Why You Shouldn’t Buy an iPad Mini
October 23, 2012 243 Comments
Last updated: March 6, 2014
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Why You Shouldn’t Buy an iPad Mini
There are certainly some good qualities about the new iPad mini with Retina display. It’s thin, light and runs iOS 7. Unfortunately, it’s missing more than forty important things you’ll find in other tablets and costs much more.
A 32GB Nexus 7 costs $230 less than a 32GB iPad mini with the same quality display
- It’s much more expensive than other tablets – You can now buy a 32GB Nexus 7 for only $269. To get the same amount of storage in a iPad mini, you’d have to spend $499. That over 46% more, for a product with worse performance. The 16GB Nexus 7 is only $229. Apple charges $399 for exactly the same amount of storage. That a 43% price premium. Apple charges $529 to $829 for a mini for cellular support. Amazon charges only $329 for a 16GB Kindle Fire HDX with LTE support. Google charges only $349 for a 32GB Nexus 7 with LTE support. That’s a savings of a $280. You can literally buy a second Nexus 7 with the money you save.
Apple charges much more than other companies for tablets with LTE support
- Apple products almost never go on sale – Apple rarely allows discounts on their products. When products like the iPad do go on sale, the discounts are very small. I just purchased tablets for my family members for Christmas and was surprised to find most of the tablets in Best Buy were on sale at discounts between $50 and $100 off their already low prices. I picked up a great 8″ tablet for my dad for only $249. Even better discounts are available online from Amazon and other online merchants and you’ll almost always get free shipping as well. Even the brand-new Kindle Fire HDX was on sale for $50 off it’s already low price.
- Other tablets have higher-resolution displays – Don’t be mislead by the Retina label. Tablets like the Nexus 7 have a display that’s every bit as good as the iPad mini. Tablets like the Kindle Fire HDX have a display that is even better than the new iPad mini. How much better? The 8.9″ Kindle Fire HDX has almost a million more pixels than the iPad mini (4,096,000 pixels vs. 3,145,728 pixels). It’s worth mentioning the iPad mini doesn’t even fit the definition of a true retina display.
Screen resolution isn’t the only problem with the new iPad mini. It comes in last place in this small screen review where they said “the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is the best performing tablet display that we have ever tested.” Here’s why the Nexus 7 and Kindle HDX beat the iPad mini.
- It’s easily breakable – The Apple iPad mini has been declared to be the single most breakable mobile device in the world by SquareTrade, who performed a battery of tests on it and other devices. To make matters worse, it’s very difficult to repair when it’s broken.
- It’s not expandable – Tablets from Asus, Barnes & Noble, Samsung and others come with a microSD slot, so you can easily expand your storage. You can double your memory for only $12, to $19. To double the memory of an iPad mini, you have to spend at least $100 more.
- Inferior battery life – Even though the iPad mini has a much more powerful battery than other tablets, this doesn’t translate into better battery life. The Nexus 7 has much better battery life when browsing the web. That means you’ll be surfing the Internet two hours longer on a Nexus 7 than an iPad mini.
- It doesn’t have a quad-core processor – Even though the Nexus 7 is only $229, it has a powerful quad-core processor. Having two extra cores allows the Nexus 7 to do more things at once without slowing down. The iPad mini only has a dual-core processor that runs at a much slower clock speed than the Kindle Fire HDX (1.29 GHz vs. 2.2 GHz). Before you make a comment about Apple’s benchmark performance, you need to read this article.
- It’s thicker and heavier than other tablets – Apple brags about the thinness of the iPad mini, but tablets from Samsung and Sony are thinner. Much much thinner? The Sony Xperia Z is only 6.9mm. That’s 9% thinner than the iPad mini. The Nexus 7 is 14% lighter than the new iPad mini (290g vs. 331g). The Kindle Fire HDX is lighter than the iPad mini as well.
- Much worse brightness and contrast ratings than other tablets – The iPad mini has a much lower maximum brightness than the Google Nexus 7 (370 vs. 583 higher is better). The iPad mini also gets a contrast rating of only 804, while Nexus 7 gets a contrast rating of 1273 (higher is better).
- It has less memory than other tablets and this causes problems – The best Android tablets have either 2GB of RAM or 3GB of RAM. The iPad mini only has 1GB of RAM. This translates to worse multitasking and slower app load times. How much slower? The game “Asphalt 7″ loads in only 18.5 seconds on a tablet with 3GB of memory. The same game loads in 45.0 seconds on the same tablet with 2GB of memory. iOS 7 has made matters even worse. Many iPad owners have reported memory-related problems like only having enough memory to open 6 tabs in Safari, or have 4 apps open at once without reloading tabs or restarting apps. By contrast, Android 4.4 has been optimized so it runs well on devices with as little as 512MB.
- Poorer color accuracy than other tablets – Color accuracy on the iPad mini is only 63%, while the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is 100%. That means what you see on the Kindle is what the content creators intended you to see. This is also important if you use your tablet to edit photos. The Nexus 7 beats or ties the iPad mini in 7 out of 8 display tests. The Nexus 7 has more accurate color reproduction, better color saturation and as mentioned above, a much better contrast ratio and much better brightness than the iPad mini. The iPad mini also does not have sRGB coverage, while though the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 do. This means they display a wider range of colors
- No NFC digital wallet support – NFC and Google Wallet lets Nexus 7 tablet users buy things at over 300,00 PayPass-enabled cash registers in places like Best Buy, CVS Pharmacy, Einstein Bros Bagels, Home Depot, Jack in the Box, McDonald’s, Peet’s Coffee, Pinkberry, Rite Aid, Sports Authority, Whole Foods and many more places. You can learn more about NFC here. The iPad mini has something called Passbook, but it only works at Starbucks (and the Apple Store).
- GPS support is only available cellular models – The iPad mini is small enough to take with you anywhere, so it certainly makes sense that you’d want it to have a GPS so you could use it for directions. Unfortunately, you have to spend $130 more for a cellular model to get GPS support. Tablets like the Nexus 7 have full GPS support on their Wi-Fi only models.
- It doesn’t appear on your desktop as a drive – It’s a major hassle to get anything (but photos) on or off of an iPad mini. Android devices don’t need iTunes or iCloud to copy media. Just connect a USB cable, and your device will appear on your desktop like a hard disk. You can then drag and drop any file (or folder) to it. This is really useful.
- It doesn’t work with standard cables – Many Android tablets use exactly the same micro-USB jack, so you can easily connect them to any charger or peripheral without purchasing an expensive cable. The iPad mini uses all proprietary connectors so Apple can sell you cables for $20 to $50. If you want an extra charging cable for an iPad mini, it will cost $19 and is hard to find. You can buy an Android power cord almost anywhere for as little as $2.
- Its AV adapter doesn’t support 1080p video – Another big downside to Apple’s use of a proprietary Lightning cable is that its Digital AV adapter (which connects to the HDMI jack on your TV) doesn’t support 1080p video today. It’s capable of supporting 1080p, but Apple has chosen to hold back 1080p support for now.
- No 16:9 screen, Reduced-quality movies – Tablets are great way to watch movies, but all movies are formatted to fit on a 16:9 display. Because the iPad Mini has a 4:3 aspect ratio, all 16:9 movies need to be letter-boxed with only 1024×576 resolution, which is getting pretty close to standard definition video rather than true high-definition 1280×720 video found on tablets like the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7. As Gizmodo points out, “when you watch a movie in landscape there’s almost more letterboxing than actual video. Seriously. It. Looks. Ridiculous.”
- It has ineffective parental controls – Apple finally added Parental Controls to iOS 6, but they are buried is Settings and disabled by default. Even if mom is smart enough to find and enable them, her kids will still be able to read the copy of “50 Shades of Grey” she bought earlier, because Apple’s Parental Controls do not hide explicit books that are already in a library. The iPad mini is a single-user device and this prevents a good solution to this problem. By contrast, Nook tablets allow multiple users to share a single tablet using separate accounts. Each users content is hidden from other family members automatically, and profiles can be password protected. Parents with a Kindle Fire HDX can also give access to appropriate content for each child. The Nexus 7 also supports user-profiles.
- No touch-to-share – Newer Android tablets like the Nexus 7 can easily share media by touching another device with NFC support. This allows you to share photos, videos, contacts, Web pages — as well as information between apps. You can see it in action here.
- No wireless charging – Tablets like the Nexus 7 include support for wireless charging, so you can just sit them on a charging pad and charge them without connecting a cable.
- Nano-SIM makes it harder to use with other carriers – When you buy an iPad from Apple’s site with the cellular option, you’ll find Apple forces you to pick a carrier. Other unlocked tablets from Google and others don’t force you to do that. To use your iPad mini with most international carriers you will also need a SIM cutter because the iPad mini uses a nano-SIM. Most Android tablets use standard or micro-SIMs.
- It’s harder to use and doesn’t have a media-centric user interface – If you compare the Kindle Fire HDX and an iPad mini side by side you’ll see the Kindle Fire is much easier to us. It only has 7 app icons on it’s home screen because that’s all that most people need. The remaining space is devoted to things that matter including your favorite books, magazines, music and movies. This makes sense and is also done on the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. The menu on the Kindle Fire also only has a few easy to understand options. The iPads settings are a mess. The Kindle Fire even has a “Mayday” button that allows an on-screen customer support person to temporarily take control of your tablet to assist you with problems.
- It doesn’t support Flash natively – Flash may be a dying format, but there are still millions of Flash videos around, and the stock browser in the iPad mini can’t play any of them. There are several free Android browsers including Firefox that play Flash videos. See my Nexus 10 tips and tricks article for more info on this topic. Update: There is now a $10 Flash Player that runs on the iPad.
- Android now beats iOS in many areas – This may come as a surprise to some of you, but Android 4.3 and 4.4 has many advantages over iOS 7. You can see them here.
- Readability issues with magazines – The screen on the iPad mini is just too small to read magazines or comics because of the tiny, non-adjustable typefaces used. Text looks pinched, because it’s optimized for the iPad’s larger display. The Kindle Fire HD gets around this issue with its text view mode.
- It’s not a great eReader – In the previous bullet I already pointed out the readibility issues with magazines. That’s not the only reason why the iPad mini is not a good eReader. It also has one of the most reflective displays you’ll find in a small tablet. Because of this, using the iPad Mini outside is often a problem because of glare. How bad is it? According to Dr. Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate Technologies, “The Screen reflectance on the iPad mini is surprisingly high (9.0%). The Nexus 7 has a much lower 5.9 percent reflectance, while on the Kindle Fire HD has a reflectance of 6.4%. As a result, the iPad mini reflects 53 percent more ambient light than the Nexus 7 and 41 percent more than the Kindle Fire HD. That’s quite a large difference.
- Reliable data cables – Apple’s Lightning cables get a 1.5 star rating in the Apple Store due to breakage, fraying and corrosion.
- Limited stylus support – Although you can use a capacitive stylus on an iPad mini, you don’t get the same level of expression that you get on Android tablets. Samsung’s Galaxy Note tablets have a Wacom touchscreen with 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity. iOS also won’t let you toggle between a brush, pencil or eraser by simply holding the stylus above the screen and clicking a button. The stylus on Galaxy Note tablets even lets you preview emails, photos or videos by hovering slightly above the screen.
- No infrared transmitter – Tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus and Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 — along with Vizio and Sony Experia tablets all have built-in IR-transmitters so you can use your tablet to control devices in your home like your TV — without using Wi-Fi and special apps. The iPad mini does not have infrared support.
- No multi-user support – The iPad mini is a single-user device tied to a single iTunes account. Nexus tablets allow multiple users to log-in. Each user has their own home screen, background, apps and widgets. Things like game-progress and high-scores remain separate.
- Mediocre-sounding speakers – The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 (and other tablets) have better sounding speakers than the iPad mini. Reviews say “O.K. is also how I’d describe the speaker system. The Kindle Fire HD, which sports Dolby stereo, pumped out noticeably more pleasing audio than the Mini’s speakers.”
- Very difficult to repair – The iPad mini is much more difficult to repair than other tablets. iFixit gives the iPad mini with Retina display a repairability score of ‘2 out of 10,’ where 10 is the easiest to repair. One of the main reasons why it gets such a poor score is because large amounts of cement hold the front glass, logic board, battery, front camera, back camera, ribbon cables in place. This cement makes repair extremely difficult. By comparison, the Kindle Fire HDX and Nexus 7 both get repairability scores of ‘7 out of 10’ (10 is easiest to repair).
