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iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 now available in certain UK stores
Apple began accepting online orders for the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 shortly after the new tablets were announced last week, but if you'd rather not wait for a delivery, you can pick one up in-store as of today. Apple's own retail outlets now have the new generation of slates in stock, as do select John Lewis locations, including the flagship London Oxford Street, High Wycombe and Edinburgh stores. Be aware this is the very first batch to hit the UK, so shops might not be able to hook you up with the exact hardware configuration and colour scheme you so desperately want. The iPad Air 2 and mini 3 start at £399 and £319, respectively, with prices increasing based on storage capacity and/or the addition of LTE connectivity. If you'd prefer to spread the cost of new iPad across the term of a mobile data contract, O2 and EE are currently accepting preorders for both tablets, with Three and Vodafone saying they'll joining the fray soon.
The iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 review
It's a conflicting time for Apple. On one hand, it's a joyous occasion for the company because its latest iPhones, which come in larger screen sizes than the last, set new sales records worldwide; but on the other hand, its lineup of iPads just experienced its third straight quarterly decline. Coincidentally, this comes just a week after Apple announced its annual tablet refresh, which includes a thinner and more powerful version of the iPad Air along with a Touch ID-enabled mini with Retina display. Just because it's down doesn't mean it's out. Giving up on a product category isn't really Apple's style, and last week, it offered up the Air 2 as exhibit A. The company made it clear that making a solid top-of-the-line tablet is on the top of its to-do list, so naturally the new 10-inch device got plenty of upgrades in nearly every aspect of its design. Curiously, it didn't give the mini lineup the same kind of treatment: The mini 3 got so little love this time around that the best news about it is the fact that last year's version is now $100 cheaper. Should the new iPads still get a place in the consumer's backpack? Read on to find out.
Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and AIR 2 betas are out, multi-touch and video acceleration are in (video)
Here we go: Adobe just made its Flash 10.1 prerelease packages available for download in fulfillment of its Open Screen promise. The download is available for Windows, Intel-based Mac, and Linux systems with a smartphone version coming later; notably, while no other mobile OS is specifically mentioned, Adobe says that a beta for Palm webOS is slated for "later this year" on its Flash Player 10.1 page. At the moment, however, only the Windows release includes hardware-based video acceleration for H.264 video. And this is beta-ware kids, so there's more than the usual level of hazard with installing. Then again, for those of you with Atom-based netbooks brought to their knees by full-screen HD video, well, the benefits likely outweigh the risk for you. Adobe also announced an AIR 2 beta which allows developers to build more feature-rich applications including multi-touch capabilities -- see the unholy union demonstrated on an HP TouchSmart in the video after the break. Update: As noted by reader ZeroK2 in the comments, the release notes [warning: PDF] specify which GPUs will benefit from the hardware acceleration. These include ATI Radeon HD 3xxx and 4xxx series, Mobile Radeon HD 4xxx series, select FirePro products, Intel 4 series chipsets, the Broadcom Crystal HD decoder, and most NVIDIA ION and GeForce 8/9/1xx/2xx powered PCs. In other words, the vast majority of netbook owners with integrated GMA950 graphics need not apply. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
