Spicy
Well-known
Donate to a neighborhood elementary school?
Jetexas
Newbie
I was hating on it -- until I held it
I was hating on it -- until I held it
I didn't see the point of the smaller screen with no retina display. Then I was in the store Saturday and held one. It's soooooo light. It's amazing. I had holding the iPad. It's heavy. I could hold up and read a mini for hours.
Apparently adding retina really increases costs and slows down the processor. That may be sorted by next year, though.
I made fun of the mini for weeks, but I think I'm probably buying one to use as a mobile portfolio and with an add-on GPS dongle as a chartplotter on my boat.
I was hating on it -- until I held it
I didn't see the point of the smaller screen with no retina display. Then I was in the store Saturday and held one. It's soooooo light. It's amazing. I had holding the iPad. It's heavy. I could hold up and read a mini for hours.
Apparently adding retina really increases costs and slows down the processor. That may be sorted by next year, though.
I made fun of the mini for weeks, but I think I'm probably buying one to use as a mobile portfolio and with an add-on GPS dongle as a chartplotter on my boat.
SausalitoDog
Well-known
Joe-
Check the amazon price - if you don't think it's worth selling at that price, I would just keep it as a book reader that allowed the ocassional checking of email via wifi... Maybe even (dare I say it?) the device you just leave in the bathroom?
No bad choices
Check the amazon price - if you don't think it's worth selling at that price, I would just keep it as a book reader that allowed the ocassional checking of email via wifi... Maybe even (dare I say it?) the device you just leave in the bathroom?
No bad choices
majid
Fazal Majid
I bought every iPad except the 4th generation model, and they replaced laptops entirely for me (my main computer is a Mac Pro with 30" and 27" displays). I currently have an iPad 3 (64GB AT&T LTE model - I am grandfathered into the unlimited plan). Yet I got the Mini (64GB Verizon LTE) on Tuesday. My iPhone and my wife's are on Verizon, also with grandfathered unlimited data plans, as AT&T is abysmal in San Francisco and we couldn't switch quickly enough, but don't make the mistake of adding the iPad to your existing cellular plan - they will charge you an additional $35 "activation fee" and have more expensive data plans than if you go on the no-commitment pay-as-you-go credit card plan. Talk about screwing your best customers...
The full-size iPad is too heavy to be an "every day carry" device, the Mini is, but there are trade-offs. Apple had to choose between retina display, weight and battery life, and I believe they made the correct trade-offs in their product line by refusing to compromise on battery life and offering their customers a choice of whether to sacrifice lightness or resolution. There are 7" Android tablets with higher resolution, but their battery life is inadequate and won't last a full day, thus obviating one of the key advantages of tablets over laptops: you don't need unconsciously to worry about finding a power jack to recharge your laptop, or have to carry a bulky power brick.
When I go back from my iPad 3's retina display to an iPad 2, the lower resolution is quite jarring when reading text, less so when viewing photos. The mini's screen has the same resolution as the iPad 2, but in a smaller screen thus a higher pixel density. I found the screen size too small to read 2-column text layouts comfortably, and zoom them to fill the screen with a single column, but that probably says more about my declining vision than anything else. The screen size matters more than retina in my experience so far.
I don't think the iPad mini will replace my full-size iPad. On the other hand I am pretty sure I will no longer use my iPhone for anything but phone calls, and am thinking of dropping the iPhone data plan altogether, and foregoing future upgrades to it (I was on an alternating year upgrade cycle for iPhones, as they are not as vital to me as the iPads). In fact, I hate phones and if I could get away with it, I would ditch the iPhone entirely, the iPad's inability to receive or make phone calls is one of its best features...
The full-size iPad is too heavy to be an "every day carry" device, the Mini is, but there are trade-offs. Apple had to choose between retina display, weight and battery life, and I believe they made the correct trade-offs in their product line by refusing to compromise on battery life and offering their customers a choice of whether to sacrifice lightness or resolution. There are 7" Android tablets with higher resolution, but their battery life is inadequate and won't last a full day, thus obviating one of the key advantages of tablets over laptops: you don't need unconsciously to worry about finding a power jack to recharge your laptop, or have to carry a bulky power brick.
When I go back from my iPad 3's retina display to an iPad 2, the lower resolution is quite jarring when reading text, less so when viewing photos. The mini's screen has the same resolution as the iPad 2, but in a smaller screen thus a higher pixel density. I found the screen size too small to read 2-column text layouts comfortably, and zoom them to fill the screen with a single column, but that probably says more about my declining vision than anything else. The screen size matters more than retina in my experience so far.
I don't think the iPad mini will replace my full-size iPad. On the other hand I am pretty sure I will no longer use my iPhone for anything but phone calls, and am thinking of dropping the iPhone data plan altogether, and foregoing future upgrades to it (I was on an alternating year upgrade cycle for iPhones, as they are not as vital to me as the iPads). In fact, I hate phones and if I could get away with it, I would ditch the iPhone entirely, the iPad's inability to receive or make phone calls is one of its best features...