- Not accident-resistant – Sony’s Xperia Z Tablet is water resistant. You can submerse it in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes at a time. Now you can read in the tub, use in the kitchen or browse by the pool, worry free.
- Can’t make phone calls – You can make phone calls on Android tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.7 and Nexus 7 if you’ve installed a SIM. You can also send or receive texts without using a special third-party app. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 calling function has been upgraded to let you make and receive voice calls privately by using Receiver Mode in public places.
- No replaceable battery – Tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and Toshiba Thrive have batteries which are easily replaceable. This is important, because all rechargeable batteries have a limited life-span and need to be replaced.
- Inferior multitasking – Apple places restrictions on third-party apps which run in the background. In most cases, they are suspended and not allowed to communicate with other apps. Android supports true-multitasking without any of the above restrictions. This makes it possible to do things on Android tablets that can not be done on the iPad mini.
- Small keyboard makes it hard to type accurately – The keyboard on the iPad mini is small enough that you’ll have a hard time typing accurately on it. To some extent this issue is true with 7″ Android tablets, but you can install one of the many great third-party keyboards like SwiftKey3, which have much more accurate corrections and predictions than the iOS keyboard. You can see the dramatic difference here.
Android keyboard apps provide different keyboard layouts like this one with number keys
- It has a much worse on-screen keyboard – Like the iPad mini, the Nexus 7 has standard keyboard features like a spell checker, auto-capitalization and auto-correction. However, the Nexus 7 has a much better on-screen keyboard. It has the ability to add words to a personal dictionary, show correction suggestions, perform gesture typing where you swipe from key to key, show next-word suggestions and the ability to change your keyboard to one that is more PC-like and includes all numbers and extra keys.
- Not able to easily load custom ROMs – Android devices like the Nexus 7 don’t come with locked or encrypted bootloaders. That means you are free to install customs ROMs and fully tailor your device however you wish.
- Undesired side-effects of the new display – One reviewer pointed out that “because the screen real estate is so much larger than an iPhone but icons are now roughly iPhone size, apps with lots of navigational elements can be a little less intuitive to navigate.
- Hard for small hands to hold securely – The iPad mini is wide enough that it is harder to carry securely than Nexus 7. The bezel is also so narrow that its hard to hold the screen in portrait-mode without touching the active part of the touchscreen.
- No LED alerts – Most Android phones have a small LED indicator that alerts you to missed calls, new messages and other system events. As with other Android phones, you can customize exactly how this works by installing a third-party LED control app like Light Flow. The iPhone has a setting buried under Accessibility that flashes an LED when a call or text is received. The iPad mini does not support LED alerts at all.
- No multi-window Support – Android tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Note let you split the screen in two sections so you can interact with two different apps at once. Not only can you view any two windows at once, you can also drag things from one window to the other. This is a really useful feature the iPad mini does not have.
- No ability to set software defaults – One of the most powerful Android features is the ability to change the default software the OS uses for different tasks. For example, if you want the Dolphin browser to open any URL (instead of the stock Android browser), just pick the app you want to use. Want to use a different app for turn-by-turn directions or media playback? Pick one, and it will use that app every time. This is an incredibly powerful feature.
- iCloud is inferior to other cloud services – Third-party cloud services are more reliable, provide more storage, and are much more flexible — because they don’t lock you into an Apple-only world. If you shop around, you’ll find up to 50GB of free cloud-based storage, much better photo sharing services that automatically upload every photo and improve their quality, and store an unlimited number of photos at full-resolution (e.g. Google+). Android office apps like Google Drive are also much better than Apple’s offerings. They support more formats, allow you to share more easily and even collaborate with others at the same time. They also automatically save every change you make to the cloud, so you can access everything from any device or computer — not just Apple products. Android calendar and contact apps also have advantages and are much more open. Sure, some of these products are available to iPhone users as well, but most iPad users stick with Apple’s inferior pre-installed cloud services.
- DLNA Support – Most Android tablets include DLNA support. That means they can stream media to over 10,000 devices. Chance are you have several DLNA-certified devices in your home and you don’t even know it. Most TVs, game consoles, media streamers and Blu-ray players are DLNA-certified.
- Better tablets are on the way – Every month exciting new Android tablets are released. Many of these will have better specs than the iPad mini with Retina display.
The 8.9″ Kindle Fire HDX has a much higher-resolution display than the iPad mini with Retina display
Because it doesn’t have a microSD slot, you can’t quickly copy media to an iPad mini without using a computer. Tablet owners with removable media slots can take the memory card out of their Go Pro or D-SLR camera and pop it directly into their tablet. No computer is required to copy video, or other media. This is a real time saver.
The iPad mini runs out if power two hours faster than the Nexus 7
When it comes to specs, the iPad mini lags in many areas
The Nexus 7 does much better than the new iPad mini on display tests like contrast and brightness
You can use Google Wallet anywhere you see these images
The size of the letterbox displayed when movies are played on the iPad mini is much larger than other tablets [Photo: Gizmodo]
You can share media by simply touching two NFC-enabled Android devices together
The Kindle Fire HDX is easier to use and has a media-centric interface
Samsung tablets have much better stylus support than Apple
The iPad mini is not water-resistant like Sony tablets
The iPad mini is not a bad product, but it’s not the thinnest, or the lightest, or the fastest, or the highest-resolution tablet of its size. Other tablets are available that cost much less and do much more. You owe it to yourself to check them out. You can use some of the money you save to buy books, movies, music and some great premium apps, which will increase your enjoyment even more.
Why You’ll Still Buy an iPad Mini
If you’re an Apple fan, you don’t comparison shop. You don’t care that Apple products cost more and do less. You tell yourself that specs don’t matter and Apple’s ecosystem is superior — even though you’ve never actually used an Android 4.4-powered product. You’ll find a way to convince yourself that all of the above reasons somehow don’t apply to you and, you’ll buy an iPad mini anyway.
– Rick
If you like this article, you may like these as well:
– 40+ Things you won’t get with the iPhone 5s
– Debunking the Retina Display Myth – Why the iPad mini isn’t a true retina display
– Who makes the best tablet on Earth?
For the Apple Fanboys
1. This is an opinion piece – I think the title makes that very clear. Don’t read this if you can’t handle an opposing view point.
2. This article is focused on the advantages of other tablets – I’m aware there are some good reasons to buy a iPad. Since every other reviewer focuses on those, I see value in showing another point of view.
3. I don’t just pick on Apple – I write highly-opinionated articles about other companies as well. Here are examples where I single out Samsung, AT&T, United, Google and Rhapsody.
4. I don’t hate all Apple products – I think some of the new Apple products are fine — just not the iPad Air or iPad mini with Retina display. I’ve owned two iPhones, two iPads and an Apple TV. I buy Apple products when they outperform other products and are not insanely priced.
5. I want this to be factually correct – Believe it or not, I really do try to keep my articles factually correct. If you find an error here, please let me know and I will fix the section containing the error. If you read the comments section, you’ll find many examples where I’ve done so.
6. Save your flames – You’re not going to change my beliefs and I’m not going to changes yours.
Copyright 2013-2014 Rick Schwartz. All rights reserved. Linking to this article is encouraged.
Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1
Note: This article was originally written about the first iPad mini. Since then, it has been updated to reflect new iPad mini with Retina display. Keep this in mind when you read the comments.
About Rick E. Schwartz
Mostly-Tech 
Ok, genius. How does facetime work if the ipad mini doesn’t have a front camera?
Thanks for the comment Steve. It turns out it does have a front camera — although it’s only 1.2MP. I’ve updated my chart to reflect this.
While you are at correcting mistakes you should point out that nexus and any other android 4.1+ device also does not support Flash.
I’ll do that now. Are you 100% sure that no 3rd-party players support Flash under 4.1? I know the stock player does not.
– Rick
Igor, it’s not strictly true that Android 4.1+ doesn’t support Flash. If you started with 4.0 or below and already had Flash installed, it still works after updating. For example, Flash still works perfectly on my Galaxy Nexus with 4.1.2. You can also load Flash on a 4.1+ device, and use it with the 4.0 browser, Firefox, Dolphin, or another browser. No rooting or other trickery required.
This is good to know. Thanks for sharing.
– Rick
‘Tablets like the Nexus 7 which run Android 4.1 (and later) cannot play flash video’
Err yes they can. I am currently watching all the flash videos I want on my 32Gb Nexus 7. With Flash sideloaded and Firefox browser installed the issue ceases to exist – awesome 🙂
That’s good to know. Looks like I need to revise that section. Thanks for letting everyone know this.
– Rick
There is a third party web browser application available for ios that supports flash. It is called Photon.
Thanks Jason. That’s good to know. Thanks for sharing. I’ll edit my post to reflect this information.
– Rick
iPad Mini has a front facing camera…….
Unfortunately, the aviation nav software I am testing only works in iPad’s at this time… I am really not thrilled with the iPad Mini, although I am from the IBM PC side and really do not have much time with Apple Products., I am open minded and like trying different technilogies, but I have to agree with most, if not all of the points made in this article.
This is exactly what i try to tell all my friends who get every apple product That comes out. They always convince themselves that the iPhone, iPad, imac is so amazing and unbeatable. Get task and open your eyes people!! Its boring
When it comes to iOS devices I thought customers were really buying into the app ecosystem and not so much the device. No?
Kind of how people don’t buy the Nissan Leaf for looks, it’s about how it utilizes and is efficient with fuel.
For the less tech savvy, or those who don’t want to be bothered with certain thing it seems that the ecosystem around iOS devices are superior. Is that worth a premium price? Depends who you are, but looking at specs alone I don’t think tells the story of why people buy or don’t buy these gadgets.
Thanks for the comments Matthew. You’re right the iOS app ecosystem has advantages over Android, but when you’re running the same popular apps, the advantages are much smaller than you might think IF you’re running Android 4.0 (or later) on a stable device like a Nexus phone or tablet. Why Android gets a bad rap: https://mostly-tech.com/2012/05/16/1889/
– Rick
To quote Mr Steve Wozniak ( for those saying – who? he is the co-founder of Apple Computer )
iOS is a better choice for people accustomed to Mac as well as for users who are “scared of computers” and of “complexity.”
Since I’m Facebook friend (not a follower – a friend) with Woz, I can tell you, while he does like the iPhone very much, he also takes at least two Android phones with him everywhere he goes. He’s also made several negative public comments about iOS.
– Rick
I bought an ipad mini, ipad, nexus 7, and kindle fire. Simply the ipad mini was the device I couldn’t put down because of how simple and fluid it was. The big ipad had a better screen but was heavy as hell. The nexus and kindle also had big screens but were choppy even though they had much much better specs and geek bench scores. As google beats apple hands down in the maps department I have to say apple beats google hands down in the mobile operating system department. All the other tablets went back to the store. Also an argument no one ever brings up is the great resale value of apple products even when they are damn near worn out from use aka 2 yr old iPhones selling for what you paid for them under contract.
I am also deciding between Nexus 7 and IPad Mini and read several reviews. I also read that people see the great specs of Nexus and Galaxy Tab however felt that the IPad Mini runs much more fluid as you did Bryan. Also found tech test here http://www.chip.de/bestenlisten/Bestenliste-Tablets–index/detail/id/970/ where the IPad in overall-comparison stands on top.
-tswaehn
Anyone who says the iPad is smoother than a Nexus 7 (2nd gen) or Nexus 10 has clearly never used either one of these. I’ve own both and I’ve owned two different iPads and there was no comparison. That’s not saying the iPad doesn’t excel in other things.
– Rick
Sorry mate, I did buy the IPad, …
cheers.
-tswaehn
Hope you enjoy it.
– Rick
I never regretted it at any time. – even bought the new Mini 3rd Generation.
@Rick. What I am generally missing here is a 1-o-1 comparison. For example you say that the Nexus is better when it comes to display quality. The kindkle Fire HD when it comes to resolution and the Galaxy is the prefered one when it comes to easy battery exchange and so on. I would suggest you choose one competitor model and compare it to the canditate and also stick to it with all compare items.
Still I understand your concerns/ideas behind and thank you for the blog-post.
-tswaehn
Thanks for the constructive feedback. I’m working on that type of article and will post it here soon.
