Will Apple go for 'kill' with iPad Mini?

So what is thing supposed to be? An oversized mobile phone? Or an undersized tablet Computer? Something else?

The question isn't if Apple will release a smaller/refined iPad on the 23rd. That much is known, and they know Apple likely ordered 10 million of them for a first run.

The question is what the specs will be, as even making a quad core A6X chip will need more power to maintain the battery life that the battery difference with the ipad 3 (which is lower than ipad 2 in real world). Battery technology hasn't increased enough in the last yea for the difference to be overcome even with a smaller screen and more efficient chip. A lack of compatibility due to the likely 16:9 display vs 4:3 in the older models and the fact that 7.8" 16:9 would be equivalent to half the width of the current one put it in uncharted waters size wise for apple, with all competitors now ignoring the size because people have responded time and time again that it's too small for a tablet and too big for a phone. Samsung's Galaxy Tab came in both 7.0 and 10.1 inch sizes, and from the moment the 10 inch came out people picked 10.1" two out of three times (after a year, that increased to 3 out of 4).

Not really sure if this tablet makes much sense given the preference for 10" tablets over 7" ones, perhaps they are trying to make an opening somewhere else because they know that the iPad market share will plunge starting Oct. 26th.

I'm kind of with WilliB on this one... it seems a little pointless, save for two things: 1) it would be a decent alternative for those who don't want to shell out so much for a regular-sized iPad. 2) I believe it is being put out there at least in part to quench the flames of the Kindle Fire, and it'll do that except for Kindle loyalists.

But blogs which closely monitor Apple say the new tablet could be priced from $249 to $399, which could pressure rivals such as the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Here's the kicker though:

1) Same sites say that 249 EURO price is for the 8GB wifi only version. Kindle Fire HD 16GB is only 199 ($214 w/o ad screensaver)

2) ipad mini will only have three times the (pathetic) battery of the iPhone 5. Considering the larger screen and faster chip (or more use of the chip) needed for the screen, it will have at most the same battery life as the iPhone 5. By comparison, the iPad3 has over ten times the battery capacity of the iPhone 5.

Apparently, it will be called the "ipad air" and start at $249...the 7-inch alternative is attractive to those who want a tablet with easier portability and improved handling properties (better for gaming and reading most books). So it will be neither "undersized" or "oversized" for some; it will be perfect-sized for those who prefer the 7-inch format (a huge market, by the way).

basroil - I have to say I was surprised to see pathetic and iphone 5 in the same sentence since it has had record-breaking sales, and haven't heard any complaints about battery life. I did a quick google search and this is the first thing to pop up;

http://www.autoomobile.com/news/samsung-galaxy-s3-vs-iphone-5-battery-life/1005739/

In other words, you are completely wrong. Ouch!

hoserfellaOct. 22, 2012 - 03:58PM JST

haven't heard any complaints about battery life.

You can find out in a lot of places that it has worse battery life than 4s, especially when considering data and voice simultaneously.

http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/09/iphone-5-vs-iphone-4s-battery-life.html

The iPhone 5 saved some power by doing away with one of the antennas needed for simultaneous voice and data for LTE networks, which the new iPad will likely be able to copy without the drawbacks in iPhone 5's system. But the fact of the matter remains that the prospective HD+ screen it will have will require twice the processor power to compute, bringing the chip power levels closer to the iPad 3 rather than iPhone 5.

The 7" format has a lot of issues vs the 10" one in terms of space for batteries compared to electrical savings, especially if the tablet will have HD+ as expected.

I never mentioned against competitors, so stop making garbage up.

And for the record, my camera has a larger capacity battery than the iPhone. That by itself makes the battery pathetic, regardless of how long it can last on it (which is battery life, not to be confused with battery size).

thats terrible! I guess sales of iphones and ipads must be non-existent at the moment and tons of unsatisfied customers. surely this ipad mini debacle will doom Apple...

People like basroil can quote specs and battery life and processors till they're blue in the face. It does not matter. I believe most people (not the pixel peepers and the spec fanatics) want stuff that works good. IF the iPad air does that - it will do well.

I think Apple know what they are doing since a product like this wouldn't be thought up in just a few months.

Personally, I have put off buying an iPad because frankly it seems a bit too big and I cannot see my use for one. If this smaller one does it for me, I will probably buy one. A smaller form factor will bring better portability, which is nice. Compared to an iPhone the screen will be considerably bigger, though, and that would also be welcome.

