T3 India

Tablets

Apple Unmasks Range of Devices

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iPhone SE

The iPhone SE comes in a compact and durable design that incorporates a 4.7-inch display, aerospace-grade aluminium and glass along with IP67 rated water and dust resistance.

It features iOS 15 and has upgrades including the A15 Bionic chip packed with a 6-core CPU, which powers advanced camera capabilities such as photo editing, gaming and augmented reality. It also features a 12-megapixel ƒ/1.8 aperture Wide camera that offers features such as Smart HDR 4, Photographic Styles, Deep Fusion and Portrait mode. Along with 5G, the device comes in three colours i.e. Midnight, Starlight and (PRODUCT)RED.

The iPhone SE will be available from March 18 onwards, in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB variants starting at INR 43,900.

ipad Air

The iPad Air features the M1 chip that comes combined with an 8-core CPU and an 8-core GPU for faster and more power-efficient performance, along with a 16-core Neural Engine that powers machine learning functions. It comes with an ultra-wide 12MP front camera with Center Stage function that automatically pans to keep users in view as they move. It also has a 12MP wide camera on the back for 4K video, scanning documents and AR functions. It comes with 5G and connectivity features include eSIM and Wi-Fi 6 support, along with a USB-C port, with data transfers up to 10Gbps. It has a thin and light design and comes in Space Grey, Starlight, Pink, Purple and Blue colours in 64GB and 256GB configurations. The device has a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display and landscape stereo speakers. Accessories include the Apple pencil which comes with wireless charging and pairing.

The iPad Air will be in stores from March 18, at a starting price of INR 54,900 (Wi-Fi) and INR 68,900 (Wi-Fi + Cellular).

Mac Studio

The Mac Studio is powered by M1 Max and the new M1 Ultra chips.

The device is built from a single aluminium extrusionwith a square footprint of 7.7 inches and a height of 3.7 inches. Its thermal design includes a system of double-sided blowers, precisely placed airflow channels to help cool the M1 Max and the M1 Ultra chips.

M1 Ultra builds on M1 Max and features the UltraFusion architecture that interconnects the die of two M1 Max chips, creating a system on a chip (SoC) and consisting of 114 billion transistors. It features up to 64GB of unified memory on systems with M1 Max and up to 128GB of unified memory on systems with M1 Ultra. The SSD in Mac Studio delivers up to 7.4GB/s of performance and a capacity of up to 8TB. Connectivity options include four Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10Gb Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port and a pro audio jack for high-impedance headphones or external amplified speakers. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 are built in as well.

Studio Display

The Studio Display features a 27-inch 5K Retina screen with over 14.7 million pixels, 600 nits of brightness, P3 wide colour, and support for over one billion colours. Its design includes narrow borders and an all-aluminium enclosure with height-adjustable and tilt display (up to 30 degrees). A VESA mount adapter option is also available. It features True Tone technology that automatically adjusts the display’s colour temperature as the environment changes.

It also comes with the A13 Bionic chip, along with the 12MP Ultra Wide camera with Center Stage feature. The device includes a three-microphone array with a low noise floor and features a six-speaker sound system and four force-cancelling woofers that support spatial audio for music and video with Dolby Atmos. Connectivity options include three USB-C ports (up to 10Gb/s) and a Thunderbolt port (connected using a single cable that can also deliver 96W of power to a Mac notebook). The Mac Studio and Studio Display are available for on apple.com/in/store and in the Apple Store app. They will be in available select Apple Store locations and Apple Authorised Resellers, beginning Friday, March 18. The price for Mac Studio starts at INR 1,89,900 while the Studio Display starts at INR 1,59,900.

Huawei unveils MediaPad T5 tablet

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Huawei recently announced the MediaPad T5 tablet for the Indian market. It comes at a time when there are only a handful of tablet launches happening.

MediaPad T5 is equipped with a 10.1″ FHD display having a 76.4% screen-to-body ratio. As it has a 1920x1200p resolution, it provides an aspect ratio of 16:10. Under the hood, T5 runs on a proprietary HiSilicon Kirin 659 processor paired with 2GB or 3GB RAM depending upon the model selected. Further, it offers storage options between 16GB and 32GB that can be expanded upto 256GB via microSD card. A 5,100mAh battery powers the device for approximately 10 hours. Speaking of software, EMUI 8.0 based on Android 8.0 Oreo comes installed out of the box.

The 2GB/16GB variant will be sold for Rs.14,999 while the 3GB/32GB model will retail for Rs.16,999. For early bird buyers, the company is offering a complimentary bundle worth Rs.2,999 that includes a flip cover and Huawei-branded earphones. It is currently up for preorder on Amazon India but will be available for sale starting 10 July.

