I'd like to come up with a suitably sarcastic banal comment but I'm afraid it is just not possible to top the headline which is already a self parody.
I love this bit "with the changes said to be arriving in the next generation of the small form factor tablet's next generation" because I would have thought the changes would be arrive before the next generation.
Or the writer could have meant that it will be coming in the next generation rather than the third or fourth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parsec
As an owner of an iPhone and MPB that both have retina displays, I wouldn't buy the iPad Mini, it seems like a step backwards. Given the premium price of the Mini it should really include a retina display. That must be hurting sales because people know the current model will be replaced with an update that has a better display.
It's not, though. It's really more like an iPad "Air." And it doesn't seem to be hurting sales at all. The 16GB and 32GB models still seem to stay sold out everywhere I have looked. The next generation is always going to be better than the current one. If you always wait to buy on that logic, you will never have one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by macslut
The next iPad mini most likely will not have a Retina display. The one after that most likely will.
Quiet possibly the most moronic thing someone could speculate about the mini is that a Retina display is coming. Of course it is. People are acting like as if Apple either 1) forgot about the Retina or 2) thought they could sell more by having people buy the non-Retina now and then upgrade soon.
Neither is the case.
There is no Retina display to go into the iPad mini. Possible display companies are in development for this, but none are predicting to have samples available to Apple for at least a year (and these estimates are getting pushed back). Still, people are spouting off that Apple will magically produce a mini Retina with BS estimates as early as 6 months (from the original release of the mini).
Even once the mini Retina displays are offered as samples for evaluation, there's still the issue of production yields, cost, and impact on battery life.
People don't realize how hard the iPad 3 and 4 pushed the envelope with being a Retina display and that the mini would need to push the envelope that much further with a much higher PPI while having a smaller battery and a lower expected price point.
I've had every iPhone and every iPad including the iPad 4 and the iPad mini. I love them both, but spend more time with the iPad mini despite its lack of a Retina display. When the mini Retina comes out, I'll gladly upgrade, but I'm not holding my breath.
I agree. It seems to me that the mini is the ultra portable ultra portable. Adding retina will require more battery and more weight (compare iPad 2 and iPad 3 weights). It will happen when the retina displays are efficient enough not to need such a heavy battery--3rd or 4th gen maybe, but I don't think it will happen in the next generation.
I hated the idea of the iPad mini. I hated it the first time I saw it/used it because it didn't have retina. After spending some time with it over the next couple of weeks, I ended up buying one. I have the iPad 3, and I, too, end up using the mini more. I love the size and weight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by doh123
I have a iphone 5, and a Retina MacBook Pro, and I think my mini screen looks just fine... I don't get the complaints.
Some people are only happy when they are complaining about something. I only really miss the retina display when I am looking at small print. Other than that, it looks good to me.
I was seconds away from buying the iPad mini for my wife for Christmas but all the stores were sold out of the one I want. I knew that a retina version would likely be coming out next year so I backed off. I'll get her something else for Christmas and buy her the retina iPad mini when it comes out in 2013. In our family, we all have iPhone 4's and I have a rMBP. Once you go Retina, everything else looks like crap.
True. But I still couldn't help myself: had to go out and get the Mini.
I must say that the display is good enough (though not as good).
True. But I still couldn't help myself: had to go out and get the Mini.
I must say that the display is good enough (though not as good).
I have been using ti and this is my assessment: The display is good enough for most apps. Some newspaper apps look pretty bad, even without side-by-side comparison with the iPad3. And the drawing apps are really superior on the bigger and finer screen. But the display is really not the most important "downgrade" in user experience. The touch interface is not as good as on the original iPad or on the iPhone. Some text fields and app icons are too small I need to touch them repeatedly to get the right response. They just seem more appropriately sized on the iPhone despite an even smaller screen. In some ways, this seems to validate Steve Jobs's original criticism.
Here is the thing - despite the difference in display quality and inferior touch response, I no longer use my iPad3 (anyone interested in buying one?). The Mini is just more portable and that trumps everything else. So, when the RP version comes out, I will be all over it (but wishing I had waited).
