Earlier today at the Apple event in San Francisco, Apple Inc. unveiled the fifth generation iPad and it has been given a new name - The iPad Air. This thinner, more powerful and definitely lighter tablet, weighing only one pound is coming on November 1.

Design

The iPad Air has an updated shape similar with the design language of the iPad Mini but it has the same 9.7-inch display. This newest generation of iPad is approximately 20 percent thinner at just 7.5 millimetres thick and .4 pounds lighter weighing only just one pound. The iPad Air is the lightest full-sized tablet in the world today.

In contrast to the gradual slope of the earlier generation of iPads, the bezel of the iPad Air is 43 percent slimmer on the sides and the device edges are notably tapered similar to the iPad Mini curves along the sides.

Source: Reuters

Camera

The camera of the iPad Air has been improved and updated to 5 megapixels iSight camera and a front camera to 1080p FaceTime. Also, dual microphones for video chat are made available.

Processor

Inside, this new iPad features the A7 chip which is similar to the iPhone 5s. The A7 chip is 8x faster than the first iPad and 72 times faster graphics than the first generation iPad. The new processor also comes with iPhone 5s' M7 motion co-processor with doubled CPU performance. Like the other new Apple devices, the A7 processor runs on 64-bit architecture with more than 1 billion transistors.

The system of the fifth generation iPad is loaded with 256GB of flash storage in contrast to the old hard drive. The MiMo technology has been tossed with 802.11n performance helping with a more reliable WiFi up to twice as fast. The cellular-capable iPad Air devices are reported to be LTE supported and the battery life remains impressive as it still runs up to 10 hours of Web browsing and 30 days of standby time.

Price and Availability

The new model will be shipping on Nov. 1 and it will be available in the U.S., China and other countries. It starts at US$499 and US$629 for LTE models. On the other hand, the iPad 2 remains available in the market for US$399.