– Rick
To the last part of this article, about the die hard apple fans, I’d like to voice my opinion on that. If it came down to anything Samsung or any other brand, I would still choose apple. Why ? Because even though they always have bigger specs , their operating system requires them. IOS doesn’t require these fast processors and high specs to out preform android because iOS is smart. Lastly, and possibly the biggest factor in why apple is the best when it comes tablets and phones they’re built to last !
Thanks for the comments Kyle.
I think you’d have a hard time proving that iOS is truly more efficient than Android. However you can prove that Mac laptops are less reliable than PC laptops. Here is one of several studies which prove this: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/37634675
A recent survey by warranty repairs company SquareTrade also showed that damage to iPhones has collectively cost Americans close to $6 billion since 2007. Apple’s mobile devices get the lowest repairability score of any phone or tablet.
– Rick
I support the statement by Kyle. The Apple devices are built to last. I had only two Apple products in the last 6 years. iPhone 2G and iPad3. The devices can take any kind of torture. I used the 2G for almost 4 years before I dropped it and my motorcycle rear tyre went over it, it still worked with a broken display, whatever left of it.
The Apple products thrive due to their close knit integration of hardware and software, made and optimized to the hilt.
Apple has great connectivity ability, a superior operating system and flawless design. For me personally….it is far from boring. It’s a personally choice when making technology/ gadet choices. A lot of people that don’t like apple products have never owned an apple and prefer the complicate functions of other devices–but to me–they seem like lipstick on a pig. That said, Apple products are not cheap; you have to appericate the design aspects, connectivity ability, operating system and the overall brand. Plus with apple who needs anti virus software 🙂 Just my 2 cents.
I believe what you meant to say is “connectivity disability”, right? On Apple products even Bluetooth breaks the laws of physics and doesn’t connect to other devices, unless they are made or certified by Apple.
Apple does what no company can do… Keep,it’s customers. Every new gadget has a way of having looks and just what people need. Not all this extra stuff that’s just stuffed half heartedly into an operating system that you have to have a teenager explain to you. Apple is simple to figure out and everything has about the same feel. From my laptop to my phone to my ipad to my iPod I know how to work everything. They make the simple things work and make it easy. That’s why they keep their customers.
That argument is starting to get outdated and redundant now. In this day, virtually everyone knows how to use Android. It may take a little longer to understand than iOS but it’s not like it’s actually really difficult to utilise and get accustomed to.
No Robert, that is not the reason the customers keep on coming. The reason people buy Apple products is, quite simply, because they’re generally regarded as the most expensive, premium products you can buy. Unlike Android/Google and their clients, Apple never release cheaper, budget options. They’re all about top-class, premium stuff. And people these days, particularly kids, like to buy the most expensive thing so that they can rub it in their friends’ faces and show off how rich and top shit they are. Even when they’re not showing it off to others, I think – quite absurdly – it makes them feel good inside to be owning such an expensive product that only the upper class people own. It’s incredibly sad, but every bit of it is true. And that, my friend, is the reason why Apple keep the customers.
Thanks for your comments Junaid. I agree with much of what you’ve said.
Agreed too, but I agree with Robert equally. It is both true, the sad fact people feel good about having new products (I like it too, but not to feel smug, just cause I love technology and always spent too much on upgrades that I don’t always need). But it is also absolutely true that Apple products are easier to operate, a joy to learn and still very powerful.
-Am I happy the screen is only 1024 by 768 ? No
-Am I sorry it costs so much more than a Nexus 7 from which I have an eye on since it’s announcement and only waited the Apple event to see what I will pick : Hell yes !
-Am I happy Apple retired a product after 6 months (iPad 3) and lowered it’s remaining stock price so low that to sell my device I would have to lose at least 50% of it’s original price : NO ! I’m not happy, it makes upgrading (which I won’t do cause the iPad 3 rocks as-is) VERY expensive.
Do I know that March will see a fifth generation iPad / iPad mini 2 ? Most likely, Apple is accelerating refreshes, unless yesterday’s event was a fluke.
In any case, you both make good points, and knowing myself I will either buy a Mini or a Nexus 7 or, most likely and for the life of me I don’t know why, both (eventually).
I’m curious about Google’s 10 inch Nexus though. As I’m not hopping the iPad4’s train. The Mini I dreamed of since soon after I had my first iPad, just a few weeks after it was out.
I will finish with this though, I’m a little annoyed at some of the marketing schemes and the liberal let’s add 130$ as a default to all our mobile enabled iOS device. WTF ? Indeed what do they smoke over there ? Are we to believe that it costs 130$ to just add one chip, and some basic connectors to read a SIM card ? And don’t get me started on the flash options, I mean common, 100 to double the Flash (16 to 32) and another 100 to double again (32 to 64). Everyone else feeling bu**f***k for buying the 32 version where you must shelve 100 to buy 16 additional gigs of storage when another buys you 32 additional ? But since the iPad sold so fantastically since it’s inception, why change numbers that people have accepted paying.
If apple wanted to make their customers happy they would have done a 299, 349 and 399$ options for 16-32-64 configurations do that and iPad full size customer will understand they overpaid their storage at ultra premium prices. Fortunately Apple will eventually lose this edge as the cloud is getting stronger, soon we won’t care much about the internal storage and eventually that 16Gb option will become 32 in entry (then 64 – 128 for idevices to milk all they can while physical storage is still relevant), just like last week they sold you 4Gb iMacs as default, now it’s 8Gb. Next year entry level iPads will be 32Gb and they will call that revolutionary. I weep for how Steve’s passing will indeed stop innovation in it’s tracks. Unless Apple hires people who actually think (I’m available 🙂 ).
Anyway, I wanted an iPad mini so I guess I’ll get the sucker, 16Gb wifi most likely. At +50$ for LTE I would have taken than too, at 130$ I basically drop my pants and bend for Apple (being a customer who bought every iPad until now, same with iphones).
As I type this on my mighty 27* imac, I look at it all day in front view, I NEVER look at it’s edge (unless I want to insert a SD card, first one went into the CD drive and I’ve been assembling computers myself since I’m 16 years old, talk of great placement for the SD reader). Nonetheless the new iMac looks absolutely no different than mine all day long, just my friends might go, wow that’s thin. So until it bites the dust I keep my trusty iMac, I’ve added a SSD for the system and it’s so snappy I don’t need the “Fusion Drive” (sounds cool but it’s not a new Apple thing evented, they just rebadge an existing technology as always).
I never intended to type so much stuff here but well, one last thing ;), Did anyone noticed Apple dropped Firewire 800 of their new products… today you still can’t buy a hdd case with thunderbolt unless it’s a branded drive like LaCie, and yet FW800 gets the axe. Well, I don’t have thunderbolt except on my Air 11*, but I use that to get either Giga Ethernet wired speed or HDMI output.
As a professed Apple fanboy, yesterday was an eye opener, Apple wants to feed me new stuff by putting out nice trickery (what the eyes see and ears hear the mind believe) of optical illusions (the new iMac, if you own any models since late 2010 and don’t need the extra oomph, why would you upgrade ?). Would I love going the Apple store and get out with all these new products ? Sure… The tech geek in me always wants the latest stuff, to play around, be amazed by it for a few days / weeks, then it’s old news. Apple is healthy and stronger than ever, making Microsoft tremble and putting them against a wall, it’s actually payback time and Microsoft is taking us with imbeciles charging us 200$ in the past for Windows updates that once every two release is catastrophic (Me, Vista, … hopefully not 8, though for the desktop user it doesn’t look good, it’s actually a good tablet replacement).
Every giant must fall, Apple either stops feeding us innovative diamond cut, plasma injected, soon to support warp speed photo taking or what not, and bring REAL innovation to their products. Again, there are people out there who think of new stuff, not how to polish a product to oblivion. (goes installing a WordPress, this dude needs a blog :D)
Thanks for sharing. I don’t doubt your story but for what it’s worth I found it was easier to setup my GS3 and Galaxy Nexus with our companies Exchange server than my iPhone 3G. When I say easier, I mean less steps were involved and I did not have to download any special software or enter a security code. Maybe it depends which OS version you’re using.
– Rick
People who want quality stuff will pay the price. There is this thing called overall quality whic next to tech specs inludes build qualit, services quality, support quality, etc. Even if iPad Mini does not have the best specs the other qualities more than make up for that by making a product good value all around. If you ever held nexus in your hands then you will know what i am talking about when i say cheap and plastic inthe same sentence.
There are people who genuinely cannot afford iPad Mini and Nexus is the perfect option fur them.
But there are also people who are cheapskates and whose time is worth $0/hr and they can afford to waste time being beta testers for Android platform and software. They will buy Nexus out of spite and put a ton of effort in getting it to work to their liking and the same amount into convincing others how good their choice was and how smart they are because they saved money.
Personally, I am happy with my iPad 3 and I could never stand using another Android device.
Finally, Android devices also command hefty prices — check out Samsung phones. Are people buying them the same kind of people who rub in in their friend’s faces?
Thanks for the comment Igor.
– Rick
Fair comment, but we are dealing with technology that probably has a lifespan of 3 or 4 years max before it is outdated – if the device lasts that long then it’s job done IMO – no need for excessive premium pricing in the first instance.
What good is it having a phone or tablet that is built to last a decade, but is replaced in 24 months?
Rubbing an iPad Mini in my face only proves that you are a sucker TBH 🙂
I don’t even know where to begin other than this article has no intentions of a fair review without bias. I don’t agree that Apple products are simply bought because they are easy to use or that they are the most expensive. For me I get tired of my laptop breaking down and plastic breaking, hinges loosening, breaking when dropped, and etc. The Apple products on the market today are built to last while your android phones(not all) are built to keep you buying new phones, one because you can’t upgrade to the new OS keeping you from also loading the updated apps, and two because theyre just cheap enough to where you can replace them easily every 2 years. Maybe people enjoy the security of Apple devices, Find My iPhone/iPad…EFI lock on Macbook Airs etc. Security that forces any thief to return the laptop to apple to have it unlocked at which point in time apple will notify you your stolen/lost laptop has been found. Maybe the fact that you can use one apple ID to manage ALL of your information and seemlessly transfer it to a new device?
One thing for sure is that those of you who think you can do more with android…don’t know how to use computers to their fullest nor have you even tried to see what an iPhone is capable of. Given the person with the right amount of knowledge anything can be done on any device.
Before I hear more about the tired excuse of you can customize android more than iOS let me just instruct you to keep your ignorant mouth and misinforming mouth shut. I work on all versions of OS’s desktop tablet and phone and if you think I’d recommend Android over iOS youre nuts. My clients expect the best unbiased information they can get. They also tell me if they have a budget. I will suggest whatever suits their needs and happily set it up for them. Android is still buggy as hell and still must wait for apps after iOS simply because there are more devices with different sets of hardware to support…daunting task for all the poorly paid android programmers lol.
Now as far as specs go….naming number of cores and amount of RAM don’t mean anything. A CPU can have 2 cores, 4 logical cores each with 2 threads and what is the MHz of these separate RAMs on android to iOS to Kindle? Quit judging the book by its cover dumba**es and learn about what you think you’re talking about.
Yeah you should conduct an unbiased study on that. Im a Windows/Linux Network admin and I repair all forms of tablets/phones/computers. You need to get your head out of your bottom. I couldnt begin to tell you how many people can’t even connect their tablet to wifi on android because the hardware firmware has difficulty linking to verizon or cox router/gateways. There are some awesome android phones and tablets which i do enjoy but lets not get it twisted, they need the extra power in hardware because the firmware for the chips such as the CPU/GPU/SoCs are not written well enough to lower power consumption and handle the bulky Android OS. I always hear bragging of for example and android device containing 2GB of RAM, which in a mobile phone is awful and adds to battery drain. Multitasking is for plugged in, or larger capacity battery powered devices.
