iPad, iPad Mini, and iPhone 5 Cases Compared to an iPhone 4S

[gregwyattjr]

With the new Kindles, I question the wisdom of a non-Retina iPad mini. The larger version is Retina quality, and the smaller phone is Retina quality. Why not adopt it across your entire portable line. It would seem to make more sense.

I agree. Making the iPad mini's screen less than retina quality will ruin the whole thing for me. Plus, retina quality is more important on smaller screens since you're holding them closer to your face. When I saw the MacBook Pro's retina display, I was impressed, but not awestruck like I was with the iPad's. But we'll see how much consumers care if it does end up being non-retina.

 

[Kabeyun]

Um, what's the extra hole in the iPad Mini case? At the top, in the middle.

 

[DudeDad]

But will they blend?

That is the universal question...

 

[dv8r]

Now, for a pocket device (iPhone, iPod) a bottom jack is ideal! People who don’t see why just need to hold their device in their hand: which end is closer to your arm? The bottom end of course. Now put the phone in your pocket, and unless you awkwardly re-juggle your grip in the process, the bottom end is still the end closest to your arm—which means it’s facing up, towards the pocket opening. That’s where the ‘phones should plug in if you don’t want strain on the cable.

Plus when holding a pocket-sized device up, who wants extra cable dangling up and out and away from you? Wasted cable length, just to catch on stuff. The cable should come out of the device pointed where it’s going: toward you!

Put the iPhone in your pocket this way, you need to turn the phone in your hand (you do this while lifting it) - talk about awkwardly re-juggling (but to each his own i guess), put it in a shirt pocket and the cable is in the way, when you dock it you have to move the cable, when you undock it you have to re-insert the cable, in general you have to remove and re-insert the cable more times. The only one right is holding it in you hand in front of you and by the looks of it that's what iPhone users do all the time?

Ideal - give me a break. It's been at the top for 5 generations without casualties, iPhone 4, best phone design ever... headphones on top. The new placement is just bad design (how it works every day), but again - the whole thing looks like a "Designed in China" phone.

 

[Toadstall]

Back in the saddle

someone at Apple must be looking down on me, excellent - Im back to sticking with Apple, keep the 4S for my pocket every day (small as poss) , and get an iPad mini for travelling. Best of both worlds for me.

For me the full size iPad / Laptop is less than ideal on a plane.

 

[elpamyelhsa]

Dam, Going to need to move some more money into the credit card tomorrow for the iPad Mini as well as the iPhone. Hope they don't release an updated iPad as well!

 

[terraphantm]

Put the iPhone in your pocket this way, you need to turn the phone in your hand (you do this while lifting it) - talk about awkwardly re-juggling (but to each his own i guess)

No you don't. If the screen is facing the inside of the pocket and the bottom is facing up, then the screen will stay in the same orientation relative to your hand as you take it out and use it.

 

[SmoMo]

Tim with new iPhones

 

[celo48]

I wish they were coming with iPhone mini also!

 

[BornAgainApple]

With the new Kindles, I question the wisdom of a non-Retina iPad mini. The larger version is Retina quality, and the smaller phone is Retina quality. Why not adopt it across your entire portable line. It would seem to make more sense.

I doubt you'd notice the difference at 1024x768 resolution on a 7.85" screen.

 

[ncaissie]

no new ipod touch cases?

That is what people are calling the iPad mini.
I think the iPad mini aka jumbo iPod Touch is too small to do anything useful.
I hope you enjoy them. It was already proven with the playbook and galaxy tab 7" that they don't sell. But I guess this is an apple product.

 

[KdParker]

oh cool a longer screen.

What would you want to see....an iPhone mini and make the screen smaller?

 

[Bokes]

It could be a price thing. If the non-retina was $249 and the retina was $299, what would you choose?

Didn't realize you had a crystal ball or was an apple insider.
Unless you've personally used the new iphone, you don't know squat.

A $50 difference- i'll pay for a much better screen.
If you tell me it's non-retina $249 vs Retina $399...I'll take the Non Retina.

I don't see how they keep the price down without some concessions.

 

[blackcrayon]

That is what people are calling the iPad mini.
I think the iPad mini aka jumbo iPod Touch is too small to do anything useful.
I hope you enjoy them. It was already proven with the playbook and galaxy tab 7" that they don't sell. But I guess this is an apple product.

And was it proven with the Kindle Fire that they don't sell? I think Apple needs to cover that market segment, especially since they aren't making a "Samsung Galaxy S-Jumbo" sized iPhone.

 

[ncaissie]

And was it proven with the Kindle Fire that they don't sell? I think Apple needs to cover that market segment, especially since they aren't making a "Samsung Galaxy S-Jumbo" sized iPhone.

