iPad mini iPad Mini vs Nexus 7 (2013) - Honest Comparison

[Doth]

This is nothing but a troll thread.

The Nexus 7 screen destroys the iPad mini screen in every aspect... but this doesn't bother you.

So then you are presented with real world benchmarks, conducted by a reputable source and with good methodology and you dismiss them as a "pretty chart". Let me guess, you haven't actually done any proper testing of battery life, the iPad mini just "feels" longer? 🙄

Sickyboy, Reread the original post. I said they both had their advantages. I am not sure why people got hung up on battery life, it wasn't even something I listed as a top benefit. I used them both in identical settings today, for exactly the same amount of time. That is a real world test that means more to me than any chart. As for the screen resolution, the screen resolution on a device this size is not an important factor to me as I am not a gamer and I tend to watch movies on larger devices. The other features are more important. To others, I am sure the screen is a great benefit (apparently as long as you turn down the brightness to save battery).

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Note that the last years Ipad 4 A6X core outperforms this years Nexus 7...

uhhh, it's basically DOUBLE the price.

 

[tmarks11]

uhhh, it's basically DOUBLE the price.

let me help you with your reading comprehension...

Note that the last years Ipad 4 A6X core outperforms this years Nexus 7... so if the Ipad mini arrives next month with the 2012 A6 or A6X, it will "eat the nexus 7 for breakfast".

My point being that when the 2013 Mini is released in a few weeks, even if it has LAST YEARS Ipad 4 A6X core, it will still beat this years NEXUS 7... and not at double the price.

 

[Doth]

I thought I would have to defend the Nexus 7 to the Apple fanboys on a Mac Forum, not the iPad Mini to Android fanboys.

In the end, they are both great devices with different strengths and weaknesses. Although, I enjoy both, for my purposes, I prefer the IPad Mini.


Typed on my Nexus 7,
Don

 

[Vanilla35]

uhhh, it's basically DOUBLE the price.

Dude, learn to read previous comments. You don't even know what that was referring to...

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I thought I would have to defend the Nexus 7 to the Apple fanboys on a Mac Forum, not the iPad Mini to Android fanboys.

In the end, they are both great devices with different strengths and weaknesses. Although, I enjoy both, for my purposes, I prefer the IPad Mini.


Typed on my Nexus 7,
Don

I agree with all of your assertions you've made so far and I do not find them to be biased in the slightest degree. I think there are android fans here that are getting a little butthurt because google services drain the ____ out of your battery while working in the background, while iOS6 doesn't yet allow apps to work in the background (besides notifications - doesn't really count). With iOS7, there is true background running apps, so the battery life comparison would be more suitable then. However iOS7 "promises" to best android in this situation, because they know android does this and the result is inefficient battery life while in standby mode. However, we have yet to see if they've done it better

 

[Doth]

I agree with all of your assertions you've made so far and I do not find them to be biased in the slightest degree. I think there are android fans here that are getting a little butthurt because google services drain the ____ out of your battery while working in the background, while iOS6 doesn't yet allow apps to work in the background (besides notifications - doesn't really count). With iOS7, there is true background running apps, so the battery life comparison would be more suitable then. However iOS7 "promises" to best android in this situation, because they know android does this and the result is inefficient battery life while in standby mode. However, we have yet to see if they've done it better

Thanks, Vanilla. I was just reporting my experiences with both as honestly as I could. I still think that if you wanted one tablet for two or more people, the only real option is an Android tablet. I really wish that Apple would adopt the multi-user feature.

 

[blackhand1001]

There. I fixed it for you.

Of course the 11 month old device gets beaten by the 6 week old device. What do you expect?

Of course, Apple could have made the mini a bit more competitive by putting a 2012 A6 CPU in it instead of the 2011 A5 CPU...

Note that the last years Ipad 4 A6X core outperforms this years Nexus 7... so if the Ipad mini arrives next month with the 2012 A6 or A6X, it will "eat the nexus 7 for breakfast".