I specifically like your mention that Apple products are bought by kids who want to impress others. Nobody gives a sh*t what type of laptop you own or smartphone. Go drop your windows laptop and see how much money you put into before you buy a new one. I bought a Dell Studio 1558 core i3 6GB 1333 mhz ddr3 in 2010 for school. I have had to replace parts amounting in almost $600 on top of the $900 it cost me to begin with. Youre telling us that an aluminum unibody is not built to last and be lightweight? Youre telling us that Android devices are cheap to fix compared to iPhones for ex… iPhone 4s digitizer= $25… look up your favorite android phone and tell us how much the replacement digitizer and lcd assembly cost…
You are arrogant much like the writer of the post who tries to pass off impractical features of the devices to build a strawman argument of an article. Do you really think that cellular service for less money is really something to brag about? Nevermind that the depending on the specs of the device from Apple it retains high resale value accordingly. I just sold my iPhone 4S for $200 with a broken screen and I’m being paid to repair it. I went straight to the Apple store and bought an iPhone 5 upgrade. Can you do that with you Galaxy S3 – S4? I’m no Apple fanboy and I appreciate great design al around but android still has work to do and windows will surpass android in the future. All around the devices are supposed to have their own features and without the competition and tweaking of existing design qualities the market would not grow at the rate it has thus far. How about we start making fair comparison instead of starting at your conclusion and fitting your information accordingly…Oh yeah I have a 5 year old White macbook still worth $400, you have a windows PC worth that from 2008?
I just sold my Nexus 10 for $70 less than I bought it for with a scratched screen. I have an iPad 3 I’m selling and I’ll be lucky to see it for $250 less than I bought it for.
– Rick
And whats the time frame from purchase to resale?
7 months.
I am an iPad 3 owner and after the whole 6 month upgrade to the iPad 4 I will never spend money on another Apple tablet ever again. The iPhone 4 already doesn’t support all the features in iOS6 because of the processor and RAM why would Apple release an iPad mini when it won’t be able to support run the latest and future OS releases with full support? At this price point it should have at least had a retina display and 1GB of RAM. Apple iOS product releases have become predictable they need to take a lesson from the laptop and desktop division and go back to innovating before it’s too late.
I’m an iPad 3 user who is pretty pissed off as well. I can’t believe they are screwing over people who have owned that product for six months or less.
How does a better product make yours worse? If they had waited another 6 months yours would work better somehow? I usually go two or three cycles between upgrades so this doesn’t matter to me.
Apple has been on a one a year refresh cycle for five years with their mobile products. There is an expectation that there won’t be a better product for a least a year. As an iPad 3 owner I feel screwed over.
@Maverick – you feel screwed over because there is nothing about the ipad 4 that they couldn’t have done with the ipad 3 or ipad 2 or even original ipad. They purposely withhold\cripple their devices so they can sell a new one every year. Now its every 6 months!
I have been reading some things on this blog about the Nexus 10 and Android in general. I have always been an Android person (save my Palm Pixi, but hey, that was a long time ago) due to the fact I find the OS to be more reliable, with more functions, better third party anything support (and by this I mean the fact you can root, flash a different rom, use different launchers, install from non-Google Play websites ((which you TECHNICALLY can do on iOS, but it requires a jailbreak)), etc.), and many other things. What I want to say is that when you buy an Android product, it’s good to last. My 2010 Epic (with a simply stunning screen for the time) has a 1 GHz processor (also stunning for the time) and only 512 MB of RAM. Now, the RAM lack issue you think may cause a problem, but no. I ran CyanogenMod 9 (essentially stock 4.0.4 with some goodies from the CM team) with zero issues. It was lagless, it looked beautiful, and when I asked people to guess how old the phone was, many said 2012. The camera was 5MP, and took very nice photos. The thing with Android is, it’s freedom. Apple has you locked down- why do you think they call it a ‘jailbreak’ :P. The process of getting an app to the App Store is nightmarish, and the settings, functions, and things you can do are so incredulously limited. On Android, pay them 25$ and you’re set. Put whatever you want on there.
And then there are the typical Apple arguments.
1- It doesn’t have as many apps!!11!1!
Um, how many people do you know have 700,000 apps on their phone? And if you are referring to optimization and popular apps, Android has many of the same or equivalent apps. Even then, Android still has 500,000 apps.
2- It’s so heavy and laggy!!!1!11!
Most new Android phones are thinner, lighter, and almost all flagships are faster. Better processors, twice as much ram, it all adds up to more speed. And really? Laggy? I will cite my Epic- 512 MB of RAM ran 4.0.4 on a 4 year old phone perfectly.
3-It’s so confusing and it’s all stolen1!!111!
Android was created in 2003. Bought by Google in 2005. Developed ever since. Then iOS came out, in 2007. Android was already nearing completion, if not completed. Android is open source, and I doubt that Apple never once took a peek. iOS uses the same scrolling, same app layout, almost the same user interface, but has less features. Also, Android is very easy to use, and you’ll find it’s app integration far superior to that of iOS.
Android is spectacular and the head mobile OS innovator. iOS is a strong, fast, easy to use operating system, but simply lacks in many areas where Android kills.
Don’t even get me started on price.
Anrdroid was not being developed for smartphones in 2003, iOS however had been in development in 2003 for the iPad which led to the iPhone coming out and then the releasing of the iPad. Get your facts straight. Android changed platforms to smartphones when the iPhone was being talked about. Don’t forget google had members on apple board of chairs.
I agree to ios is very easy to learn for anyone and I have had an android phone for the last two years now and still have learned some tricks on how to use it which is crazy compared to my ipod I have had since 2010 and know it inside and out and even can jailbreak now with my eyes closed. Ios is easy for anyone and android may be easier now but it is a still tricky compared to ios.
Somehow the fact that it has «unibody» alumini-um enclosure seems lost on most people. I wonder why that is… But to your credit, personally I find it overpriced also (I mean with arguably lower than the competition specs and features – bar the enclosure and weight maybe). Lower the price on that thing and practically all of your arguments lose some of their meaningfulness.
I mean why not iPod touch $249, iPad mini $299, iPad 2 $399 and iPad “4” $499 for god’s sake?? (or maybe I should leave god out of it;)
You make some good points, but why can’t Apple price their products like everyone else? Even if the iPad mini was $199, it still couldn’t compete with the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD.
“why can’t Apple price their products like everyone else?”
Because they don’t have to, the suckers will pay whatever they charge.
I also wish the iPad Mini was cheaper, but you need to understand how those three companies make money and what their motivation is:
Apple: Sells hardware and makes money on the profits
Amazon: Sells content and sells devices (with no profit and possibly even loss) to drive content purchases
Google: Sells advertising and wants to push its platform
True.
– Rick
I’m commenting on the point about how apple makes its money “by selling hardware and making money on the profits”. Yes well; but what about iTunes and the apps they take a 30 % or so share of?. My beef is that once you buy into apple, it’s very hard to change because you’ve invested so much in stuff that won’t work on other systems. Unless someone can tell my I’m wrong about that?
You’re right. Apple creates a virtual prison in an attempt to try and lock-in their users. Most users are too lazy to figure out that it’s not hard to transfer all of your non-DRM media, docs, texts and everything else from iOS to Android.
Apple also charges twice as much for some popular new albums than Amazon does.
– Rick
Hi, Rick!
With your very informative blog you have killed my all doubts about whether to go for iPad mini or some 3 times cheaper local brand (I live in Poland) Android tablet. I feel I should make it clear, for what purposes I need a tablet: it’s reading e-books, magazines and comics, working with documents like spreadsheets, presentations and reports, checking news and some leisure activities (some rather simple games and movies). As I want a light, poratble device that will last hours on battery iPad mini seemed to be a perfect choice. If it was 1/3 of its price cheaper I would probably hesitate less and sell my soul to the “whatever we c*ap out you will buy” company… Fortunately for my nerves (and wallet) this product died today in front of my eyes. What kiled it was not the price (and here you are right – even if it was $199 it still wouldn’t be able to compete with too many Android devices), it was… connectivity. Yes, with a $50 worth connector I can bring the image onto a HDMI monitor, TV or projector. But still I can’t copy or transfer ANY files without installing iTunes (or other paid software) on device to be connected. No USB flash sticks, no extrenal HDDs, no BT connection with non-Apple stuff… Heck, even no doc or ppt attachements to e-mails, am I right? If I got mistaken anywhere, please correct me. But as a “business” user I started to wonder, how so many people in the world can live with iPads if they are unable to perform tasks, which are basic for me!
Here I’d like to thank Norns for Internet and Rick’s blog. Screw the money, today my nerves were saved.
All are great points but I would say half are a matter of preference.
I see that the iPad isn’t for you since you like all the things you made against it and that’s why there is other devices for people like you.
Also just saying, comparing one device to several in your examples doesn’t justify anything since I would have to buy multiple devices to just satisfy certain features, keep it to one vs one.
Overall, like the article. I’m not buying the iPad mini, not for any of those reasons but I don’t have a need for it.
Thanks for the comment Max.
as flawed a product as the mini is, you’re using many different products to compare against it. there is no one product that is best at everything. not even the wonderful note 2.
build quality is underrated in your review also. how about usable apps?
You’re right. I suggest you compare it to EITHER the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 OR the Nexus 7. Each of these kill it when it comes to overall value and specs.
I agree build quality is very important, but both the Kindle and Nexus are well-built products, as good as the mini? Nope, but they don’t cost $180 more like the mini does. $180 will by a lot of nice aluminum.
Usable apps is no longer an issue for most on the Android platform. I switched a year ago and although I still own TWO iPhones, I haven’t needed to power-up either once. I found apps that do everything I need to do as good (and some are better) as the ones I was running on iPhone.
Thanks for the comment John. I do appreciate it.
The first photo is a “A 32GB Nexus 7″, which doesn’t exist (yet!).
You’re right. But as I make very clear. It will next week. 😉
In case you missed it, the iPad mini isn’t available yet either. They are taking pre-orders now, but it doesn’t go on sale until Nov. 2.
Thanks for the comment however.
– Rick
I will buy one of the cheapest spec versions, but only because I need to check that apps I have written for my customers for “proper” iPads will still be comfortably readable on the smaller screen. Then the mini will either sit in a drawer or I’ll try to palm it off on one of my kids (who won’t want it as they all have Android phones). I really like the iPad 3, but for the life of me can’t see why anyone would want the mini at this price
I completely agree. That’s the one thing that all of the glowing reviews of the mini mention. It’s price is ridiculous.
Thanks for the comment.
You can’t compare features from multiple Android tablets to the iPad mini. The Nexus 7 doesn’t have a replaceable battery, or stylus features like the Note, and you can’t add more memory, it doesn’t have a matte screen, or four times the memory. The Galaxy Tab doesn’t have stereo speakers and so forth. Idiotic really. You’re picking features from multiple devices and stacking them up against the iPad mini. How much more disingenuous can you be?
I think you’ll have to rewrite your fanboy article and this time compare apples to apples. Also, spare us the disclaimer. We all know the most raging racists have so many black friends!
Congrats for being the first flame!
There are hundreds of glowing articles about the iPad mini. I thought it might be nice to have ONE that challenged the others. This article is for the undecideds. People like you are already committed to the Apple brand and are going to buy only Apple products no matter what me or anyone else says. My title makes it VERY clear what this article is about, and to be fair, I DO point out that the mini is the lightest and thinnest tablet available today. I also mention it’s camera is good (although there are better 8MP tablet cams out there. Lastly I point stress other mini advantages in the chart.
‘The Nexus 7 doesn’t have a replaceable battery’
Maybe not by your average joe blogs – end user but the Nexus 7 battery is replaceable in about 5 minutes flat – see the ifixit teardown for just how easy it is to get at.
You are correct. I read that as well.
– Rick
Have to agree that this product is priced just way too damn high! Especially as far as spec’s go, but just like my Macbook Pro, I will more than likely sit out the wave’s of refreshes until they come out with the one I like…sat on the side lines for 21/2 yrs.
I like apple, I like the effort they put into all their products and their attention to small details…as a customer I feel that apple holds their products to specific standards and feel that their name stands for something. I feel like a car customer in early 2000’s comparing a BMW (apple) to a typical Chryslers (everyone else) vehicle. These are the reason why I stand behind apple, wether my feelings betray me or not…i dunno. But I haven’t been bitten in the butt yet by them, one thing I do know is that I will never go back to a Windows product….grew up on them all the way up to 2010.
Thanks for the comment Jaromir.
So many sub par points…. If you want i can give you 50 reasons on why the mini is FAR superior. Seriously if you want i will.
There are hundreds of glowing articles about the iPad mini. I thought it might be nice to have ONE that challenged some of the others. This article is for the undecideds. People like you are already committed to the Apple brand and are going to buy Apple products no matter what me (or anyone else) says. My title makes it VERY clear what this article is about, and to be fair, I DO point out that the mini is the lightest and thinnest tablet available today. I also mention it’s camera is good (although there are better 8MP tablet cams out there. Lastly I point stress other mini advantages in the chart.
