iPhone 5 Available to T-Mobile

On 4/12/2013, T-Mobile has finally made the iPhone 5 available to fellow T-Mobile users. For quite awhile, T-Mobile has had a reputation of not having access to Apple's little minibeast of a phone, and many users have complained about T-Mobile being one of the only carriers not to have the extremely popular iPhone 5, but here it is.

New iMac 2012 Review

The new iMac is is beautifully designed, with a third-generation Intel Ivy Bridge processor, Nvidia's latest graphic cards, a larger hard drive, all from the 2012 PC trend line. The new iMac is fast, great to look at, and it comes with a ton of features for its price. Anyone could easily recommend the all-new 27-inch iMac for those who want a fast, all-around computer.


-Design-

Though the iMac may look very thin from the front, there is actually an enormouse bulge on its back. Even with the bulge, the iMac still has an excellent design, and the bulge won't be noticed unless viewed at an extreme angle. Apple has made the 27-inch screen of the new iMac a lot less reflective. It's not perfect, but reflections are made more subtle and harder to notice. The design of the new iMac is surprisingly sturdy.

-Performance-

The iMac Geforce GTX 680 MX is the best mobile graphic card, and the most powerful GPU (graphics processing unit) in any all-in-one computer, other than the HP Z1. The iMac's powerful graphics card can run almost virtually anything, including some of the most demanding games for the OS X, such as the Witcher 2, at max settings.
The iMac includes a Fusion Drive, which means it has 1TB (terrabyte, or 1024GB) mechanical hard-drive and a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD), together forming about 1.2TB. The files that are used most frequently are loaded from the solid-state drive. Fusion basically speeds up application loading times, transferring of files, and just about any drive-related activity. Launching just about anything on the iMac happens almost instantly.


-Conclusion-

The design is probably the most interesting feature about the iMac. A nice, thin bezel would be nice, but apparently that doesn't speed up processing power or overall utility. This all-new 2012 iMac is probably best for hardcore/serious, performance-driven users, those who need a high resolution display, incredible graphics, and disk performance.

Apple iPad Mini: Review

The iPad Mini has been rumored for as long as since the original iPad was released. Well, the long rumored iPad Mini is this: technically a smaller, updated version of an iPad 2. 

Apple wanted to it to be clear that it was not simply just a shrunken-down version of the iPad 2. The differences include a different case design: the iPad Mini's has a anodized aluminum design and the new Lightning connector. 

The WiFi-only Mini weighs 0.68 pounds, or 308 grams, which is less than half the weight of the fourth-generation iPad. It's also much thinner too, at 7.2 mm, compared to 9.4 mm. On the front is a 7.9 inch, 1024 x 768 IPS LCD.

With the iPad Mini, holding the slate in the same way you would a another tablet, it can be a bit of a reach. You will probably need rather large hands to be able to easily grip the iPad Mini. But overall, the tablet is very comfortable to hold in your hand.

The layout of the buttons is familiar, but different. The volume and orientation lock switches are on the top right side of the device, but here up and down there are buttons. The power button is on top, looking and feeling like very much of the other iPads. There is a small slit for a microphone up there as well, and on the other side, the 3.5 mm headjack. On the left side of the device is nothing. The only other button is on the front, and that's the extemely familar home button. Ironically, the home button is smaller than the home button of the new iPhone 5.

Display-
No, the iPad Mini doesn't have the retina display, but maintaining the same resolution while shrunk down increases pixel density. Naturally, this means the text isn't as sharp as on the new iPads, but it still has a very nice display.

In fact, the brightness and color reproduction was better over the iPad 2, comparable to the latest Retina displays. Colors are  pleasing to the eye and viewing angles do not disappoint. 

Performance/Battery Life-
The iPad Mini runs on a 2-year old dual-core Apple A5 processor with 512 MB of RAM, same as the iPad 2. In battery-run tests, which entails a looping a video with WiFi enabled and a fixed display brightness, the iPad Mini, surprisingly, lasted 12 hours and 43 minutes. 

