MacRumors

At its October 22 iPad-centric event, Apple provided multiple publications with iPad Air review units. The embargo on reviews has just been lifted, which means several sites are now posting their thoughts on the thinner, lighter iPad Air. We've gathered some relevant excerpts from each site in order to highlight the general release reaction to Apple's newest iPad.

Jim Dalrymple, The Loop

It's very hard to describe how good the iPad Air feels in your hand without actually picking one up. It’s kind of like the first time you saw a Retina display for the first time—shock.

This smaller size is great. If you have decent sized hands you can type with two thumbs on the iPad in portrait, something I wasn’t really able to do with the last generation iPad without a lot of stretching. Clearly a full-size iPad is not something you will be thumb typing with all the time, but it does give you an idea of how much smaller the iPad Air is.

Walt Mossberg, AllThingsD

In a feat of design and engineering, Apple has slashed the iPad’s weight by 28%, made it 20% thinner and 9% narrower, while increasing its speed and retaining the brilliant, 9.7-inch Retina display.

The new iPad weighs just 1 pound, down from 1.4 pounds for the previous top-of-the-line model, the iPad 4, which is being discontinued.

And it has done all this while maintaining the iPad's industry-leading battery life. In my tests, the iPad Air far exceeded Apple's claim of 10 hours of battery life. For over 12 hours, it played high-definition videos, nonstop, with the screen at 75% brightness, with Wi-Fi on and emails pouring in. That’s the best battery life I’ve ever recorded for any tablet.

Brad Molen, Engadget

Yes, as strange as it may sound, the latest iPad is actually just a larger version of the 7.9-inch mini. It's as if the smaller device -- which launched at the same time as the fourth-gen iPad -- was a pilot test for Jony Ive's new design language. Calling it the "Air" was fitting indeed, since it's ridiculously small and light compared to previous models.

It measures 7.5mm thick and weighs only one pound (1.03 pounds, to be exact), making it 1.9mm thinner and 0.43 pound lighter than the iPad 4. Apple's also trimmed the left and right bezel by roughly 8mm on each side. If that doesn't sound significant, just hold the Air for a minute and then pick up an older iPad; the difference is immediately noticeable. Simply put, the iPad Air is the most comfortable 10-inch tablet we've ever used.

Matt Warman, The Telegraph

Its light weight and thin form mean it gets out of the way – you don’t notice it, but you notice what you're doing on it. That, potentially, unleashes a new generation of tablet-based productivity. The fact that Apple is now giving away even more software means that perhaps the rebranding is, therefore, more than simply a marketing exercise. Air may yet be the oxygen for a new wave of uses for the iPad.

Edward Baig, USA Today

As it happens, though, this latest full-size Apple tablet is the most tempting iPad yet, better than its already best of breed predecessors, superior still to each and every rival big screen slate that I've tested. Apple dominates the tablet apps ecosystem. Its tablet remains the easiest to use.

In a side-by-side comparison against its immediate predecessor, the new iPad indeed opened apps more quickly and booted up and shut down slightly faster, though not to such a degree that I expect most people to notice.

Damon Darlin, The New York Times

What you may not know is this: Those 6.4 ounces make all the difference when, as you recline while reading or watching a movie, you conk out and the iPad falls forward to bonk you on the nose. The Air won't hurt you the way the old iPad did.

The weight reduction and a 20 percent slimmer profile provide other benefits, too. My messenger bag strap didn’t dig into my shoulder as deeply when my iPad was in it. My hand didn’t cramp up while grasping the iPad Air for an hour while watching movies or playing games.

Other reviews:

David Pogue
AnandTech
CNET
Fox News
Pocket-lint
Mashable
Bloomberg
T3
TechCrunch

Apple's iPad Air will be available to the public beginning on Friday, November 1, with initial online orders beginning at 12:01 AM Pacific Time in the United States and at varying times in other countries. Apple retail locations will open at 8 AM local time on Friday to begin in-store sales.

A manufacturing defect has affected a small number of Apple's iPhone 5s devices causing shortened battery life and longer charging times, according to an Apple representative who spoke to The New York Times. The iPhone 5s, which was introduced in September, is rated for up to 10 hours of battery life on 3G and 250 hours of standby time.

"We recently discovered a manufacturing issue affecting a very limited number of iPhone 5S devices that could cause the battery to take longer to charge or result in reduced battery life," said Teresa Brewer, an Apple spokeswoman. "We are reaching out to customers with affected phones and will provide them with a replacement phone."

