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iPad Mini 4 still worth it?

MrGimper said:
I still have my iPad Mini 4 128GB even tho I bought an Air 2, and then upgraded to the 9.7 Pro, and then upgraded to the 10.5 Pro.

Can't bring myself to let it go lol
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Same. Im thinking about buying a wall mount for my mini4 to control things or a quick music/yt player. Its the perfect size for a control panel.
 
As a funny data point, I was in a local Apple Store this weekend and noticed that a lot of the staff were using Mini 4 iPads rather than a larger model.
 
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Just got back from a week overseas, using only my cellular mini as my only device - Phone left at home on WiFi. I like not having my phone on me while on holiday so work can't ring me, but I still get SMS's.

I still love it. It's the perfect size if you travel.
 
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pika2000 said:
People wanting a 7.9" iPad is kinda stuck with the sole SKU of a 128GB mini 4. I say only get it if you really need a 7.9" iPad.
I have a mini 2, and I don't think it's worth the money to "upgrade" to a 3-gen behind mini 4. Having said that, I might get a refurbished mini 4 once Apple finally discontinue the mini lineup altogether. In the meantime, I really am hoping for an A10 mini.
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I'm in that boat. My senior citizen mom LOVES her Mini. It's her favorite device. It's small enough for her to fit in her purse for bible study/church. She takes it when she visits family. But it's an original Mini and definitely showing it's age. She's not a power user at all. She could really get by with a cellular Mini 2. I was a bit surprised to find our only option is a Mini 4. It seems like this segment has been completely abandoned.
 
mantan said:
I'm in that boat. My senior citizen mom LOVES her Mini. It's her favorite device. It's small enough for her to fit in her purse for bible study/church. She takes it when she visits family. But it's an original Mini and definitely showing it's age. She's not a power user at all. She could really get by with a cellular Mini 2. I was a bit surprised to find our only option is a Mini 4. It seems like this segment has been completely abandoned.
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It's "abandoned" thanks to Amazon throwing crap plastic for almost nothing into the market, creating the consumer expectation of a small tablet to be a cheap tablet for kids. Can't blame Apple not being interested in that market anymore, and creating a more niche "pro" market instead.

Check Apple refurbished. You should still be able to find the mini 2 or smaller capacity mini 4 for less.
 
mantan said:
I'm in that boat. My senior citizen mom LOVES her Mini. It's her favorite device. It's small enough for her to fit in her purse for bible study/church. She takes it when she visits family. But it's an original Mini and definitely showing it's age. She's not a power user at all. She could really get by with a cellular Mini 2. I was a bit surprised to find our only option is a Mini 4. It seems like this segment has been completely abandoned.
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I love my Mini, too, but at this point unless your mom is doing nothing more than reading email on it, I would spend a little more for a Mini 4 (and you can get refurbs to drive the price down a little bit). I owned a Mini 2 until recently, alongside my Mini 4, and while I may be a little more impatient than your mom, I found it somewhat frustrating.
 
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mantan said:
I'm in that boat. My senior citizen mom LOVES her Mini. It's her favorite device. It's small enough for her to fit in her purse for bible study/church. She takes it when she visits family. But it's an original Mini and definitely showing it's age. She's not a power user at all. She could really get by with a cellular Mini 2. I was a bit surprised to find our only option is a Mini 4. It seems like this segment has been completely abandoned.
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Best buy keeps putting the mini 4 on sale for $299. I used one of those sales to upgrade from the mini 2 to the mini 4. I'm sure they'll do it again for Black Friday, if not before then. It's definitely worth the upgrade, and I imagine even more so from the mini 1.
 
ipad mini is the best in term of size. not too big and surely not killing your eyes. i wonder when apple would make ipad mini 5 or something. it seems like it's going to be discontinued.
 
Still only use my iPad Air 2 at home but I take my iPad mini 4 with me almost everywhere I go. Especially school.
 
Aspasia said:
I find my mini 4 cellular quite awesome. It's with me 24/7 - and can make and receive phone calls
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For the phone function I use Skype. But Skype cannot receive calls. Which application are you using for that?
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Channan said:
I take my iPad mini 4 with me almost everywhere I go. Especially school.
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newellj said:
My case exactly. Love the Mini format.
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Same here. iPad mini 4 almost always with me while out. But I imagine that for people with large smartphones, an iPad mini is much less interesting, even if the display is much larger in the mini than in a phone.
 
PBMB said:
For the phone function I use Skype. But Skype cannot receive calls. Which application are you using for that?
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Same here. iPad mini 4 almost always with me while out. But I imagine that for people with large smartphones, an iPad mini is much less interesting, even if the display is much larger in the mini than in a phone.
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Yes....but I tried a Plus iPhone (6 Plus) thinking I could combine my iPhone and my Mini. For me, it just didn't work. it was too big for times when I just want a phone, and didn't have enough screen real estate or the same functionality (especially in Mail) that the iPad native app had. I am not saying anyone else needs to come to the same conclusion, but for me a bigger phone just didn't replace the Mini (or the phone).
 
