Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I eventually ordered both, iPad Air 2 and Mini 4
Best way to make a real comparison
I am going to give an accurate feedback

cheers
 
  • Like
Reactions: Channan
I received it today, both iPad
At first impressions, iPad Air 2 looks tiny and very light
Mini 4 even ridiculously smaller
First thing i ve notice, its the pixel density, i d prefer text on Mini 4
I tried everything such as movies, magazines, manga, web...
Its equally same thing, perhaps for reading magazines in portrait mode which on Mini 4, text appears sightly smaller and might be harder to be read for older person
From ergonomic aspect, i must say, Mini 4 is no contest the best one, it feels so small and light on your hands
The size doesnt matter to me
However, Air 2 is quite light and small, i though it was bigger and heavier, it doesnt
For the moment, i prefer the form factor of Mini 4
To sum up, everything you can do on bigger iPad (9'7), iPad Mini provides you nearly same experience
I am going to test them for a longer period and perhaps my initial impressions and feelings might change overtime
 
I received it today, both iPad
At first impressions, iPad Air 2 looks tiny and very light
Mini 4 even ridiculously smaller
First thing i ve notice, its the pixel density, i d prefer text on Mini 4
I tried everything such as movies, magazines, manga, web...
Its equally same thing, perhaps for reading magazines in portrait mode which on Mini 4, text appears sightly smaller and might be harder to be read for older person
From ergonomic aspect, i must say, Mini 4 is no contest the best one, it feels so small and light on your hands
The size doesnt matter to me
However, Air 2 is quite light and small, i though it was bigger and heavier, it doesnt
For the moment, i prefer the form factor of Mini 4
To sum up, everything you can do on bigger iPad (9'7), iPad Mini provides you nearly same experience
I am going to test them for a longer period and perhaps my initial impressions and feelings might change overtime
The main advantage the 9.7" iPads have over the iPad mini is the landscape keyboard. I can easily type on my iPad Air 2 in landscape like I do on a regular keyboard, and I'm very fast at it.

I can do the same on my iPad mini 4, but I'm a little slower and I make a lot more mistakes.
 
The main advantage the 9.7" iPads have over the iPad mini is the landscape keyboard. I can easily type on my iPad Air 2 in landscape like I do on a regular keyboard, and I'm very fast at it.

I can do the same on my iPad mini 4, but I'm a little slower and I make a lot more mistakes.

But I'd say that the mini is the perfect width for thumb typing in portrait mode.
 
But I'd say that the mini is the perfect width for thumb typing in portrait mode.
It's much easier than thumb typing in portrait on the iPad Air 2, but I'm so used to typing on my iPhone SE that I make so many mistakes on the larger screen. Same goes for larger phones. If the iPad mini 4 was the only device I thumb-typed on, I'm sure I would probably be pretty fast at it.
 
It's much easier than thumb typing in portrait on the iPad Air 2, but I'm so used to typing on my iPhone SE that I make so many mistakes on the larger screen. Same goes for larger phones. If the iPad mini 4 was the only device I thumb-typed on, I'm sure I would probably be pretty fast at it.

I've thumb typed on every sized iPhone and iPad except the 12" Pro, and in portrait, I find the Mini most comfortable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RickTaylor
I've thumb typed on every sized iPhone and iPad except the 12" Pro, and in portrait, I find the Mini most comfortable.
Well like I said, as far as iPad thumb typing goes, the mini is the best. But I still make plenty of errors on that because I'm used to typing on my tiny phone and I'm way faster at typing on my iPad Air 2 in portrait than thumb typing on any device.
 
I had the same dilemma: Do I want an older yet more powerful iPad versus the latest Mini?

It came down to size, basically, I find the Mini 4 perfect for reading, watching Netflix and general browsing. The Air 2 would be a bit big and heavy for me, especially reading in bed.

They are both great devices, though, with the Mini having a slightly better screen.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Channan
I find battery life quite disappointed
I have watched a TV serie ep through streaming (/smb vlc)
i lost ~20%
On my ex Z3 Tablet, its around 7/8%
For eveything else its below my loved Z3 tablet but still good (for most users i guess so)
I dont understand why it drains so quickly while on similar tablet from Android, it doesnt

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/co...ony-Xperia-Z3-Tablet-Compact/phones/9641,8881

Maybe because the transcoding on iOS is abit more powerful? playback runs smoothly on iPad/iPhone, on Android, i got some latence but battery life is much better (20% on iPad its huge lol)

Is there anything i can do to get better battery life when watching streaming movies?
I use DS File/VLC/Infuse
I m going to test Infuse further
 
46%, sound volume at 100% lol, 42 minutes but episode size is really heavy, above 2.5 gb
 
Yeah. I'm a little disappointed with my iPad mini 4's battery life. It still lasts me all day, but it doesn't even get close to the 10 hours I'm used to.
 
Yes, i used Mini 4 since yesterday, web browsing, reading and watched a tv serie episode, youtube for one hour
I am under 30%
I have quite heavy usage though
On my Z3 Tablet, i got around 10 hours of streaming movies, 8 hours with mixte usage (same on iPad)
Usually tow days on Z3, now i am expecting 1 day/1day and half at best
That streaming stuff gives me an headache, same thing does happen on iPhone
I am pretty sure its about optimization, Apple processors somehow transcode (at full speed) more than it needed
 
46%, sound volume at 100% lol, 42 minutes but episode size is really heavy, above 2.5 gb

Yeah. I'm a little disappointed with my iPad mini 4's battery life. It still lasts me all day, but it doesn't even get close to the 10 hours I'm used to.

You lost 20% while watching a video for less than an hour? That doesn't seem right.

I know that different usage makes a big difference, but I usually get about 11-12 hours of usage and 1.5 - 2 days of standby on a full charge.
 
Which app do you use for watching streaming video?
I watch content through SMB (DS File or VLC), i also downloaded Infuse
 
thanks you, i am going to try it
Ok full charge cycle done, i got about 8 hours of usage which is fairly acceptable
I am going to make comparison with Air 2
How much do you lose when watching streaming movies?
e.g a full HD tv serie episode
 
thanks you, i am going to try it
Ok full charge cycle done, i got about 8 hours of usage which is fairly acceptable
I am going to make comparison with Air 2
How much do you lose when watching streaming movies?
e.g a full HD tv serie episode

Hmmm... I don't actually track this, but I've never noticed any significant drain when streaming via Air Video HD. I'm not sure about other apps like VLC and Infuse, but if they are transcoding on the device itself, it's definitely going to drain a lot of power as the iPad hardware is optimized for playback only on certain video codecs (h.264)
 
I guess its local no?
I lost around 5% per 20 minutes
I agree with masotime, its certainly due to the transcoding of device itself when i am watching a streaming movie in x264
But i dont get it why on Z3 Tablet, i lost much less, its same thing, on Android, i use VLC too
Otherwise both have pretty decent battery life (i got 7 hours and half of usage on iPad Mini against 9/10 hours on Z3 Tablet)
iPad Air 2 seem to have an slight edge in comparison of iPad Mini 4, i got currently 5 hours and half for 50% (but no video at all, just browsing/reading)
I m going to test it further
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.