What the Rumors Say About an iPad Mini The latest rumors about the Apple iPad Mini say we'll be looking at a 7.85 x 5.3-inch tablet. By comparison he current iPad measures 9.5 x 7.3-inches. The iPad Mini is also supposed to be only 7.4mm thin which is closer to a 7.3mm iPod Touch than a 9.3mm iPad, in other words very thin and presumably light which should make it easier to hold in your hand for long periods. Supposedly the iPad Mini will still have all the bells and whistles of its bigger sibling and additionally, a new 19-pin dock connector which is expected to replace the current 30-pin connector in future products. One of the big questions in our minds is whether the Mini will have a Retina display or a so-so 1024 x 768 display. A $300 price point might be more likely to require a less expensive non-Retina display, in other words a miniature iPad 2. In any case we will find out soon enough if the rumors of an October release (along with the iPhone 5) become fact. If the iPad Mini comes with a $300 or under price tag it will be hard to justify saving $100 for some other $199 tablet even if the Mini has a lower resolution display.
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More Rumors About a Next Gen Amazon Kindle Fire The 7-inch Amazon Kindle Fire tablet went on sale last November for a very affordable $199. Compared to the $499 Apple iPad or other 10-inch tablets, the Fire was a capable tablet quite adequate for watching videos and even reading books yet lacking a lot of the bells and whistles of other tablets. Sales got off to a brisk start fulfilling pent-up demand for a sub-$200 tablet. As sales have leveled off (or as some say "petered out"), rumors of the next generation Kindle Fire ( will it be the Fire 2) have started to emerge. So far the word is that the next Fire will be thinner and lighter with a higher resolution display (1280 x 800) and a built-in camera. Presumably the Fire will still only run a limited number of Android apps and will be priced close to its predecessor at $199. Whether or not this makes it an effective competitor against a possible $300 iPad Mini or other sub-$200 Android tablets like the Nexus 7, remains to be seen. We should find out soon enough as rumors talk of a release anywhere from July 31st to sometime in September. Personally we think Amazon had better have some killer software feature or hook into Amazon shopping in order to compete effectively otherwise this tablet could fall flat.
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People Are Saying the Nexus 7 is Way Cool The new Google Nexus 7 tablet which, as of this writing, is available to pre-order for $199 (8 GB version) is manufactured by Asus. David Pogue of the New York Times says the Android-based Nexus is "sleek and beautiful" and "feels great." Josh Topolsky at The Verge says "Google's Nexus 7 isn't just an excellent tablet for $200. It's an excellent tablet, period." Compared to the similarly-priced Kindle Fire, the Nexus 7 is a much more capable tablet, running the latest Android OS (4.1. aka Jelly Bean) and able to run just about any Android tablet app. The quad-core Tegra 3-powered Nexus 7 also has a built-in GPS which makes this tablet cheaper than most dedicated large-screen GPS' and a 216 ppi, 1280 x 800 pixel display makes for high-res viewing.
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Who Wins the Mini-Tablet Contest?If you believe there is a place for a 7-inch tablet in your life and personally we're somewhat divided on that here at Retrevo, and if rumors of an Apple iPad Mini turn out to be true than at the moment, it looks like you're going to have to decide between iOS and Android. If apps are the deciding factor, Apple should continue to offer many more "tablet" apps than Android. If it's the Google ecosystem with apps like Google Now and products like Google TV than the Nexus or perhaps another vendor like Samsung's next-gen mini-tablet would be the way to go. However, if a $300 iPad Mini turns up, it's going to be difficult to resist it.
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The rumors are flying fast and furious about a forthcoming smaller (7.85-inch) version of the current (9.75-inch) Apple iPad. The 7-inch tablet market had a big boost last fall when Amazon and Barnes and Noble both released affordable ($199 - $250) tablets. Most recently Google's $199 Nexus 7 tablet has been receiving glowing reports from users many of whom received one at the Google IO Developer Conference in June.
