Same. I use the mini from web browsing to gaming. I think the screen is awesome.
People even said in reviews the keyboard is hard to type on, I don't mind it in landscape mode and type just fine.
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iPad mini How bad is the screen on the iPad mini?
- Thread starter nigameash
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Same. I use the mini from web browsing to gaming. I think the screen is awesome.
People even said in reviews the keyboard is hard to type on, I don't mind it in landscape mode and type just fine.
From someone to whom retina definitely makes a difference:
The good news:
Text within many apps isn't as bad as I feared. Flipboard, Instapaper, Tweetbot, newspapers like the NY Times are all okay albeit missing the wonderful sharpness of the regular iPad.
Games, videos and photos (while again missing the wow factor) are likewise fine.
The bad news:
Safari is bad in portrait - basically you won't want to read it in portrait at all. Zooming is fortunately fast and fluid on iOS, unfortunately there's only so much room the screen provides even in landscape. Readable, yes. Great experience, unfortunately not. Less RAM = more tab reloads as well.
A few apps like Google+ use light text and that's not good. The App Store itself makes it painful to read the log change descriptions.
Perhaps the most painful to read are lockscreen notifications. They're small, fuzzy and look like crap. I don't suppose there's any way to resize them?
The verdict:
Even as a retina lover, the size and weight are so perfect on the Mini that overall I'd have to say it's worth the tradeoff. But it's a sad compromise and as long as I have the iPhone for comparison, there's not much way I'd ever stop noticing the lack of retina.
On the bright side, I imagine my MBA would look much better than it used to!
Hope that helps. It's up to you to decide in the end.
The good news:
Text within many apps isn't as bad as I feared. Flipboard, Instapaper, Tweetbot, newspapers like the NY Times are all okay albeit missing the wonderful sharpness of the regular iPad.
Games, videos and photos (while again missing the wow factor) are likewise fine.
The bad news:
Safari is bad in portrait - basically you won't want to read it in portrait at all. Zooming is fortunately fast and fluid on iOS, unfortunately there's only so much room the screen provides even in landscape. Readable, yes. Great experience, unfortunately not. Less RAM = more tab reloads as well.
A few apps like Google+ use light text and that's not good. The App Store itself makes it painful to read the log change descriptions.
Perhaps the most painful to read are lockscreen notifications. They're small, fuzzy and look like crap. I don't suppose there's any way to resize them?
The verdict:
Even as a retina lover, the size and weight are so perfect on the Mini that overall I'd have to say it's worth the tradeoff. But it's a sad compromise and as long as I have the iPhone for comparison, there's not much way I'd ever stop noticing the lack of retina.
On the bright side, I imagine my MBA would look much better than it used to! Hope that helps. It's up to you to decide in the end.
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THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE IPAD MINI SCREEN
I have an iPad 3, and an iPhone 5, plus used an iPhone 4 since the day it was released. I AM FAMILIAR with the RETINA display.
The iPad Mini screen is very nice. Because it is the same resolution as the iPad 1 and 2 but the pixels are packed denser makes the screen much better.
S
syd430
Guest
I love my Mini, the display is great, it's noticeably better than the iPad 2 but it's also noticeably worse than a retina display... the only bad thing is browser text, it's slightly fuzzy but you can easily zoom in... apps and games generally look amazing.
The size and weight is a trade off worth taking, i never used my iPad 3 because of it's size, it stayed under my bed and was generally a waste of money.. so i sold it and got the mini which now comes everywhere with me... and it's cheaper, win win.
The size and weight is a trade off worth taking, i never used my iPad 3 because of it's size, it stayed under my bed and was generally a waste of money.. so i sold it and got the mini which now comes everywhere with me... and it's cheaper, win win.
Or how good is it?
Well it's still much better than ALL of the competition even though it's not retina, but that'll come.
Again only you can decide for yourself, I love it but you might hate it, people are like that, it's why advertising works.
Well it's still much better than ALL of the competition even though it's not retina, but that'll come.
Again only you can decide for yourself, I love it but you might hate it, people are like that, it's why advertising works.
I've sold off my iPad 3 quickly as I quickly discovered how amazing the iPad mini was for my uses. As much as I miss the hi-res screen, the less res screen in a smaller size works perfectly. Never had any issues with the iPad 1, so knew this would be a doddle. Having moved into London, using the iPad mini on the tube is a dream. The amount of others that struggle to keep hold of their iPad 2/3/4s on the tube is funny while I can use one hand in a tiny space with no issues.
In comparison to Android equivalents I tried over the weekend in another music shop, the 7" thin/wide-screen profile is awful. Let alone the dreadful Android OS to start off with (why does it need navigation buttons wasting space at the bottom of the screen with every app?).
Can't wait for the retina iPad mini. Currently, I think the screen is just perfect.
In comparison to Android equivalents I tried over the weekend in another music shop, the 7" thin/wide-screen profile is awful. Let alone the dreadful Android OS to start off with (why does it need navigation buttons wasting space at the bottom of the screen with every app?).
Can't wait for the retina iPad mini. Currently, I think the screen is just perfect.
I take my iPad everywhere I still lol at people who think its too big to take out of the house.
And I'll keep laughing (the real word for "lol") at people trying to justify it's use on-the-go. It's not too big to take out the house and then use it when stationary in a sort of fixed position (sitting down etc). Whilst on the bus/train/tube, no way. Too big, too heavy to lug around although it is the perfect size for a tablet.
I went from an iPad2 to a mini and I am fine with the screen. I wouldn't say its way better than the iPad 2 screen though so if you are not happy with the 2 then you may not enjoy the mini. I love retina, but honestly the form factor for me was worth the tradeoff. It worked out perfectly too, because I will end up just giving this mini to my wife with the retina mini comes out.
The mini screen is better than I thought it would be, and I have the 3. The only places where it does not look great is on websites like the ny times where the text is quite small. Otherwise, I think the screen issues are overblown.
I agree it's better than I thought it would be based on the trashing- photos games, videos all seem fine, but have you looked at magazines, comics or books?
Text is really fuzzy bad on the mini.
Pretty much. I would suggest that the OP go and see one in person before deciding.
Just got my Mini, and I really wanted to like it. Not just the size and weight (and battery life), but the screen too. But I don't. The screen is like going back to your faded CRT after using an LCD flat panel. The colors are washed out and muted. It's natural to hold it in portrait mode, but the fonts are too fuzzy to read properly on web pages (will have to investigate some of the alternative browsers).
I'll probably be keeping it, but I'm not sure it will be my primary tablet like I was hoping for. Entirely due to the screen. I think my iPad 3 will be kept around for watching movies while traveling and stuff like that.
Clint
I'll probably be keeping it, but I'm not sure it will be my primary tablet like I was hoping for. Entirely due to the screen. I think my iPad 3 will be kept around for watching movies while traveling and stuff like that.
Clint
This applies to me too.
And the battery life on this little guy is rock solid hard. I love it.