iPad Air

Cool Things: Pad & Quill’s New ‘Crafted’ Cases for the iPad Air

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Aria for iPad Air

Pad & Quill are makers of a number of lovely, handcrafted cases for iPads and other mobile devices. They’re one of my favorite iPad accessory vendors and they’ve got a great looking lineup of new cases for the iPad Air.

They’ve got 7 new cases for the iPad Air – including the particularly striking looking Aria for iPad Air shown above. Here’s a little slice of the description for the Aria for iPad Air, as well as some of its key features:

This one was for us. A case of pure beauty and craft. With the Aria, we wanted to see how luxuriously far we could take an iPad case. Turns out, quite a ways. Unlike anything else, the Aria iPad case provides utility, but it’s real gift is sumptuous aesthetic and tactile perfection. French hemmed seams, meet fine American full grain leather and hand finished wood to form the most beautiful case we’ve ever crafted.

Standard Features:

  • Fits the iPad Air
  • Full-grain, American cowhide leather
  • Handcrafted satin finish Baltic birch cradle
  • Rear camera aperture
  • Sure-Lock device grips
  • Magnetic sleep switch
  • Sound, headphone, charging and button channels
  • Signature Pad & Quill ribbon bookmark for easy device removal

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iPad Air: Quick First Impressions

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iPad Air

I’ve spent 6 days with the iPad Air now, after braving the non-line and getting home with one by around 8:30 AM on launch day. I already have some strong feelings about the iPad Air and some quick first impressions to share.

And here they are, in no particular order:

Living Up to the New Name

The iPad Air does a great job of living up to the ‘Air’ portion of its name. Just as advertised, it’s far lighter and slimmer than the previous iPads. Even knowing how much lighter and slimmer it was going to be following Apple’s unveiling event, it’s still surprising how well they managed this transformation. It really feels like a whole different class of iPad, and I love the slimmer bezels.

Space Gray

I like the Space Gray back of the iPad Air – I think it’s as handsome as the Slate back on the iPad mini.

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Best iPad Air Deal: Target’s $200 Trade-In for Any Older iPad – Even the Original iPad

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Target iPad Trade In

Target is offering a trade-in program that will give you at least $200 for any iPad – including the original iPad. 

The Target trade-in deal started on November 3 and will run until November 9. It’s simple to do as well, as MacRumors outlines:

Step 1: Find your local Target mobility store by clicking here and selecting “Target Mobility.”

Step 2: Bring your iPad to your local mobility store and visit the mobility kiosk in the electronics department to complete the trade.

Step 3: Payment will be issued in the form of a Target Trade-In Gift Card and is redeemable in any Target store.

The offer is good for any iPad that meets two main conditions: It must be a ‘working’ iPad (able to power on) and have no scratches on the display screen.

With the iPad Air ‘entry-level’ 16GB WiFi only model priced at $479 at Target, if you do the trade-in you could grab one for as little as $279.

You can check out all the details at the Target trade-in program page. If you’re looking for a great deal on the new iPad Air, this may be one of the best options out there.

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The One (very) Disappointing Part of the iPad Air Spec: RAM

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iPad Air Chips

I posted about the highlights of the full tech specs for the iPad Air a couple of days back. There are some very impressive specs – none more so than the powerful new 64-bit A7 chip. I also mentioned at that time that the one important spec detail we didn’t yet know, and that Apple is never very forthcoming on, was RAM.

Now thanks to the lovely and talented folks at iFixit, we have a complete teardown – or thorough dissection – of the iPad air. And it reveals the, very disappointing, amount of RAM for the iPad Air: just 1GB.

- 1GB of Elpida DDR3 SDRAM is found within the device but is now housed on one chip, compared to the two Elpida chips that housed the RAM on the fourth-generation iPad.

I just don’t see how 1GB of RAM for the iPad Air can be viewed as anything other than very unimpressive – especially now with iOS 7 offering real multitasking and a 64-bit chip which should bring more and more powerful apps to the iPad.

This could be the one spec that drags down performance on the iPad Air, and presumably on the Retina iPad mini too – since it’s just about a certainty that the smaller iPad won’t have more RAM than its bigger sibling.

Heck, there are numerous smartphones these days that have 2GB of RAM, and phablet devices that have 3GB. I’ve always been one to say that it is never all about specs when it comes to iDevices, but this is one occasion where a spec seems like it may leave the new generation of iPads noticeably underpowered.

What do you all think? Will other specs make up for the low amount of RAM on the new iPads?

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iPad Air, in the House

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iPad Air

I picked up a new iPad Air this morning, after a surprising non-line sort of affair at my local Apple store.

I’ve only just got home with it a couple hours ago and I always like to setup as a new iPad, rather than restoring from a backup, with a brand new iPad – so I’ve got a lot of setup and apps installing to do.

I’m also quite sleep deprived at this stage, so I won’t share any impressions on the iPad Air just yet – other than to say it certainly lives up to the lighter and slimmer billing.

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iPad Air: Tech Specs Highlights

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In less than 24 hours sales of the new iPad Air will kick off. It’s a significantly lighter and slimmer version of the iPad – nearly 1/3 lighter than the previous generation with reduced bezels and a distinct ‘minified’ feel to it. Here are some of the highlights of the iPad Air’s technical specs: Finish: […]

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