iPad mini Anyone having eye strain with their iPad mini?

I experienced the same thing... Mine went back for an iPad 4. MUCH MUCH better, but heavier!!!

Yes. I was getting headaches. Switched it out for a 4!

Martylaa said:

Mines going back will get a Kindle fire HD or Nexus 7 until Apple release a mini with a better display retina or HD then I will get one. It will be amazing with a retina screen....

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Just get the 4 it's Retina and a whole lot better than Android.

Martylaa said:

Mines going back will get a Kindle fire HD or Nexus 7 until Apple release a mini with a better display retina or HD then I will get one. It will be amazing with a retina screen....

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Yeah me too. 4th gen iPad and a Nexus 7 for out and about until a better screened Mini turns up. Shame because I love everything else about the Mini. Except both the Minis I had had debris under the screen. Got lucky with a perfect 4th gen. Apple's QC still a bit dodgy.

Yeah a mate of mine had the same issue due to the lowres screen. My nexus 7 is much easier to read small type. I have the same issue with my mums iPad 2.

I guess it depends how you use it and I don't think you can use the mini in the same way as its full size brother.

For me I have switched to perfect browser great for forums and the like as you can default increase the font size of all sites, or override for specific. Trying to use Safari on this site is hard work.

Zite is my rss reader of choice and that allows you to bump up the font size as well. Also sending more stuff to Pocket, again allows control over font size.

I wonder how useful a mini with retina screen would be - of course everything would be that much sharper, but still very small. Bumping the font size avoids eye strain (for me) and also makes the text much clearer. A win/win for me.

I have given my iPad 3 to the wife and am sticking with the mini - the above changes in use/habit are a compromise but do make the mini very enjoyable.

I still have an iPad2 and my brother has a mini. Big difference there no surprise. However, for the 3 and 4 it's easier to see the difference in quality between these and the mini.

I have a Surface that my company bought me and that's amazing as well. I like it more than an Android.

This seems to be an emerging theme.

Eye Strain

I am a senior citizen who wears glasses (progressive lenses) but have no problems at all with the screen (yeah, text too) on the iPad Mini. I use it all day, every day. However if I did have problems with my vision (while using the iPad Mini) I would definitely return it and get a larger iPad. I previously had the original iPad and then the iPad 2. So, I came from the larger screens to a smaller one but had no visual problems adjusting to the smaller screen on the iPad Mini. Just my personal experience but everyone's vision differs so one would have to make the choice that's right for them.

I have rather poor eyesight and need to wear glasses - I've not found any issues using the mini.

It seems regardless of your eyes, ymmv when using the mini

Nope but I wear reading glasses!!

If you are holding books at arms length, squinting, or looking for large print editions it's time to get your vision checked.

Having problems seeing your wrist watch, car dash board a bit fuzzy, the iPad mini will not be a satisfying experience.

I just want to throw in that I dont believe its the lack of retina, but rather the blame goes to Apple for failing to address an obvious issue. Text optimized for 9.7" are now not-optimized for 7.9" and Apple doesn't offer a way to increase default text size.

The good news in all this is that it's an easy problem to solve in a minor software update. But the roadblock, as usual, are the people who choose to deny that the problem exists and accuse people of needing glasses while completely ignoring the fact that the whole selling point of a tablet over a Touch/iPhone is that a bigger screen is supposed to offer an easier reading experience.

urkel said:

I just want to throw in that I dont believe its the lack of retina, but rather the blame goes to Apple for failing to address an obvious issue. Text optimized for 9.7" are now not-optimized for 7.9" and Apple doesn't offer a way to increase default text size.

The good news in all this is that it's an easy problem to solve in a minor software update. But the roadblock, as usual, are the people who choose to deny that the problem exists and accuse people of needing glasses while completely ignoring the fact that the whole selling point of a tablet over a Touch/iPhone is that a bigger screen is supposed to offer an easier reading experience.

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I agree. I keep hearing about bad eyes but for some reason I can use my iPhone 5 for long periods of time.

All these too small threads are ridiculous. If you read via kindle or iBooks you can adjust the font size which i do on my iPad 4 regardless. When you are reading web pages and want to zoom in (ie NYtimes website) you double click to zoom as I do on normal iPad. And if text is too small to read for some you can pinch out to make it bigger. And if you really think that is too much trouble you can use one of the alternate browsers like Perfect Browser which allow you to increase font size or you can do this (which I do) on those occasions when using Safari and you want to have the page's font size bigger if its a long read (http://marcos.kirsch.com.mx/2012/04/29/font-size-bookmarklets/).

I think the horse has been pummeled to death regarding the screen. But if that is your sole decision factor go grab the Nook HD which is regarded to have best 7" screen. Its to each his own and everyone is entitled to their preference of device but its ridiculous to complain the text is too small and thus the device has to be returned when there are plenty of options available to increase text size if that is your complaint.

Not at all, but I've never suffered eyestrain problems from any source. I do wear varifocals but can use my mini with or without them.

I suffered the same eye strain after upgrading from an Ipad 2. I have since exchanged the Mini after a week of use for an Ipad 4 and have had no issues.

I felt the pixelation in conjunction with the screen contrast causing my issues. The eye strain felt like what I had using old CRT monitors at work or using my old Lenovo laptop with the 1920 x 1080 screen.

I used both Perfect Browser and Mercury to increase the font size, but still had eye strain. During the day, I was fighting the screen reflectivity and at night my eye strain was caused by the contrast as I had to dim the screen a lot. Both of these issues probably could have been resolved, but I felt like there were too many small compromises I had to make to use the Mini.

In terms of other gadgets, I work all day on a 27" TB display with a hi-res 15" MBP. I'm 35 and still have my 20/20 vision (or better). I don't even know what the meaning of blurry text is

***On a side note, I recommend Mercury as it has independent brightness control on top of the font adjustment which dims the displayed content without adjusting the actual screen brightness.

None here, all good.

Oh yeah, problems in a very short time unlike any other low rez/small device.

Returned my mini. Staying with my gen 3 till ipad 5.

Martylaa said:

I love the mini, much more than my ipad 3 but after a week I am realising this screen is hard work in my eyes for reading my books and when I load Internet sites up I have to expand the screen otherwise it's a strain on my eyes.
My vision is perfect but this screen and the text size on pages is starting to make me think I might return it and get one in the future when the screen is retina.

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The text is going to be the exact same size with a retina display, just clearer. So if you find yourself zooming in to read things, retina isn't going to fix that entirely, although it can help.

Luckily, my eyes suck too much to even notice retina displays and get used to them. But I can't imagine how terrible it must be for you if you look at an old CRT TV after using an iPad 4