As an owner of an iPhone and MPB that both have retina displays, I wouldn't buy the iPad Mini, it seems like a step backwards. Given the premium price of the Mini it should really include a retina display. That must be hurting sales because people know the current model will be replaced with an update that has a better display.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GadgetCanada
I was seconds away from buying the iPad mini for my wife for Christmas but all the stores were sold out of the one I want. I knew that a retina version would likely be coming out next year so I backed off. I'll get her something else for Christmas and buy her the retina iPad mini when it comes out in 2013. In our family, we all have iPhone 4's and I have a rMBP. Once you go Retina, everything else looks like crap.
You people are crazy IMO. As someone who's owned and used pretty much every iOS device that ever existed and also as someone with quite a bit above average vision, I can say that the "Retina" problem is more hype than reality. You literally don't even notice the display after the first five minutes. If "Retina" is your reason for not getting one you are making a mistake.
I got the mini the day it came out, loaded everything from my Retina iPad 3 onto it and haven't even picked up the Retina iPad since. The mini is that much better than the regular iPad that it's just not worth it to me to bother with the big one any more. Even for Retina.
The (negative) things I notice all the time about the mini are the slowness of the processor and the severely limited system memory. Those are real issues that come up day in and day out when you are using the mini. The fact that it isn't a Retina display doesn't even figure into it. I don't even think about it.
Matching the iPad's PPI will still make it pixel-to-pixel incompatible to iPad apps so going double resolution (2048x1536) is the only sensible solution.
All signs point to it being technically possible once Imagination Tech's Rogue 6 GPU lands. That should be out in quantity the 2nd half of 2013. However, note they gave the iPad mini the 2011 HW, save for the 32nm lithography, so it seems as though they plan on keeping the iPad mini a year behind like with the iPod Touch. They could change this up by only using the modern GPU on the ASIC but that comes with additional costs for a product that is already assumed to be the reason Apple's profit margins are to be lower this quarter.
On top of that, I'm not convinced that Rogue 6 is enough to allow for the 2048x1536 display to still get the same battery life without becoming a thicker and heavier device; something I don't think is as acceptable for the iPod mini and something that would be much more noticeable because of it's already diminutive size.
2014 seems like the most likely date to me.
I don't agree. While I think it's possible that they may find some magical way to move to a Retina display (Apple does this kind of hocus pocus quite regularly of course), it seems to me that out of the possible upgrades, Retina would be both the last on the list and the hardest to achieve.
I think people forget that the current mini can exist because huge numbers of apps out there already have the 1024x768 resolution resources built-in. It's not like it's a whole new resolution to design for. I don't see any real "pressure" from any source that would indicate that they absolutely need to get rid of it soon. As I said in another post ... in daily use, there are far more important "gotchas" to the iPad mini than the screen resolution. There are greater problems to solve, that have greater impact on the end user than the lack of a Retina screen.
Above all, I think it would be a huge mistake for the mini to get any fatter or any heavier. I know Apple *sometimes* (once in a blue moon) makes a heavier or thicker product than the previous generation, but on a product like the mini which basically sells on the fact that it's smaller and lighter it would be a grave mistake to do this. So the question is not really "Will the iPad mini get a Retina display," but instead "Is it possible for the mini to get a Retina display without getting bigger or heavier?" My reading is that it's possible, but unlikely.
I don't agree. While I think it's possible that they may find some magical way to move to a Retina display (Apple does this kind of hocus pocus quite regularly of course), it seems to me that out of the possible upgrades, Retina would be both the last on the list and the hardest to achieve.
I think people forget that the current mini can exist because huge numbers of apps out there already have the 1024x768 resolution resources built-in. It's not like it's a whole new resolution to design for. I don't see any real "pressure" from any source that would indicate that they absolutely need to get rid of it soon. As I said in another post ... in daily use, there are far more important "gotchas" to the iPad mini than the screen resolution. There are greater problems to solve, that have greater impact on the end user than the lack of a Retina screen.