I suggest that you do write an article about all of the great things about the iPad mini. If you do, I’ll link to it here.
Thanks for your comment.
Go on then, let’s hear it.
It does seem a touch ironic that in making your point, not a single Android (mini) tablet has all 20 of the features you note.
You’re right! However if you compare EITHER the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 OR the Nexus 7 alone to the iPad mini, you’ll find that each of them kill it when it comes to overall value and specs. Another even better tablets are on the way…
Thanks for the comment.
Why no reasons as to why people should buy it? This is 100% one sided….
You’re right. There are hundreds of glowing articles about the iPad mini. I thought it might be nice to have ONE that challenged the others. This article is for the “undecideds.” People like you are already committed to the Apple brand and are going to buy Apple products no matter what me or anyone else says. My title makes it VERY clear what this article is about, and to be fair, I DO point out that the iPad mini is the lightest and thinnest tablet available today. 🙂 I also mention that its camera is good (although there are better 8MP tablet cams out there). Lastly I point stress other mini advantages in the chart. Thanks for the comment!
stop copy and pasting your reply
The #1 reason to choose any iPad is…drum roll please…apps (both quantity and quality)!
iPad 1, Android 0, Windows 8 0.
Superior hardware loaded with inferior software doesn’t cut it…
I’m not so sure about that. I switch between the same iOS and Android apps all day long and most of the apps are similar in quality. It’s true that some are better on iOS, but that also true for Android. It didn’t used to be this way obviously. Android has come a long way over the past year.
Thanks for the comment.
I guess it depends on which apps you’re using, but my experience is that android apps are far lower quality than their iOS counterparts. android apps tend to be upscaled phone apps that look and “play” badly on a tablet. a few examples : politico, remote potato, alien blue, facebook. video also works much better in the iOS environment. i own a nexus 7, and it’s good for a few particular jobs (reading books), but iPad’s work much better over all.
Thanks for giving examples of the apps you find work better on iOS. Which Android tablet are you using? Until very recently there were no good ones.
When you say video works better are you talking about local video playback, or playback of Internet videos? I’m just curious, because I haven’t experienced that. Maybe that’s because I don’t use my tablet to watch movies.
– Rick
That is laughable considering how man different android devices the apps have to actually be programmed for, iOS has how many different device hardware configurations compared to Android?
I’d add to Rick’s reply that even w/ the huge dearth of apps for Surface, the one killer program(s) it has is Office and its compatibility with the desktop version. As much as I love my iPad’s iWork and some other iOS/Android Office alternatives, there is no substitute for having a fully compatible version of Office on tablets.
Amen.
Linux.
I started using a unused iPad 2 we had at work a few months ago and i feel crippled, sure the app store has lots of games and toys but it lacks real tools that are useful for work like wifi analyzer for example because apple has put so many restrictions on what type of apps are allowed in their store.
For my purposes the play store has way more useful apps (and is no longer behind app store on the gaming side either), not to mention a free ad-supported version exists for most of them which gives you the ability to try them out for a extended period of time.
ICS changed alot for android, there are too many people basing their opinions about android on what it was 1-2 years ago (even then i prefered it over iOS but atleast i could see where people where coming from when criticizing it).
I completely agree with your comments. It’s nice to see a rational response, instead just flaming someone. Thanks or posting.
– Rick
One main reason I admire apple is their retina screens. They really dropped the ball here. Should I wait before I buy ~7 inch tablet this week?
I completely agree. The two things Apple has always lead in is thinness and image quality. Tablets with screens like this were available almost two years ago. Of course they are saving money doing this so they can either drop the price $100 after Xmas, or swap in a Retina display, but that would completely screw over everyone who buys the iPad mini now.
Forgot to answer your second question. If I were in the market for a 7 to 9″ tablet, I’d wait till next week when Google announces their Nexus 7 refresh and then buy that or a Kindle Fire HD 8.9. Each has advantages, it just depends what’s important to you. Good luck.
Thanks… will wait
Sorry to say that the way this article compare is iPad mini with nexus, Samsung, kindle, etc. I think every tablet have different function and of course if you combine all the function of android tablets, iPad mini seems very disadvantage. But if you compare one to one is different case. Maybe if you compare to nexus only they are similarly don’t use SD slots. If you use Samsung galaxy tab, they don’t appear as mass storage in Mac OSX system (icecream sandwich don’t appear as mass storage when connect to Mac) unless you take out your SD card and plug it directly to ad slot on Mac, other than that way is troublesome to transfer the data on Mac, so is very disadvantage when using Mac but easier on Windows.
This article some how is biased to android. I’m using android galaxy tab and iPad on Mac or PC and I face this problem. Both machine is good and I like both in different way of usage and need.
Thanks for the comment Tj. I suggest you compare the iPad min against EITHER the Nexus 7 OR the Kindle Fire HD 8.9″. Either one of those is a much better value and has overall better specs.
– Rick
Rick, as a hardcore Apple fan boy, your article was tough to read. But you make good points. I am on the fence. I want to get this new mini but the screen resolution has me really pissed off. I know Apple will make it a retina display next year but why didn’t they do so TY? Money? Greed? Lack of retina displays? I don’t know but border line angry about it.
I keep going back & forth to buy or not to buy. I listed my 1st generation iPad on eBay last week to help me justify the mini (I also have the iPad 2 & 3). I will probably sell my iPad 2 as well. I love my iPad 3 retina display. I have no desire or need for the iPad 4. But was really looking forward to the mini.
I think Apple is starting to make mistakes & have taken their loyal fans for granted. I was disappointed with the iPhone 5 form factor (too similar to the 4) but got it anyhow. I will probably preorder the mini tonight but losing patience with my favorite company.
If you want the thinnest and lightest tablet available today and money isn’t an object, you should buy the iPad mini. If I were you I’d wait however, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple drops the price $100 after Xmas. They certainly have enough margin to do so.
One more thing… Even though I love the display on the iPad 3, I almost bought a Nexus 7, because it’s such a great value and is a great way to try our Android 4.1. It’s an outstanding product for the money — especially if you order the 32GB model for $249.
Once again EVERYONE fails to factor in what really matters. We have reached terminal velocity on specs. Who cares about specs anymore. They are all good enough to google crap and play angry birds already! The real variable here is the OS!!! When will Android realize this. Enough with the device already. Worry about the user experience and the apps. We don’t need 3D cameras, or any of that extra crap. We just want the thing to turn on when we press the button and for the app to open when we touch the icon. Apple products tend to be a little better at this than Android devices. That’s all we care about. Thanks.
Thanks for the comment Vidaleon. I agree that OS and Apps are more important than specs. Have you used Android 4.1 yet? It’s really good. I find it’s better than iOS 6 in the following areas: https://mostly-tech.com/2012/09/30/3219/
Of course iOS 6 has advantages too! I’ve listed some of those here and will be adding many more in the coming week.
Honestly, at this point in time, comparatively… iOS is almost a lack of operating system.
hey I’m a die hard apple fan –> iPhone 5, Macbook Pro, iPod and Ipads but i will not spend my money on the iPad mini i was so disappointed the day of the announcement…all the technology they have and they decided to come out with something crappy just to release a better version with an A6X chip 6 months later i like apple but I’m not willing to give them my money that easy!
Thanks for the comment Miguel.
All your points here fall at hurdles for me.
1. Support – I can walk into an Apple store and get usually great service,buy a Nexus from Google and compare that.
2. Build quality – I have a Nexus 7, love its performance, hate the Mattel toy like finish.
3. Apps – no other tablet competes.
4. Business support, MDM solutions are now focused on IOS completely, the cost of an iPad is almost irrelevant to business buyers, as are specs. Security, and EAS email compliance are king and IOS has both.
5. Peripherals, I take your point on non standard connections, but that does not stop thousands of 3rd party devices being designed for iPad.
I think thats worth the Apple tax.
A 70% tax for these five items doesn’t seem worth it to me, but if you’ve got money to burn you should buy an iPad mini. It sounds like you’ll love it. Just don’t be surprised when they drop the price $100 or upgrade to a Retina display in a few months.
Thanks for the comment Tim.
– Rick
Finally an article pointing out some of the legitimate flaws of the Ipad mini. Most other news sites are so pro Apple its hard to get a balanced review. I’m deciding between the Nexus and the mini but the cost is a major factor so I will probably go for the Nexus.
Thanks for the comment Jon. I own an iPad 3 and also use a Nexus 7 on a regular basis. Both are very good products. For the money, you can’t beat the Nexus however. I would also look seriously at the Kindle Fire HD 8.9. I has an amazing display and some other stand-out features.
Most sites are pro Apple because they are promoting what they believe to best the best devices for most people.
This video kinda sums up your points right here:
I saw that as well. It’s brilliant and sadly almost everything they say is true. Thanks for commenting Brady!
– Rick
We’ve actually uncovered the first cold-war era iPad Mini Kirf – it’s stunning.
(there’s also a commercial – please to enjoy comrades)
These are reasons you buy android tablets, which quite frankly I don’t really care for. Are the extra features nice? yes, but again it’s something I don’t really look for / want in a tablet.
for me a tablet has to be good at browsing the web, Android doesn’t offer that. I would much rather go to my ipad instead of my kindle fire to go on youtube etc.
but as I said, these reasons are why you buy android. If you care about nfc or better specs then go android. To me a tablet is only really there when you want to browse the web on the sofa or something.
As for me, I don’t need a quad core processor to browse the web or launch apps / play games, I leave that up to my computer (since nothing on a tablet now a days is cpu intensive).
but wait, Android tablets can browse the web, do so much more and cost less, so why ipad? well, I just don’t like the android experience. I’ve browsed the web on my iphone, ipad, s2 and 3, and kindle, and the best experience i’ve had was with the ipad.
does this mean ipad is better? yes, “””but to me!”””” everyone is different, and I could name reasons why you would be crazy to buy an android or windows tablet, but I understand not everyone is buying a tablet for the same reasons as me.
If you think Android tablets aren’t good for browsing the web you’ve never used Chrome on one of the better Android tablets. Like the iPad 3/4, it’s a great experience.
– Rick
This has got to be one of the dumbest articles I’ve ever read lol.. I also believe the mini is lame, but you sir just wrote a very ill informed shitty article by mashing together lhone/tablet features from 100 different devices and compared it to 1 product
I appreciate the comments, but think you’re missing my point. Apple has access to exactly the same technologies which everyone else has access to. They made a choice to ignore many important technologies which others include and include a panel that would have been good two years ago, but is inferior today.
If you take the time to compare the iPad mini to EITHER the Nexus 7 OR the Kindle Fire HD 8.9, you’ll find out that those tablets outperform it in every area except three: weight, thickness and camera. If those things are most important and money doesn’t matter to you you should buy an iPad mini.
Your list is wrong in a few areas, unless you can direct me to your sources. First, Android no longer has the Flash advantage it once had. Both Google and Adobe have supposedly claimed that 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is the last version to have Flash support. Somebody at the local Fry’s was complaining about Flash support on their tablet and I told them just that. Second, although cheaper, I cannot find one mini tablet running Android that can be expanded via SD cards, which just about every full-sized tablet, except iPad, and Android phone can be. I’ll try to look up the Nexus 7 manual though, since I know that Kindle Fire does not allow SD cards.
My list is not wrong and I don’t have to direct you to my sources. I am my own source.
I play Flash videos every day on my Samsung Galaxy S III. You can’t do it from Google’s Chrome browser, but you can do it from the stock Android 4.0 browser (and other third-party browsers). Android 4.1 uses Chrome as the stock browser, so you’d have to use a 3rd-party browser.
You couldn’t find a SINGLE smaller tablet with a memory card slot eh? Looks like you didn’t try very hard.
Smaller Android tablets with a memory slot include the following: Barnes and Noble Nook HD (7”), Lenovo Ideatab S2107A (7”), Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 LTE (7”), Huawei Mediapad 7 (7”), Alcatel One Touch T20 (7”), Acer Icona Tab 110 (7”), Plum Debut (7”), Archos ChildPad (7”), Toshiba Excite 7.7, Archos 80 G9 (8”), Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 LTE (7”), ZTE V66 (7”), Barnes and Noble Nook HD+ (9”), ViewSonic ViewPad E70 (7”), Pantech Element (8”), Archos 70b (7”), Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.7 (7.7”), Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet (7”), ZTE V9 (7”), Spice Mobile Mi-720 (7”), ZTE Light Tab 2 (7”), Lenovo Idea Pad A1 (7”), Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 (7.7), Vizio Tablet (8”), Sharp Galapagos (7”), Archos Arnova (7.7”) and sixteen more.
