If you have been trying to find a gold iPhone 5s or a new iPad Air in stock, you probably know about Apple Tracker, a simple web app that checked Apple’s inventory in order to help you find the precise model you were looking for in stock.
Or, rather, knew about it. Because it’s dead. And Apple killed it.
Thinking about upgrading your old iPad to an iPad Air, or a new iPad mini with Retina display? Well, Target wants to help. The retailer is now offering customers at least $200 in store credit when they trade in any old iPad, including the original model.
If, as Tim Cook predicts, “it’s going to be an iPad Christmas” then December 25 has come early to Cupertino, on the back of reports that the iPad Air saw adoption rates of five times those of the iPad 4 following its opening weekend.
[Editor’s note: This review has been stickied to the top of Cult of Mac. Scroll down for more news.]
Let’s face it, we’ve been waiting for Apple to make drastic changes to the iPad since it released the third-generation device in early 2012. While it did introduce a high-resolution Retina display with that model, and it has made nice improvements in speed and other areas since then, we’ve all been clamoring for improvements to its design.
We’ve got those with the iPad Air — and a whole lot more. The new slate looks just like a larger version of the iPad mini. It maintains its 9.7-inch Retina display, but it has narrower bezels, a substantially thinner design — it is now just as thin as the iPad mini at 7.5mm — and it’s 28% lighter than its predecessor at just one pound.
In addition to that, we get Apple’s incredible 64-bit A7 processor that promises up to two times the power and graphics performance of the A6X, the new M7 motion coprocessor that made its debut in the iPhone 5s last month, and two W-Fi antennas with MIMO technology. And all of this will cost you just $100 more than the iPad 2.
The iPad Air has been on sale for nearly 12 hours now and early reports are starting to indicate that the higher end models are becoming scarce as initial supply is dwindling. It may not be quite as hard to get your hands on the iPad Air as a the gold iPhone 5s, but our pal who made the extremely useful iPhone Tracker tool is back with an update that will help you find the iPad Air you want.
The simple web app scrapes data from store.apple.com for the most up-to-date info on local pick-up options for the iPad Air. A chart of green and red squares indicate whether local Apple Stores have stock of 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB units in the color of your choice, so you can know where to head to for the best shot at getting the iPad you want.
Apple Tracker has also been updated to support stock information on the iPad mini with Retina display too once it becomes available this month. Use the drop downs to select the color and carrier you want, press submit and viola. There’s even a purchase button at the bottom of each inventory listing to speed up the shopping process.
Source: Apple Tracker
Unless you got incredibly drunk last night and you don’t know what day it is, you’re probably already aware of the fact that the iPad Air launches today. And if you don’t want to venture out and wait in line to get one, you can order yours now from the Apple online store.
When is the iPad mini with Retina Display coming out? Apple would only commit to November, but Cupertino’s third-party retail partners might have more information. In fact, they seem to think that the Retina mini will debut on November 21st.
We’ve already heard that the new iPad mini may be in short supply at launch due to low yield rates of its Retina display, and that has now been confirmed by supply chain sources in Taiwan. Sharp and LG Display simply cannot produce the panels fast enough, according to reports, and so Apple may not have enough units to meet the initial demand later this month.
The fourth-generation iPad with its dual-core A6X processor was certainly no slouch, but it looks like one when you put it up against the new iPad Air. Thanks to that new 64-bit A7 chip, the iPad Air is an incredible 80% faster than its predecessor in Geekbench tests, and over five times than the iPad 2 (which is only $100 cheaper).
Last week, we reported that cutesy-wutesy-fuzzy-wuzzy-wumpus-bear (and Apple co-founder) Steve Wozniak was unimpressed with the new iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display. His supposed complaint? 128GB just wasn’t enough for a man with a huge media collection like him!
It seemed uncharacteristic for Woz to publicly bash the company he helped create. Woz is an innocent, and usually reacts to every new Apple product with wide-eyed glee, so his complaints seemed strange. For good reason, too, because Woz says he was misquoted, and actually likes the new iPads just fine.
As long as Miniot keeps making its lovely wooden iPad cases, we’ll keep writing about them. The latest is this rather fetching little number for the iPad, arriving just in time to cover the front of your hot new Retina model with slivers of dead trees.
iPad Air. Retina iPad Mini. New Macbook Pros. The new Mac Pro. Mavericks goes free. So does the new iLife and iWork. There’s a TON to talk about on our Special Edition CultCast! Join us, and special guest (and MacCast host) Adam Christianson, as we discuss our first impressions of the huge pile of hardware and software Apple unveiled at the jam-packed event.
