Apple's latest brainchild is sure to create ripples in tablet computing when it is released later this year.

Phil Schiller, Apple senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing, introduces the iPad mini in San Jose, California, on Tuesday. [Photo/Agencies]?

At a news conference on Tuesday morning, Apple announced various upgrades that it will make to its Mac products. The most astounding of the announcements was that the company will release the iPad mini.

At the end of the conference, various people in the audience, including members of the media, analysts and Apple employees had an opportunity to "touch" and hold the iPad mini. Here were our initial impressions:

Hardware: Like everything lately, Apple's iPad mini shares the same unibody construction touted by Jonathan "Jony" Ive, Apple's design guru. Looking at the device itself, I can say without a doubt that the mini is gorgeous.

Its subtle curves and reduced bezel stood out to me. The body is made with anodized aluminum and makes it feel like a premium product. On the back, the iPad mini really takes a lot from the iPhone 5.

However, once we move past the superficial, it felt like the device was an attempt to create a new, luxury 7-inch tablet market. But for now, only time can tell. In all honesty, the device feels very light, even when it is held in one hand.

Display: Unfortunately, the iPad mini does not come with Apple's amazing Retina display and loses in resolution and clarity when it is compared with some of its market competitors, such as Google.

Software size: One thing to keep in mind is that Apple has more than 275,000 apps on its app store. Apps do not appear cramped on the smaller screen.

Overall: The biggest gripe about the mini was the fact that it was pretty much an iPad2, though that doesn't mean that it's bad in any way. In reality, the iPad2 was a very solid device and the mini is just a smaller, more concentrated version of the full-size 9.7-inch iPad2.

However, going back to the iPad2 and the release of the new iPad, both show there is something wrong with Apple. All in all, the only thing that will guarantee that this device is extremely successful is the addition of the App store.

ericjou@chinadaily.com.cn