Come Wednesday morning and we'll see.

@basroil

The iPad air is not expected to "have HD+". You should find better sources.

tairitsuikenOct. 22, 2012 - 06:23PM JST

specs and battery life and processors till they're blue in the face. It does not matter. I believe most people (not the pixel peepers and the spec fanatics) want stuff that works good. IF the iPad air does that - it will do well.

Most people either care about specs or brand. Those are mutually exclusive, as anyone that cares for the specs will properly weigh it for how it works, the rest are fine with the "ok, but not really great compared to everything else" quality that the new iPad is expected to be.

The iPad air is not expected to "have HD+". You should find better sources.

Apparently you like talking out your rear end as long as you can protect Apple. HD+ is practically everything above 720p (HD) but below 1080p (Full HD) in HD aspect. It does have the connotation of 1600x900, but it's not an official size. Now, there are rumors that it will keep the (horribly outdated) 4x3 format of the iPads before it rather than the more natural 16:9 that is now the standard for everything, in which case it would still be above 720 on the short side at 768, basically just XGA without the 16 bit limitation.

zichiOct. 22, 2012 - 07:39PM JST

for the iPad, I prefer the 4:3 format for the internet and can still watch 16:9.

Good thing most movies are now released exclusively in 2.35x1 format, which effectively reduces the useful (non-black) pixels to less than half.

As for written documents, legal tall is better than A4 wide in my experience with printing. Easier to work on.

This must be the next best thing to sliced bread! The next best thing…til the next.

Samsung should sue because they are the ones who played around with sizes first.

with Apples well oiled/funded PR juggernaut they could sell ice to the Eskimos, sand to the Arabs. just wait and see how many gullable customers will pay double for a product that performs no better than what the competition has to offer. LOL

Wtfjapan - the most successful and respected brand in the world. Enjoy 2nd best, apple-haters! LOLOL

"Apple is a premium brand"

They are overall the best.

nothing ever stay N01 forever, only way is down, eg Microsoft, Exxon, General Electric, GM, BP etc etc etc etc. oh and Apple

I have been waiting for this since the launch of iPad: my macbook and iphone fill my needs and then some. But I would like something lighter that a MB to use when out and not interfering with my iphone calls. I love my sister-in-law's iPad, but I want something smaller to fit in my bags.

A few ago, people were lambasting Apple over the the iPhone 5 with its incredibly bad map app. Now we have word that they are going for the kill?

"The reason we wouldn't make a 7-inch tablet isn't because we don't want to hit a price point, it's because we don't think you can make a great tablet with a 7-inch screen. The 7-inch tablets are tweeners, too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad.

If you take an iPad and hold it upright in portrait view and draw an imaginary horizontal line halfway down the screen, the screens on the seven-inch tablets are a bit smaller than the bottom half of the iPad display. This size isn't sufficient to create great tablet apps in our opinion.

Well, one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference. It is meaningless, unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of the present size. Apple's done extensive user-testing on touch interfaces over many years, and we really understand this stuff. There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touch screen before users cannot reliably tap, flick or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps."

-- late Steve Jobs, Oct 2010

For a 10 inch I must admit (as much as I hate Apple and it's products) that the 4:3 format was a genius strike. It feels much more natural in the hands than a 16:10.

For a 7 inch tablet (currently I am using the 19.000 Yen Google Nexus 7 tablet - an absolute steal at this price), 16:10 fells just natural.

I love all my apple products.

"The 10-inch screen size is the minimum. Seven inches isn't sufficient to create great tablet apps, 'tweeners' - are too small to compete with iPad and too big to compete with the portability of smartphones, I think they will realise seven inches is too small and they will have to release bigger devices next year" 7-inch tablets are going to be DOA."

Steve Jobs October 2010 - just 2 years ago.

When Steve Jobs spoke people listened, he influenced public opinion in his later years, but he was wrong. If he had known that 7 inches is where its truly at and pushed that size, we would have had this smaller ipad much earlier. I totally disagreed with him back then and went out and bought a galaxy tab 7 from docomo when it released in late October of 2010. I love my Galaxy tab. A 7 inch tablet is very portable and I have spent hundreds of hours using mine on the train daily, My kids love it. My ipad friends are envious of the portability (not the apps and apple eco-system. -the portability) I have always said a 7inch tablet is better than a 10 inch overall. Sure, sitting on your couch 10in is very nice, but in many other scenarios like standing on a packed train. 7 inches is just right. I think the ipad air (blogger and techie - apple fan #1 John Gruber says this is the name of it) will eventually be the leading ipad. Thats my prediction. Apple will sell boatloads of these. Good for them, as long as developers give equal love to all platforms, Ios, android, and now Windows 8 ,the consumer wins - all of us.

