The iPad Mini

NubInaTub said:
Walked into a local apple store around 4 and got a black wifi 16 gb.

My first iPad and I absolutely love it. I already downloaded grand theft auto 3, Bastion, and tiny wings hd (I love me some tiny wings). I've also been watching the halo 4 mlg stream. So good.
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Link please
 
Gary Whitta said:
The more I use this thing the more I'm convinced this is what the iPad should always have been. Jobs had this flat wrong. This should be the iPad and they should call the larger one the iPad XL/Pro or something.
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Doubt the battery tech was as good then as now, so this form factor was probably not possible without having really small battery life. I still agree with you. This is the superior version of the tablet, barring turning a coffee table into a gigantic tablet.

I can't get over how much punch this thing has at its weight.
 
everthustodeadbeats said:
Been fooling around with my Mini tonight and I think this will be the iPad I replace each year. The iPad 3 will be my around the house iPad.

I can put the mini on my desk at work and easily get away with sneaking some peeks at the superior version of flipboard. It's best for reading my newspapers. It's best for finishing a quick chapter of a book at lunch.

I dug my Nexus 7 for being a smaller tablet, but I have no regrets switching from that to the Mini. I get my Cave shooters, I get better versions of apps that I use, and it is absolutely sick how thin and light it is.
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Does the decrease in resolution make reading less enjoyable than on the Nexus 7? I'm debating what I want to do with mine.
 
Nitsuj23 said:
Does the decrease in resolution make reading less enjoyable than on the Nexus 7? I'm debating what I want to do with mine.
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No, I don't think so. I do most of my heavy duty reading on e-ink anyway. But I've read a chapter on this and I dig it more than reading on my iPad 3. Never felt comfortable reading such a large tablet, but for magazines.
 
I went to the MS Store to return the Surface today and walked next door (literally, they're right next to each other) to check out the iPad Mini. Walked out with a Black 16GB + red Smart Cover. Haven't had a chance to use it much, but I was really happy with the size and layout playing with it in the store. Gotta start installing apps and looking for iPad specific apps since I've only had an iPhone before.
 
Mairu said:
I went to the MS Store to return the Surface today and walked next door (literally, they're right next to each other) to check out the iPad Mini. Walked out with a Black 16GB + red Smart Cover. Haven't had a chance to use it much, but I was really happy with the size and layout playing with it in the store. Gotta start installing apps and looking for iPad specific apps since I've only had an iPhone before.
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I already have an iPad and couple of ipad2 in the family. Really interested in surface, what turned you off?
 
So is the screen good enough to read and write text for long, intensive periods such as doing Uni related work, or should I save more for the iPad 4?
 
hamchan said:
So is the screen good enough to read and write text for long, intensive periods such as doing Uni related work, or should I save more for the iPad 4?
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It is perfect for me, but I was doing that on the iPad 1. This looks much nicer and is so much nicer to hold because of the weight.
 
beast786 said:
I already have an iPad and couple of ipad2 in the family. Really interested in surface, what turned you off?
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It's kind of expected but there's very little in the Windows Store right now. No one seemed to really have anything ready for the Surface launch- I guess there's Angry Birds, but Jetpack Joyride runs like garbage with constant frame rate drops and it was very jarring. There's no dropbox app, no facebook app, there's a few twitter apps but none official and they each have something about them that makes them not that great. I was surprised when the Surface didn't seem to have an alarm function built in and I found issues with a few apps on the Windows Store that I tried. After restarting many apps took way too long to load the first time, like the Mail application and the Windows Store. I found that even some of the pre-installed apps ran sluggish at times, and had issues with Excel when I was switching between the desktop and the Start Menu/Metro Apps.

The desktop itself seems way too disconnected from everything else. There's a Photos app that can just read photos from computers on your network, but you can't do anything with them and you can't access them in the desktop without making a Home Group. It was overly complicated to take a photo that I could view in the Photos app (that was located on my desktop PC) and set it as the Surface desktop's background. Skydrive isn't by default installed in the desktop, where I would think it would be easier for a few things over using the Skydrive app.

I actually think Windows 8 has a pretty great touch interface after playing with the Surface, although it seems very unintuitive. Microsoft has me convinced that they can make great hardware, but I'm not convinced on Windows RT- yet. Maybe by the Surface 2 RT will be worthwhile, but I think it'll end up confusing for people on the idea of Win8 vs WinRT apps. I may buy a Surface Pro depending on reviews in three months because I was very impressed with the tablet itself and the type cover.
 