Apple has not specified how many iPhones are affected by the issue, but according to The New York Times, Apple's statement suggests that only a few thousand users may be experiencing battery life issues out of several million. After the launch of the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c, Apple reported that it had sold a total of nine million devices, but did not break the sales number down further.

While Apple did not give specific details on the manufacturing issue or how it plans to contact affected users, the company will replace defective iPhone 5s units with functional devices.

Apple today posted two new job listings on its website, seeking to fill engineering positions related to public transit. The company is looking for a Maps Public Transit Engineering Manager and a Public Transit Software Engineer, who will join the Maps team to work on building and improving a Transit Routing platform "at a massive scale."

As a member of the Transit Routing team, you will work on one of the most anticipated features of Apple Maps. You will design and implement functionality that will be used by millions of users worldwide.

In addition to these job listings, Apple has posted other transit positions on its website over the past few months and has also acquired multiple mapping companies focused on transit, including HopStop and Embark, two companies with apps and tools developed to provide subway, bus, train, taxi, walking and biking directions.

As noted in the job listings, Apple is working to build these services into its own mapping service, incorporating accurate, real-time information on public transportation routes into the Maps apps for iOS and Mac.

Apple's lack of public transit information was one of the major criticisms the company faced after its in-house mapping service debuted in 2012. Discontent with the lack of features and the inaccuracy of the Maps app prompted both a reorganization of the company and an apology letter from Tim Cook.

Alongside its work to introduce transit options to Maps, Apple has also aimed to improve the accuracy of the service. Over the past several months, Apple has hired a multitude of Ground Truth experts to fix location-based issues such as the error that caused Australian drivers to become stranded after receiving faulty directions.

Despite Apple's efforts, problems with Maps are ongoing. Recently another location-based error caused Maps to direct drivers in Alaska onto an airport taxiway.

An Idaho man is suing Apple under California's consumer protection laws because the display on his 27-inch iMac failed 18 months after he bought it -- notably outside the twelve-month standard warranty period, reports GigaOm.

The suit, which refers to a 321-page thread on the Apple Support Community as well as a post on TechCrunch from 2009, asks for more than $5 million in class-action damages and seeks to represent every Apple customer that purchased a 27-inch iMac with an LG display before December 2012.

In a complaint filed last week in San Jose, aspiring music teacher Corbin Rasmussen says he thought the iMac was expensive but, relying on Apple’s claims that is was ”designed for a long productive life,” saved up to buy one to use as a home computer and media center,

Rasmussen claims that, after 50 percent of the screen went dim, the iMac became nearly useless for watching movies and made basic web browsing difficult. He complained to Apple, which told him a repair would cost more than $500 since the defect arose after the product’s one year warranty expired.

Apple recently opened up another AppleCare repair warehouse in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, reports 9to5Mac. The 182,000 square-foot facility is the second in the United States, joining Apple's existing warehouse in Elk Grove, California.

Apple's California-based AppleCare warehouse is used as a repair hub, with Apple retail locations across the country shipping damaged products to the facility, where they are repaired or replaced and shipped back out across the United States.

Along with opening a new repair facility, Apple has also been working to cut down on costs and decrease repair times by performing more iPhone repairs in-house, electing to replace displays and other parts in Apple Stores and at Apple Authorized Service Providers rather than offering replacements.

In August, Apple launched a redesigned AppleCare website that includes a simpler interface and 24/7 live chat support. The company is also said to be working on significant changes to its AppleCare services, aiming to switch to per-user AppleCare subscription plans rather than offering per-device coverage.

The home where Steve Jobs first began building computers with Steve Wozniak has been designated a "historic resource" by the Los Altos Historical Commission reports the San Jose Mercury News.

The home, located at 2066 Crist Drive in Los Altos, California, is still owned by Jobs' sister Patricia Jobs and the designation will add an additional layer of reviews should the owners of the home ever try to renovate it.

The vote is the culmination of a two-year effort by the commission to preserve the one-story, ranch-style home as it stands. Chairman Frank Bishop praised the work of his colleagues and city staff, which included extensive research and a property evaluation.

"The documentation looks very complete -- better than some of the books as far as accuracy goes," Bishop said.

The designation will add another layer of review if renovations to the home are ever sought. The commission would be able to make a recommendation to the city council about any proposed changes.

