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iPad Mini Confirmed to Carry Stereo Speakers
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i got 20 20 . I can't notice it on a iPad 2. Not sure about the mini. But wouldn't the pixels be smaller??9.7 vs 7.9??
Not true. There are two closely-grouped speakers on the top and also two on the bottom (left and right, in portrait mode). The sound is excellent, and stereo is easily perceived when watching movies.
I won't argue for the Kindle HD being better hardware or a better OS, but their sound is stellar in this category and most assuredly better than the iPad mini, if for no other reason than that they actually let you hear stereo sound (and at a good quality).
Wow, Amazon. Also, all iTunes content (besides apps, of course) works on Mac and Windows. "Select Apple products"... yeah right.
By the way, I've gone through TiVO and FiOS boxes. TiVO is probably the better of the two, but Amazon Instant Video was slow on both. I'm using an Apple TV now, which really sucked back when it was first released and lost my trust for a while, and it kills the TiVO and FiOS boxes except for the fact that it has no coax input. And movies from iTunes load way faster than from AIV.
Even more to the point, most iTunes music, in particular, is DRM-free and works on any device that can play the format (so, pretty much any device that can play digital music).
probably not stereo
It turns out the iphone 5 has two grills on the bottom as well. Does that mean it has stereo? No.
If the iPad mini had stereo, Apple would have advertised it as such. According to Apples own tech specs, Amazon is correct.
It turns out the iphone 5 has two grills on the bottom as well. Does that mean it has stereo? No.
If the iPad mini had stereo, Apple would have advertised it as such. According to Apples own tech specs, Amazon is correct.
No, the full-sized iPads, iPods, and iPhones have the weak mono speakers. The better speakers and expandable storage are the two features that Android devices have that I wish Apple devices had.
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Apple doesn't specify whether it has mono or stereo. The second grille on the iPhone 5 is the microphone, and iPads do not have microphones on the bottom. Also, they found that it IS stereo, so you can't really say that they're probably wrong unless the people investigating this are either trolls or total failures.
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Why, you and your guests watch your 70" tv from arms' length? Your eyes see in angles, you need to consider viewing distance to know what it's going to look like.
This, I grant, but at least in my case, it's never seemed too cheap. Yes, it was a $199 device, but my standards for a $199 device aren't high, and it has completely blown me away with what it can do and how fast it can do it. Now, months later, I can get 16GB for the same price.
However, since it's a Nexus 7 and not an iPad mini (or a Kindle Fire HD), I just plug in my USB OTG cable, and my storage for media is effectively infinite. I don't enjoy using external media, but I do enjoy that I can, and at times it has come in handy.
I think you miss the point. If audio is amplified in mono (one speaker), then the source sounds are mixed differently to stereo. So it doesn't matter how far apart they are, the actual audio itself will sound different regardless.
My actual opinion on this is that the speakers should either face the user or a reverberating surface. And they should do so in a stereo manner consistent with the predominate viewing configuration, which they apparently think is "with our amazing new earbuds" or "lying on a desk through your Apple TV". These stereo speakers do neither. They face my palm, or the next guy.
I still don't get it. $429 million is still profit. Sure they have other sources of profit that's much bigger, but it doesn't make it a loss leader. Kind of a very loose ie inaccurate use of the term loss leader.
umm 20/20 do not mean jack at close range. That is for distance viewing only.
My close vision (with in a foot) is really great and with in around 18ish inchs of my face it is better than most people. Now after that 18in or so I am pretty much blind in terms of vision (aka I can not even see the big E as it is just a blurry blob) I am very near sighted. Now I do wear glasses when I read but that is more because I like to hold a book around the my max uncorrected range and it hovers in and out of it so I just wear glasses.
I see your point, but I'm actually interested in ultimately replacing my big iPad with a Mini. I use mine primarily for reading anyway, and the Mini would be perfect for that considering its size and weight.
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1. Because Amazon likes to make things up, apparently.
2. It's not "low res" exactly, it's just low res by comparison- the Kindle Fire HD, the Nexus, and the Retina iPad all have much better picture quality than the Mini.
Since movies are usually watched in landscape mode, those stereo speakers are quite useless unless you have two ears on one side of your head. Pretty much a waste. I'll be using headphones when I watch movies. Stereo speakers are merely a gimmick for tablets.