Above all, I think it would be a huge mistake for the mini to get any fatter or any heavier. I know Apple *sometimes* (once in a blue moon) makes a heavier or thicker product than the previous generation, but on a product like the mini which basically sells on the fact that it's smaller and lighter it would be a grave mistake to do this. So the question is not really "Will the iPad mini get a Retina display," but instead "Is it possible for the mini to get a Retina display without getting bigger or heavier?" My reading is that it's possible, but unlikely.
What are disagreeing with? It sounds like you are in agreement with me that the next iPad mini will not be Retina.
There is no Retina display to go into the iPad mini. Possible display companies are in development for this, but none are predicting to have samples available to Apple for at least a year (and these estimates are getting pushed back). Still, people are spouting off that Apple will magically produce a mini Retina with BS estimates as early as 6 months (from the original release of the mini).
err, double an iPhone 4's screen size. It would be retina (plus some), would allow for the 'doubling' of old iPhone apps to just fit, and would extend the use of the existing glass capacity of the iPhone 4(s) line. Resolution doubling would apps to 'just work' for a period of time until developers reset their apps to the native resolution, and would ease the transition to 'yet another resolution' until the iPhone 4s is phased out (likely 3 years, if the other rumors of 'inexpensive iPhones' come true). Once done, then there would be 3 resolutions, the 5(s), the Mini, and the 'new' iPad. And once we get new retinas minis, that will pretty much be the end of the resolution wars, and it will be brightness/vividness/3dness/readiabilityness. But pixels as we know them will stop existing (sort of like baud).
It was my guess they didn't use this because of the availability (4's still need this), cost (to expand capacity), and performance factor (takes more GPU to move these pixels). The next SoC will take care of the latter, the retirement of the iPhone 4 will free up glass and capacity, and then it will happen.
Not saying that they will ship soon, but I'm arguing your point that there is no glass in development... The glass exists, it just was fully utilized in the iPhone 4 line. The gating factor was the GPU to drive it with battery life, and probably most importantly, understanding what the demand will be (more than the new iPad?). Apple (Cook) is all about exploiting supply chain, and also about not shipping a lot of 'new cool' in version one of a product. iPhone, iPad, iPods, even MBAs were never more than 90% of what 'could' be done, it was more about 'what could be done at a profit and acceptable risk'
My wife offered to buy me the iPad mini for xmas. I declined, I have the iPad 3. Pretty hard to go backwards. Retina is awesome.
I held an Mini yesterday (while buying a 47" TV... slightly more screen real estate/$), and yes, it was sexy light in the thumb finger pinch. Other than the iPhone, I'm not retinized, so it looked absolutely delicious.
my iPad 2 is being replaced next year. That's my retina push. and i hope it's a mini
I agree with the "not so fast" consensus here. I picked up a mini so I could test my apps on it, but like others have mentioned I find myself using it MUCH more than my formerly indispensible third-gen iPad. I appreciate the size and battery life and remark that if never gets remotely warm even running the most intense games for hours (unlike the larger iPad). Double the resolution and those plusses go away (or are reduced).
My two complaints about the mini are: 1. iPhone apps look like crap when in 2x mode (unlike on the retina iPad since it scales the higher resolution retina rendering) and 2. apps the pushed the envelope making controls as small as possible are harder to use on the smaller display (as predicted/expected). I expect that issue 2 will be addressed by developers now that they can develop and test against the mini. Issue one theoretically could be fixed by Apple without a hardware change, but I have no reason to believe they will (they would prefer developers release universal apps to take full advantage of the larger display).
(In case anyone care, the best case of example of my first complaint is Scrabble. I bought the iPhone version and it looks and works fine on the retina iPad; it looks like some 8-bit joke on the mini or pre-retina iPads. And I'm too cheap to buy the iPad version of the app, so I muddle through, or just use my iPhone for that.)
"There is no Retina display to go into the iPad mini. " I can't believe Apple are that far behind. We already have those daft 1080p smartphones so putting them in 8" screens is a doddle..
"There is no Retina display to go into the iPad mini. " I can't believe Apple are that far behind. We already have those daft 1080p smartphones so putting them in 8" screens is a doddle..
