Thanks for the responses and replies.
Yes coming from a nexus 7, I can guarantee you will be happy with the mini 4 and even IOS9 in its current state. Yes you will get 10 hours battery life of usage with light app load and such even with brightness I would say around 50 percent.
I keep brightness low to get most battery life out of device and so far its been home in darker environment so brightness at good setting has been at the notch of 20-30 percent with auto disabled. Reason of disabling it is because it does some new funky stuff under IOS9 and the sensor I cannot even see or find on the mini 4 (light sensor) its hidden well. On older models you could see it next to front cam.
Take your time with it and have fun, I am an Android guy too and the mini 4 will definitely be an upgrade compared to the Nexus 7.
I personally got sick and tired of newer Android versions with glitches and bugs that eat at battery life even in standby mode with screen off, let alone when you actually use the device and run applications. That total connection time bug with Lollipop and phones especially, is killing me because I have a Note 3 and an S5. My Note 3 is on lollipop and my S5 is on older version of kitkat thank goodness and is rooted and rootable on the version of Android it has.
I am never upgrading that thing and keeping kitkat and root on it as long as I use it and will also sell it to someone who understands the android eco system. That phone is in a magic state being rooted and having kitkat. It does not have the total connection time bug at all and battery lasts forever on that thing.
Funny though I am using my Note 3 that does not last but 3.5 hours of SOT doing nothing with it and just using it for calls or texts.
Got Apple tablets to upgrade from an Nook HD+ using CM12 on it and it was still unusable and slow. Tried other brand new android tablets and none of them could get anything called battery life. My Nook HD+ even after 2 years, gets 6-8 hours gaming or browsing web but was not keeping up in performance. (it had a 6000mah battery and ran android 4.04 ICS)
Bought ipad mini 2 @ good price and was astonished how well the battery lasted in standby, even more astonished when I played games that were more optimized and polished for Apple and IOS and they did not eat away at battery.
Then I got all my favorite networking tools (IT network guy as hobby and in experience through education and military) and they were more polished and easier to use, kept data and information readily available and all of this was a smooth experience using IOS 8 on older hardware in Mini 2.
Mini 2 has 6471mah battery. (11-13 hours of my usage)
Then I wanted more battery life, bought an Air 1 (longer battery life) with bigger screen with better color gamut and little faster cpu. This has a battery of 8827mah battery biggest I heard of in any tablet know matter what brand or eco system running on it.
So I got one, had issues with it and returned it and gave up at full price not too long ago.
Found another one @ 300 dollars new at retail before all these darn sales for the Air 2. (Air 2 speaker vibration problem and too many screen defect issues, tried two of them and gave up because my Air 1 out does them in speaker quality and battery life department)
Got it and it was good in all categories that I test any device before deciding to keep or reject/return.
This Air 1 has magic battery while using IOS 8.2. 14-15 hours after every full charge gaming medium to heavy on it then rest of time web browsing, network tools, YouTube music and so forth.
Mini 2 had best sounding speakers though as I said in other posts on this forum site. Mini 4 sound good but not as perfect as Mini 2.
Air 1 speakers good and on par with those in the mini 4, but not as perfect as mini 2.
Anyhow my whole idea and goal was to upgrade to whatever device and OS if it had (better specs than Nook HD+):
- High resolution like Nook HD+ at 1920x1080/1200 or higher
- 8 to 10 inch screen if lighter and easy to hold
- good sounding speakers because even though I got good headphones when I am messing around on devices to lazy to get them out and use them
- BATTERY life that rivaled my two year old Nook HD+ or at least lasted as long
- storage space not a biggie when I have my own NAS with cloud and file over lan integration and built in OS cloud integration
- Needed performance and to be smoother/faster and better hardware as upgrade with more ram or at least same amount
Tried all tablets and gave up saying my whole life I would never buy an Apple; I did and it performed so well I did not expect it at all and was literally SHOCKED!! First experience was with mini 2 and IOS 8.1.2
It met all my criteria but I wanted bigger and better, Air 1 not much of an upgrade but I got lucky on second one I tried and come on, 15 hours of life for heavy usage with hardware inside? And if you do not ever barely use it and let it sit in standby, it does not lose battery at all, I tried! With light usage all last week while playing with mini 4 trying to milk as much battery as I can to compare to my other toys, My Air 1 after week and half of being on and being used lightly, 20 hours usage screen on time. CANNOT BEAT IT!
Anyways I know I type to much info, but I think everyone gets it.
Mini 4 now is doing good, it does have somewhat of a screen issue. I am happy with battery now, still not with the issues in IOS9 (its new and needs to mature). I got to go double and triple and OCD check over and over to convince myself I am ok with screen although it has a light dark shadow on right side by home button area of screen when in landscape. NOT SUPER noticeable but makes the screen uneven in solid colors across it. Its not discolored only dirty shadow look.
Could be screen, lamination, layers and no air gap so an issue from factory since they were rushed out like new iPhones!
Screen is still amazing and is better than the mini 2, Air 1 and even the Air 2. Way better calibrated, gets bright, and when its bright; colors are dead on and everything pops awesomely. That's why battery drains with screen turned up, it takes some power to make it work and look as good like a calibrated screen.
WISH IT DID NOT HAVE THE DAM dirty shadow area, but sooner or later due to air/heat/cold all panels even sealed I believe will get this dirty shadow looking places randomly on panel.
On my perfectly NEW calibrated 22" monitor that out of box barely has this dirty shadow areas and look, is now getting them or being more noticeable over time due to the panel and physics and nature taking a toll on technology (lifespan).
Thanks again for help, responses and replies. I am an IT NUT as you can see and OCD about my stuff, its gotta pass my standards then I keep it or back it goes!
