I disagree that the 1st generation iPad Mini is difficult to recommend.
1) It is still an iPad that can run all iPad apps; 2) It is lighter and thinner (albeit marginally) than the 2nd generation iPad Mini; 3) It costs significantly less than the 2nd generation iPad Mini after the recent price cut; 4) If you have less than stellar near-sight vision there is little benefit of the increased resolution.
I find the 1st gen iPad Mini very easy to recommend.
So what about this washed out screen people on MacRumors are bitching about? I have yet to see it mentioned in a real review yet some people over there aren't getting a mini because of it.
For the last time stop comparing the iPadMini to the Nexus7/KindleHD7! Those tablets are MUCH smaller. Just stop it. You need to compare the mini to the Nexus10 and HDX8.9. This is seriously pissing me off. I own a Kindle7 and its way smaller than the mini. To a point that they are not even comparable.
So wheres the price difference now? Add to the fact the Mini will sell for a good $150-$250 if you decide to resell it in a year or two.
Sog, a Nexus 10 is closer in size to the full-size iPad than the Mini isn't it? Yet another "fly-in-the-ointment" Nexus tablet may even start shipping in just a few more weeks too, nearly identical in screen-size to the Mini if rumors are accurate. Nexus devices are meant as concept builds with other manufacturers soon following suit with their own versions loosely-based on the Google hardware quidelines.
IMO the pricing pressure on both tablets and smartphones is going to ramp up fast. Apple may be hard-pressed to maintain the margins this next year they've seen up until now. I expect Apple to really look hard at taking control of more of it's own production in search of future cost savings on build and components. Perhaps that's the goal of Apple's rumored $B robotics spending. Maybe a bit more costly now but significant savings in the years ahead?
I do wish Apple would price the memory jumps in $50 increments rather then $100.
It would be nice, assuming the starting point is still at the current low-end of the scale, but be careful what you wish for because margins are defined for the entire product line as a whole so if they did that while factoring the higher sales number of higher capacities devices from the halving of the flash storage price or if they started with the high-end of the scale you could end up with a much more expensive entry price. But none of that will happen because killing the low-end of the market makes no sense just as killing margins when you can't produce enough to service customer demand makes no sense; and you need to consider that they will double the flash storage at some point which will make the jump 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB.
Good to see a review that doesn't simply cover the good things and not the bad things which isn't uncommon at AI.
To me an integrated SD card feature would be more valuable than say a touch ID.
And that would make sense for exactly 6 people in the entire market.
It's infuriating to read comments like this from people with no ability to think through their idiotic statement.
Since 99% of iPad users couldn't care less about SD cards...thus, no SD card slot. For the people that need it twice a year when they actually use a camera that uses SD cards...they have a small adapter.
And no, it would NOT make sense to compromise the design with a dust collector aka SD card slot for expandable storage either. Buy all what you need from start, cheap skate.
This is IDC but it's still not crazy to consider that the revenue from one vendor can't beat the revenue from all vendors using a free OS. On the PC side the revenue from Macs is much smaller than the revenue of all vendors using the non-free Windows OS. That said, in all cases Apple is the most profitable.
So what about this washed out screen people on MacRumors are bitching about? I have yet to see it mentioned in a real review yet some people over there aren't getting a mini because of it.
So I went to the local Apple store last night and compared my mini retina screen with the Air screen, using this page from Anandtech as a sample:
Yes there sure enough is a difference. The reds and blues in particular are less saturated, if that's the term, on the mini. The store guy had an answer ready: the Air uses displays from Sharp and Samsung, the mini uses LG. Was one IGZO and the other not? He didn't seem to know what I meant.
I think the point is that if you are focused on color accuracy maybe it is possible to see (from experience) that the mini falls short on a range of the ideal gamut without comparing it side by side to an Air.
But if you are using the mini in a normal way, focusing on its resolution and its other attributes such as portability and weight, you aren't going to see the missing accuracy—unless and until your local anti-Apple wanker makes you compare to an Air side-by-side, and even then you're not going to call it washed out.
MacRumors is full of anti-Apple wankers. That's also the point.
Sog, a Nexus 10 is roughly the same size as the full-size iPad isn't it? Yet another "fly-in-the-ointment" Nexus tablet may even start shipping in just a few more weeks too, nearly identical in screen-size the the Mini if rumors are accurate. Nexus devices are meant as concept builds with other manufacturers soon following suit with their own versions loosely-based on the Google hardware quidelines.
