i look at it like this....if you are able to use a 4-5" smart phone (basically everyone in the market) an 8" tablet should NOT be a problem. Think of the mini as a REALLY big phone - compared to the Air, you just hold it a little closer to your face. Personally, I prefer to hold phones and tablets of any size at around 12" from my face. My eyesight isn't the best, but never had a problem - even on my 4.7" 6s. If one's eyesight is bad enough to have a problems with the mini - that person will likely need glasses to use the Air, too. The size of letters isn't THAT much bigger.
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iPad Air or iPad Mini for Christmas present?
- Thread starter MarkX
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I don't think you could go wrong with either. I'm the owner of an iPad Mini. Love it. It's big enough to be my daily laptop (I purchased a bluetooth keyboard to go with it) and also small enough to bring it almost everywhere. I don't think you could go wrong with either.
iPhones you can use in zoom mode, which makes the text much bigger. I for one appreciate that! I don't think in this case the size of the text is really the issue. I think buying the iPad Air 2 for this young man was the right move. If you already have a larger screen phone the next step up for most would be the iPad Air.
Sorry read about your decision after ehat i posted. But great decision!! Merry Xmas!!!
iPad Air 2 doesn't have as good a screen compared with the Mini 4. Display Mate site has all the details:
The iPad mini 4 is close to being a textbook perfect LCD display in all of the Lab measurements and viewing tests. Among the iPads it takes first place and is marked Best in every single test category except Contrast Ratio – where it has a Very Good but not the highest Contrast Ratio of 957 in 0 lux (because Apple didn’t provide a Photo Aligned LCD like on the Air 2 and Pro).
Among all existing Tablets of any size, the iPad mini 4 takes first place and breaks performance records in many of the most important test categories including: lowest screen Reflectance (2.0 percent), Highest Contrast Rating in High Ambient Light (225), a near perfect Log-Straight Intensity Scale and Gamma of 2.22, and the highest Absolute Color Accuracy (Average/Maximum Color Errors of 1.9 and 4.2 JNCD – tied for first place with the Microsoft Surface Pro 4).
The display alone on the Mini 4 was enough for me to reject the more than a year old Air 2
The iPad mini 4 is close to being a textbook perfect LCD display in all of the Lab measurements and viewing tests. Among the iPads it takes first place and is marked Best in every single test category except Contrast Ratio – where it has a Very Good but not the highest Contrast Ratio of 957 in 0 lux (because Apple didn’t provide a Photo Aligned LCD like on the Air 2 and Pro).
Among all existing Tablets of any size, the iPad mini 4 takes first place and breaks performance records in many of the most important test categories including: lowest screen Reflectance (2.0 percent), Highest Contrast Rating in High Ambient Light (225), a near perfect Log-Straight Intensity Scale and Gamma of 2.22, and the highest Absolute Color Accuracy (Average/Maximum Color Errors of 1.9 and 4.2 JNCD – tied for first place with the Microsoft Surface Pro 4).
The display alone on the Mini 4 was enough for me to reject the more than a year old Air 2
Problem with Mini 4. it gets outdated fast :/ only A8 processor, that did hold me back for getting one
iPad Air 2 is more future proof...A8X gives A9 a run for its money and is much better than the A8 although it can't keep up with A9X....
It's ageing fast; I shouldn't call it future-proof.
The worst problem is its screen.
eyesight shouldn't be an issue for a 13 years old boy.
BTW I bought a Mini 4 for me and gave my iPad Air to my 6 years old boy.
You mini 4 guys are funny. Nobody can tell a difference in the screens. They are both great products, just a preference on screen size.
Good choice on the full size iPad. teenage boys don't usually like mini anything. Plus the larger iPad will allow him to do homework on it, if he feels so inclined.
just as an FYI for all those who say a mini is no good for poor eyesight: I have pretty bad eyes (+12 in my right eye, +14 in the left, with -2,25 of astigmatism in each eye), and use my mini all the time. I just increased the text size and turned on bold in the accessibility section, it is really not that big of a deal, I just see fewer lines of text. I prefer the mini for myself as it is much more portable.
just as an FYI for all those who say a mini is no good for poor eyesight: I have pretty bad eyes (+12 in my right eye, +14 in the left, with -2,25 of astigmatism in each eye), and use my mini all the time. I just increased the text size and turned on bold in the accessibility section, it is really not that big of a deal, I just see fewer lines of text. I prefer the mini for myself as it is much more portable.
It can but the consequences of doing so impact the display with overlapping text boxes and overall is just not a good solution. I had a mini 2 for 2 years. I had to just always zoom in. It's workable but with Air 2 I do not have to do this. I love the size of the mini but the smaller text though crisp and clear was an issue for me. The Air 2 has been an overall better experience for me and it's not so large that it's a problem.
