Yesterday, Apple confirmed the iPad Mini launch by sending out invitations for a special event to be held on October 23rd in San Jose. We have been hearing rumors about iPad Mini’s features since a long time and now since it’s close to launch, it is time to round up all the rumors in one place. Details after the jump!
If rumors are believed to be true, we can expect iPad Mini to have the following features:
The Screen
The iPad Mini is rumored to have a 7.85 inches (current iPad’s screen is 9.7 inches), 4:3 screen with 1024 x 768 resolution and 163 ppi. To keep the cost factor down, the screen won’t be a Retina Display rather an LCD display found in iPad 2. Although, as Steve Jobs once said, once you used a Retina Display, you can’t go back so we highly expect the iPad Mini to ship with an amazing display too.
Processor
iPad mini will have the same processor as iPad 2 i.e A5 processor and 512 RAM. Again the reason for using an A5 processor instead of latest A6 one (which is used in iPhone 5) is just to keep the price of iPad Mini minimum.
Design
iPad Mini will be thinner than the latest iPad and will have an anodized aluminum back plate just like iPhone 5. The iPad Mini will be available in two colors: Black and White and will just 7.2mm thick. However, if the latest rumors are to be believed, it might ship in way more colors, like the iPod Touch.
Software
The new iPad will be powered by iOS 6 with Facetime and Siri (hopefully). iOS 6 ships with Facebook and Twitter integration so you would be able to tweet or update your status directly from the notification bar and even enjoy using Apple Maps if that’s your thing.
Lightning Dock Connectors
Instead of a 30-pin connector iPad Mini will ship with the new lightning dock connector port which Apple introduced in iPhone 5, last month.
Camera
iPad Mini will have both rear and front-facing cameras which will give it an edge over the popular Nexus 7 tablet as it lacks a rear camera.
Connectivity
It will be offered in four storage options ranging from 8GB to 64GB with Wi-Fi only and 3G/4G LTE models.
Price and Availability
The expected price of iPad Mini is $249-$299 and will hit shelves in early November to take on the likes of the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus 7.