IMO the pricing pressure on both tablets and smartphones is going to ramp up fast. Apple may be hard-pressed to maintain the margins this next year they've seen up until now. I expect Apple to really look hard at taking control of more of it's own production in search of future cost savings on build and components. Perhaps that's the goal of Apple's rumored $B robotics spending. Maybe a bit more costly now but significant savings in the years ahead?
They actually are this time with the iPad Air (9.7") being ever so slightly smaller with 45.17" sq. and the Nexus 10 (10.55") being 45.48" sq.
This whole concept build thing is pretty silly. People said the same thing about the MS Surface, too, but that turned out not to be the case. Do you really think that if Google saw an opportunity to make a clear profit from HW they wouldn't take it? If Google is going to work on anything to help other vendors sell HW they really should focus on their SDK so that developer and customers alike can benefit the way they do with Apple's apps.
Yes there sure enough is a difference. The reds and blues in particular are less saturated, if that's the term, on the mini. The store guy had an answer ready: the Air uses displays from Sharp and Samsung, the mini uses LG. Was one IGZO and the other not? He didn't seem to know what I meant.
I think the point is that if you are focused on color accuracy maybe it is possible to see (from experience) that the mini falls short on a range of the ideal gamut without comparing it side by side to an Air.
But if you are using the mini in a normal way, focusing on its resolution and its other attributes such as portability and weight, you aren't going to see the missing accuracy—unless and until your local anti-Apple wanker makes you compare to an Air side-by-side.
MacRumors is full of anti-Apple wankers. That's also the point.
To be fair Android devices with less-accurate colors than similar Apple devices get severely dinged for it despite your observation that the vast majority of users don't see an issue. If's it's a honest problem for one then why wouldn't it be an honest problem when it happens to the other?
They actually are this time with the iPad Air (9.7") being ever so slightly smaller with 45.17" sq. and the Nexus 10 (10.55") being 45.48" sq.
This whole concept build thing is pretty silly.
There's other things that Google does seen as silly by some members here. Google does things their way, and made billions in a relatively short time by doing so just as Apple has. Over the past several years I can't think of two companies that have been any more successful than those two.
To be fair Android devices with less-accurate colors than similar Apple devices get severely dinged for it despite your observation that the vast majority of users don't see an issue. If's it's a honest problem for one then why wouldn't it be an honest problem when it happens to the other?
To be fair, I don't see more RAM or additional CPU cycles with Android devices either, yet if you do similar takes between the 1.7GHz and 2GB RAM Nexus 10 and the iPad Air with 1.4GHz and 1GB RAM you'll likely think the iPad Air feels feels faster. Isn't this and battery life for a given weight the most important aspect for a tablet? Is the higher resolution of the Nexus 10 really a benefit since that means more pixels to push through the GPU?
While you mention that most third-party 1st-generation iPad mini cases will work, none of them have the hole for the second microphone on the back of the case. Unless you feel like punching or carving a hole out of a cheap one, I'd be interested to hear how recorded audio sounds with it covered up as such.
To be fair, I don't see more RAM or additional CPU cycles with Android devices either, yet if you do similar takes between the 1.7GHz and 2GB RAM Nexus 10 and the iPad Air with 1.4GHz and 1GB RAM you'll likely think the iPad Air feels feels faster. Isn't this and battery life for a given weight the most important aspect for a tablet? Is the higher resolution of the Nexus 10 really a benefit since that means more pixels to push through the GPU?
How did you jump from color accuracy on the iPad Mini's to CPU cycles and battery life. I'd assume you must agree with me that if color accuracy is a big issue then it should be a big issue for Apple devices too, and if it isn't then it isn't for most everyone. That would explain your small ruby-colored fish reference.
How did you jump from color accuracy on the iPad Mini's to CPU cycles and battery life. I'd assume you must agree with me that if color accuracy is a big issue then it should be a big issue for Apple devices too, and if it isn't then it isn't for most everyone. That would explain your small ruby-colored fish reference.
I thought I quite clear. While the Kindle Fire HDX might be a more accurate display over the iPad Air according to Soneira and the Nexus 10 has a faster processor, more RAM, and higher res/PPI than the iPad Air these are not things that are noticed because the gap is either too small or there are too many other factors in play that also affect the experience of the device. Let them take the win for this single categories while Apple focuses on the big picture of making the most well rounded device possible.
Sog, a Nexus 10 is closer in size to the full-size iPad than the Mini isn't it? Yet another "fly-in-the-ointment" Nexus tablet may even start shipping in just a few more weeks too, nearly identical in screen-size to the Mini if rumors are accurate. Nexus devices are meant as concept builds with other manufacturers soon following suit with their own versions loosely-based on the Google hardware quidelines.
