Sign in / up

back to article Apple iPad Mini 8in tablet review

Hitting the Apple Store shelves a whole week after Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD tablets began arriving in the post, and two months after Google launched the Asus-made Nexus 7, the iPad Mini deserves to suffer in comparison. Even Google managed to slip a new 32GB version of its Nexus 7 under the radar at the beginning of the week …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.

Page:

      1. mickey mouse the fith
        Reply Icon

        Re: My diagnosis....bad value for money

        "GPS built-in on the 4G LTE model"

        what use is that in the uk?, and why isnt gps a feature on all models?

        "higher spec Android tablet" -- There are no higher spec'd Android tablets."

        Ahahahahaha, apart from the ones with higher res screens,gps as standard, removable storage,nfc and faster processors you mean? Most of em are cheaper as well.

        And none are saddled with a locked down os and the abomination that is itunes.

        Did i do better this time? :-)

        2 0
    2. Magnus Ramage
      Reply Icon

      Re: My diagnosis....bad value for money

      "To be honest, most people only use a tablet for web browsing, messaging and email once the novelty has worn off anyway, so why spend more to get less when pretty much any Android tab over £100 will do the job perfectly?"

      I use an Android tablet, and I agree about the value for money issue. But I can't agree about just using it for web + email. It's extremely useful for document viewing at work via Dropbox, and for updating files on the go. And there are plenty of good apps if you want them.

      1 0
  2. Esskay
    WTF?

    "And I do see a fair few folk out and about taking photos with tablets."

    Doesn't stop them from looking like complete fucking wankers.

    5 0
  3. nick47

    Copying videos off

    You can copy videos off your iDevices using Image Capture. You don't need iTunes.

    0 0
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Wow, an entire comments page of...

    ... willy waving.

    That'll be an Apple story then.

    0 0
  5. malone
    Thumb Down

    What a fanboy

    0 0
  6. Dez_Borders
    Meh

    GPS? Maps?

    The reviewer totally forgot to mention the non 3G models have no GPS chip so old ipad apps will not work fully if they make use of full GPS functionality.

    also (best) not to mention apple Maps... oh the reviewer didn't!

    0 0
    1. Eek
      Reply Icon

      Re: GPS? Maps?

      no wifi only ipad has ever had a gps chip built in. GPS has only been included in the 3g / LTE versions.

      0 0
  7. John Hall

    Je ne sais Quoi

    I've fallen equally between Android and iOS over the years. My dads Galaxy Tab 7.7 with AMOLED screen is very nice indeed. I started out with an Android tablet. But quite simply, beauty is more than skin deep here.

    I've come to realise after switching between the two that there's something about the whole iPad+iOS package that gels intangibly, and makes it a pleasure to use day in day out. Androids always seem to be straining to get that completeness.

    I was intending to get a Nexus 7 after my iPad2, but after fondling an iPad Mini in the Apple Store, it was love! The weight, the build, the feel, the tactility...I didn't expect it to have that impact. I'm aware that I still need to hold a Nexus as it may well have the same effect, but I'm just saying not to damn the Mini until you've tried one. I'm still open to Android but basically you either embed yourself in Android Apps or Apple apps, and I've built up more of the latter.

    P.S. one thing I DESPISE about iOS : Slide to Open. When my tablet is at home I don't want to have to unlock it! (Android could probably disable this).

    1 0
  8. Maxson
    Meh

    Reads like a "Top Gear" Review

    Much like Clarkson saying he loves a crap car because of something he feels in his trousers rather than his head, the vreview basically admits that it's overpriced and underspecced but says "I love it anyway"

    1 0
    1. Alistair Dabbs
      Reply Icon

      Re: Reads like a "Top Gear" Review

      Damn, I should have written something that ended with "...in the world".

      Seriously, Maxson, you have to appreciate that the whole point of a product review is to express to the reader what a product is like to use in real life regardless of the spec. Often these things fail to match up. I guess it's a bit like the difference between a restaurant review - in which the writer reports the ambiance, comfort, service, food freshness, flavours, availability of tap water, etc - and just standing outside reading the menu.

      0 0
  9. baryonic

    @Maxson: I don't think the review admitted that the iPad mini is either "overpriced" or "underspecced," Maxson. I think it admitted that it was the most desirable product overall in its class.

    In any case, it would have been a clear error to state or imply that the device was "underspecced" when, in fact, it's the best spec'd and by far the best performing device in its class.

    0 1
  10. Richard Lloyd
    FAIL

    Overpriced and why haven't Apple released a widescreen tablet yet?

    I think Apple thought "we've overcharged in the 10" tablet arena for years now, let's do the same with a smaller version". The problem is that the 7" tablet market is pretty cut-throat - you've got cheap Chinese imports (some of which are starting get decent specs) and major players like Amazon, Google and B&N spec/price-fighting each other regularly (often subsidising the hardware price to get the money back on content, whereas Apple never do the former!).

    Apple walk in with a 4:3 tablet with a relatively low PPI that can't play HD movies and will show big black bars at the top and bottom if you try to do so. So that's HD video struck off the list already (apart from running apps/playing games, this is one of the major reasons to use a tablet over a phone).

    I worry about the width of the iPad Mini - it could be a bit of a tight fit in some coat pockets (I can just about get my Nexus 7 in my coat pocket). And finally, they launch it a stupendously high price (that gets even more astonishingly wallet-draining as you add 3G or extra storage). Let me see - 32GB Nexus 7 = 199 quid, 32GB iPad Mini = 349 quid (!! And that's with no 3G or GPS either...). Are you *seriously* telling me that an iPad Mini is 75% better than an N7 when it can't even play HD video?!

    One mystery that still confuses me - Apple finally realised that widescreen is the way to go with phones (years after all their competitors had released widescreen phones) and they finally got it right with the iPhone 5. So why have we had five 4:3 tablets from Apple - several of them useless for playing HD video - and not one widescreen tablet yet? I guess we'll have to wait until next year to see if Apple "innovate" and go widescreen for tablets at long last.

    0 0

Page:

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like