iPad Mini Display Judged 'Very Capable', But Falls Short of iPad and Android Competitors

[kas23]

Actually it does have a better screen

http://www.imore.com/ipad-mini-vs-ipad-2-vs-ipad-4-vs-iphone-5-display-density-macro

iPad 2 at 132 ppi
iPad mini at 163 ppi
iPad 4 at 264 ppi
iPhone 5 at 326 ppi

That's if you just judge it by pixel density only. But, the closer you hold these devices to your eyes, the worse the pixels appear. And the iPad mini was designed to be held closer than the regular iPad, thus negating any bump in dpi. Then there's the question whether, under normal use, the naked eye can differentiate between 132 and 163. But, if you're going to argue about specs on the Mini, you're going to find yourself on thin ice.

 

[jsw]

If one thing came out of he Samsung vs Apple trial, it was that Samsung definitely wasn't 'selling' what they 'shipped'...the numbers don't lie. Shipped vs Sold was vastly different.

So yah...I'm going to keep believing the facts, or myth as you call it, that Android sales aren't that good.

Over time, the numbers do add up, because resellers who bought too many of product x aren't going to buy as many of product y. The system will self-level.

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I doubt much...because it didn't happen barely at all with the iPad 3 or 4.

The iPad 4 is about 10% thicker and almost 10% heavier than the iPad 2. It's not significant, but I don't know if that qualifies as "barely at all" either.

 

[linuxcooldude]

As for your argument, flawed, and no, the iPad Mini is hardly a BMW, they DID screw up, the are loosing market share as proven on Mac Rumors front page today, it is loosing to Android devices, you can't really include Microsoft as they are too new. If anything the Samsung, Google, Amazon tablets are Audi's.

Your argument is seriously flawed. Android is not a device, it is an operating system.

So which single device by what manufacture sells more tablets then the iPad?!?...Tumbleweed...thought so...getting tired of people trying to compare the iPad with dozens of tablets made by dozens of different manufactures put together. Try comparing it to one tablet made by one manufacture...doing so will tell you the iPad out sells them all.

 

[nickftw8686]

Your argument is seriously flawed. Android is not a device, it is an operating system.

So which single device by what manufacture sells more tablets then the iPad?!?...Tumbleweed...thought so...getting tired of people trying to compare the iPad with dozens of tablets made by dozens of different manufactures put together. Try comparing it to one tablet made by one manufacture...doing so will tell you the iPad out sells them all.

uh oooh, busted out the tumbleweed lol

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I think that's what it was. It had a Windows emblem on it. Maybe it wasn't a Surface, but are there any other tablets out there running windows?

I think its asus and acer maybe have windows tablets out now at bestbuy, I Think the surface is still MS store only.

 

[coolfactor]

Could have been even more if they had been more aggressive with pricing. After all the rumors, quite a demand had been built up for the Mini by the time it was released, so I suspect that sales will drop off quite a bit after the initial surge.

Now this is not to say that it's not a delightful device to use, but only that Apple missed the mark and may have lost the opportunity to obliterate the competition in the tablet market.

You are missing the mark. Apple is not out to obliterate the market. Market share is not their goal, but a healthy market share is a reflection of what they are doing and why. That's the only reason they share the numbers, to illustrate that their efforts are being successful. It's a measure of success, not a destination.

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As for your argument, flawed, and no, the iPad Mini is hardly a BMW, they DID screw up, the are loosing market share as proven on Mac Rumors front page today, it is loosing to Android devices, you can't really include Microsoft as they are too new.

...

So if Apple is loosing it's market share to it's competitors, it sells a weak lower specced higher priced competitor in reaction to the market, how have they not screwed up?

...

If Apple expected a reaction the same as the iPhone, and instead got a luke warm steady ish stream of buyers, they screwed up and they know it.

I should also add that speaking of specs, with the 9.7" iPad now WAY WAY WAY more powerful, it does make the Mini look even more like a bit of a wimp.

Wow, I don't even know where to begin. If you know how to run Apple, why aren't you? You realize that market share is not their primary goal, right? Sure, maybe their unit ratio compared to the competition is declining, but are their profits? Amazon is losing money on every device they sell. Apple would *never* play that game. At the end of the day, the survivor is the healthiest one, not the one with the largest numbers.

 

[i.mac]

Very much so.

Apple (only) 162 ppi

Nexus 7 ..... 216 ppi


So Apple charges a whopping $329 for a tablet that is widely reported to cost approx $188 to build, while equipping said tablet with a low res 1024x768 is just shameful.

Yet the problem is Apple knows no shame, nor cares.

It's as though they are forcing out some of their most loyal, avid long time user base simply because of their egotistical moves.

What are you complaining about? Apple is a business. Have you seen their 'disapointing' profits? Your comment does not match reality.