IMO the pricing pressure on both tablets and smartphones is going to ramp up fast. Apple may be hard-pressed to maintain the margins this next year they've seen up until now. I expect Apple to really look hard at taking control of more of it's own production in search of future cost savings on build and components. Perhaps that's the goal of Apple's rumored $B robotics spending. Maybe a bit more costly now but significant savings in the years ahead?
I would challenge that term "concept build." It looks to me like Google is more focused on sabotaging Apple's pricing by selling these orphaned tablets of theirs at no profit or at a loss. It gives the wankers a point of leverage when they allege that Apple stuff is overpriced, or that their memory bumps are overpriced.
How in the world are they coming up with revenue figures for android devices? I don't trust IDC because we don't know how they arrive at the numbers they do, and it's been proven that they restate numbers for prior quarters. To me that just shows they're pulling numbers out of their ass, making things up as they go along. They may have some sophisticated tool that spits out all these numbers but if they're putting garbage in they're just going to get garbage out. The fact is only Apple reports quarterly shipment and revenue data. Android is just one big, fat guess. And is it really fair to compare ONE company to dozens of others?
I thought I quite clear. While the Kindle Fire HDX might be a more accurate display over the iPad Air according to Soneira and the Nexus 10 has a faster processor, more RAM, and higher res/PPI than the iPad Air these are not things that are noticed because the gap is either too small or there are too many other factors in play that also affect the experience of the device. Let them take the win for this single categories while Apple focuses on the big picture of making the most well rounded device possible.
No you're way less than clear. So is that an acknowledgement that some new Apple devices have inferior displays but it's of no importance because they're from Apple or is it that color-accuracy and/or brightness is given too much importance in the first place because no one notices no matter who makes the device?
I've never seen any of these live side-by-side so whether common-guy notices any display quality differences I dunno. Have you?
For the last time stop comparing the iPadMini to the Nexus7/KindleHD7! Those tablets are MUCH smaller. Just stop it. You need to compare the mini to the Nexus10 and HDX8.9. This is seriously pissing me off. I own a Kindle7 and its way smaller than the mini. To a point that they are not even comparable.
Nexus 10 - $399
Kindle HDX 8.9 - $394
iPadMini R - $399
So wheres the price difference now? Add to the fact the Mini will sell for a good $150-$250 if you decide to resell it in a year or two.
The iPad mini shares a major characteristic with the Nexus 7 and Kindle HD 7 that distinguishes it from the 10 inch tablets. It's designed to fit comfortably in one hand. That's why it makes some sense to group these three tablets together.
Comments
1) It is still an iPad that can run all iPad apps;
2) It is lighter and thinner (albeit marginally) than the 2nd generation iPad Mini;
3) It costs significantly less than the 2nd generation iPad Mini after the recent price cut;
4) If you have less than stellar near-sight vision there is little benefit of the increased resolution.
I find the 1st gen iPad Mini very easy to recommend.
Wow - those are amazingly useless photos of the two screens on the first page of the review.
What were they taken with, a ten-year-old cellphone camera?
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24420613
Sog, a Nexus 10 is closer in size to the full-size iPad than the Mini isn't it? Yet another "fly-in-the-ointment" Nexus tablet may even start shipping in just a few more weeks too, nearly identical in screen-size to the Mini if rumors are accurate. Nexus devices are meant as concept builds with other manufacturers soon following suit with their own versions loosely-based on the Google hardware quidelines.
IMO the pricing pressure on both tablets and smartphones is going to ramp up fast. Apple may be hard-pressed to maintain the margins this next year they've seen up until now. I expect Apple to really look hard at taking control of more of it's own production in search of future cost savings on build and components. Perhaps that's the goal of Apple's rumored $B robotics spending. Maybe a bit more costly now but significant savings in the years ahead?
It would be nice, assuming the starting point is still at the current low-end of the scale, but be careful what you wish for because margins are defined for the entire product line as a whole so if they did that while factoring the higher sales number of higher capacities devices from the halving of the flash storage price or if they started with the high-end of the scale you could end up with a much more expensive entry price. But none of that will happen because killing the low-end of the market makes no sense just as killing margins when you can't produce enough to service customer demand makes no sense; and you need to consider that they will double the flash storage at some point which will make the jump 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB.
And that would make sense for exactly 6 people in the entire market.
It's infuriating to read comments like this from people with no ability to think through their idiotic statement.
Since 99% of iPad users couldn't care less about SD cards...thus, no SD card slot. For the people that need it twice a year when they actually use a camera that uses SD cards...they have a small adapter.
And no, it would NOT make sense to compromise the design with a dust collector aka SD card slot for expandable storage either. Buy all what you need from start, cheap skate.