– Rick
http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/2012/06/flash-player-and-android-update.html
“There will be no certified implementations of Flash Player for Android 4.1.”
It has nothing to do with the browser. It has to do with Adobe/Google no longer supporting it.
I’ll test this as soon as Verizon decides to push 4.1 to the GS3 and update my article as soon as I can confirm that no 3rd party software can do this.
Wow. You’ve become my full-time fact checker. 😉
– Rick
Looks like you have been proven wrong on Flash, as I can see. Yes, I knew that Chrome did not support it on Android, but somebody already gave you a link to what I was talking about. If anybody has Flash support, it will third-party, just like the Linux alternatives for Flash support. However, you need to look better at what is happening.
I do admit that I have not looked very closely at mini tablets that support SD cards, but the one my brother suggested, the Kindle Fire does not, and neither does Nexus 7, from recent searching. Everything else is not that well known, except Nook, since Kindle Fire supposedly has the best hardware.
I’ve changed the section on Flash.
– Rick
After further investigation, it turns out that all of your comments about Flash and Android 4.1 were wrong. I’ve revised my Flash section so it’s now accurate:
All Android tablets running 4.0 (and earlier) can play Flash video. If you have a tablet running Android 4.1 (or later) you’ll need to side-load Flash by following these easy instructions. You should not need to do this if you previously installed Flash before you upgraded to Android 4.1. If you have trouble playing Flash video with your stock browser use Firefox.
I guess glass and metal are inferior materials to plastics and rubbers, I guess lighter and thinner isn’t very good either. 12+ hours of battery life isn’t leading anything.The ability to Process and edit RAW photos on an iPad mini is a boon and has no advantage to a photographer. A better ecosystem of apps is just dumb and paying for apps period shouldn’t be expected since no one works on them, they just magically appear. I guess my sub quality experience with multiple android devices negates my choice on experience of a product and I just have to sheeple it up and follow the specs. I guess since there is a perfect android tablet, that has 64bit processor 8 cores, is thinner and lighter than the iPad mini, has 4K resolution, 500gb of internal SSD storage, with expandable memory, 7 days of battery life, is made of the finest crystal, and gives me regular massages, then I will have to forgo the iPad Mini. Please do an article as well on why I would be crazy to buy a house anywhere other than california, or why I wouldn’t purchase a new audi. Please I don’t want an experience I just want specs and sales pitches.
Thanks for the comments George. Sadly you’re 0 for 4 on your claims.
1. It’s sounds to me like you haven’t seen or used an Android tablet in the past few years. Build quality on some Android tablets is very good.
2. You’re right that battery life on earlier iPads was excellent, but I OWN an iPad 3 and battery life sucks. It’s no where near 12+ hours.
3. First off, VERY few consumers edit RAW photos on their tablets. But if you need to, there are at least THREE different Android apps which can do this today (probably more). BTW: I use Lightroom daily so I don’t need a lecture why RAW matters.
4. As far as ecosystem, you obviously haven’t used Android 4.1 or later or you wouldn’t make these claims. My brother just switched from iPhone 4 to GS3 last night and there was only one app that he couldn’t find in Google Play and I have a substitution for that.
The rest of your comments are too stupid to respond to.
– Rick
You do have this problem in your article of comparing “The” iPad Mini to many other tablets. Pad mini gets 12 hours and 43 min of battery usage http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/30/apple-ipad-mini-review/. The iPad mini doesn’t have expandable memory, and neither does the Nexus 7. I am a photographer and using the iPads with RAW support has been a no brainer. I’ve also owned, the ASUS transformer Prime, Samsung Galaxy Tab. In my experience using these different tablets I have found my experience sub par compared to the apple product. The ASUS had Ice Cream Sandwich. My friend has Jelly Bean and yes it is smoother. but that is years later than I wanted. Build quality on SOME andriod tablets is good. Build quality on all apple tablets is fantastic. This is also in my opinion. Since this is all subjective no matter how you slice it (specs dont equal performance) then its really experience. I don’t think anyone is saying there isn’t a better value. I think what you fail to mention is its really up to the individual. Oh and the RAW apps for andriod blow. Not to mention many of these tabs you mention, have very little content from their respective app store, especially for tablets. Odd article, you are really pick and choosing from a lot of different tablets. I’m not even saying that the iPad mini is perfect, its just a preference for some.
Thanks for sharing. I shouldn’t have been so terse in my first e-mail.
All of these comments seem reasonable to me. I agree that Android could use some professional photo editing apps.
– Rick
Rick thanks for the article, it does bring up a lot to think about. I really wish android had some good photo editing software. I really do. I wouldn’t mind jumping ship. I have just found apple to often do multimedia and quality better. There are lots of things to think about, and I like that about this article. I really think that the iPad mini, isn’t apples best, they stuck some old hardware in there, and I’m not sure if it was to meet deadlines (as R&D takes a while) or if its a money making tactic. Either way, the next iPad mini, will have double pixels and double processor. it will make this one look silly, and that is sad for the customer
Thanks for the oomments. I agree Android is lacking professional-grade photo editing software, but I’ve heard that the new Android 4.2 Gallery app will help in this area. Let’s hope those rumors are true.
– Rick
Yes and No, cause we will have had the Mini for 6-8 Months, and having used it three days I cannot see myself returning to the heavy and big iPad3, in fact I think I’ll simply sell it. Yes the display is gorgeous, yes it’s faster (and has double the RAM), but the Mini is simply practical, I can’t imagine picking up the iPad3 other than to show up it’s Retina screen or if my mini is running low on battery :). Just my 2 cents of course.
Thanks for the comment.
– Rick
point 14 – no where does it say the ipad is carrier locked. i have traveled internationally with each model and have no problem purchasing a sim that will work in the device. the ipad is not carrier subsidized unlike the iPhone.
-ee
I just answered this question. See my other response. I got this info from the APPLE WEB SITE.
– Rick
Thanks for the comment. I got that info directly from Apple’s site. They make it very clear, the iPad mini only works with a single carrier. That is how I would define locked. I’ll change this page as soon as they change their site to make it clear the mini is ‘unlocked,’
I don’t think I said the Nexus 7 had 4G support did I? Obviously this IS an advantage the iPad has. 🙂
However it doesn’t belong in this article because this article is about the iPad mini flaws. Feel free to write your own about the advantages of the iPad mini. And you if you, please send me the link. I’d love to read it.
– Rick
Rick, I can see you are taking some heat here, my intent was not to send you more but to set the record straight on questions carrier miscellany:
http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/ultrafast-wireless/
– – – begin quoted – – –
Ready to take on the world.
iPad mini offers comprehensive support for fast networks around the world. That means you can travel almost anywhere and get online. And your connection is always fast. Choose an iPad mini model with cellular data capability to connect to GSM/UMTS networks worldwide. If you want a local connection when you’re traveling, just pop in a local SIM card.
– – – end quoted – – –
-ee
I do appreciate you taking the time to add this comment and I’ll be glad to delete that bullet once I confirm it’s true, but if you try to buy an iPad mini right now, you’re going to see that Apple makes you pick from one of three carriers. If you pick Verizon is will NOT work in Europe. I’m not trying to be difficult, but I have to carry an AT&T iPhone when I travel in Europe for this very same reason.
– Rick
Rick, you don’t get it. If you pick VZ, it will not work in Europe on LTE, it will work just fine with HSPA+, just like the Nexus 7. As is continuously pointed out to you, there is no single device that can handle all the world’s LTE spectrums.
Good points. Thanks for sharing. Just for you EB, I’ve changed my bullet point. Please read the new version and let me know if you think it’s factually correct. Contrary to popular belief, I’m try to keep everything here accurate.
– Rick
oh and you’ll need a cutter as it is a nano-sim (I ordered one off of ebay lastnight). Israel a month ago and ireland last week had micro-sims from diff carriers but no nano-sims.
-ee
Good point. Thanks for sharing. I’ll mention that and the fact the several users are disputing the “locked” claim.
– Rick
What about the nanoSIM issue???
– Rick
That’s correct. Not everyone has a nano-SIM or a cutter. Are you trying to say they do. Why don’t you read my revised bullet before you make another comment. We’re arguing over text that no longer exists. 🙂
How can you compare the Nexus 7 to anything. It’s fast, but still crap. The apps suck, you have to buy slow microSD cards which adds to the price and not a great solution. I bought one and after trying using for a few weeks I put it away, even my son can’t use it because is confusing. Even downloading the maps for offline the GPS takes way too long to lock on, unless you have WiFi, etc, etc. BTW I also own a Motorola XOOM 4G with ICS and it’s crap as well, at least Jelly bean is fast and smooth like IOS. Anyway, the power of Apple is the quality of the products and the quality of the apple. Also I am not sure why are people so upset about the IPad 4, the iPad 3 is so fast and great. I would be upset if Apple made it lighter and longer battery life. That would piss me off. Why does no one get pissed at Samsung and other Android makers for coming up with a new phone every 3 months and then not upgrading them to the latest Android versions? tat to me is what keeps me from buying an Android phone, they are the ones screwing their customers.
Thanks for sharing Joseph.
– Rick
Because you obviously know nothing about the Nexus 7, clearly you just hate the fact it’s way better than the iPad mini and has seen much more success.
28. Nook HD and HD+ are far better than these opinions. Lighter, Faster, Clearer, MUCH cheaper and free tech support. Also comes with a one year warranty.
*options
Agreed. Thanks for the comment.
– Rick
Brutal article. It all comes down to preference. Specs don’t matter! With iCloud and other services, expandable memory is a joke. I had to switch my small business over to Apple for the sheer brutality of other devices. Tried using an Android tablet to ink a comic and process sales. Multiple app crashes and random loses of very important information the entire Android ecosystem seems sour. There’s too many devices, all shooting their cannons in entirely different directions. You can’t beat Apples quality. I don’t care if my Galaxy S3 shoots laser beams at my enemies, it can’t keep a credit processing app open for more than an hour without devastating its battery and bugging down the device. I have a laundry list of other reasons for switching. I’m no iSheep. Far from it! I enjoy technology. Though right now, Apple is the only company tha can offer a seemless experience across an array of devices. Apple isn’t even that expensive these days. Where’s the inexpensive Android tablet made from a strong metal like aluminum? The build quality of Apple far surpasses that of Google, Samsung, Microsoft., Nokia, yadda yadda yadda. Anyone updating all thir devices on a yearly or monthly basis has either got an ego issue, or some other serious problems. I had an iPad, didn’t upgrade till the iPad 3. Had a 2009 MacBook, didn’t upgrade until the retina display MacBook Pro came out. Who cares! Go out and buy whatever electronic you want. It’s…a…preference!
Memory doesn’t matter? I filled up my 16GB iPad in a few weeks and now I’m screwed. I only have a few hundred high-quality photos and songs. In case you forgot Apple CHARGES for iCloud when you have more than 5GB in the cloud.
When people make comments about Android crashes it’s a red flag that they don’t use Android — or they used an old version. Same with build quality. Most people have never held an Asus tablet, a new Kindle Fire HD or even a Nexus 7.
Thanks for the comments and supporting the basic premise of this article.
– Rick
I own a Nexus 7 and now an iPad mini. The mini’s biggest shortcoming, for me, is the non-retina resolution. But the Nexus 7 color quality is bad, Google Play has a lot of problems,
http://blogs.bytecode.com.au/glen/2012/08/02/nexus-play-weirdness-error-retrieving-information-from-server-rpc-aec0.html
and Android is inferior to iOS in many ways . The apps are much better on iOS. Android wastes a large percent of screen space just to show three navigation buttons with wide areas of black on each side.
I think you are ignoring some spec comparisons that demonstrate why people would choose an iPad mini:
1. Number of tablet apps available.
2. Actual screen area available for apps in landscape mode.
3. Color quality.
4. Percent area of screen on surface. The iPad mini’s small bezel and thus larger screen makes it a really nice device to use.