Have a few laughs and get caught up on each week’s best Apple stories. Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let baseline roll!
If you’re hoping to get your hands on the new iPad mini with Retina display next month, then you’ll want to be one of the first in line at the Apple store when it goes on sale. According to one tablet industry expert, supply of the new device will be “ridiculously tight” at launch, likely leading to long delays for those who aren’t lucky enough to bag one on day one.
T-Mobile is bringing its “Uncarrier” strategy to tablets with the upcoming launch of Apple’s new iPads. Yesterday we reported that T-Mobile will offer 200 MB of free (yes, totally free) data to iPad Air and mini owners. But that’s not all.
Apple unveiled the new iPad mini with Retina display yesterday along side the iPad Air, and while we were expecting a bump up in resolution, we also got some nice internal hardware upgrades in the form of the A7 processor, M7 co-processor, improved cameras and faster WiFi.
We still think the iPad mini is the best 7-inch tablet on the market but the number of competitive Android tablets keeps growing every year, each with their own set of compelling features and ecosystems. To sort out whether the iPad mini really is the best purchase for you, check out the chart above that breaks down the iPad mini’s specs compared the Kindle Fire lineup, Nexus 7 II and the Galaxy Tab 3.
Source: BI
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says he’s not interested in Apple’s new iPads because the neither model meets his needs. Woz didn’t get a chance to watch the keynote live because he was on a plane, but he caught up with the news when he landed and then emailed his wife to say, “nope, I don’t want one of those.”
Apple packed a lot into one hour and 20 minutes today, with announcements about OS X Mavericks, Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, Mac Pro, and the stars of the show: iPad Air and Retina iPad mini. We think that this is about an hour and 18 minutes too long to watch, though, so we’ve condensed it to around 90 seconds.
Here is the Apple iPad Air and iPad mini keynote, right from Yerba Buena, in just 90 seconds:
One of the most common criticisms you hear of Apple’s iPad line is that they are expensive compared to the competition. When the iPad mini first came out, for example, it was widely criticized for its entry-level price of $329, with many saying it couldn’t succeed unless it was under $249.
Obviously, such predictions were laughably wrong. But Apple is now selling a $249 iPad mini: a refurbished one!
In all the hubbub yesterday, it’s possible you missed the most exciting iPad news of all: Apple has given the iPad Air and iPad mini an incredible new wallpaper!
We kid, of course, but featuring a lovely blue gradient, the new wallpapers are rather nice. With the iPad Air and iPad mini not shipping until November, though, you can only see it in Apple’s new iPad ads… or download it from us!
Apple fans will have to wait until November 1st to get their hands on the svelte iPad Air, while the wait for an iPad mini with Retina display will be even longer. For those of us too impatient to wait until the new tablets hit store shelves to inspect the devices ourselves, Apple gave journos at today’s event a few precious minutes to get their hands all over the iPad Air and iPad mini.
Here’s a roundup of the best hands on videos of the new iPads:
To compliment the new iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display, Apple has released not only updated Smart Covers, but a new Smart Case accessory. “We have a lot more to cover” was the tagline for today’s event, and it turned out to be true in more ways than one.
The iPad mini, announced today, is suddenly a fantastic gaming device. While the original iPad mini introduced a fantastic iPad form factor at 7.9 inches, the iPad 2-equivalent display and CPU just doesn’t quite cut it for higher-end gaming apps.
Of course, all of Apple’s iOS devices have been great for gaming ever since the App Store launched back in 2008. Games make up a huge portion of the 1,000,000 apps out there to date, and it’s not surprising anymore to see console-level gaming experiences show up on both iPad and iPhone.
Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage today at San Francisco’s Moscone Center to kick off the special keynote event that we’ve dubbed here as the iPad Event.
Cook began his presentation with some numbers, including the nine million new iPhone 5s and 5c models that were sold over the first weekend of availability. Cook called it the biggest iPhone launch, ever, and showed a video to underline his point.
Need a spot to stow your stylus when you’re not using it ti draw on the screen of your iPad mini? No, me neither. But I could find space for a case which holds a regular old ink pen, which Adonit’s Jot Tote will doubtless manage just fine. Hell, the slidey-out metal drawer could even be used to store a little chocolate snack as you read.
The next best thing to actually being at an Apple press event is being able to watch the whole thing live from the comfort of your own living room. Unfortunately, the Cupertino company doesn’t live stream every event to the public, but you’ll be pleased to know it will be showing today’s iPad event.