You're missing the point. It's not simply about having a high pixel density. It's about maintaining the pixel ratio so the apps scale easily (i.e. x2 rather than x1.847962185485468521567 or whatever).
Comments
There are two things I don't put limitations on. God, and Apple.
Dropping below $500 today??
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnalogJack
I'd like to come up with a suitably sarcastic banal comment but I'm afraid it is just not possible to top the headline which is already a self parody.
I love this bit "with the changes said to be arriving in the next generation of the small form factor tablet's next generation" because I would have thought the changes would be arrive before the next generation.
Or the writer could have meant that it will be coming in the next generation rather than the third or fourth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parsec
As an owner of an iPhone and MPB that both have retina displays, I wouldn't buy the iPad Mini, it seems like a step backwards. Given the premium price of the Mini it should really include a retina display. That must be hurting sales because people know the current model will be replaced with an update that has a better display.
It's not, though. It's really more like an iPad "Air." And it doesn't seem to be hurting sales at all. The 16GB and 32GB models still seem to stay sold out everywhere I have looked. The next generation is always going to be better than the current one. If you always wait to buy on that logic, you will never have one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by macslut
The next iPad mini most likely will not have a Retina display. The one after that most likely will.
Quiet possibly the most moronic thing someone could speculate about the mini is that a Retina display is coming. Of course it is. People are acting like as if Apple either 1) forgot about the Retina or 2) thought they could sell more by having people buy the non-Retina now and then upgrade soon.
Neither is the case.
There is no Retina display to go into the iPad mini. Possible display companies are in development for this, but none are predicting to have samples available to Apple for at least a year (and these estimates are getting pushed back). Still, people are spouting off that Apple will magically produce a mini Retina with BS estimates as early as 6 months (from the original release of the mini).
Even once the mini Retina displays are offered as samples for evaluation, there's still the issue of production yields, cost, and impact on battery life.
People don't realize how hard the iPad 3 and 4 pushed the envelope with being a Retina display and that the mini would need to push the envelope that much further with a much higher PPI while having a smaller battery and a lower expected price point.
I've had every iPhone and every iPad including the iPad 4 and the iPad mini. I love them both, but spend more time with the iPad mini despite its lack of a Retina display. When the mini Retina comes out, I'll gladly upgrade, but I'm not holding my breath.
I agree. It seems to me that the mini is the ultra portable ultra portable. Adding retina will require more battery and more weight (compare iPad 2 and iPad 3 weights). It will happen when the retina displays are efficient enough not to need such a heavy battery--3rd or 4th gen maybe, but I don't think it will happen in the next generation.
I hated the idea of the iPad mini. I hated it the first time I saw it/used it because it didn't have retina. After spending some time with it over the next couple of weeks, I ended up buying one. I have the iPad 3, and I, too, end up using the mini more. I love the size and weight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by doh123
I have a iphone 5, and a Retina MacBook Pro, and I think my mini screen looks just fine... I don't get the complaints.
Some people are only happy when they are complaining about something. I only really miss the retina display when I am looking at small print. Other than that, it looks good to me.
True. But I still couldn't help myself: had to go out and get the Mini.
I must say that the display is good enough (though not as good).
Stock manipulation. No rational reason why the price is lower. It's almost if wall street thinks Apple hired Ballmer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Superbass
Wow, whoda thunk it!
I hear the next Macbook Pro will have a faster processer than the old one, too.
And the Macbook Air will weigh slightly less!
And the iTunes store will have even more music in the future!
And there will be more and more people who believe such a weak dose of sarcasm makes is actually worth displaying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
True. But I still couldn't help myself: had to go out and get the Mini.
I must say that the display is good enough (though not as good).
I have been using ti and this is my assessment: The display is good enough for most apps. Some newspaper apps look pretty bad, even without side-by-side comparison with the iPad3. And the drawing apps are really superior on the bigger and finer screen. But the display is really not the most important "downgrade" in user experience. The touch interface is not as good as on the original iPad or on the iPhone. Some text fields and app icons are too small I need to touch them repeatedly to get the right response. They just seem more appropriately sized on the iPhone despite an even smaller screen. In some ways, this seems to validate Steve Jobs's original criticism.