Cameras-
The iPad 2 never saw HDR nor the Panorama mode found on the iPhone 5, and neither does the Mini. It does, however have a better camera than the iPad 2 at 5 megapixels. Unfortunately, they don't quite pop out as much as the 8 megapixel camera shots of the iPhone 5. It also takes reasonably good video, shooting at 1080p like the most tablets. 

Conclusion-
This is an iPad made for people who cant swallow the $500 starting price tag on the original iPad. This is, in many ways, Apple's smaller version of its best-selling tablet that offers a thin and light design and good battery life. No, the performance does not even match the $199 Nexus 7 and is lacking in resolution. At $329, this tablet has a lot to offer over Apple's more expensive tablets.

 Its cost is a little high for a tablet that doesn't have the latest hardware, but it has an excellent design, and gives access to the best selection of tablet optimized apps. Even though this is a completely usable tablet, you'll find your hard-earned money better spent on competing Android tablets, such as the Nexus 7 which offers a higher resolution IPS HD display and a quad-core 1.3 GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. 


© Review by 2012 Andy Chin, revised by Grant Han

© 2012 Apple, Inc. 

iPad Mini Announced!

Apple had a little more to share today at San Jose, California during its media event. The Cupertino tech giant finally announced the long-rumored iPad Mini. The company has also unveiled the upgraded iPad 4, a mere six months before the third generation iPad came out.

As for the iPad Mini, the device boasts a 7.9-inch 1024x768 IPS display and measures 7.2 mm in thickness. The wi-fi only version goes on sale November 2nd for 16 GB at $330, a 32GB model at $330, and a 64GB version selling at $530.

The 4G LTE model will hit the shelves on November 16th starting at $460. Those looking for larger storage capacity can take a look at the 32GB and the 64GB models.

The iPad Mini contains a 1GHz dual-core A5 processor, a front-facing HD camera for FaceTime, and a 5-megapixel camera on its backside. Apple claims the iPad Mini will have a battery life of 10 hours. Preorders begin Friday, October 26.

The new iPad Mini will be available beginning November 2nd at $500 for a 16GB WiFi model and a 4G LTE version at $630. Supported carriers include AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.

For comparison, the Nexus 7 running Android 4.1 sells for $199 at its lowest point. It has better hardware like a 1.3 GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, and a higher resolution 1280x800 HD IPS display.

Review by © 2012 Andy Chin

© 2012 Apple Inc. 

iPod Nano: 7th Generation Review

This new iPod Nano is a tiny, miniscule music player. This new, clip-less model is far thinner than the previous 6th generation iPod Nano. The 7th generation is only a mere 5.6mm, while the 6th generation iPod Nano was 8.8mm thick. The 7th Gen iPod Nano is also taller (76.5 mm) and a bit wider (39.6 mm). This tiny device weighs in only at 31 grams, half the weight of the new iPod Touch 5th Gen (See post below.), or about ten Juicy Fruit sticks of gum.

The reason for this change in dimensions is to move away from the square 240 x 240 resolution LCD found in the last-gen nano. The old display is now replaced by a 2.5 inch, 16:9 ratio, multi-touch LCD with a resolution of  240 x 432.

The new nano is bright and nice-looking, but viewing the colors on the screen from a tilted angle can make the colors look washed out. The new nano also includes a home button, much like an iPod. Not much has changed since the 6th generation, but this new one has a more streamlined feel to it. There are nine icons displayed on the screen; 6 on the first page, and 3 icons on the second page; the icons can be rearranged.
Photo viewing is also possible, with pinch and zoom. Images will also rotate as you rotate the nano.

This New 7th gen iPod nano brings out all the functionality of the previous version. The Nike+ makes runners happy, though it still cannot take photos or record video. But at $149 for 16GB there are certainly a number of cheaper options out there for you to choose. But if you're looking for something light, convenient, and beautiful, take a look at this.


Review by © 2012 Andy Chin

Photo Credit: Engadget

© 2012 Apple, Inc.