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iPad Mini: Apple's first major screw-up

M

MNealBarrett

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 25, 2006
60
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This will not hurt Apple at all immediately, because the Apple fanboys will still buy this thing in large numbers. But this is like that scene near the beginning of "Iron Man 2" when Vanko attacks Stark and, after being defeated, yells out "God bleeds!" The iPad Mini shows that Apple is vulnerable, that they have stopped innovating.

With the last 2 iPhone models and the most recent 2 full-sized iPad models, Apple has been talking about how important screen resolution and pixel density are to the quality of a display. Then, Apple comes out with the iPad Mini, which has a LOWER screen resolution and pixel density than 2 of its compatitors at nearly $140 lower in price. The B&N Nook HD has a 1440x900 resolution and 243 PPI screen, the Kindle Fire has a 1280x800 resolution and 254 PPI screen. Both much better than the iPad Mini's 1024x768 resolution and 163 PPI screen.

I don't care what Tim Cook and Phil Schiller say, with the iPad Mini, Apple screwed up.
 
MNealBarrett said:
This will not hurt Apple at all immediately, because the Apple fanboys will still buy this thing in large numbers. But this is like that scene near the beginning of "Iron Man 2" when Vanko attacks Stark and, after being defeated, yells out "God bleeds!" The iPad Mini shows that Apple is vulnerable, that they have stopped innovating.

With the last 2 iPhone models and the most recent 2 full-sized iPad models, Apple has been talking about how important screen resolution and pixel density are to the quality of a display. Then, Apple comes out with the iPad Mini, which has a LOWER screen resolution and pixel density than 2 of its compatitors at nearly $140 lower in price. The B&N Nook HD has a 1440x900 resolution and 243 PPI screen, the Kindle Fire has a 1280x800 resolution and 254 PPI screen. Both much better than the iPad Mini's 1024x768 resolution and 163 PPI screen.

I don't care what Tim Cook and Phil Schiller say, with the iPad Mini, Apple screwed up.
Click to expand...

As much as I want Retina on the mini, I have to say it's a win.

With supply constraints and if you want retina on the mini it'd have to be 326ppi, which would be highest among all devices, and associated bigger battery, more powerful CPU/GPU and the potential heat problem, probably not doable at this moment.

Would be surprised to see a 326PPI iPad mini in a year or 2 though.

Got to enjoy the size and weight :)
 
Stopped innovating? They keep putting better technology in all their products.

Look at the new iMac. I never once thought the previous iMac looked bad at all. But how thin the new one is, it blew my mind. They are more then innovative.

Apple is a company that has to make sure they are offering products that will keep them in business. I personally got rid of my previous iPad as my main function was to become a reader that would get me all the other great things in one spot. I can't wait for my Mini to arrive which will be much lighter then the ipads I used to have. Much better for reading.
 
denver133 said:
Stopped innovating? They keep putting better technology in all their products.

Look at the new iMac. I never once thought the previous iMac looked bad at all. But how thin the new one is, it blew my mind. They are more then innovative.

Apple is a company that has to make sure they are offering products that will keep them in business. I personally got rid of my previous iPad as my main function was to become a reader that would get me all the other great things in one spot. I can't wait for my Mini to arrive which will be much lighter then the ipads I used to have. Much better for reading.
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Yup.. pretty much what I do with min. I have retina macbook pro, but I still prefer to read on my iPad... hours of reading makes holding the iPad 3 a big endurance workout :)
 
denver133 said:
Stopped innovating? They keep putting better technology in all their products.
Click to expand...

I agree on this point.

As well, I don't think it's necessarily good to get into the trap of innovating for innovation sake. I think there is beauty in minimalism and simplicity. Which is why I think not including NFC was a good idea - It's not popular enough to be useful for most people.
 
i think it's a manufacturing problem for apple

so many products with such high manufacturing demands

the mini 2 will have retina
 
They are saving Retina for the next update of the Mini.

And its the one thing holding me back from getting one now.


The mini is an E-reader because of its size. But not having retina is a bit of a disappointment.

This leaves room for them to Improve.

In the end it makes Apple more money.
 
Yr Blues said:
i think it's a manufacturing problem for apple

so many products with such high manufacturing demands

the mini 2 will have retina
Click to expand...

It's not the same screen like iPhone 5 where they can just cut a bigger piece..

Different PPI will require a different set of line in the plant... probably does not have excess capacity right now with all the new products launched this quarter and the last (almost a complete refresh of the entire product lineup).
 
Poochi said:
It's not the same screen like iPhone 5 where they can just cut a bigger piece..

Different PPI will require a different set of line in the plant... probably does not have excess capacity right now with all the new products launched this quarter and the last (almost a complete refresh of the entire product lineup).
Click to expand...

the PPI would be exactly the same as the iPhone 5, 4 and 4S
 
I do have to agree to some extent. The resolution is a huge let down personally, I can deal with the price.

I have a Blackberry Playbook and the portability wears of, think I would rather the regular iPad.
 
LMAO, we've now come down to using Marvel Movies as reference? You must have missed the part where Tony Stark created a new INNOVATIVE energy source that not only revived him, but improved his life and in the end, beat Vanko.

Let me guess, you're going to refer Mandarin as Samsung in Iron Man 3?

Are we that nerdy, that we now have to refer to comic book based movies as examples?
 
Since its the same res as the iPad 2 there will be no work for the devs in making apps. They are busy with the Retina iPad (catching up), iPhone 5 (new challenge), and if they added a new res to the Mini it would be 3 devices with new res to develop for... I honestly thought this was obvi, and people understood... The whole different res thing is what's screwing Android and Cook doesn't want that.

Of course theres the whole Android makers having the same phone come out in different skins every week thing that makes me feel you are a hypocrite, but... yea. :rolleyes:
 
160 ppi is sharper than iPad 2 - and a benefit of not having retina is longer battery life -

everyone would have preferred retina, I would have liked it, but because of the smaller form factor, it might have meant a lot shorter battery life, because of the thinner battery

It will be interesting to see how a web page renders in portrait, if the text is readable
 
lowlypeace said:
160 ppi is sharper than iPad 2 - and a benefit of not having retina is longer battery life -

everyone would have preferred retina, I would have liked it, but because of the smaller form factor, it might have meant a lot shorter battery life, because of the thinner battery

It will be interesting to see how a web page renders in portrait, if the text is readable
Click to expand...

The hands on reviewers after the keynote all remarked that the display looked great and text was vey smooth.
 
OTACORB said:
The hands on reviewers after the keynote all remarked that the display looked great and text was vey smooth.
Click to expand...

John Gruber had this to say on his site:

"The iPad Mini display seems brighter and to have better contrast than the iPhone 3GS display, but unsurprisingly, rendered text looks exactly like it does on the 3GS."

That's not exactly a ringing endorsement given one of the big things people want a smaller iPad for is reading text, books, magazines.
 
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