Apple iPad 9.7-inch 2018 is ₹28,000 and adds iPad Pro-level features

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Announced at a March 2018 Apple event so heavily focused on education it was held in an actual school, the iPad is nonetheless, iPad 9.7-inch 2018. Far from being scaled down to make it cheaper for schools, it actually adds some features previously found only in its ‘Pro’ big brothers.

Yes, it’s being pushed at launch as an inexpensive platform for school kids, students and teachers to access the “200,000” education-focussed iOS apps available. But it is actually this year’s new iPad for grown-ups, too.

The new iPad has a 9.7-inch Retina Screen that is compatible with Apple Pencil thanks to a higher-resolution touch sensor. Apple’s own productivity apps – Pages, Numbers, and Keynote – have been updated accordingly. Annotations made with Pencil are stored specifically as an addition to the paragraph they’re annotating. So that’s nice.

Another former iPad Pro-only feature carried over is its advanced tilt and pressure sensing.

More standard spec details: 10 hours battery, 9.7-inch, 2048×1536-pixel, 264 ppi screen. 8-megapixel/1080p front camera, 1.2-meg/720p front ‘FaceTime’ camera.

The new iPad runs on Apple’s 64-bit, quadcore, A10 Fusion chip. This is a slightly more powerful version of the A10 that powered the last iPad. You can have either 32GB or 128GB and either Wi-Fi connectivity only, or 4G and Wi-Fi.

Unlocking is via Touch ID fingerprint reading, rather than facial recognition. Weight is about 450g, so young arms may lift it.

A lot of the focus at launch, education and creativity aside, was on augmented reality, which the A10 Fusion chip is supposedly engineered to be especially adept with.

iPad 2018 is the 6th generation of the iPad fam, and comes in silver, space grey or a ‘new’ gold finish that looks rather like the old gold finish.

The base model with Wi-Fi is priced at ₹28,000 whereas the Wi-Fi+Cellular model is priced at ₹38,600. The Apple Pencil can be purchased separately for ₹7,600.

New iPad Pro 2018 expected to feature iPhone X style screen

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Apple has had its plans leaked once again, this time for the new iPad Pro 2018, which is expected to receive the same screen overhaul that the iPhone X brought us.

That should mean the new iPad Pro will have a bezel-free edge-to-edge display, most likely OLED, which gives you more screen space for your device size.

This should also mean the new iPad Pro will come packing in Apple Face ID and – of course – that infamous notch at the top of the display.

This rumour first came from reliable leakster, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, which was followed by more rumours. Now some code released in the iOS 11.3 beta makes reference to the “modern iPad”.

Apple has begun to internally talk about the “modern” generation of devices, referring to the those that follow the iPhone 8, aka the iPhone X. This suggests the new iPad Pro 2018 will fall into that category, one that appears to be defined by the new type of screen the iPhone X pioneered for Apple.

While rumours also suggest Apple is working on ways to minimise that top notch on the iPhone X, it likely won’t appear until the next iPhone, as opposed to popping up in a new iPad Pro, so don’t hold your breath for that.

Apple is expected to launch the new iPad Pro 2018 around June time at the next WWDC. Failing that it may not appear until September at the next iPhone launch – which could be a worthwhile wait for those hoping the top notch gets ditched.

Apple iPad X with Face ID and no home button is expected for 2018

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Say goodbye to bezels and home buttons where all Apple devices are concerned as the company looks set to release a new iPad X, much like the iPhone X.

The new iPads, according to Bloomberg, are being worked on by Apple now with a plan to unleash them in 2018. So what will this new generation of iPad be like and will it reinvigorate iPad love once more?

The new iPad will apparently come with the bezel-free style screen that the iPhone X offers. Will it have that top notch though? We’ll have to wait and see. However it sounds like Apple won’t be able to make the jump to OLED and will stick with LCD, for the first new iPad models at least due to manufacturing constraints.

The iPad for 2018 should have a 10.5-inch screen size and do away with Touch ID in favour of the new Face ID security system. The could suggest better front-facing selfie cameras too.

Will the new iPad have a glass back and charge wirelessly? And will it also be water resistant like the iPhone X? Both seem likely if Apple wants to offer a device that sits at the level the iPhone X is on. The wireless charging feature would also be a nice way to offer a complete range of Apple devices that can all be charged on a single surface at night, avoiding plugging in more devices.

Apple is also allegedly working on an improved version of the Apple Pencil which will get unveiled alongside this new iPad.

While the report says the new iPad X style tablets won’t be released for around a year we’re hoping these arrive sooner in 2018 than later.