345triangle said:
do you need to do anything at all with it beyond write?

if not, iA writer. $0.99, universal, dropbox & icloud syncing, looks great, helps you write.

mzl.ltdkjcwo.480x480-75.jpg
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https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/writeroom/id288751446?mt=8

writeroom is a great option as well. has Dropbox syncing.
 
LumpOfCole said:
I just bought an iPad Retina today. It's my first iPad and I think I love it. The speed of browsing and moving around is so fluid. Now I just need to learn how to get my totally legal .mkv video collection on the iPad without having to worry about Handbrake with each file.
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If you can be near WiFi at all times you can use one of the many video serving apps. Otherwise if you're going to need it on a plane or something, you're gonna have to settle for Handbrake-ing any video you want to carry with you. No MKV viewers exist sadly and Apple doesn't allow transcoding apps on iOS for some reason. (Like ffmpeg) Shame because it'd be brilliant if they could allow a video player that included a version of ffmpeg and utilized the storage feature to hold video on the device itself.
 
The Real Abed said:
If you can be near WiFi at all times you can use one of the many video serving apps. Otherwise if you're going to need it on a plane or something, you're gonna have to settle for Handbrake-ing any video you want to carry with you. No MKV viewers exist sadly and Apple doesn't allow transcoding apps on iOS for some reason. (Like ffmpeg) Shame because it'd be brilliant if they could allow a video player that included a version of ffmpeg and utilized the storage feature to hold video on the device itself.
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I'm out of the loop cause I mainly only use remote transcoding/serving (Airvideo and Plex) but I don't think that's true at all and for a long time now. Oplayer is one example of an app that plays MKV, and if you search for MKV on the App Store you'll find other results as well.
 
hamchan said:
So is the screen good enough to read and write text for long, intensive periods such as doing Uni related work, or should I save more for the iPad 4?
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How do you plan on typing? If using the touchscreen I'd suggest the larger one, plus text will be sharper for reading. If using an external keyboard I guess it could go either way for input, not sure on reading though.
The Real Abed said:
If you can be near WiFi at all times you can use one of the many video serving apps. Otherwise if you're going to need it on a plane or something, you're gonna have to settle for Handbrake-ing any video you want to carry with you. No MKV viewers exist sadly and Apple doesn't allow transcoding apps on iOS for some reason. (Like ffmpeg) Shame because it'd be brilliant if they could allow a video player that included a version of ffmpeg and utilized the storage feature to hold video on the device itself.
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There's mkv (and other format) players, although I don't know if they can handle 720p+ yet since they're using the CPU to decode (last I checked)...the A6 in the big iPad might be able to though since it's much faster though.
 
3 and a half hours roughly for a full recharge with the included 5W charger.

Going to try and pick up the new 12W one today to see if the Mini can take advantage of it.
 
Heavy's Sandvich said:
How is it typing on this thing?

Need one for law school, if it's usable in class then I'll get one tomorrow.
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I've seen people take notes in meetings on their freaking blackberries.
Is an iPad mini usable for taking notes? Yes.
Is it the best tool for the job? Not by a long shot.

Watch this video linked to earlier in this thread for an overview of typing on an iPad Mini:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDsdTv0aI-Y
 
japtor said:
How do you plan on typing? If using the touchscreen I'd suggest the larger one, plus text will be sharper for reading. If using an external keyboard I guess it could go either way for input, not sure on reading though.

There's mkv (and other format) players, although I don't know if they can handle 720p+ yet since they're using the CPU to decode (last I checked)...the A6 in the big iPad might be able to though since it's much faster though.
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avplayerHD can. I use the app myself and I never had a problem with my MKVs.
 
The thing with iPad Mini is, that it feels so personal, like a journal.

I'm already back into writing diary with this one and the DayOne app. I'm reading magazines like Edge with no trouble. I'm handling Pages documents for my economy and applications and oh wow Bastion looks magnificent on this little device. I'm also reading books in Kindle, keeping everything in check with Calendar and watching Netflix in bed with the Smart Cover supporting it fine.

I could do all these things with the big iPad but with this form factor, size and weight - it all becomes more personal, something closer to you, something of meaning. Beautiful.

Besides, it still got battery since yesterday morning and I used it all day yesterday.
 
