When the 32gb Nexus 7 gets released I'll get a 16gb. I really wanted an iPad Mini to replace my iPad 2 but for $130 less I can get a nice tablet with better hardware that's easier to hold with one hand.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad mini $329 for a Mini? Are you kidding me!?
- Thread starter johndallas999
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
When the 32gb Nexus 7 gets released I'll get a 16gb. I really wanted an iPad Mini to replace my iPad 2 but for $130 less I can get a nice tablet with better hardware that's easier to hold with one hand.
Apple is smart.
They didn't price the mini for competition. They priced it to future proof their profits, without damaging the profits of their current line up. If the mini had the same specs as the iPad 4. It would pretty much make the iPad 4 irrelevant. So they made the mini essentially a "iPad 2s". So the iPad 4 sales will be virtually untouched. They didn't price the mini too low, because again, that would affect iPad 4 sales. It's priced close enough for someone to say "Hey for $170 more, I can just get a regular iPad with better specs", and most will just do that. Because any lower than that, people will just get a mini regardless of specs.
Guaranteed the next update for the Mini will be what the Mini should be now. But of course the current mini will sell like hotcakes and Apple will make a hefty profit either way.
They didn't price the mini for competition. They priced it to future proof their profits, without damaging the profits of their current line up. If the mini had the same specs as the iPad 4. It would pretty much make the iPad 4 irrelevant. So they made the mini essentially a "iPad 2s". So the iPad 4 sales will be virtually untouched. They didn't price the mini too low, because again, that would affect iPad 4 sales. It's priced close enough for someone to say "Hey for $170 more, I can just get a regular iPad with better specs", and most will just do that. Because any lower than that, people will just get a mini regardless of specs.
Guaranteed the next update for the Mini will be what the Mini should be now. But of course the current mini will sell like hotcakes and Apple will make a hefty profit either way.
Agreed, and I bet the next two iPads will have the same display ratio as the iPhone 5.
Not too happy with the price myself. I was planning on getting these for the kids but at $329, add another $50 for a good case, and another $100 for insurance puts it at around $500 with tax. A bit much for the kids to play with. I may just opt for N7 for the kiddos.
"At $329, it is believed that Apple will duplicate the 58% to 103% gross profit margin it enjoys on the third-generation Apple iPad."
... a gross gross profit?
EDIT: And before anyone launches into "they need that extra money for R&D," remember, they're sitting on billions of dollars.
... a gross gross profit?
EDIT: And before anyone launches into "they need that extra money for R&D," remember, they're sitting on billions of dollars.
At $500 just buy the iPad 4 for both of them!
That or I might just give them my iPad 3 and pick up a 4 for myself.
That's really subjective now isn't it? I guess you weren't watching the same keynote as I was. $329 sounds about right. No need to sell at cost when Apple makes a quality product people actually want to buy.
That's really subjective now isn't it? I guess you weren't watching the same keynote as I was. $329 sounds about right. No need to sell at cost when Apple makes a quality product people actually want to buy.
The only things subjective is the screen size difference and app availability.
Its a fact the nexus offers a better processor, more space, higher resolution screen than the iPad Mini. There is no arguing that the hardware is better in the Nexus.
Just about everyone with an Android tablet.
P.S. You can cache pretty much the entire city of Houston with Google Maps in one go and it is one of the largest cities in Houston. So no need for data.
What happens when you leave the area that you have cached? Doesn't seem very flexible. This is alleviated with cellular data.
What happens when no GPS signal is available, which commonly occurs within large city centres? Doesn't seem very reliable. Even dedicated GPS units are impeded by GPS signal loss. This is alleviated with cellular data.
I'm not saying that having GPS without cellular data or a large map database isn't a nice feature. But it doesn't seem useful enough beyond being a gimmick given the features limitations.
I wouldn't want to use it to navigate to and from various city centres and within those city centres on a regular basis given the effort that would be required to do so.
Don't do the N7, you may regret it.
Bought a N7, returned it a few days later. Why? The apps are horrible, very difficult to read anything because the text is so small, buttons were flimsy, horrible speakers, etc.
The N7 is a nice device, but not compared to anything Apple makes. The price is great, but in the end it is about the experience using it, and I had too many lackluster experiences to make it worth my time or money. iPad mini is going to be my choice. The screen on the N7 was pretty sharp, but movies and shows via Netflix looked washed. The screen on the iPad mini might have less dpi, but the overall quality of the panels Apple uses are much better IMHO.
Bought a N7, returned it a few days later. Why? The apps are horrible, very difficult to read anything because the text is so small, buttons were flimsy, horrible speakers, etc.
The N7 is a nice device, but not compared to anything Apple makes. The price is great, but in the end it is about the experience using it, and I had too many lackluster experiences to make it worth my time or money. iPad mini is going to be my choice. The screen on the N7 was pretty sharp, but movies and shows via Netflix looked washed. The screen on the iPad mini might have less dpi, but the overall quality of the panels Apple uses are much better IMHO.