5. Sound quality. Play Gangnam Style on Youtube on both devices next to each other. It is very easy to hear better low end and high end on iPad mini than the Nexus 7.
iPad mini is a nice device.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the feedback Paul. You’re comments are all factually correct, but the purpose of this article was to point out the reasons why Android tablets are better. 🙂
Apple doesn’t need any help, almost all reviewers are biased in favor of Apple and against both Samsung and Google. I thought it might be nice to give people a fresh point of view for a change.
– Rick
Ah. I thought the purpose was to provide an accurate comparison. I wish Android tablets were better…but they are improving.
True. Sounds like my best tablet on earth article might be more to your liking.
– Rick
Another big feature lacking with Android devices is support for USB audio devices…microphones, interfaces, guitars, etc. iOS devices can play and record audio with standard USB audio devices using the camera connection kit. Android is saddled with a USB port that can not host accessory devices. Android 4.1 supports audio output (no input) with accessory devices, but the accessory device has to be the USB host. Android’s USB was designed to make it connectable to computers, but not to make USB devices connect to it and can not support standard USB audio peripherals.
Good info. I’ll summarize this and add it to my iOS advantages article. Sounds you are developing for mobile. Let me know when your app(s) are released so I can try them.
– Rick
Post made. You can view it here: https://mostly-tech.com/2012/10/07/mobile-os-wars-can-ios-6-0-beat-android-4-1/
– Rick
I was about to purchase an ipad mini for christmas but this has really changed my mind. It seems the adverts and comments emphasise on the good point of the ipad mini a little too much,
😀
The mini is a really nice looking product, but its screen doesn’t cut it. There are much better values out there with faster processors and much better screens. Let us know what you end up with.
– Rick
Nice article – I want to politely pose a devil’s advocate argument, and I am by no means an apple fanboy.
Your list of 37 reasons include a number of things that I honestly dont care about or need, and imho arent really that important. Sure, they are specific niche reasons why the iPad mini isnt as good as another tablet, but 30 small weaknesses doesnt really detract from the product as a whole. To attempt a football analogy, this seems to me like someone saying – My team has a better kicker, punter, kick returner, offensive line coach, fake punt play, hail mary play, and uniforms. Well…thats great and all, but the other team has the better offense and defense – which is much more important to me then everything else you mentioned.
Instead, I would pick out the one or two reasons why it actually is weaker, ie: the 4:3 ratio rather than 16:9 is a HUUUGE problem. But no WFC support or touch-to-share? Those things wouldnt even be a blip on my radar. (And yes i realize everyones priorities are different)
I would say approximately 3 of the 37 reasons you listed are things to even remotely think about. Anywho – just my two cents. Thanks for the write up!
Thanks for the feedback.
– Rick
Why you so hate apple? I’m never used iPhone, I fan of blackberry’s phones, but I choice ipad 2. Now I have a choices ipad 4 or ipad mini, and I choice ipad mini, now my ipad 2 under my bad and I think it’s the first step of apple to best product ever. I’m lovin it! And now I waiting ipad mini 2 🙂
I don’t hate Apple at all. I dislike companies that hold back features like Apple has done with the iPad mini. When the iPad 2 came out it was superior to every other tablet. The iPad mini is now inferior to most popular tablets.
– Rick
The kindle is way better i just go a kindle fire HD and the picture quality is amazing I was blow we away by the graphic difrence I got temple run on it and It looks boss.1 I said just 1 bad thang is charging it takes a lot longer like 2-3 or 3-4 so if you get one charge it at night and it will probliy last ipadmini sucks!! Go kindle fire hd : and it’s better deal as far as money;)
Ugh..i showedthis to my mom then she said oh..then im not gonna buy a ipad mini for you. WTH 1st f all…you sound like a critizier
Why did you show her than.
The iPad mini actually doesn’t have passports and if you did like I had on my iPod touch it works more places than Starbucks
Hi Linsy,
What major retail chains accept Apple’s Passbook in today? Not many. Android works at 300,000 locations.
I don’t understand what you’re trying to say about the iPod Touch, but this article is about the iPad mini.
– Rick
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (with a dynamite display) is actually priced less than an IPad mini; but Amazon does not include a power charger (add $25) in their Pak. Yet, Amazon does include ads and ‘suggestions’ on your tabs home screen…you must pay $15 to delete this ‘feature’.
Good points. Thanks for mentioning both of those.
– Rick
THX Rick,,,forgot to mention that while Kindle HD is a fine entertainment device, it is really a portal into the Amazon eco-system. To get the full benefit of ownership Amazon suggests joining Amazon Prime,,,thats another $79/year,,,helping drive revenue for Bezos.
If it weren’t for the best selection of apps in Apple’s App Store, i would drop ipad in a second.
Thanks for showing me the light Rick.. Apple products just plain suck nowadays feel like I’m just paying for the logo and not he technology inside … We are all tech fans so shouldn’t the tech inside really count more then anything?
Tech is not everything, software is everything.
Doesn’t support flash? Boo fucking hoo, flash is awful, and thanks to apple, flash is being slowly pushed out, it’s a power sucker and runs awfully, roll on HTML5. I heard you like apps? Well too bad, your screens aspect ratio wasn’t taken into account when ea were making FIFA? That’s just too bad, what about the hardware? Well If it’s not compatible then you’re stuffed. You can f@”* off with the nexus 7, this (http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPad/Need+for+Speed%3A+Most+Wanted/feature.asp?c=46679) article shows that even with lower specs, the iPad mini performs better when opening, loading and even anti-aliasing games, the problem with other tablets is they fall to the same faults that windows does, trying to be compatible with too many devices, and the developers have to put in too much work to get apps made. When discussing price it’s easy to notice that the iPad mini is more, but there’s very good reason for that, research and development for one, that apple seem to do most of, then everybody else steals, the built quality is second to none, and who can beat 300,000 tablet specific apps that ALL work on the iPad mini? I owned an android tablet for a year, and nearly everyday was faced with a challenge or an issue with doing something with it, or installing stuff. If you want to get things on your iPad, use google drive, it’s just the best way of doing it and opens loads of formats. Having something as thin, light, strong and beautiful as the iPad mini is a no brainer, and the simplicity of iOS over android is beyond comprehension for android users , who don’t seem to care that their interface is depressing and cumbersome.
I wish I had read this about 2 months ago. The iPhone was my first encounter with Apple and the only smart phone I’ve ever owned. That’s where I learned to love (or thought I loved) apple products. I figured I’d love my iPad mini as much as my iPhone. I now realize I spent a fortunate on a slightly larger version of what I already owned (but with a much poorer picture quality). I purchased the iPad hoping to replace the use of my laptop. Big mistake. The iPad has absolutely no function other than to search the web, play games, and watch movies. Storing and transferring documents is pretty much impossible (ie no USB port). It’s basicly an expensive toy with no real practical use. I’m also very annoyed by the fact that Apple is already generating rumors of an iPad mini 2 with retina display. The technology was already available and could have easily been incorporated into the current mini. I will not keep giving my hard earned money to Apple.
Rick
I really appreciate your attention to detail and your unvarnished tech reviews. I am an Android fan and have hated Apple for years for any number of reasons. That being said you are absolutely correct when it comes to your take on the Mini. I bought it because I’m a nurse & it fits into my scrub pockets. It’s thin and very light so I can really take advantage of its mobility. Otherwise the processor is a little underwhelming overall as I have experienced a little lag here and there. The screen is adequate but not very good for reading especially for nearsighted folks like me however video and games look and perform crisply. Battery life is excellent overall and i love that the device doesn’t turn into a microwave from long periods of use like so many other devices do. Overall the MAJOR reason I went with the Mini along with portability is the depth, quality & maturity of the app ecosystem. Windows Phone and Android still haven’t really bridged the gap there for me yet. I’m happy with the Mini though I do long for a sharper display. Ill get my HD fix when I pick up the next hottest Android smartphone.
Cheers!
Troy
Hi, I just bought my first apple product, iPad mini 10 days back. I am a music composer/producer using Windows for more than a decade. I only heard about Apple Macs are like horse power, even from my colleagues who shifted from Windows to Mac. But just because its too high in price I could never buy till now, instead upgraded my PC, Music softwares, libraries, etc etc.
But recently I had to wait in studio for some reasons, and I striked with this idea of mobile composing using tablets. I was pretty sure to get an android tablet until I saw the iPad mini. The price difference was little high. But I made my research through online. Finally decided with iPad mini.
Android has many apps, even some of my friends who use it recommended me to go for android device many be galaxy. But those apps were like not so professional quality. They get lots of latency even if they had more RAM or processing power than compared to iPad mini. The main thing which made me decide on ipad was the popular music companies like IK Multimedia, Steinberg, Korg, etc were focusing on iOS. The second reason was iOS is a stable one to handle the polyphony in music notes or apps which was difficult to achieve in Android.
Steinberg although is doing there Android versions soon, it will obviously have latency issues.
iOS operating system is light and powerful and won’t occupy your RAM like Android or Windows.
After using my iPad mini hands on with music apps, I can feel what other apple user (Music producers) were telling about.
One more reason I couldn’t decide to buy iMAc was the compatibility of my existing softwares, and its not flexible in terms of tuning your PC upgrading etc like we do in our Windows. But maybe thats why it is stable.
Its just my opinion after using ipad mini, the impression I got on Apple’s operating system.
I would also like to mention that, reading or typing in iPad mini is more comfortable than other tablets I tried. For me the typing was also a criteria.
But for common people who want a tablet for different reason, not music, and just for internet, entertainment, listening music, movies photos etc, I would recommend Android. Why? Because of the price. You won’t need the stability and you can buy another one in future bcos the price is low.
The iPad mini is the greatest tablet in the world. I LOVE it. It is absolutely the best of the best in every respect. Worth every penny for the 3G!
I have a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and the best thing I got out of this article is that I can just get Firefox for flash instead of this other browser I have that wants me to upgrade to a version without ads every time I use it! … I don’t watch many flash videos, but it’s annoying to be prompt to pay for flash. It would be nice if it worked on Chrome… But.. I guess that if they added it to Chrome, they’d make it available on newer versions of Android os. Thanks for that.
Other than that I’m a broke 20 something year old with lots of college loan debt living paycheck to paycheck who wanted a tablet. So the Samsung GT7.0 was perfect for me! Not the point of this Blog post, but it really is a great and affordable little tablet if anyone is wondering.
I guess you moderated out my comment because it made sense too much sense and totally destroyed your ignorant write up. Do your readers know you restrict speech which you dont agree with?
I approve 99% of the comments made here. Only when they are totally illogical and make the person who posted them look like an idiot do I hide them. I do this to save the person who made them the embarrassment.
– Rick
What a apple hater …you forgot to mention how easy it is to operate..sure beats Microsoft and windows 8..Only reason there a bit more expensive is to ensure they will be around longer then other tablets so long story short the ipad series are far the best…
I own a MacBook pro and an iPhone currently, and in the past an iPad and iPad 2, so I lean much more towards Apple products, and recently needed a smaller tablet for more mobility, my immediate thought was that the mini would do the job, but after seeing the spec decided to keep it in mind but have a look around, after spending a good while deciding what to get, reading reviews etc, I just couldn’t see why anyone would buy a mini over other tablets of a similar size, under powered and over priced, in the end I ordered a Nexus 7, thus ending my years of buying only apple products.
Having had both a Samsung GAlaxy 2 tablet and an ipad mini, I actually have to say that I far prefer my ipad (this is after years of staunchly despising apple product and running the gambit of pc brands). The screen is bigger, and a lot of little things that drove me nuts on my galaxy aren’t an issue when using my ipad. My apps would be forever freezing and closing on their own, trying to do anything on the internet was not worth the time, the battery life was a joke. The entire system would overheat frequent, causing it to freeze, and I would have to wait until it died and hope for the best. I’ve yet to have any issues on my ipad, even when on my blog site with many gifs and videos.
However, I know that everyone’s xperience is different. A big plus for me was not having to deal with windows 8 (which is a big part of my hang up in purchasing a new laptop). So anything that lets me avoid that for a while is a plus. I also wanted it for sketching and note taking, and after discussing my needs with several graphic artists and professions in different field about the pros and cons of various tablet, the ipad mini was the best fit.
It is funny. After reading your long list of negatives it did nothing to take away the positives that I experience with my iPad mini.