I'm starting to think Apple had it wrong with size of the original iPad. The mini just feels so much better in the hand and the screen is still large enough for every tasks.
 
Greyface said:
I've seen people take notes in meetings on their freaking blackberries.
Is an iPad mini usable for taking notes? Yes.
Is it the best tool for the job? Not by a long shot.

Watch this video linked to earlier in this thread for an overview of typing on an iPad Mini:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDsdTv0aI-Y
Click to expand...

Exactly the video I wanted to see.

Just need something versatile that I can do my reading on the bus as well as being able to type somethings up if I needed to.
 
beast786 said:
I already have an iPad and couple of ipad2 in the family. Really interested in surface, what turned you off?
Click to expand...

The other poster covered it, but Windows RT feels half baked, and there are no apps. It's like Microsoft's answer to the Vita.

Surface Pro, OTOH, will be very interesting. I desperately need a new laptop for home, and I may very well go for it. The price is terrifying, though.
 
hamchan said:
So is the screen good enough to read and write text for long, intensive periods such as doing Uni related work, or should I save more for the iPad 4?
Click to expand...

Nothing beats a laptop as another member already posted, would op for an ultrabook, MacBook Air is a good option if you prefer an iOSesque OS.

If you can't afford that, I would go with the iPad 4, especially now that we won't be seeing another revision for another year.


DECK'ARD said:
Yeah, it's not critical because the battery life seems ridiculous. The initial charge it came with lasted all day with the brightness up to how I'd normally have it.

The Mini's charger is just the 5W iPhone 5 one though, so if it would draw the 12W of the new retina iPad one it would make a massive difference. I'd pick one up if so.
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DECK'ARD said:
3 and a half hours roughly for a full recharge with the included 5W charger.

Going to try and pick up the new 12W one today to see if the Mini can take advantage of it.
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Doesn't using a higher voltage adapter than the lower one damage the tablet in the longer run? I think I heard about that or might have read about it. Correct me if I am wrong.

Not just a tablet but any electronic device using an adapter with a voltage that is not specified.
 
I want it so bad, but my iPad2 is less then a year old and mint. My better judgement is telling me to wait for the Mini2 so there is at least a processor increase, but damn....
 
D6AMIA6N said:
I want it so bad, but my iPad2 is less then a year old and mint. My better judgement is telling me to wait for the Mini2 so there is at least a processor increase, but damn....
Click to expand...

Go to an Apple Store and try it out.

The size and weight decrease is worth it to a lot of people. Only way to find out is to try it.
 
sweetvar26 said:
Doesn't using a higher voltage adapter than the lower one damage the tablet in the longer run? I think I heard about that or might have read about it. Correct me if I am wrong.

Not just a tablet but any electronic device using an adapter with a voltage that is not specified.
Click to expand...

No, the iPad draws as much as it can. The 12W charger is recommended by Apple to charge the older ones faster.

The iPhone though is capped at 5W, if the Mini isn't it would obviously make a big difference and just been a cost thing not including it. They recommend it on their site but don't go into details about charge times. So I'm just going to go and try and find one to see.
 
Love having an iPad this size. Apps, email, etc are fantastic. Don't miss the iPad 3 at all.

Only thing that sucks is the smart cover. So glad I got this thing for free. At $39, I would have felt ripped off.
 
D6AMIA6N said:
I want it so bad, but my iPad2 is less then a year old and mint. My better judgement is telling me to wait for the Mini2 so there is at least a processor increase, but damn....
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My iPad 2 were 10 months old but I bought a Mini at launch. The weight and size is a world of a difference really. Though, I also sold my iPad 2.
 
D6AMIA6N said:
Thanks for the advice guys, I'm going to keep my 2, but I'm at least going to check out the Mini for myself today.
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I think you'd actually prefer the mini over the 2 tbh. The screen will look a bit sharper as you will not have been tainted by the retina lol. Plus it's really nice form factor.
 
D6AMIA6N said:
Thanks for the advice guys, I'm going to keep my 2, but I'm at least going to check out the Mini for myself today.
Click to expand...

I sold my 2 to get a refurb 3, but the mini impressions are hard to ignore. My eyes have yet to gaze on the glory of retina, so it'll be fine for me if I end up buying one instead.
 
I have a broken ipad 2.... I think its 250 to fix at the store.

should I just get a mini or pay to fix the 2? I also just bought a Surface last week
 
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