 

[linuxcooldude]

And the iPad mini was designed to be held closer than the regular iPad, thus negating any bump in dpi

Show me where Apple said they designed it to be held closer to the face. The iPad does zoom in you know, negating the need to hold it closer to your face.

 

[Maschil]

Thanks for that intelligent post....not an Apple user I see by your signature!

use to be... LOL.. stop hating...

 

[cycomiko]

No, no no no no no.. Android figures are always sold 'to retail outlets'.. they never reflect sold to PEOPLE.. get your facts straight.. Samsung and others use a very deceptive form of hype.. and why many have learned to ignore their sold numbers and look to web browser traffic.

When Apple reports sales, it's to individuals. It's not some box sitting n a warehouse.. waiting, hoping, to actually be bought by a consumer. ROFL!

Huge warehouses stacked full of android devices, as large internationals have, and continue to, puchased them, inspite of never ever selling them.

/s

 

[vartanarsen]

Steve said it boys...Mini iPad was a mistake

 

[Yumbo]

I can't deny this at all. My 12" iBook G4 and 15" iMac G4 carry this resolution.

However, I use both all the time, and I think the resolutions are fine. When compacted that down onto a 7.9" display, I would imagine it looks just fine. We've just been spoiled by Retina Displays; that's all.

It looks horrible with jaggies in portrait mode. FACT.
Doesn't happen on a MacBook.

 

[macfacts]

3 million is the iPad Mini + iPad 4th gen.

Also, the sales are over 33 days, not 3 days, cause everyone that bought a ipad3 got to trade it in for ipad4.

 

[Yumbo]

I get it. It's not "retina", but it's still a capable device with pretty good resolution.

I think "relflectance" could be more problematic, as I see the mini as a potential draw for the e-reader crowd. No real data for that assumption, just my two cents.

It has jaggies on text in portrait mode.
When was the last time we saw that on an Apple product?

 

[haruhiko]

I can bite the bullet for the screen resolution but the color gamut is terrible. iPhone 5 and iPad 3/4 are close to 100% and the mini only has 62% accuracy? WTF.

 

[fridgeymonster3]

I'm curious to see how the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" and Nexus 10 screens do in tests similar to these. The more competition the better. Google and Amazon seem to be doing a good job of pushing Apple to innovate further, which can be seen to the reaction to certain aspects of the iPad mini. I'm all for competition as it'll benefit the consumer.

 

[Jensend]

The iPad Mini has a better quality display than 99% of notebooks and most desktop displays. From this comparison, I'd rate its display better than the Nexus 7 and worse than the Fire HD.

But it's still disappointing coming from Apple. All of their previous iOS displays have been among the best available at release.

 

[DVK916]

That's if you just judge it by pixel density only. But, the closer you hold these devices to your eyes, the worse the pixels appear. And the iPad mini was designed to be held closer than the regular iPad, thus negating any bump in dpi. Then there's the question whether, under normal use, the naked eye can differentiate between 132 and 163. But, if you're going to argue about specs on the Mini, you're going to find yourself on thin ice.

Not really, the higher dpi means it is no worst when you hold it closer to your face than the ipad2. Spec wise the Ipad Mini isn't bad, outside of the screen it is no worst than the N7.

 

[anoobis]

Falls Short

It's fine...no, really...it's fine...can't really tell the difference...seriously, no, seriously, most people won't even notice. No, yeah, it's better than the Kindle HD and Nexus 7...it's fine

 

[xofruitcake]

Over time, the numbers do add up, because resellers who bought too many of product x aren't going to buy as many of product y. The system will self-level.

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.

Until you need to do a final clearance and sell the remaining inventory at a loss. Remember RIMM PlaybooK? they did exactly that. Fill the channel initially and then when they finally admitted that Playbook did not sell well, they reduced the price a couple time and eventually took a bath and has to eat all the loss. That is the mother of all fears for all hardware manufacturer.

 

[DVK916]

I own am iPad 2 and have compared the screens side-by-side. The mini does not have a better screen. And why are you waiting for November 26th to get it. I bet you can get one much sooner by walking into an Apple Store.

There are all sold out here for hundreds of miles. So no you can't just walk into a store and get one. Your statement shows how really clueless you are.

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Also, the sales are over 33 days, not 3 days, cause everyone that bought a ipad3 got to trade it in for ipad4.

And you have proof these sales are included, and that everyone returned it in that time period. FYI only a few stores allowed people to exchange and it was at their disgretion. So please stop making stuff up.

 

[jon3543]

I'm confused as to how you reach your 170 ppi figure, since the text is rendered at 216 ppi, and there's a very small amount more of it horizontally (due to a very small amount more pixels), and a fair but more of it vertically when comparing an 800x1280 screen to a 768x1024 one.

Granted, the letters themselves are tinier, but there are more of them.

The 4:3 7.85" Mini is 4.7" wide (portrait orientation).