The only thing selling the fire is the price point.
There are no quality 7” tables at $200.
That jumbo phone just looks stupid on people. LOL

 

[uknowimright]

looks a tad too wide, hopefully not

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The only thing selling the fire is the price point.
There are no quality 7” tables at $200.
That jumbo phone just looks stupid on people. LOL

Nexus 7

 

[blackcrayon]

The only thing selling the fire is the price point.
There are no quality 7” tables at $200.
That jumbo phone just looks stupid on people. LOL

Well, a similar strategy worked for the iPod. I remember when people didn't think the iPod mini would sell well.

 

[maxluc]

Fragmentation!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jrswizzle]

How would an iPad mini at 1024 x 768 compare to a 7" Kindle HD at 1200 x 800?
Negligible or noticable?

I'm not sure if anyone has said this but I think you'd find a majority of the public wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I for one certainly would.

It would be hilarious though to see all the Android fanboys come out and say "LOOK the Nexus7 and Fire HD have MUCH better resolution screens" after all the sh** they give retina displays.

----------

The only thing selling the fire is the price point.
There are no quality 7” tables at $200.
That jumbo phone just looks stupid on people. LOL

I hate to say it but the N7 is a quality tablet at $200. And if Apple can sell the iPad mini at even $299, they'll sell a crap ton of them.

 

[CausticPuppy]

I've been holding out for the iPad mini. The iPad is just too big...

I think the iPad is the perfect size for a lot of things (especially now that content creation apps are getting rather robust).

But for reading... yeah it's a bit big and heavy. I'd like something more kindle-sized to read in bed.

 

[Rocketman]

I wonder if the current iPad Mini case is a prototype that may be changed to bottom audio jack for new dock and accessory compatibility. That's my guess anyway.

 

[Rouser]

I added more photos to my Flickr gallery. Thought it might be nice to see it compared to a Kindle, and I wanted to show off the top two hole cutouts. Yes, one looks like a Thunderbolt shaped cutout. But no, it is just a bit too small.

 

[sineplex]

I doubt you'd notice the difference at 1024x768 resolution on a 7.85" screen.

didn't everybody notice the difference on the iphone 4 when they released retina for the first time? obviously it's very noticable!

 

[dponte]

Seems like Apple only increased the size of the iPhone 4S to make the battery longer. They obviously could've fitted a larger (longer) screen in the same physical dimensions of the 4S, meaning reduce the sizes of the top and bottom bezels.

Agreed. To be frank, I am all for a 4.5" screen iPhone.

Perhaps two iPhones, as has been discussed by customers, would be best to satisfy the larger-phone haters.

Rather, making the phone dimensions longer to accommodate a slight bump in screen size (in no way making it comparable to the latest screen sizes of phones in the market, IMO), they could have tried to leave the phone size the same and shortened the bezels, as you said...then made the screen size larger.

I wonder if internal parts pushed the dimension design. To which I say, then just make it a bit wider and do the 4.5" screen.

So, by making it longer...with a 'small' screen (bigger than before, but still not very helpful, and longer doesn't really help functionality -just helps 16:9) probably just annoys BOTH camps.

 

[sineplex]

Here is how I see it. Thus far, literally every single first generation mobile apple device has had something pretty big missing from it.The iPhone 1 didn't have 3G support, unlike even dumb phones at the time, the iPod touch 1 didn't have a speaker, unlike every PMP ever made, and the iPad 1 didn't have any cameras, which was a bust for many. All of those deletions were big selling points in their next generations, so let's ask ourselves, what can apple delete this time around. My vote is for the retina display. Apple can sell a bunch of regular non retina minis now and then have something to market next year for people to upgrade to. In addition, the display adds a lot of cost to what should be a cheap device to conquer the Nexus 7 and Kindle fire, but more importantly, takes a massive battery which I don't think can fit in the smaller case. Remember a few months ago when it was found new iPad 2 devices had a die shrunken A5SOC? Why would apple bother to refine something that should be on its way out in favor for the a5x or a6... perhaps it was a test for a new device with a smaller battery... As we all know apple doesn't really care about specs either, such as how they continue to use dual core CPUs in the iPad 3 while most high end android devices are quad core, so I don't see them having any problems reusing the acceptable A5 again. To recap, I see the die shrunken A5 paired with a 1024x768 display for app compatibility and what do we have.... Oh wait, that sounds like an iPad 2, and oh wait, that is still in production so parts are cheap to make increasing revenue.

You know, when you own the whole market as they did with their first gen offerings they could easily gimp the device so you'll find the following years upgrade attractive. But they can't keep doing that anymore with all the competition of samsung, amazon or google. If they give a cheap shoddy camera and a non-retina screen this time, i'll jump ship! - Homey don't play that **** no more! - and it better have at least 1 gig of ram! no more checker boarding. If its "just" a shrunken down ipad2... that's exactly what all the reviewers will call it. - and that to me is lackluster.