Early 2019 iPad mini reviews call it evolutionary, but best small tablet available

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 37
    macplusplusmacplusplus Posts: 2,112member
    lkrupp said:
    The Android tablet universe is an abysmal circle jerk. Android tablets are irrelevant. The only tablet on the market that's worthwhile is the iPad. Apple owns this market, period.
    True however there is a lesser need for iPad specific apps. iPad is also falling into a browser/email content consumption platform, it needs fuller apps.
    There are a lot of Cloud based business apps for iPad. Start with Microsoft to make your culture shock more digestible. The iPad is the future of mobile computing. Microsoft, IBM, AutoDesk, Adobe are all pushing it there...
    edited March 2019 chiaapplesnorangeswatto_cobra
  • Reply 22 of 37
    macplusplusmacplusplus Posts: 2,112member
    It is a sucker’s buy with only 3GB of RAM inside!  The 2015 Mini 4 has 2GB of RAM inside already!  LOL!  Upgrade only if you are in need of the pencil!  Otherwise, wait a year or two for a 4GB upgrade like Apple did with the Mini 3 to make Mini 4!  Apple now does Mini upgrades every 5 years! :s
    RAM is battery killer. More RAM means less battery life. I can run a full suite of MS Office 365 within 1 GB RAM of the iPad Mini 2 of six years ago.
    edited March 2019 watto_cobra
  • Reply 23 of 37
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    Apple did the bare minimum on this tablet they could get away with. It's a tablet that like a number of Apple products seems to get ignored.

    Apple of Apple's products should be getting yearly updates and they don't. Some go for years with no updates, but worse of all, the prices still don't drop. The tech gets older and older and the prices stay the same.
  • Reply 24 of 37
    kevin keekevin kee Posts: 1,289member
    jbdragon said:
    Apple did the bare minimum on this tablet they could get away with. It's a tablet that like a number of Apple products seems to get ignored.

    Apple of Apple's products should be getting yearly updates and they don't. Some go for years with no updates, but worse of all, the prices still don't drop. The tech gets older and older and the prices stay the same.
    It's not fair to say that Apple only did the bare minimum on this tablet considering a number of improvements they added: 
    • A12 Bionic chip with 64‑bit architecture
    • Neural Engine
    • Embedded M12 coprocessor
    • Retina display
    • 7.9-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi-Touch display
    • 2048-by-1536 resolution at 326 pixels per inch (ppi)
    • Wide colour display (P3)
    • True Tone display
    • Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
    • Fully laminated display
    • Antireflective coating
    • 1.8 per cent reflectivity
    • 500 nits brightness
    • Supports Apple Pencil
    • etc

    I would say Apple also perfectly targeting the right price range market.
    StrangeDaysdewmeapplesnorangeswatto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 37
    And don’t forget - the home button is OFF CENTER
  • Reply 26 of 37
    And don’t forget - the home button is OFF CENTER
  • Reply 27 of 37
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,350member
    bocaboy said:
    The base configuration should be 128 GB, on all devices, including the Mini and X/Xs. Considering the price being charged for them, the difference in added expense to Apple would be minimal, and it would go a long way to justifying the more expensive prices.
    Bullshit. Utter bullshit.

    There would be a lot of people paying for storage they'll never use. I like the idea of 128G being an option and maybe as the max for base model. But not as the minimum. That's just.plain.stupid. Especially when so many people seem to stream rather than store.

    I want Apple to offer something affordable and not just another tactic to keep prices high. In case you haven't noticed, there've been a lot of complaints about Apple's higher pricing. 64G is wholly appropriate for a base device of just about any kind.
    StrangeDayschiawatto_cobra
  • Reply 28 of 37
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    jbdragon said:
    Apple did the bare minimum on this tablet they could get away with. It's a tablet that like a number of Apple products seems to get ignored.

    Apple of Apple's products should be getting yearly updates and they don't. Some go for years with no updates, but worse of all, the prices still don't drop. The tech gets older and older and the prices stay the same.
    Yeah no. This mini is functionally exactly the same as the new iPad Air, only smaller. That by definition is not the bare minimum. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 29 of 37
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    bocaboy said:
    I'm very disappointed in the Mini 5's memory options. 64 GB is not enough memory for the base configuration. I have the same gripe with the iPhone X and Xs. Why are the only two choices so far apart? I realize it's an up-sell gimmick by Apple, but it doesn't make it any more palatable. Frankly, it looks like a money-grab to wring out the last few dollars of profitability. For the record, I'm an Apple shareholder and want the company to be profitable. I also want them to give the best value possible to the tens of millions of users of these devices, and being chintzy with memory in the new Mini and existing X/Xs isn't the way to to do it.

    The base configuration should be 128 GB
    , on all devices, including the Mini and X/Xs. Considering the price being charged for them, the difference in added expense to Apple would be minimal, and it would go a long way to justifying the more expensive prices.

