, even causing South Korea to ban "unregulated" selfie stick sales. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, SnapChat, and other forms of popular social media channels are completely filled with selfies. What caused our self obsession will never be explained, but the selfie is here to stay.
The selfie stick was one of the first hardware selfie assistants. I saw them around touristy places when I traveled, but didn't think much of them about a year ago. Now, they are increasingly popular and being utilized in everyday places. Several iterations of selfie-inspired accessories cropped up and iLuv is capitalizing on the fad. Launching "selfy," iLuv guarantees you will always have a quick way to snap a selfie and includes a laundry list of add-ons to assist.
Nokia rejoined the world of consumer electronics on Monday, after selling its devices unit to Microsoft last year. The Finnish-based company announced the Nokia N1, an iPad mini-clone featuring a strikingly familiar 7.9-inch screen, 2048x1536 resolution, and aluminum design. The N1 will be released in China early next year for $250, undercutting the iPad mini prices heftily.
After unveiling its 'iPhone for Life' annual upgrade plan last month, Sprint, the nation's fourth-largest carrier on Thursday announced a similar 'iPad for Life' plan for the latest iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.
With this plan, customers can get the latest iPads for $0 down and 24 monthly payments that will vary depending on your chosen storage capacity.
And like the iPhone for Life plan, the new offering helps customers upgrade to the latest iPad model provided they bring in their existing device in good condition and their lease period has expired.
Keeping true to its promise, T-Mobile, the nation's fourth-largest carrier, on Wednesday announced that customers can now buy Apple's iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 in participating T-Mobile stores and online. The new tablets are available in Wi-Fi-only and cellular flavors and in all three colors.
The top-of-the-line iPad Air 2 model with 128 gigabytes of storage is not yet available, leaving early adopters to choose between 16GB and 64GB iPad Air 2 models. The iPad mini 3 is available in 16/64/128GB storage flavors.
Apple's latest iPad Air 2 costs roughly the same as its predecessor, an analysis from the research firm IHS quoted Tuesday by Re/Code has determined. An entry-level Wi-Fi-only model with sixteen gigabytes of storage costs an estimated $275 in parts, excluding costs associated with sales, marketing, advertising, packaging, software licensees, research and development and so forth.
It's interesting that Apple pays about $60 for NAND flash chips in the high-end 128GB model and only $9.20 on memory for the low-end 16 GB devices. At retail, the difference between the 128 and 16GB model is $300. “Apple reaps a pretty good profit for all that memory,” IHS analyst Andrew Rassweiler observed.
DisplayMate Technologies has put the screens of the new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 through a barrage of tests concluding that the former's anti-reflective screen reduces ambient light reflections dramatically compared to any other tablet display out there.
The technology, DisplayMate discovered, reduces ambient light reflections by about 3:1 over most other tablets, including the previous iPads, and about 2:1 over all of the very best competing tablets and smartphones, including the iPhone 6.
Every time a new Apple mobile product comes along, you can bet that prolific YouTubers will be first out of the gate with those silly, non-scientific drop test videos. As you may have guessed, the iPad Air 2 is no exception.
Courtesy of YouTuber TechRax, we now know that the latest 9.7-inch Apple tablet's screen won't survive being dropped on the front glass panel from approximately five feet high. Watch the video embedded right after the break.
Apple's latest iPads, the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, are now available for in-store pickup at a growing list of retail locations in the United States, MacRumors reported Wednesday. Initially limited to Wi-Fi-only iPads and available for a limited number of retail locations that have received shipments, every Apple Store in the United States and abroad will provide personal pickup as soon as Apple catches up to demand for the new tablets.
If you are planning on purchasing one of the new iPads for in-store pickup, head over to Apple's US Online Store, choose your iPad model and check the bottom of the page: if personal pickup is available, you'll see the “Available for pickup” message. You can also click the “Check availability” link and enter your ZIP code to get a list of nearby stores that will let you pick up your iPad in person.
Apple's Online Store went down for more than three hours earlier this morning as the Cupertino firm was gearing up to start accepting pre-orders for the new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.
Lo and behold, Apple has now begun accepting pre-orders for the new tablets from customers in 29 countries and territories.
Additional global availability is due in the coming months. Interestingly enough, U.S. carrier AT&T started accepting pre-orders for the new tablets ahead of Apple. If you're interested, head over to the Online Apple Store and make your reservation for one of the new iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 3 models.
Apple promised to start shipping these “later next week”.
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.
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.