Here is the thing - despite the difference in display quality and inferior touch response, I no longer use my iPad3 (anyone interested in buying one?). The Mini is just more portable and that trumps everything else. So, when the RP version comes out, I will be all over it (but wishing I had waited).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parsec
As an owner of an iPhone and MPB that both have retina displays, I wouldn't buy the iPad Mini, it seems like a step backwards. Given the premium price of the Mini it should really include a retina display. That must be hurting sales because people know the current model will be replaced with an update that has a better display.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GadgetCanada
I was seconds away from buying the iPad mini for my wife for Christmas but all the stores were sold out of the one I want. I knew that a retina version would likely be coming out next year so I backed off. I'll get her something else for Christmas and buy her the retina iPad mini when it comes out in 2013. In our family, we all have iPhone 4's and I have a rMBP. Once you go Retina, everything else looks like crap.
You people are crazy IMO. As someone who's owned and used pretty much every iOS device that ever existed and also as someone with quite a bit above average vision, I can say that the "Retina" problem is more hype than reality. You literally don't even notice the display after the first five minutes. If "Retina" is your reason for not getting one you are making a mistake.
I got the mini the day it came out, loaded everything from my Retina iPad 3 onto it and haven't even picked up the Retina iPad since. The mini is that much better than the regular iPad that it's just not worth it to me to bother with the big one any more. Even for Retina.
The (negative) things I notice all the time about the mini are the slowness of the processor and the severely limited system memory. Those are real issues that come up day in and day out when you are using the mini. The fact that it isn't a Retina display doesn't even figure into it. I don't even think about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Matching the iPad's PPI will still make it pixel-to-pixel incompatible to iPad apps so going double resolution (2048x1536) is the only sensible solution.
All signs point to it being technically possible once Imagination Tech's Rogue 6 GPU lands. That should be out in quantity the 2nd half of 2013. However, note they gave the iPad mini the 2011 HW, save for the 32nm lithography, so it seems as though they plan on keeping the iPad mini a year behind like with the iPod Touch. They could change this up by only using the modern GPU on the ASIC but that comes with additional costs for a product that is already assumed to be the reason Apple's profit margins are to be lower this quarter.
On top of that, I'm not convinced that Rogue 6 is enough to allow for the 2048x1536 display to still get the same battery life without becoming a thicker and heavier device; something I don't think is as acceptable for the iPod mini and something that would be much more noticeable because of it's already diminutive size.
2014 seems like the most likely date to me.
I don't agree. While I think it's possible that they may find some magical way to move to a Retina display (Apple does this kind of hocus pocus quite regularly of course), it seems to me that out of the possible upgrades, Retina would be both the last on the list and the hardest to achieve.
I think people forget that the current mini can exist because huge numbers of apps out there already have the 1024x768 resolution resources built-in. It's not like it's a whole new resolution to design for. I don't see any real "pressure" from any source that would indicate that they absolutely need to get rid of it soon. As I said in another post ... in daily use, there are far more important "gotchas" to the iPad mini than the screen resolution. There are greater problems to solve, that have greater impact on the end user than the lack of a Retina screen.
Above all, I think it would be a huge mistake for the mini to get any fatter or any heavier. I know Apple *sometimes* (once in a blue moon) makes a heavier or thicker product than the previous generation, but on a product like the mini which basically sells on the fact that it's smaller and lighter it would be a grave mistake to do this. So the question is not really "Will the iPad mini get a Retina display," but instead "Is it possible for the mini to get a Retina display without getting bigger or heavier?" My reading is that it's possible, but unlikely.
What are disagreeing with? It sounds like you are in agreement with me that the next iPad mini will not be Retina.
And I'll buy it.
