At its October 22 iPad event Apple took the stage to announce the second generation of iPad mini. The latest model of company’s smaller tablet brought the changes everyone was counting for. The most notable new feature of iPad mini second generation is the addition of Retina Display that brings a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels to its 7.9-inch screen with 326 pixels per inch. The Retina Display of the new iPad mini displays extremely detailed content and carries a resolution that is higher than the HDTVs.
Retina Display is not the only major change Apple has brought to the iPad mini in this release. The new iPad mini also has the A7 chip that debuted with the iPhone 5s a few months ago. This new chip brings 64-bit architecture to the iPad mini along with the M7 motion coprocessor. A7 chip that is now found on iPhone 5s, iPad Air and iPad mini is capable of providing up to 4x faster processing and 8x faster graphics performance over the previous generation of processors.
Just like the iPad Air the new iPad mini with Retina Display also has the two antennas instead of just one along with the MIMO technology. This allows the device to provide up to 2x WiFi performance. For the first time Apple has introduced the 128GB version of the iPad mini giving users more disk space for their apps, photos, videos and other content.
As far as other hardware and other specifications are concerned the new iPad mini has the same look and technical specs as the previous model. It still has 5-megapixel front and 1.2-megapixel rear camera, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and more.
This latest model of iPad mini with Retina Display and the new iPad Air bring the two tablets closer. The upgraded specifications of the iPad mini and the new design of iPad Air leave a lesser gap between the two iPad models. The only major difference being the size and price, which leaves the user’s decision to be based more on preference than anything else.
Apple is also giving the iPad mini second generation users iWork and iLife applications which includes Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Garageband, iPhoto and iMovie for free.
iPad mini with Retina Display will be available in the month on November at following prices. It will come in Space grey and silver colors. The base model of WiFi only model is available for $399 with 16GB storage whereas the LTE version with 16GB memory is available for $529.
The new 128GB model with WiFi only capability will cost $699 and the LTE version with 128GB storage capacity will cost $829.
Apple has also introduced the new Smart case that extends the Smart cover into a full-fledge case and protects the front as well as the back of the device. Both Smart Cover and Smart Case now come in new colors.
