Review: The iPad Mini
After I mentioned that I had pre-ordered the new Apple iPad Mini in October a lot of you told me you would like to hear my opinions about it once it arrives. I received it last week, so I thought I would do a little writeup on what I think of it so far. This won’t be the techiest of reviews, as those have already been done already by people far more competent than I am:
English: Engadget, Gizmodo, Techradar
Norwegian: Amobil, DinSide, ITavisen
(Spoiler: everyone loves it.)
Instead I will focus on how it suits me personally. An awesome gadget is pretty useless if it doesn’t serve your needs, after all!
The thing that I was the most curious about upon hearing about the iPad mini was the size. Here it is compared to my Amazon Kindle Keyboard – the Mini is a tiny bit larger, but only by a minuscule amount. If you don’t own a Kindle then the Mini is pretty much exactly the size of a DVD cover. It is also a little bit heavier than the Kindle, just over 300 grams compared to the Kindle’s 240 grams. It feels really light, and I can honestly say that the extra weight in my handbag hasn’t been very noticeable at all. It is ultra-portable and very travel friendly, and while I could never imagine lugging a regular sized iPad with me on a day-to-day basis – at around 650 grams it weighs twice as much – the Mini is very comfortable to carry around.
When it comes to user experience the Mini delivers exactly what you would expect from an Apple device. It runs smoothly and is pretty much a joy to use whether it is for reading, browsing or watching videos. It is very easy to use, and doesn’t require any unnecessary fiddling and adjusting out of the box. There has been a lot of fuss over the fact that the Mini doesn’t have a retina display, and while the difference in display resolution is noticeable in a side-by-side comparison, it honestly doesn’t bother me at all. The fact that it automatically syncs up with my MacBook is a huge plus, but that goes for the entire Apple ecosystem and isn’t unique for the Mini.
I was also very curious about how comfortable it would be to type on the Mini. I have a habit of coming up with blog post ideas when I am away from my laptop, so being able to type out longer texts in an un-fiddly manner was my ultimate criterion for whether the Mini was a good purchase or not. Good news: this isn’t a problem at all. I wrote my previous post in its entirety on the Mini, in bed, propped up on my duvet and I did not run into any problems. However, if I were a student who had to take notes quickly in class I would choose a laptop any day – you just can’t beat a keyboard for speedy typing. I know you can buy keyboards for pretty much any tablet, including the Mini, but to me that just seems pointless when there are plenty of lightweight laptops out there. The Mini is not a full-blown laptop substitute. That said, it is perfect for all your light-weight day-to-day tasks, and if I wasn’t a blogger and/or dependent on heavier software like the Adobe Suite I can honestly say that my MacBook would only be used for, well… file storage and file management, mostly!
Then there are the apps: there are more than 275,000 of them available for the iPad. Most popular apps that you can get for the iPhone have a version for the iPad, and most apps that you can find for Android have an iOS equivalent. I can see myself doing a lot of video, TV and movie streaming on this thing, and if I didn’t already have a Kindle I would probably do all my reading on the Kindle app. You can also download a digital version of what seems like every news paper and magazine on the planet from Newsstand, which is prefect from a clutter-phobe like me. No more magazines lying around the apartment, and from what I can tell so far the digital versions of magazines like Elle and Vogue are about 1/3 of the price of what I would pay for the paper version from the 7-eleven down the street. Then there are of course the software that you would expect to find such as FaceTime, iTunes, Maps and Photo Booth, and you can “text” other iOS users using iMessage. Pretty neat for when I am too lazy to find my phone.
All in all the iPad mini has been a great addition to my little gadget family. If you are unsure of whether to get the mini or the original size I would advice you to visit an Apple retailer and see which one you like best, but to me there is no doubt that the Mini is the most travel friendly alternative. I can honestly say that I haven’t once thought that this device would be even better in a larger size, and for me it is the perfect fit.
No vart eg veldig glad, for eg veit at det ligg ein iPad Mini til meg under juletreet i år! Gledar meg særleg til å bruke Kindle-appen :) Så bra at du er fornøgd med din.
Jeg er kjempefornøyd! Jeg var veldig spent, i og med at WiFi+3g og smartcover samtidig ble ganske mye penger, og det ville vært leit hvis jeg ikke følte det var verdt summen. Angrer ikke et sekund :)
Yay, der kom brukererfaringene dine! Ser for meg at den passer perfekt på reiser hvor jeg ellers drar med meg macen ( for kun å sjekke ut kart, åpningstider, epost og sosiale medier). Hmm… vil ha
Den har ihvertfall min helhjertede anbefaling! Og 16GB Wifi-versjonen er jo ikke altfor ille dyr, men før man vet ordet av det vil man ha sleeve og smartcover også. Det baller på seg ;)
I’m so glad to hear you like it! I popped by the nearest Apple store the other day to take a look at it, and it is a fine piece of work, as usual with Apple. Highly priced compared to the competition though, as usual with Apple. The only annoying thing was that because of the security protections I couldn’t take it in my hands to see the weight etc.
