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iPad mini For those who got their hands on a Retina Mini today...
- Thread starter Frankied22
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I'll put it to you this way. I have an Air, I was not going to go for the rMini. An employee just installed one on the kiosk at BB when I was at the store. He said they just some in and I tried it for 2 minutes or so on the kiosk. Sold!! 
I'll report back later. I am just loading apps for now to tell the truth to give any impression about it overall.
I'll report back later. I am just loading apps for now to tell the truth to give any impression about it overall.
It really fulfills the original promise of the iPad mini. I couldn't be happier with mine. It's fast, the screen is fantastic.
I just ordered one from a store my wife will be passing by tomorrow....and then I cancelled it. The Airs we bought are already light and thin, and the text is larger than the original Mini's we owned. Maybe I'll order one again in the next hour or two, but I like large text.....and I swore I wouldn't buy an Air and a Mini.
The Airs we bought are already light and thin, and the text is larger than the original Mini's we owned. Maybe I'll order one again in the next hour or two, but I like large text.....and I swore I wouldn't buy an Air and a Mini. My 2 cents worth of quick impressions:
Weight: It is just as light and comfortable to hold in one hand. Couldn't really tell the difference holding it and the original Mini in both hands
Display: A bad piece with uneven color tones notwithstanding, the retina display is so easy on the eyes and really sharp like the iPhone. The difference between the original Mini and rMini is very noticeable when you zoom in to read. I couldn't read for very long without my eyes feeling fatigued on the original, but it has not been a problem on the rMini so far
Speed: Haven't run any processor intensive tests yet but it has been very responsive so far, perhaps a tad more than the Air. I couldn't detect any stuttering in my use and it hasn't crashed on me yet with 5-6 tabs open in Safari.
Speakers: Sounds just like the original Mini, and a little inferior compared to the Air's speakers. The difference is somewhat akin to that of the 13" and 15" rMacbook Pro speakers, in that the rMini's speakers sound a little tinny compared to those of the Air
Obviously it's only been a few hours since I've had it so take this with a grain of salt.
vs iPad Air: It is my preliminary opinion that the Air is still the device to get unless you are a) cash-strapped for $100 or b) really need the small size of the mini (for, let's say, a custom car dash install). The reason is simple - you'll be blown away at how little the weight difference is between these two devices. It's like night and day when you look at how different the iPad 4 and original Mini were. The Air truly is an oversized Mini without much of a weight penalty and thus is just as portable in that respect. The larger screen size provides a much better viewing experience, so unless your use case dictates that you absolutely must have a smaller, but not necessarily a much lighter device I would strongly recommend the Air
Hope this helps
Weight: It is just as light and comfortable to hold in one hand. Couldn't really tell the difference holding it and the original Mini in both hands
Display: A bad piece with uneven color tones notwithstanding, the retina display is so easy on the eyes and really sharp like the iPhone. The difference between the original Mini and rMini is very noticeable when you zoom in to read. I couldn't read for very long without my eyes feeling fatigued on the original, but it has not been a problem on the rMini so far
Speed: Haven't run any processor intensive tests yet but it has been very responsive so far, perhaps a tad more than the Air. I couldn't detect any stuttering in my use and it hasn't crashed on me yet with 5-6 tabs open in Safari.
Speakers: Sounds just like the original Mini, and a little inferior compared to the Air's speakers. The difference is somewhat akin to that of the 13" and 15" rMacbook Pro speakers, in that the rMini's speakers sound a little tinny compared to those of the Air
Obviously it's only been a few hours since I've had it so take this with a grain of salt.
vs iPad Air: It is my preliminary opinion that the Air is still the device to get unless you are a) cash-strapped for $100 or b) really need the small size of the mini (for, let's say, a custom car dash install). The reason is simple - you'll be blown away at how little the weight difference is between these two devices. It's like night and day when you look at how different the iPad 4 and original Mini were. The Air truly is an oversized Mini without much of a weight penalty and thus is just as portable in that respect. The larger screen size provides a much better viewing experience, so unless your use case dictates that you absolutely must have a smaller, but not necessarily a much lighter device I would strongly recommend the Air
Hope this helps
Great thoughts. I get my hands on a retina mini in a week, but I'm also inclined to think that the Air provides the better experience all else being equal.
I find the mini much more portable, especially if I'm on a busy train with only standing room.
Plus it fits in some of my jacket pockets so it gets taken places I wouldn't normally take a bag for a full size ipad, like the pub.
Plus it fits in some of my jacket pockets so it gets taken places I wouldn't normally take a bag for a full size ipad, like the pub.
All else being equal. That's a tough one. If all else were equal, you'd be comparing two Airs with each other?
From my point of view my Air wins in terms of screen colour and with the cases I have on both, the Air is 75g more in weight.
The mini for me is about consumption of app based media and the Air about productivity and browsing.
Display is very sharp but colours slightly underwhelming.
The mini for me is about consumption of app based media and the Air about productivity and browsing.
Display is very sharp but colours slightly underwhelming.
How is the web experience? One thing about the 1st gen Mini was the low resolution which forced me to constantly zoom-in in portrait mode. Is this fixed with the increased retina display? If not, I'm going for the Air.
Picked mine up today and I love it! Excellent display and much faster then the 1st gen. I played with my moms air but prefer the mini's size and lighter weight.
Well, for me personally browsing the web in portrait mode is a no-go for any meaningful amount of time due to text size and orientation. I mostly find myself browsing in landscape. The retina text is obviously much, much sharper looking and easier on the eyes but is it not rendered any differently size-wise compared to the original. It is definitely a trade-off between form factor and viewing experience between the rMini and Air, with the weight difference no longer much of a factor in that equation now as it was comparing previous gen.
The only gripe I have is with the color tones. The green icons aren't as flashy. Other than that, I'm blown away by this device. I love it.
I returned my Air for it.
I returned my Air for it.
Thanks for the reply. I was hoping that the retina screen will make portrait browsing better. I still have to check it out in person but that makes me lean towards the Air even more.
Close, it's more amps actually. The original mini shipped with a 5W (so 5V 1A) charger, the retina mini ships with a 10W (5V 2A) charger.
A
Gees louise. The Air is 12W and the iPhone is 5W, so now I have THREE chargers to contend with. Sigh. I'm using the Air charger on my mini and that's that....
The voltage is the same so you can use any charger. I use the larger of all the chargers to charge my iPhone and iPad. You won't hurt the iPhone charging it with the iPad charger.