    So today I'm speaking with my wallet. I would have upgraded my wife's iPad Mini 4 yesterday if it wasn't for this issue. I'll wait it out for Amazon, B&H or Adorama to put it on sale, or get a refurbished one when they show up on the Apple website.
    No it isn't, and no it shouldn't. I consider myself an advanced user (I'm an enterprise software dev), and I discovered I didn't use much of my 128gb iPhone, so got the 64gb this time -- and I'm only using ~40gb of that. I use iCloud for all my photos, videos, music, and many of my documents. Therefore, why should I be forced to pay for more storage that I simply don't need?

    Madness. 64gb is fine. 
    dewmewatto_cobra
  • Reply 30 of 37
    LatkoLatko Posts: 398member
    mjtomlin said:
    ..... To support thinner bezels, Touch ID has to go, and therefor Face ID would be required. So you would basically end up with cheaper Pro models. And the argument about lacking USB-C... seriously?! If it had USB-C the reviewers would complain that they couldn't use older Lightning cables/devices.
    Sounds like Cook-level of reasoning. There is probably 25 solutions to clean up and modernize the design without these “problems” (but it requires Joni to load something new onto his cuckold PC still supporting the antiquated design AutoCad files)
    edited March 2019
  • Reply 31 of 37
    Pilots are an example of those who would prefer a high end tablet in the mini format. A pro model mini could sell at a premium price. I paid more for my iPhone than my new iPad Mini 5.  Giant iPhones, is not the answer because aviation apps don’t work the same on the phones.  ForeFlight (the number one electronic flight bag) doesn’t even have instructions how the iPhone app works. Anything larger that a mini is an obstruction in manny aircraft I fly. They don’t support the documents feature on iPhones. So I will upgrade from a mini 4 to a 5 and continue to hope for a mini pro. 
    applesnorangeswatto_cobra
  • Reply 32 of 37
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,334member
    People who already have a previous generation Mini and are now buying the Mini 5 aren’t doing a lot of deep analytical rationalization prior to clicking the Buy button. If you have a Mini and love it, comparing it to other sized iPads isn’t even part of the purchase decision. Same goes for what Apple coulda shoulda woulda done with the new Mini if they were Joe Apple calling the shots. The Mini is the most personal iPad with the lowest space and weight demands on its owner. Deciding to carry it everywhere is easy. If Apple put full phone functionality into the iPad Mini a lot of people would use it in lieu of a phone, i.e., iPhone XXL. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 33 of 37
    So literally the only complaints are design and Pencil 1 support. Aside from Pencil 1 support the other complaints are purely superficial and aren’t real complaints. It’s whats inside that matters and what’s inside will most likely see me get a replacement iPad this year.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 34 of 37
    ike17055ike17055 Posts: 121member
    dewme said:
    People who already have a previous generation Mini and are now buying the Mini 5 aren’t doing a lot of deep analytical rationalization prior to clicking the Buy button. If you have a Mini and love it, comparing it to other sized iPads isn’t even part of the purchase decision. Same goes for what Apple coulda shoulda woulda done with the new Mini if they were Joe Apple calling the shots. The Mini is the most personal iPad with the lowest space and weight demands on its owner. Deciding to carry it everywhere is easy. If Apple put full phone functionality into the iPad Mini a lot of people would use it in lieu of a phone, i.e., iPhone XXL. 
    Load any one of the calling apps available in the App store, and you have exactly that. I have Talkatone and MagicApp on my mini, and it is a phenomenal addition. Cheap too. I dropped my calling plan and “real” phone altogether, and now have the convenience of a single device, and the best “phone” I have ever owned. Unlimited data with at&t is 30 bucks a month. Making voip calls barely uses any data,  and it is even better on wifi. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 35 of 37
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member
    Not buying another ipad until they have face ID.  And I don’t want the pros,  just a regular one.
    edited March 2019
  • Reply 36 of 37
    As a pilot the mini mounts on my yoke and runs iflygps perfectly. Anything larger will not fit in the cockpit. So revolutionary was not needed for my use case. Evolutionary was great.


    edited March 2019
  • Reply 37 of 37
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member

    Laptop

    Laptop asserted the new Mini could be useful to "younger kids who are not yet ready for a phone," as well as executives and "creatives," the latter getting a convenient digital sketchbook.
    I am really wondering which world these guys live in. The iPad mini is the perfect travel companion for everyone. Just perfect without competition, even from the other Apple devices. Much better than the crammed display of a phone (even a large one), without the bulk of the bigger iPad models. It is not about weight, obviously, but about room and convenience.

    I take mine in my daily commute. So useful to quickly check e-mail, navigate and record tracks with the wonderful third-party digital maps, visualize weather forecasts and use so many utilities. The cellular version is a great phone too with much lower cost, especially when calling abroad. I don't know why but in my experience it has a much better audio through Skype than the phone to phone calls.

    Regarding the bezel, I am happy it remained unchanged. It helps very much when you need to operate software with one hand, e.g. when scanning some book pages while pressing the book to keep it open with one hand. Very useful.

    Storage? I am fine with the 64 GB base configuration. I guess though that for many people a 128 GB option would be nice to have. I don't understand why Apple jumps directly to 256 GB. Right now I am struggling with just 16 GB, almost half of which is taken by this "grey matter" named "Other" (if anyone has an idea how to get rid of it, I would be grateful). So, I am buying the cellular mini 5 the day it becomes available in my area.


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