All it took was one hour at the kiosk in the store jumping around from iPad mini to ipad 3 and 4 - I left with a mini.
During the presentation of the mini, I was actually very underwhelmed because being use to a retina ipad 3, I would not of thunk I would choose a mini over a retina ipad.
But guess what, after having extensive use of the mini, my initial decision to get the mini over an ipad (4) is still justified. The size and fit and finish and the way you can hold it and hold it without much effort plus being able to hold it a distance I like (further away), the screen display resolution really doesn't matter to me vs a retina. Sure I would love to see retina on a mini form factor, but I don't make apple gadgets...and no competitor has the same quality package on sale.
Well, I bought an iPad 3 in March and I think I would have bought an iPad mini if it had been launched alongside the iPad 3.
I was not particularly impressed with the iPad mini when I saw the presentation, but when I had the chance to use it for a while I absolutely loved it. It was light, thin and it actually felt like a 'real iPad' in a much, much smaller package (the smaller bezels on the side certainly helped with that).
I even feel like like the iPad mini is much better than the iPad 3, except for the display. It's got faster Wi-Fi, it's got more cellular (both improved 2G and 4G LTE over here), it's got the Lightning connector (so future proof), it's got FaceTime HD, it's got stereo speakers, it's got a new design and it's so much smaller, yet not too small.
Heck, I feel that in almost every way the iPad mini is an upgrade except for the display (which is, obviously, a step back). And even than I feel like the display is really not that bad. It is of higher quality than that of the iPad 2.
Heck, even animations were slightly smoother. Just think about it: the iPad 3 is twice as powerful as an iPad mini, but it has to push four times as many pixels... so, relatively, the iPad 3's only got 0.5x the GPU power of an iPad mini.
Needless to say, I won't sell my iPad 3 and get an iPad mini. It's too soon and I'm not spending that much money at once. Next year, however, I might settle for the second generation iPad mini which I'll expect to get:
- 2048 x 1536 resolution display, 326 ppi (higher than that of the iPad 3/4)
- A5X, A6 or A6X chip* and 1 GB of RAM
And that's it. At that point, it is already equal with an iPad 4. Some might argue that next year is too soon for an iPad mini with Retina display, but I think it is possible. Starting from this quarter, IGZO technology becomes available. It adds little to no cost for Apple, but it allows Apple to put a Retina display in the iPad mini without any compromises. It doesn't add any thickness, it's more energy-efficient, it only requires 50% of the LED backlighting (so even more energy-efficient) and thus it doesn't require a large battery (like the iPad 3/4). Basically, they could add a Retina display to the iPad mini next year with little extra cost.
* Let's talk about the second generation iPad mini's chip
As I said, I expect either an A5X, A6 or A6X chip. A5X chip is the worst case scenario: it uses a lot of energy, and it is only twice as powerful (while it needs to push four times as many pixels). CPU performance doesn't increase.
A6 chip. Not the worst scenario, but not the best either. We're talking here about a triple-core GPU, but because the GPU runs at higher clock speeds the A6 chip is graphically still as fast as an A5X chip. CPU wise, we'll go forward: at least twice the performance.
A6X chip. This is the best possibility: we'll get a much faster CPU (like we do with the A6 chip) and we get a GPU that is four times as powerful. This means the GPU will be able to run the 2048 x 1536 display just as smoothly, if not better, as the previous generation ran the 1024 x 768 display.
A5X seems unlikely to me: it's only been in production for the iPad 3 and as we all know the iPad 3 has been killed off. It would be much more logical to get some A6 chips or A6X chips (since it's likely that those chips will be in production for at least the next two years).
A6 chip seems like a good compromise, while the A6X chip is just the best option.
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That was my huge wall of text. Anyway, if they give the iPad mini a Retina display and A6X chip than I'll very likely upgrade from my iPad 3 - and in that case it's going to be a big upgrade:
- FaceTime HD
- Faster Wi-Fi
- Faster Cellular
- Faster GPU
- Faster CPU
- 326 ppi display (up from 264 ppi)
- Stereo speakers
- New design that's also thinner and lighter
- Lightning connector
Any extra features will be a bonus.