I have to disagree on expandable storage. iCloud can for all intents and purposes, offer unlimited storage. It's a new (and better IMHO) paradigm and I'm all for the new and out with the old, including traditional file systems and all the complexity it brings. I should have access to all of my files and media content on any device, perfectly synced, wherever I am. Storing files on removable storage would be going backwards IMHO.
Also, what many people don't know, including rabid Android fans who think Google was being forward-thinking, is that Google originally did not want to offer expandable storage (and still don't) because of all the potential security issues and the confusing UI it presents. They were forced to support it in Android as a result of severe flash memory shortages due to Apple gobbling up the world's supply. There's a reason why Nexus 7 doesn't offer microSD, even on the original with its paltry 8 GBs.
It's a concept, stop parsing the words, which are a label. It's just a concept.
This all started out when over a discussion of the difference in business models between Amazon/Google/B&N and Apple. You posited that Apple wants to make a killing on everything they do, when in fact that is not true, their major source of revenue is hardware, everything else is there to create value in their hardware. The article link I provided even stated they make 1% from the App Store, which is hardly a "killing" as you suggest, it's (as the article states) merely a profitable "loss leader." The concept remains true.
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I appreciate that Apple didn't mention this "feature" during the keynote, or in any promotional materials. Clearly they understand how worthless it is.
Sure, if you have room, put it in, it can't hurt anything.
But really, stereo speakers on a tablet or phone are useless. Stereo works by playing varied sounds into each ear. If you have only two tiny speakers, right next to each other, firing sound from the same direction--you will hear mono anyway.
This isn't a knock on Apple's implementation, it's a simple acoustic fact. Any manufacturer who includes it has no business claiming it as a "feature". It's simply a set of components. Perhaps it's superior on paper, but in practice, will sound no different than one larger speaker.
Sure, if you have room, put it in, it can't hurt anything.
But really, stereo speakers on a tablet or phone are useless. Stereo works by playing varied sounds into each ear. If you have only two tiny speakers, right next to each other, firing sound from the same direction--you will hear mono anyway.
This isn't a knock on Apple's implementation, it's a simple acoustic fact. Any manufacturer who includes it has no business claiming it as a "feature". It's simply a set of components. Perhaps it's superior on paper, but in practice, will sound no different than one larger speaker.
iCloud is not even close to a replacement for expandable storage. It's not like you get extra space. It's just a backup and a way for your stuff to get synced to other devices, which would be useful for me if it worked with Snow Leopard.
And iCloud still has issues anyway. You can't even access much of your iCloud data without getting an iOS device and pairing it with your iCloud account. Your iCloud backup is inaccessible except through a fresh iOS device. To give an example of how ridiculous this is, I had to reinstall iOS just to get some data that I lost from my iPhone by accident! WTF
My friend has a Nexus with a MicroSD slot. His phone may suck, but at least he can upgrade his memory whenever he wants to. I have a so-called "16GB" iPhone. Not only does it cost way more for iPhones with more storage, but you're stuck with whatever you buy. Then you're really screwed when you need more space for songs or whatever. I don't see what's so confusing UI-wise about allowing the user to supply his own memory card. It doesn't affect the UI at all.
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Some here have said that it is different even if they are next to each other. But how do you know that they're next to each other? I see two grilles, and I've heard that neither of those is the mic, so it's likely that the speakers are on either side.
iCloud only gives you 5GB for free. Which shared across all your devices. Sure it doesn't count towards iTunes media, but that doesn't help if you purchase your movies or music elsewhere. Plus this is subject to the whims of the publishers (if they pull the content then it can no longer be redownloaded). Also the lack of a file system is problematic when creating or publishing works, since moving files between different apps is difficult if not impossible at times. And when it comes to accessing those files anywhere... Well most carriers nowadays have a strick data cap. And what if you're on a plane or boat?
But with the smaller dock connector on the new iPad, it would have been easy for them to add another speaker, since the iPad case had to be redesigned for the smaller dock connector. And stereo would be more noticeable on a bigger device. I don't know why an additional speaker wasn't included.
Since movies are usually watched in landscape mode, those stereo speakers are quite useless unless you have two ears on one side of your head. Pretty much a waste. I'll be using headphones when I watch movies. Stereo speakers are merely a gimmick for tablets.
Speakers when am on voice calls using Skype etc (maybe ... when driving or in my bedroom only).
Using speakers for music or watching movies in phones / tablets / laptops is dumb, it's like listening to boombox or portable radios. That's why Amazon will never become number 1 in tablets, mark my words.
Stereo in my ***!
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