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7231/the-nexus-7-2013-review/3

Take a look at the size of the battery on the ipad 4. Its 4 times the size of the battery on the nexus 7. (The a6x wouldn't work in a small tablet) Also the a6x does not beat the snapdragon 600 (underclocked 1.5ghz) in cpu bound tests. The nexus 7 scores 2700 on geekbench vs 1650 for the ipad 4. At the full 1.7ghz the snapdragon 600 does over 3000 on geekbench in the htc one etc. It does about 3200-3300 in the galaxy s4 (1.9ghz).

 

[Vanilla35]

Take a look at the size of the battery on the ipad 4. Its 4 times the size of the battery on the nexus 7. (The a6x wouldn't work in a small tablet) Also the a6x does not beat the snapdragon 600 (underclocked 1.5ghz) in cpu bound tests. The nexus 7 scores 2700 on geekbench vs 1650 for the ipad 4. At the full 1.7ghz the snapdragon 600 does over 3000 on geekbench in the htc one etc. It does about 3200-3300 in the galaxy s4 (1.9ghz).

What, are you processing 1080p videos on your Nexus? 😀

 

[leftywamumonkey]

The QUAD CORE snapdragon processor really does the nexus 7.2 model well in terms of being fluid and i witnessed barely any lag in UI navigation.

The biggest fault is the 7" 16:10 aspect ratio because it is just too narrow for web browsing which I purchased the device for. It's superb resolution and aspect ratio is fantastic for youtube and movies.

That's really what does it for me. I prefer the 4:3 aspect ratio of the mini since I'd like to read PDFs on it.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

let me help you with your reading comprehension...



My point being that when the 2013 Mini is released in a few weeks, even if it has LAST YEARS Ipad 4 A6X core, it will still beat this years NEXUS 7... and not at double the price.

No, I thought you meant that, but you're off in dream land if you think Apple will equip the mini with that SoC and keep the price the same (assuming it gets a "retina" screen". 😉

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I agree with all of your assertions you've made so far and I do not find them to be biased in the slightest degree.

Biased people rarely consider people who are similarly biased to be biased.

 

[Cyloncat]

Cyloncat, I didn't intend my post to be biased one way or another, it got slightly derailed on the subject of battery life. I think both devices have some positive attributes. Both are very easy to set up, especially if you are into their respective ecosystems. However, once set up within the Google Apps, the iPad holds it's own in the Google Environment.

No, your post was an interesting and fair comparison. My question with why people like Android was a broader one. I know a lot of Android fans, including coworkers, and I've done some programming on Android, but I just don't feel the love.

 

[Doth]

No, your post was an interesting and fair comparison. My question with why people like Android was a broader one. I know a lot of Android fans, including coworkers, and I've done some programming on Android, but I just don't feel the love.

Thank you, I thought I was being unbiased as one can be while basing the comparison on my own real life experience as the owner of both devices. It just seems there is one person responding to this forum that does not view it that way and views my comparison as an attack on all things Android. Maybe it is a language barrier.

I did realize this morning that I did not turn off the LTE on the iPad during yesterday's battery comparison. Not sure if that had an impact.


Don

 

[Mockenrue]

Comparing battery life in "real world experience" depends a great deal on battery management. Is it possible that the OP knows the battery saving tricks for iOS but not Android?

My last two phones were iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S3 (current). Both phones had awful battery life when I first got them. Both ended up being great when I put some time into configuring them for good battery life. With lightish use, I can go a full 2 days on my S3 now. Even my heaviest use still easily gets me through the day with about 30% left. When I first set it up with all my stuff, the whole battery would drain overnight.

Android allows for way more flexibility and configuration with battery management. I love the fact that my phone automatically enables and disables WiFi depending on where I am and changes behavior overnight. The flip side is that Android can drain quickly if you let everything run wild, whereas iOS devices are usually more conservative out-of-the box.

