It's An iPad mini, Jim, But Not As We Know It
by Joe White
November 28, 2013
Apple's iPad mini sure is a fine product, but it comes with a hefty price tag. Over in China, retailers have stumbled upon a solution to this problem: available to order is a near-perfect first-generation iPad mini replica, which can be purchased and shipped internationally from just $177. The downside? It runs Android.
The news comes from Softpedia, which draws our attention to this NewFrog listing. As you can see, the listing advertises a tablet that looks suspiciously familiar to Apple's iPad mini. It doesn't ship with a Retina display, nor does it run Apple's iOS; however, the Android 4.1-powered tablet nevertheless offers fairly reasonable internals.
Softpedia explains:
The Chuwi V88 features a 7.9-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels and an aspect ratio of 4:3 instead of the more common 16:10 or 16:9 we usually see in budget Android tablets. Power comes from a Cortex A9 Quad-CPU 1.8GHz coupled with options of 1GB or 2GB of RAM, depending on what users choose to go for. As for internal storage, there’s an option between 8GB or 16GB that can be increased up to 32GB.There are also two built-in cameras of 2MP and 5MP (front- and rear-facing, respectively), and support for Bluetooth low energy (LE). The iPad mini knock-off also features a 5,000mAh battery offering 4.5 hours of use. Of course, this isn't the first iDevice clone we've heard about - iPhone clones, in particular, date back to 2009 and beyond. It's nevertheless somewhat comical when a new knock-off product appears on the market. Are you tempted? Remember, you can pick up the real deal tomorrow at a discounted price as part of countless retailers' Black Friday sales. See also: LifeProof's nüüd Case For iPhone 5s Offers Waterproof, Touch ID-Compatible Protection, Q: Which Popular Social Trivia Game Just Received Its First Ever Update? A: QuizUp, and Week-Old Virtual Pet Fugu App Hatch Gains Lots With First Ever Update. Via: Cult of Android