Jobs and Wozniak assembled the first Apple I computers at the home, with the first 50 sold to the Byte Shop in Mountain View for $500 each and the rest sold to friends at the Homebrew Computer Club.

Research firm IDC today released its estimates on worldwide mobile phone sales for the third quarter of 2013, once again showing Apple's iPhone growth trailing that of the overall smartphone market. Apple's 33.8 million iPhone shipments were up 25.7% year-over-year, compared to 38.8% growth for the entire market. Market leader Samsung grew at slightly higher than the industry average, and Apple with its 13.1% share was able to hold onto the second-place ranking ahead of Huawei, Lenovo, and LG, all of which showed strong growth but remained at under 5% market share.

Apple's total volumes speak to the early success of the iPhones 5S and 5C, and the softening demand of older devices prior to the new models launching. The iPhone 5S lived up to the hype of the gold case and the fingerprint sensor, and the iPhone 5C with an array of colors. At the same time, limited usability on the fingerprint sensor and higher-than-expected pricing on the iPhone 5C drew mixed reactions. Still, this did not prevent Apple from enjoying a record 9 million units shipped in their debut.

As in previous quarters, Apple's performance in the overall mobile market benefited from the decline of the featurephone, with the company's 25.7% year-over-year growth easily topping the market's overall 5.7% growth and allowing Apple to remain firmly in third place behind Samsung and Nokia. According to IDC, smartphones accounted for 55% of total mobile phone shipments during the quarter, up from 42% in the third quarter of 2012.

LG Display is reportedly close to a deal with Apple to provide OLED displays for the upcoming iWatch, according to The Korea Herald (via Unwired View). The report also states that RITEK subsidary RiTdisplay will be the other primary display supplier in addition to LG for the smartwatch. Samsung was also said to have met with Apple over becoming a potential supplier for the iWatch, but discussions between the two companies were reportedly "not productive". A report from May stated that Apple had begun sampling 1.5-inch OLED displays from RiTdisplay for the iWatch, as Apple had also hired a senior OLED expert from LG Display this past February.

“Instead of relying on one supplier for its iWatch, which will be unveiled next year, Apple will have two vendors to be safe. The key provider will be RiTDisplay and LG Display will be the second,” Seoul-based HMC Investment Securities’ analyst Kim Young-woo said. “Japan Display might also be a candidate, but so far its capacity seems lacking.”

Apple has been long rumored to be working on the iWatch, which is expected to serve as an accessory to the iPhone and other iOS devices, giving users easy at-a-glance access to common functions along with additional biometric integration. Apple CEO Tim Cook stated in Apple's fourth quarter earnings call yesterday that the company still plans on introducing new product categories within 2014, which is a likely timeframe for the release of the iWatch as previously indicated by sources of the Financial Times as well as supply chain insiders familiar with the matter.

Following today's fourth quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent an email (via 9to5Mac) to employees to thank them for their hard work and to invite them to an employee communications meeting that will be held on Tuesday, October 29.

In the email, Cook notes that he is "extremely proud" of the ongoing collaboration across the company, reporting that business at Apple "has never been stronger."

Team,

We've just posted financial results for fiscal Q4, including record-setting iPhone sales. I am happy to report that Apple's business has never been stronger, and we are heading into the holidays within amazing lineup led by the new iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, the stunning iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display. You and your teams work incredibly hard to deliver the very best products in the world, and our customers simply love them. I'm extremely proud of the collaboration going on across the company and everything we've accomplished as result of this great team effort.

Please join me for an employee communications meeting tomorrow at 9 AM Pacific time. The meeting will be broadcast to locations throughout Cupertino and Apple offices across the world. AppleWeb has a complete list of sites where you'll be able to watch live or see a replay in certain time zones. We've also created a link on AppleWeb where you can submit your questions in advance, and we'll do our best to answer as many as we can during the meeting. I look forward to hearing from you.

Tim

The meeting will be held at 9 AM Pacific Time in Cupertino, and broadcast to employees around the world via a live stream or replay. Apple will also be taking questions from employees, which can be submitted on the internal AppleWeb.

Apple today announced that it had sold a record-breaking 33.8 million iPhones during the September quarter, up from 26.9 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also announced a total of $37.5 billion in revenue, with a net quarterly profit of $7.5 billion or $8.26 per diluted share.