I have a couple of questions though:
Have you watched movies/TV series on it? Is the screen size enough for that? I guess if I buy one it would be primarily to watch stuff in the train or on week-ends away to avoid taking a laptop with me.
How long does the battery last? I’d love to download magazines on it and rely on it for my travel entertainment, but if the battery dies in my hands I’d be quite bored…
Last question: did you see both the black and white versions? I assume from the photos you chose the black one? The plug is the small one, same as iPhone 5 right?
(sorry for the many questions, you’re not an Apple salesperson, but that’s the point. You’re a user and I can trust your answers to be truthful…)
To me the higher price is worth it because of the (in my opinion) superior user experience. As much as I adore Android I have yet to try an Android tablet that doesn’t have some kind of tiny albeit annoying drawback – glitchy scrolling, small delays when swiping and clicking – never a big deal, but enough to lose the feeling that you’re holding a premium product. Then again I haven’t tried any of the 7″ Android tablets on the market, only larger ones, and I am a ridiculously snobby when it comes to gadgets. I hope nobody takes my opinion as gospel!
I’ve used it to watch stuff on Netflix and I thought it was perfect for it! I didn’t feel like the display was too small at all – if anything I think the smaller display will reduce the chance of becoming the Official Public Transport Entertainment Provider for Wandering Eyes™ ;)
The battery lasts a long time, but as with everything else it depends on how you use it. It will last longer if you switch off the WiFi/cellular connection on so on, and obviously watching movies will drain the battery a lot faster than simply reading a book. I found this link: http://blog.laptopmag.com/ipad-mini-battery-life-trounces-tablet-competition and the conclusion seems to be that the Mini has the longest-lasting battery of the small tablets currently on the market!
I did see both colors, and initially I wanted the white version. For some reason I always think Apple products look best in white. However, I figured a black “frame” would be more visually comfortable when watching movies and looking at photos, so I ended up picking the black one because of that. Again though, that’s only my opinion :)
Har ipad2 selv, gjennom jobben, og jeg er helt ærlig ikke særlig fornøyd med iOS jeg… kall meg gjerne en android fan-girl eller noe, men android dekker mine behov bedre enn iOS :) så ipaden skal leveres tilbake når jeg slutter i januar…
men liker størrelsen på minien veldig godt, og den er jo fin å se på… tror nok det blir en kindle på meg på nyåret (har blitt det eneste jeg bruker ipaden til nå på slutten…), og så skal jeg vurdere å kjøpe et annet nettbrett om jeg ser behovet etterhvert!
Jeg anbefaler kindle så varmt jeg bare kan! :) Og jeg er også veldig glad i Android, har hatt Androidtelefon i 2 1/2 år nå og har aldri falt for noe annet på mobilfronten. Av en eller annen grunn synes jeg dog iOS er bedre på tablet :) Det er godt vi er forskjellige!
Happy New Year Maja! Hope you had a wonderful holiday. This post is so helpful. I had been going back and forth between the regular size and mini. I love my kindle and felt like the mini was a good size for everyday use. Sometimes I feel like my work bag is heavier than I am. I use an ipad 2 for work, but it’s behind an intense fire wall, so it’s been time for me to invest in one for personal use for some time. My sweet and overly indulgent parents put an end to my indecision by gifting me one for Christmas- I’m thrilled. Ultimately, for me it came down to the regular having retina display. I’m a four eyes and it really makes a difference when your like me, easily working 100 hour works and behind a screen for 80 of them. My retina laptop has really reduced my eye strain. If the mini had retina, it would have been the mini hands down.
I contemplated waiting, but I will be doing a back and forth haul from NY to Paris for the next few months. I hope I made the right choice, but my dad has offered to take the ipad off my hands if the mini retina comes out.
Oh I went with black. I know a lot of people feel like Apple products are more exclusive in white, but I always feel like black gadgets are sleeker and more elegant. I also find the white to be a tad more distracting.
Oh my gosh you are so right about wandering eyes. Hate that. At the gym I hate when people try to see what I’m listening too. OK I wrote a book- sorry.
Happy New Year Lindsay! I never thought about retina displays in relation to eyesight, that’s a very good point! Rumors say they started working on the retina Mini as soon as the non-retina one shipped out, so I’m guessing mid-late 2013. I’m curious to see how it will affect the price though, as retina displays and price increases go hand in hand :)
The iPad is such a perfect travel companion in any size. I also find that I am much less likely to waste hour after hour online when I use the iPad compared to when I’m on my laptop. It is much less accommodating for pointless multitasking, and I love it for that ;)