The 16:10 7" Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD are 3.7" wide.

The web page is scaled to fit horizontally with no text reflowing or other formatting changes, so it's like pure zooming.

3.7/4.7 = .79, which is the scaling factor between Mini and 7" tablet in this scenario.

To keep it simple, assume a character is 1" wide on the Mini. The Mini obviously has 163 pixels to render this character. That same character will be only .79" wide on the Nexus, which thus has .79*216 or 170 pixels to render it. So the Nexus can't render the glyph with much more fidelity than the Mini in this scenario, which applies to any document that is scaled to fit with no reflowing of text, such that the only difference is the apparent magnification.

In general, instead of having 216/163 or 1.33x the pixel density of the Mini, the 7" tablet really has only 170/163 or 1.04x the pixel density in this scenario. Doing the same thing for landscape mode, the Nexus improves to 204 PPI while the Mini stays 163 PPI. However, looking at it from a different angle, rotating to landscape does perform an implicit zoom, the text will be 1.33x bigger when the Mini is rotated, and readability benefits because the text will be bigger and rendered with more pixels, so it's not like the Mini doesn't improve when you rotate it to landscape.

 

[xofruitcake]

It's fine...no, really...it's fine...can't really tell the difference...seriously, no, seriously, most people won't even notice. No, yeah, it's better than the Kindle HD and Nexus 7...it's fine

The real interesting question here is what do those 2m to 2 1/2M (the current analyst estimation of the Ipad mini sales) customers see in the mini that they will pay the higher price for an inferior screen and inferior CPU. And Mini is supply constrained in reservation now. For the remaining of the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD and Ipad mini product cycle, the same dynamic will continue. And how would Mini affect Nexus 7 and Fire HD sales for the holiday session.

It really doesn't matter what you and I believe are the important factors in choosing a tablet. So long as enough customer believe Apple made the right design decision and execution, Mini is golden. If Apple can sell 25-30m Ipad 2+Ipad 3+ Ipad 4+ Ipad mini in 4q , they are doing well in the tablet space. What will be a good sales number for Kindle fire HD and Nexus 7/10 if spec is all customers should care?

 

[Glideslope]

I can bite the bullet for the screen resolution but the color gamut is terrible. iPhone 5 and iPad 3/4 are close to 100% and the mini only has 62% accuracy? WTF.

GF2 is not quite ready. It was a trade off.

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The 4:3 7.85" Mini is 4.7" wide (portrait orientation).

The 16:10 7" Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD are 3.7" wide.

The web page is scaled to fit horizontally with no text reflowing or other formatting changes, so it's like pure zooming.

3.7/4.7 = .79, which is the scaling factor between Mini and 7" tablet in this scenario.

To keep it simple, assume a character is 1" wide on the Mini. The Mini obviously has 163 pixels to render this character. That same character will be only .79" wide on the Nexus, which thus has .79*216 or 170 pixels to render it. So the Nexus can't render the glyph with much more fidelity than the Mini in this scenario, which applies to any document that is scaled to fit with no reflowing of text, such that the only difference is the apparent magnification.

In general, instead of having 216/163 or 1.33x the pixel density of the Mini, the 7" tablet really has only 170/163 or 1.04x the pixel density in this scenario. Doing the same thing for landscape mode, the Nexus improves to 204 PPI while the Mini stays 163 PPI. However, looking at it from a different angle, rotating to landscape does perform an implicit zoom, the text will be 1.33x bigger when the Mini is rotated, and readability benefits because the text will be bigger and rendered with more pixels, so it's not like the Mini doesn't improve when you rotate it to landscape.

Yes, this is nice, and quite seamless.

 

[Tigger92]

Yes, good enough. I agree with this. All tablets are "good enough".

Yes I used one, and YES the iPad 2 screen is fuzzy, just like the iPad mini screen. It is like looking through a dirty window compared to Retina iPad (with Samsung screen).

Fair enough...I just have an iPad 2 and never thought it looked fuzzy. I do however like the retina of the iPad3/4 and look forward to getting one.

 

[DanHolderman]

The problem with the iPad Mini is the price point. The Mini isn't really revolutionary, just a regular iPad...only slightly smaller.

I was planning on buying a iPad Mini for my children, but I think the better bargain is an iPad 2.

I love Apple and want to see great things for the company. I loved the "wow" feeling I used get when Apple would introduce their new products. The iPhone 5 and iPad Mini didn't "wow" me, there just wasn't anything that new with them. Apple has to do more than just make a slightly faster product if they want to remain on top. iOS is stagnant, Siri is a joke and Apple's new maps is a disaster!

I remember when I first saw the iPhone introduced and I was amazed! I didn't own an iPhone yet, but had that feeling of "I can't live without that!". Apple needs to harness that again with their new products.

I don't think Apple would be doing what it's doing now if Steve Jobs was still here.