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newellj said:
but for me a bigger phone just didn't replace the Mini (or the phone).
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Good to hear 🙂. I hope there are many others like you 😀. The mini is the only device I would consider taking outside for tablet-oriented use. The other iPads are too big, a phone is too small.

One day I was out with a friend, walking. She wanted to find her route back to home and she launched Google Maps on her phone (under Android). What an adventure to find anything on this thing. Fortunately I had my mini and the job was done in seconds.
 
Yeah, I have an iPhone 6S Plus. Not anything like my iPad mini. I use my phone as a phone. If I want to read, view, or browse for anything, I grab my mini. I opted for the LTE version so that I could have GPS and data if I need it. I love the portability of it. It is perfect for my DJI Phantom drone as well!
 
GGJstudios said:
Of course Skype can receive calls. Who told you differently?
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Sorry, poor phrasing from my part. Skype does not offer in my area a local number to call. Only one third of the countries in Europe are covered. So, for me Skype is not an option to consider for receiving calls.
 
PBMB said:
Sorry, poor phrasing from my part. Skype does not offer in my area a local number to call. Only one third of the countries in Europe are covered. So, for me Skype is not an option to consider for receiving calls.
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Ahh, that makes sense. Yes, it's still limited in many countries.
 
GGJstudios said:
Since you appear to not be reading the previous posts, I'll spell it out for you again. Some of us have posted that for our personal needs, the differences in the display between the 3 and the 4 are not noticeable to us. I can't see any difference between 1080p and 4K. That doesn't mean there isn't a difference. It just means that the difference is of no importance to me. You can talk about color gamut all day, but if I can't see the difference when holding a 3 and 4 side-by-side (which I have on several occasions), then the display difference is not a feature I'm concerned about. This all relates to the earlier discussion about buying a 4 now (with minimal noticeable difference) or holding out for a 5, in hopes that it has more features that would be usable.
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Okay, great, YOU can't tell that there's a difference. And you've already admitted that the fact that you not being able to tell the difference DOESN'T preclude there being one (which there most certainly is). So, what?

GGJstudios said:
I'm not confusing anything. Yes, Apple will decide whether or not to discontinue the iPad mini, regardless of what the public wants. My point earlier is that they have not yet done so. The 9.7" iPad is not a replacement for the mini. It is another model with a different form factor, regardless of how it's priced. The mini remains (for the moment) as the smallest iPad available. The 9.7" did not replace the mini in that capacity.
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1. Apple has NEVER narrowed down a product to a single model (give or take cellular and body colors) without updating it AND SUBSEQUENTLY given it an update. Furthermore, there is no reason for them to break that tradition, given the way they do business. Therefore, your point about them not having discontinued the mini is utterly moot. It's not a product with a future.

2. Your point about it being a different form factor is utterly irrelevant because even though I agree with you, they're not looking at it from the stand point of form factor, so that point doesn't matter AT ALL. They're looking at it from the standpoint of price points. Price points is what matters TO APPLE. Not form factors. So - to them - the 32GB 9.7" iPad replaced the 32GB iPad mini 4 as the cheapest iPad on sale today. Preference and physical distinctions between the two models of iPad don't matter to Apple.
 
Yebubbleman said:
1. Apple has NEVER narrowed down a product to a single model (give or take cellular and body colors) without updating it AND SUBSEQUENTLY given it an update. Furthermore, there is no reason for them to break that tradition, given the way they do business. Therefore, your point about them not having discontinued the mini is utterly moot. It's not a product with a future.
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The exception to this pattern is the iPod video/classic. Its offerings went from multiple storage capacity to single capacity, back to multiple, back to single, and then to a higher single capacity.

But more importantly, there is a difference with what Apple has done here with the mini. In the past whenever Apple has reduced a product to a single capacity before ending it, it has always been the lowest capacity, because there were newer, better, more expensive versions of essentially the same product, and Apple wanted to provide a cheaper option. With the mini, Apple has broken the pattern and done something new by keeping he highest capacity and priced it higher than the bigger 9.7 iPad.

With the broken pattern and a new precedent, we can’t confidently say one way or another what Apple is going to do with the mini.
 
@Yebubbleman @subjonas I get "history" but the idea that Apple management is somehow bound by the laws of physics is really a stretch for me. I will just say that we'll see what they do when they announce it. I'd love an updated and up-to-date Mini. I'm not going to old by breath, but I'm not going to give up maintaining at least a little hope here.
 
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