Apple iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina Display Hands-on

First impressions of Apple's brand new tablets.

Today Apple unveiled the next generation of its iOS-powered tablets: the iPad mini with Retina display and the newly-renamed iPad Air. I was on-location to see Tim Cook and company make the big announcements, and got to spend some time with the new iPads, both of which will go on sale this November. Read on to check out our first impressions.

Apple iPad Air

The full-sized iOS tablet underwent a few major changes, not the least of which is its new iPad Air moniker. In addition to the new Apple A7 chip—which made its debut with the recently released iPhone 5S—the larger iPad also comes with a thinner and lighter body that more closely resembles that of the iPad mini.

At just 1 pound, the iPad Air is noticeably lighter than its predecessors, and the thinner bezel help accentuate the fact that the new tablet is an all-around smaller machine. It still bears the same quality build that Apple is known for, just in a more compact package.
The iPad Air comes in white with a silver rear casing, or black with a space gray case. The space gray variation looked particularly nice in person, matching what the iPad mini had already offered with its first iteration.

We were impressed with Apple's A7 chip when we reviewed the iPhone 5S, so it should be able to perform similarly with the new iPad. Unfortunately, we didn't have much at our disposal to test its full capabilities. Jumping around iOS 7 was silky smooth, but that hardly counts as rigorous testing for the 64-bit chip and the M7 motion co-processor.

Apple iPad mini with Retina display

Probably less surprising than the 9.7-inch iPad's redesign was the inclusion of a Retina display with the iPad mini, but that doesn't make it any less significant. Now sporting a resolution of 2048 x 1536—the same as the larger iOS tablet—the new iPad mini's pixel density has drastically increased to about 325ppi from its predecessor's 163ppi. Pixels are tough to find and color reproduction was great when viewing photos and the colorful iOS 7 operating system.

Equipped with the same A7 processor that powers the iPad Air and iPhone 5S, the new iPad mini has a lot of potential. Like with the iPad Air, though, I wasn't able to push the new iPad mini to see what its limitations are.
Aesthetically, the iPad mini with Retina display is almost identical to Apple's original 7.9-inch tablet, with the new version slightly heavier than last year's model. The first iPad mini was already lightweight and easy to handle, and that hasn't changed one bit.

Both the iPad Air and the new iPad mini include notable upgrades, but the smaller iOS tablet, which was already considered pricey by some, is even more expensive this time around. The Retina display is a welcome addition, but with a price tag that is typically associated with larger tablets, it'll be a tougher sell when it launches next month.