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MyAppleWorld

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 1, 2005
602
86
Birmingham, UK
Hi

I currently own no ipad and thinking of getting one mainly for facetime and browsing the web on the couch instead of using iphone 5. I am fed up with the small screen to do both of these!

A few years ago I owned an ipad 2 and was always impressed with the sound qaulity from the rear speaker. I later sold it because I needed the money.

Last year, I had a 1st gen mini from work for 1 week - the performance was really poor and i remember being disappointed with speakers for facetime - i found it difficult to hear the person clearly - im not sure if it was the direction of the sound or merely the size of the speaker.

Im considering getting a retina mini now because there are lots of cheap deals around at the moment. However my only concern is the speakers - has much changed? What are they like compared to iphone 5 or ipad 2?

I am happy with iphone 5 for facetime but the 1st gen mini was terrible!

Should I be getting the air? I will mainly use it at home but find the mini easier to type with thumbs.
 

Night Spring

macrumors G5
Jul 17, 2008
14,613
7,791
I don't have a retina mini, but I did have the original mini and now I have an Air. I can tell you that the Air's speakers are definitely better than the original mini. My mom now has my original mini plus her own Air, and whenever I FaceTime her, it's like, "oh, sorry, I picked it up on the mini, can I call you back from the Air?" because she can't hear me on the mini.
 

MyAppleWorld

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 1, 2005
602
86
Birmingham, UK
I don't have a retina mini, but I did have the original mini and now I have an Air. I can tell you that the Air's speakers are definitely better than the original mini. My mom now has my original mini plus her own Air, and whenever I FaceTime her, it's like, "oh, sorry, I picked it up on the mini, can I call you back from the Air?" because she can't hear me on the mini.

I saw a youtube video which shows the retina mini does sound different but im not sure if in real world it would be better
 

Yebubbleman

macrumors 603
May 20, 2010
5,789
2,379
Los Angeles, CA
Hi

I currently own no ipad and thinking of getting one mainly for facetime and browsing the web on the couch instead of using iphone 5. I am fed up with the small screen to do both of these!

A few years ago I owned an ipad 2 and was always impressed with the sound qaulity from the rear speaker. I later sold it because I needed the money.

Last year, I had a 1st gen mini from work for 1 week - the performance was really poor and i remember being disappointed with speakers for facetime - i found it difficult to hear the person clearly - im not sure if it was the direction of the sound or merely the size of the speaker.

Im considering getting a retina mini now because there are lots of cheap deals around at the moment. However my only concern is the speakers - has much changed? What are they like compared to iphone 5 or ipad 2?

I am happy with iphone 5 for facetime but the 1st gen mini was terrible!

Should I be getting the air? I will mainly use it at home but find the mini easier to type with thumbs.

The mini is easier to type with thumbs, but the Air is easier to type with both hands (like on a laptop). The speakers on the Air are decent; probably a little better than on the mini and definitely better than one the iPad 2. It's a little softer than the iPhone 4S that I use for work. Honestly, if sound for Facetime is that crucial, you're better off investing in headphones as none of those devices' external speaker(s) will sound as good.
 

poppakristof

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2010
21
0
I just went from a retina mini to an air. I can say the volume is about twice as loud in the air to me. I rarely go past half on the air as I would go to 95% on the mini while watching YouTube videos.
 
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