I have no idea what you are getting at here. $200 more than what? You were the one that said you would rather have an iPad 2, which is more expensive than an iPad mini.
Doesn`t matter. I purchased a used iPad 3 for 420 dollars (32gb). Why pay the same for a small, much lower resolution screen? My point is the price point for the 7.8" iPad Mini is too high for the size and specs. That high, why should I just not get the bigger, better iPad? I just did.
You would literally have to drive an HOUR in Houston on our freeways at their speed limit to leave the cached area.
I don't think you understand how A-GPS works. A-GPS simply uses information from cellular data signal to speed up your lock onto the GPS signal (which can take up to 12.5 minutes without that cellular signal). Even without cellular data, if your tablet can use last-known position data, GPS startup time can be reduced on the order of seconds.
If there was no GPS signal, your cellular data isn't going to magically give you a fix.
Please, give me a break, I've been using a Wi-Fi-only Motorola Xoom since 2009. It works perfectly with cached Google maps or any of the myriad other free offerings on the Play Store. You clearly haven't spent any time researching this.
Last edited:
So $249 for the 16GB Nexus 7, plus $50 for a good case, and $100 for insurance, and you are at $425 or so with tax.
Another $75 and you can have the real deal.
----------
But it is a smaller screen, and there aren't many apps optimized for Android tablets. The A5 processor isn't that different from what was offered in the 3rd Generation iPad and is identical to what is still offered in the iPad 2.
Plus, there's no denying the build quality. If it's anything like my iPhone 5, it will be exquisite.
$329 was the right price. Rumor is that it costs Apple $200 to build. Maybe, just maybe they could have managed $299, but there was no way that this would be a $249 device like the Nexus 7 (16GB version), or a $199 like the Kindle Fire HD. If you haven't noticed, Amazon doesn't make much money on anything. They have lived for 18 years in a reality distortion field that dwarfs anything Steve Jobs could have ever created.
What do you do when you have to drive between and within 2 separate city centres that are separated by 2 hours of driving?
This is a fairly common scenario for many that actually need to have GPS beyond just having something flashy in their ride to show off their 1337-ness.
GPS requires clear line of sight with 3 GPS satellites to function.
A-GPS augements GPS as you have stated but it also uses cellular base station triangulation.
In the absence of a GPS signal, cellular base station triangulation can maintain positioning for accurate navigation.
http://www.radupoenaru.com/gps-vs-agps-vs-wifi-vs-gsm-localization/
1) Moving between two cities is NOT the most common use case by far. Most non-commercial traffic happens INSIDE cities, not between them.
2) Notwithstanding counter-argument 1. There are dozens of Android apps available for which you can download a reasonably updated map of pretty much the entire 48 states.
Nice ad-hominem attack.
Your quoted article reads like some blogger without understanding of the technical issues wrote it. Indeed, he is just a plain old software engineer who doesn't even specialize in location systems. It does not contain any references or sources, while the Wikipedia article has plenty of first-person sources that you can refer to and none of them refer to the cellular signal localization technique as part of A-GPS as you are claiming.
Furthermore, pure GSM localization only achieves an accuracy of 50m, not quite accurate to localize you to a particular street.
Last edited:
I don't understand all of the posts saying they should charge lower because other tablets are lower... Should Breitling, Tag Heuer, Cartier, etc change their prices from thousands to hundreds because Fossil and countless others sell cheap watches? They all tell time, right?
That's why I mentioned within city centres.
Accuracy improves with more points of reference which includes the greater number of cellular base stations such as that are present in city centres.
Regardless, it is better than the accuracy of not having any points of reference when no GPS signal is available.
BTW, non GPS location utilizes not only triangulation but also trilateration and multilateration to improve accuracy.
_________
How's the rear camera on the Nexus 7?
Last edited:
So $249 for the 16GB Nexus 7, plus $50 for a good case, and $100 for insurance, and you are at $425 or so with tax.
Another $75 and you can have the real deal.
----------
But it is a smaller screen, and there aren't many apps optimized for Android tablets. The A5 processor isn't that different from what was offered in the 3rd Generation iPad and is identical to what is still offered in the iPad 2.
Plus, there's no denying the build quality. If it's anything like my iPhone 5, it will be exquisite.
$329 was the right price. Rumor is that it costs Apple $200 to build. Maybe, just maybe they could have managed $299, but there was no way that this would be a $249 device like the Nexus 7 (16GB version), or a $199 like the Kindle Fire HD. If you haven't noticed, Amazon doesn't make much money on anything. They have lived for 18 years in a reality distortion field that dwarfs anything Steve Jobs could have ever created.
At a $199 price point, I don't plan on getting insurance for it.
So now you are comparing prices of used iPad to a new iPad mini. That's just silly.
As I said before, the price point is easy to justify when you compare it to an iPad 2 at $399. As far as the Nexus 7 and Fire HD, the difference is in the software. It should say something to you that Amazon and Google have to give them away at or below cost in order to even make a small dent in the market.