This is IDC but it's still not crazy to consider that the revenue from one vendor can't beat the revenue from all vendors using a free OS. On the PC side the revenue from Macs is much smaller than the revenue of all vendors using the non-free Windows OS. That said, in all cases Apple is the most profitable.
So I went to the local Apple store last night and compared my mini retina screen with the Air screen, using this page from Anandtech as a sample:
http://images.anandtech.com/doci/6334/Gamut iPhone4 All Data.png
Yes there sure enough is a difference. The reds and blues in particular are less saturated, if that's the term, on the mini. The store guy had an answer ready: the Air uses displays from Sharp and Samsung, the mini uses LG. Was one IGZO and the other not? He didn't seem to know what I meant.
I think the point is that if you are focused on color accuracy maybe it is possible to see (from experience) that the mini falls short on a range of the ideal gamut without comparing it side by side to an Air.
But if you are using the mini in a normal way, focusing on its resolution and its other attributes such as portability and weight, you aren't going to see the missing accuracy—unless and until your local anti-Apple wanker makes you compare to an Air side-by-side, and even then you're not going to call it washed out.
MacRumors is full of anti-Apple wankers. That's also the point.
They actually are this time with the iPad Air (9.7") being ever so slightly smaller with 45.17" sq. and the Nexus 10 (10.55") being 45.48" sq.
This whole concept build thing is pretty silly. People said the same thing about the MS Surface, too, but that turned out not to be the case. Do you really think that if Google saw an opportunity to make a clear profit from HW they wouldn't take it? If Google is going to work on anything to help other vendors sell HW they really should focus on their SDK so that developer and customers alike can benefit the way they do with Apple's apps.
To be fair Android devices with less-accurate colors than similar Apple devices get severely dinged for it despite your observation that the vast majority of users don't see an issue. If's it's a honest problem for one then why wouldn't it be an honest problem when it happens to the other?
There's other things that Google does seen as silly by some members here. Google does things their way, and made billions in a relatively short time by doing so just as Apple has. Over the past several years I can't think of two companies that have been any more successful than those two.
To be fair, I don't see more RAM or additional CPU cycles with Android devices either, yet if you do similar takes between the 1.7GHz and 2GB RAM Nexus 10 and the iPad Air with 1.4GHz and 1GB RAM you'll likely think the iPad Air feels feels faster. Isn't this and battery life for a given weight the most important aspect for a tablet? Is the higher resolution of the Nexus 10 really a benefit since that means more pixels to push through the GPU?
How did you jump from color accuracy on the iPad Mini's to CPU cycles and battery life. I'd assume you must agree with me that if color accuracy is a big issue then it should be a big issue for Apple devices too, and if it isn't then it isn't for most everyone. That would explain your small ruby-colored fish reference.
I thought I quite clear. While the Kindle Fire HDX might be a more accurate display over the iPad Air according to Soneira and the Nexus 10 has a faster processor, more RAM, and higher res/PPI than the iPad Air these are not things that are noticed because the gap is either too small or there are too many other factors in play that also affect the experience of the device. Let them take the win for this single categories while Apple focuses on the big picture of making the most well rounded device possible.
I would challenge that term "concept build." It looks to me like Google is more focused on sabotaging Apple's pricing by selling these orphaned tablets of theirs at no profit or at a loss. It gives the wankers a point of leverage when they allege that Apple stuff is overpriced, or that their memory bumps are overpriced.
Google. Trying so hard not to be evil.
No you're way less than clear. So is that an acknowledgement that some new Apple devices have inferior displays but it's of no importance because they're from Apple or is it that color-accuracy and/or brightness is given too much importance in the first place because no one notices no matter who makes the device?
I've never seen any of these live side-by-side so whether common-guy notices any display quality differences I dunno. Have you?
I CAN'T STAND THIS BULL SHEET!!!
For the last time stop comparing the iPadMini to the Nexus7/KindleHD7! Those tablets are MUCH smaller. Just stop it. You need to compare the mini to the Nexus10 and HDX8.9. This is seriously pissing me off. I own a Kindle7 and its way smaller than the mini. To a point that they are not even comparable.
Nexus 10 - $399
Kindle HDX 8.9 - $394
iPadMini R - $399
So wheres the price difference now? Add to the fact the Mini will sell for a good $150-$250 if you decide to resell it in a year or two.
The iPad mini shares a major characteristic with the Nexus 7 and Kindle HD 7 that distinguishes it from the 10 inch tablets. It's designed to fit comfortably in one hand. That's why it makes some sense to group these three tablets together.