 

[Doth]

Comparing battery life in "real world experience" depends a great deal on battery management. Is it possible that the OP knows the battery saving tricks for iOS but not Android?

Wow, another comment about the battery. It was the second to last attribute I said that I liked about the Mini. I am not sure why it is the one thing that everybody is focusing on. Did anybody notice that I also said the Gmail App is much better on the iOS device?

It is true, I do not know any special Android battery tricks, but I also didn't use any on the Mini. On both devices, I had the screens set to Auto-Dim, and on both I had the BT turned off. Actually, I turned off the Live Wallpapers on the N7 a day after getting it because I found it to use a lot of battery. That is the extent of any battery savings tricks I used on either device.

Don

 

[tmarks11]

No, I thought you meant that, but you're off in dream land if you think Apple will equip the mini with that SoC and keep the price the same (assuming it gets a "retina" screen". 😉

Actually, I don't think the 2013 mini will have a retina screen. The Nexus 7 will still be in the lead in that respect. And I don't think we will see the A7 in the mini either (A6 in all probability).

I would pay full ipad price for both, but will get neither. And still will buy a mini anyway. Apple has my number.

 

[Ddyracer]

Ddyracer, They are both set to auto dim, it appears the iPad Mini manages the setting better. In the 7 hours, they both were used for less than 30 minutes, so it was standby time. If the N7 burns battery because of the screen setting while it is in standby mode, I wouldn't call that a cool factor nor that I admitted to draining the battery.

Sorry you feel the N7 has a crappy battery.

Auto dim can vary on devices. Ah you say standby time. Android isn't great there. Turning off wifi will help though.

Having widgets off your screen will help as well.

No, I never said it had bad battery, its decent actually if you use it sparingly, don't make assumptions please.

 

[Vanilla35]

Biased people rarely consider people who are similarly biased to be biased.

Hahaha you're right.

No, I thought you meant that, but you're off in dream land if you think Apple will equip the mini with that SoC and keep the price the same (assuming it gets a "retina" screen". 😉

On this one you're totally wrong though, the mini will have either an A6x chip or higher. Most likely the A6x though. Whether the price remains the same, or up $20-50 is questionable though.

 

[Vanilla35]

Comparing battery life in "real world experience" depends a great deal on battery management. Is it possible that the OP knows the battery saving tricks for iOS but not Android?

My last two phones were iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S3 (current). Both phones had awful battery life when I first got them. Both ended up being great when I put some time into configuring them for good battery life. With lightish use, I can go a full 2 days on my S3 now. Even my heaviest use still easily gets me through the day with about 30% left. When I first set it up with all my stuff, the whole battery would drain overnight.

Android allows for way more flexibility and configuration with battery management. I love the fact that my phone automatically enables and disables WiFi depending on where I am and changes behavior overnight. The flip side is that Android can drain quickly if you let everything run wild, whereas iOS devices are usually more conservative out-of-the box.

While I agree with this, I can tell you right now, android's standby battery life, sucks. I have a Galaxy S II and rooted it a couple months after getting it, I have flashed well over 40-50 roms on this phone and have experienced almost every type of Android skin/from.

CM10 offers the best battery life, but I personally prefer MIUI. On android, as soon as you start to download apps with it good luck with maintaining proper battery life. Apps like facebook (understandable, I guess), Words with friends, any news application, even the email app. Unless you set every one, individually, to not refresh ever, they will let the phone drain 3-4% per hour just doing nothing.

Google services (sync even drains a decent amount) like Google Now (which I thought was cool at first - until I realized my phone was draining even more battery while sleeping). The only "battery management" settings android has is slowing down the CPU (doesn't help the standby draining problems), lowering the screen brightness, and turning off haptic feedback - which sucks if you have capacitive buttons. I learned over the years to keep data turned off on my android, unless I needed it.

Also, I've had thorough experience with gingerbread, ice cream sandwich, and jelly bean.