LiveInTokyoOct. 23, 2012 - 12:47AM JST

A few ago, people were lambasting Apple over the the iPhone 5 with its incredibly bad map app. Now we have word that they are going for the kill?

The only thing they are going to kill is developers and competition on their platform. I really do hope that they pull an incredibly dick move, one so bad that EU has to step in. They already made the entire IE browser choice issue look like kid's play:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ios-web-browser-safari,3326.html

@basroil

You have no idea what you're talking about, that is now evident. EU, HD+, IE and claiming "most" movie format are 2.35x1 [sic]?

You don't seem to have any clue, whatsoever, why Apple is successful. And that is OK. Just don't claim to know this and that and his mother about how crappy all their stuff is. If that was the case, consumers would not have bought Apple's products, but they do and do so for a reason. Or are you a believer in the "Reality Distirtion Field"?

tairitsuiken, 2.35:1 is just a reference to the old panavision standard. Nowadays it's actually closer to 2.39:1, but many video playback programs still refer to it as 2.35:1. AND YES, BLURAY DISKS AND DIGITAL RELEASES ARE MOSTLY USING THAT (1920x800) FORMAT.

Don't insult if you are dead wrong.

Basroil,

They already made the entire IE browser choice issue look like kid's play:

That article says nothing about IE.

Is everything OK?

Been out in the sun?

@basroil

Dude, take it easy. No need to shout out your opinions.

What you still seem to fail to understand in all your spec hunting and mentioning of movie formats, is that the iPad is not, has never been and probably never will be intended for only one use. Such as watching movies. It is a device intended for a multitude of things, and as such seem to do fine with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Regarding your claim that "BLURAY DISKS" [sic] mostly uses the 2.39:1 format: it has nothing to do with the release but with the intention the filmmakers had when making the film. Sometimes 2.39:1 works best. Sometimes another format works better. As an example, take a look at "Avengers", a fairly new release. Definitely not a super wide movie.

Finally, you would do well to understand that the expression "right tool for the job" applies to to technology as well.

Many new Apples today.... The choice is greater than yesterday.

Compared to the hundreds, if not thousands, of device models running Windows and Android, Apple users are still stuck with an extremely limited choice.

zichi - please read the Nexus 7 specs... It basically wipes the floor with this iPad Mini, at a much lower price.

I have one since 1 month now, and I must say, it is extremely fast, very smooth and very good. Graphic quality wise, it can be customized with thousands of themes, ranging from very high quality HD ones to very simplistic monochrome ones. I strongly believe the Nexus 7 in the best mobile (tablet and phone) experience one can have at this point.

there are many poor quality computers with Windows OS

Not quite. The components roll out of the same Chinese factories and are made by the same workers under the same conditions. The Apple titanium cladding and finishing are nicer, however, but under the hood they've got the same Intel chips, the same graphics cards, batteries and other components. My PC's motherboard is....Foxconn!

My Mac collaborators used to take your position when Apples had "better quality" Motorola CPUs. LOL And they used to brag how their devices were made in Singapore, and not at some nameless Chinese industrial park. Those were the days, huh.

My last PC ran for 8 years without major modifications, and was the backbone of my career. The Mac users whom I collaborate with generally upgrade their devices at a must faster rate than I do. And plus I'm still running the same OS from over a decade ago.

I take a photo with my iPhone and it's on my iMac when I get home, a breeze to edit in iPhoto. I change something on my calendar on my iMac and instantly the change appears on my iPad and iPhone. MacOS X and iOS are fast and I honestly can't remember the last time I had a crash or freeze, several years ago.

Everything works, as it is supposed to.

Everything integrates with everything else. Photos, videos, documents, music, seamlessly and beautifully.

As for the Maps App that got so much bad press. It's faster than Google Maps because it uses 80% less data and I can now use my non-cellular, WiFi only iPad as a Car Navi, where I needed an internet connection before!

I'll definitely be getting an iPad mini and a 27" iMac might just be my Christmas present from me to me.

I agree with Steve Jobs.