My wife offered to buy me the iPad mini for xmas. I declined, I have the iPad 3. Pretty hard to go backwards. Retina is awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by macslut
There is no Retina display to go into the iPad mini. Possible display companies are in development for this, but none are predicting to have samples available to Apple for at least a year (and these estimates are getting pushed back). Still, people are spouting off that Apple will magically produce a mini Retina with BS estimates as early as 6 months (from the original release of the mini).
err, double an iPhone 4's screen size. It would be retina (plus some), would allow for the 'doubling' of old iPhone apps to just fit, and would extend the use of the existing glass capacity of the iPhone 4(s) line. Resolution doubling would apps to 'just work' for a period of time until developers reset their apps to the native resolution, and would ease the transition to 'yet another resolution' until the iPhone 4s is phased out (likely 3 years, if the other rumors of 'inexpensive iPhones' come true). Once done, then there would be 3 resolutions, the 5(s), the Mini, and the 'new' iPad. And once we get new retinas minis, that will pretty much be the end of the resolution wars, and it will be brightness/vividness/3dness/readiabilityness. But pixels as we know them will stop existing (sort of like baud).
It was my guess they didn't use this because of the availability (4's still need this), cost (to expand capacity), and performance factor (takes more GPU to move these pixels). The next SoC will take care of the latter, the retirement of the iPhone 4 will free up glass and capacity, and then it will happen.
Not saying that they will ship soon, but I'm arguing your point that there is no glass in development... The glass exists, it just was fully utilized in the iPhone 4 line. The gating factor was the GPU to drive it with battery life, and probably most importantly, understanding what the demand will be (more than the new iPad?). Apple (Cook) is all about exploiting supply chain, and also about not shipping a lot of 'new cool' in version one of a product. iPhone, iPad, iPods, even MBAs were never more than 90% of what 'could' be done, it was more about 'what could be done at a profit and acceptable risk'
Quote:
Originally Posted by allenbf
And I'll buy it.
My wife offered to buy me the iPad mini for xmas. I declined, I have the iPad 3. Pretty hard to go backwards. Retina is awesome.
I held an Mini yesterday (while buying a 47" TV... slightly more screen real estate/$), and yes, it was sexy light in the thumb finger pinch. Other than the iPhone, I'm not retinized, so it looked absolutely delicious.
my iPad 2 is being replaced next year. That's my retina push. and i hope it's a mini
It is the Season of Giving.
That was we get a slim Mini. But maybe Apple thinks different, and with already having 1080p phones(god know why), a new 1080p Izgo maybe is go.
I agree with the "not so fast" consensus here. I picked up a mini so I could test my apps on it, but like others have mentioned I find myself using it MUCH more than my formerly indispensible third-gen iPad. I appreciate the size and battery life and remark that if never gets remotely warm even running the most intense games for hours (unlike the larger iPad). Double the resolution and those plusses go away (or are reduced).
My two complaints about the mini are: 1. iPhone apps look like crap when in 2x mode (unlike on the retina iPad since it scales the higher resolution retina rendering) and 2. apps the pushed the envelope making controls as small as possible are harder to use on the smaller display (as predicted/expected). I expect that issue 2 will be addressed by developers now that they can develop and test against the mini. Issue one theoretically could be fixed by Apple without a hardware change, but I have no reason to believe they will (they would prefer developers release universal apps to take full advantage of the larger display).
(In case anyone care, the best case of example of my first complaint is Scrabble. I bought the iPhone version and it looks and works fine on the retina iPad; it looks like some 8-bit joke on the mini or pre-retina iPads. And I'm too cheap to buy the iPad version of the app, so I muddle through, or just use my iPhone for that.)
I can't believe Apple are that far behind. We already have those daft 1080p smartphones so putting them in 8" screens is a doddle..
How is that suppose to make any sense?
Quote:
Originally Posted by aBeliefSystem
"There is no Retina display to go into the iPad mini. " I can't believe Apple are that far behind. We already have those daft 1080p smartphones so putting them in 8" screens is a doddle..
You're missing the point. It's not simply about having a high pixel density. It's about maintaining the pixel ratio so the apps scale easily (i.e. x2 rather than x1.847962185485468521567 or whatever).
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
What are disagreeing with? It sounds like you are in agreement with me that the next iPad mini will not be Retina.
My mistake. Indeed, I somehow thought that you were against the idea.