I have been an Android user, phones and tablets, and I was happy with them and I didn’t understand the Apple ‘fuss’. That is until I got my hands on an iPad mini and played with it a while and got to grips with the App store and how it worked. It took me about 48 hours to realise that Apple have actually greated a product that I can use all day, every day.
I literally have it with me all the time because it’s such a handy size and weight and it simply does what I want it to do.
Well done on the list though but I still wouldn’t swap my iPad mini. Will be gutted when the retina display model comes out though! Won’t be buying it because I’m not that rich!
Thanks for sharing.
– Rick
Nice article and true, the mini does seem like the worst out there, but the only reason I am looking for an ‘ipad’ is to play Magic 2013 on it, and that game(and several others I want to play) are not available or not fully supported on android/google.
That is my main reason for purchasing the ‘ipad’, if I knew that would change in thea near future I would consider going for an android tablet, they are obviously a lot better.
I do believe a lot of people choose the ipad over android because the choice of apps and games, not because it is from apple.
I tried both worlds I had a iPod touch 2g for 2 years till it was not updatable any more I traded it in for a 3ds handheld and ended up wanting a tablet couldn’t really find my type so I tried android with ice cream sandwich software (food names all there software updates creepy) I thought it was ok till I started trying games sorry to say they are bad nothing compared to ios. then I went to google play once and downloaded a very new app looked good and ended up with a virus which took almost all my pics music and docs. I wrote to google but this person pulled the app from the store rather quickly. sadly I restored and lost everything. realizing what I was missing I wanted a iPad thankfully the mini had came out. I saved for months and January 2013 I had my iPad mini device. I will say I will never buy a android again, bad apps somewhat unsafe AppStore wise. just didn’t like androids look. I love the look of ios, love the awesome games actually compatible with the iPads mini bigger screen.even universal games love it. yes more restrictions, if you want safe then it’s a good thing. yes more price, more price=safer and pretty much no risks unless you cross boundaries. no retina I don’t care about that at all I can’t see hd. I look at a flat screen $$ tv and a tube it looks exactly the same and thats side by side comparison. It’s the same with Idevices and I don’t care. I left ios devices once I won’t do it again. though I won’t buy the ipad mini 2 because if my 1st original iPad mini doesn’t get updates there’s more you can do with these devices once they stop receiving updates. ios beats android thats my opinion.
Bought the mini only because the Aviation program I use, Foreflight, is only available on the IPAD.
That’s a good reason. 🙂
– Rick
Maybe i missed it in the above discussions…
Am I the only one having troubles keeping the “other” folder in the ipad to manageable levels on a regular basis? Has this problem with the easily bloated “other” folder fixed in the mini? I love the fluid operation of my ipad2 but i find myself picking up my nexus 7 more due to (surprise!) ease of operation! Transferring files, watching movies is just plug and play with the nexus but a real pain on the ipad. I delete files and they get deleted, leaving behind free space. I delete files in my ipad and they somehow go to the “other” folder where they refuse to leave. What is this? Once Apple return control to the user I’ll take another look at the ipad.
I guess i like the spies who work at google LOL! Seriously, google is here to stay and Android is only ever going to get better.
I have recently bought ipad mini because it was reduced by £70 as a customer returned it. I am wondering if I can use normal USB keyboard with it by using any connector kit?
Yes. Users have reported that USB keyboards work with the iPad. To connect a USB keyboard to the iPad you must have the Camera Connection Kit accessory.
The Camera Connection Kit adapters plug into the Apple 30-pin dock connector port. One of the adapters has a USB port that is officially advertised as a way to connect your digital camera directly to the iPad. Connecting a USB keyboard to the adapter works.
It’s possible some keyboards will not work. Apple officially does not support the use of the Camera Connection Kit for anything but digital cameras.
Answer from: http://www.theipadguide.com/faq/can-i-use-usb-keyboard-ipad
The ipad mini keyboard is the biggest of the all does the other junk have Siri? NO.
5MP camera is another win the others have low or no camera.
You can’t tell that there is no high display and there is 720HD on the ipad mini
Look at the desing of the ipad mini and compare it to the others the ipad mini looks a lot better
It is not that expense it only $329 for 16 gb $429 for doubled 16GB (32Gb) and $529 for doubled 32GB (64GB) that’s not that high
I’d definitely have to say I would not buy the iPad or iPad mini, just because there to expensive for me to afford, but I recently won an iPad mini in a contest and Love it compared to my old tablet (don’t remember the name but it was a low key brand) The reflective screen is what annoys me, but everything else is pretty good. My relative had an Android tablet (not sure which model), but she had many troubles with it: first the Internet couldn’t close it’s tabs (multiple) and it would have cost over 100$ to fix (mind you a lot of people get ripped off by store techs in my town). And two recently she left it on while she went to tend to something and came back to the screen in only green colours (it overheated and fried). Also my friend has the Samsung galaxy tablet and it’s amazing! Perfect size and has a beautiful screen. It runs smoothly to.
Thanks for sharing.
– Rick
I don’t care about all that shit ppl talk about dose it work, dose it do the job that I ask it to,dose it make me happy YES ok it cost a lil more but who cares……That like u buying a knew car and a week letter something better comes out
Your 6 month prediction was a little off. No retina mini yet
You’re right. I was way off. I underestimated Apple’s greed. Rumor has it there won’t be a Retina mini until next year.
Thanks for the comment.
– Rick
Lets face it. While tablets do seem to be picking up in the area of productivity, the consumer majority uses them for entertainment. Owning both the nexus 7 and the ipad mini, I enjoy using the ipad more for just about everything I use a tablet for. I have one of the most advanced and power hungry offices anyone could hope to have adjacent to a full sound/ADR stage. When people need to use one of our tablets (or should I say want to) they go for the mini almost every time. Most of which don’t own a single apple product. So why? Is it because they’re fanboys? No, it’s just more delightful to use. Period. The wii was an underspected console from day one, but it was a blast, and when it comes to entertainment the only real thing that matters is that it entertains you. Just an opinion of course, but the damn thing feels better in the hands, it’s cooler to operate, and it flawlessly does what it was intended to do. I have three powerhouse editing computers in one room, when I take a break and simply want to relax and read, or watch a few minutes of whatever, the ipad and its inferiority give me more pleasure to use, that’s worth the extra few bucks. Try one yourself, put your philosophies on electronics down and judge it based on what you realistically would do with it for the majority of your time with it, and then make a decision. Nikon and Canon both make inferior cameras spec wise to Sony, but Sony offers way more technology- why do you thnk the majority of consumers opt for the big two? There’s something to be said for how it feels in your hands, the enjoyment you get out of using the product, and the ease of use in the process of accomplishing whatever task is at hand. Apple wins here, at last for us. And it is one of three of 9 systems we use on a daily basis, the other two being a simple iPhone, and a retina mbp, other than that we prefer pc.
The IPad Mini is a total pain. Can’t drag and drop, can’t create document folders with Office to be placed on the home screen. Went through several hours just to get Office started, there is a trick to getting to the “New document” icon. I can get more productivity with my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. The IPad is a “single user”, unit, one has to “delete” the owners account before anyone else can use it. Wished my children had not given the IPad Mini to my wife as a birthday gift, as I am now obliged to undergo this pain.
You claim to monitor/audit your posts in order to save the integrity of your audience when they say something stupid. You’re not very truthful. I have gone over your ‘selections’ you elect to post in order to steer your ‘opinion’ to best benefit your argument. My post was based in fact, it wasn’t aggressive, it supported both platforms, and supported the mini over android for reasons you obviously didn’t want your audience to read. Namely because I was right, and you couldn’t argue with it due to the fact it was based on something other than ‘specs’ and more on a personal experience. Simply made too much sense I guess. You post biased responses that lobby for your argument- sounds pretty weak minded to me, sounds pretty closed minded, and it sounds like only child syndrome to me. The fact is your precious argument is being diminished as days go by and the mini continues to be the ‘preferred’ product. It’s even more ironic that it had a slow start and ended up being an absolute success to the point where its harming their full sized ipad sales. I guess specs aren’t everything, and I see that Fox News and other biased organizations that prefer to use persuasive rhetoric other than facts have really had their effect on your ability to resemble anything close to constructive journalism.
Nice work.
Why the heck would you want to make phone calls on a tablet anyway? I’ve seen people doing that, and it just looks…weird.
Good question. It’s actually pretty cool when you use a Bluetooth headset. This can be useful when you’re phone’s battery is running low.
– Rick
While reading this on my iPad Mini…
Who cares about CPU / memory if the device is fast enough to be smooth?
But anyway I am a satisfied customer Mr.Rick. Thanks for the useful info.
Sent from my iPad mini 🙂
Glad to hear that you’re happy with your tablet.
– Rick
I know this will be buried, but in the off chance someone sees it, perhaps it can give some insight. You show an extraordinary amount of bias against apple in this article. I’m no Mac fan boy, I own an android phone and an iPad 2 is the only apple product I’ve ever purchased. Granted, you did edit out some of your mistakes/biases on people grabbing for the new mini (it also seems your mini hate spills over to other apple products in this article as well).
You are missing the main selling point of an iOS tablet, the apple store, which has many more exclusive, high quality apps than the android store. Sure, you buy a sub par piece of hardware, but the software availability more than makes up for that.
Specifically, I am talking about the music production and midi apps. Android has far to long of a delay in response time to be used in any serious midi control, and synthesizer apps (such as those from korg) are only available on iOS. Maybe this is a smaller portion of the market than I think, but it is what drove my decision for an iPad 2, which in my eyes could only get better with a retina display while retaining form factor.
I see the iPad mini as an apple taxed entry level iOS tablet for consumers who need applications that simply do not yet, or cannot exist on an android platform.
I realize music production on a tablet may seem like a niche market, but it is much larger than most think. He’ll, gorillaz released a whole album produced with the ielectribe app.
It also isn’t about raw processing power, since apple makes both the operating system and hardware, they have a much tighter grip on optimization across devices, whereas android has many devices in many hardware configurations that have to be accounted for.
TL;DR: apple may come at a premium, and fall short in hardware specs of comparable android tablets, but at the moment the iOS platforms software selection and iOS architecture itself more than close the gap of hardware compared to say, a nexus 7.
However, I would never pick up a mini, if anything I will wait for a price drop on the speculated slim retina ipad 5. In a perfect world, android wll fix the midi input lag problem and have google play surpass the apple store, or at least become equivalent to it in many ways (selection, quality, exclusives, etc. Better yet, a cfw that can get iOS running stable on a nexus 7 or the like.
I can see android overtaking iOS, especially since innovation dropped dead with Steve jobs at apple (sadly), or at least it would seem so at this point.
Thank you for sharing your opinions here.
I completely agree iOS is far superior today for music production.
As far as other apps go. I see little advantage in the App store over Google Play.
I don’t really hate Apple products, I just want people to think about things before they make a purchase. I agree the iPad mini makes sense for some users.
– Rick
You have many many valid points as to why not to have a mini, except usability. In our home we looked at the data and when with the Kindle Fire, worked great, but I just loved the min so I got me one, knowing all the stats. And after I got it home I had to fight to use it. If i put it down for just a second, the kindle users snatched it. So we got the kids each one, and gave the older grand kids the kindle fire’s. Of course the older grand kids come over and which one do they want, the i pad mini. We now have 5, my husband does his college homework on his, kids play games many educational. You cannot underestimate the ease of use and the way all apple items work together seamlessly.
ohhhhhhhhhhh lol!!! hahaha Single apple chip is equal to octacore android!!. . . android store? ——— the trashcan of ios 😀
Great article. Sharing.
Some of the points I agree with, but this kind of comparison of one product with the best features of many is quite biased. How about a car review, “Five reasons you should not buy Lexus”:
1) Lexus is bad because it is more expensive than a Fiat.
2) Lexus is bad because it is slower than a Ferrari.
3) Lexus is bad because it is less luxurious than a Rolls Royce.
4) Lexus is bad because it is smaller than a bus.
5) Lexus is bad because it is bigger than a Mini Cooper.
Thanks for the comment. You point is valid and so is mine. My point is that Apple could have included everyone of those technologies, but they made a decision to only make a few changes to the mini. If you compare the mini to only the Nexus 7 or the Kindle Fire 8.9 HDX, you’ll find they both are superior in many ways.
– Rick
“They are superior in many ways.”
Quantify that. I’ve had android devices that have been a pain in the ass. I know a lot of people who feel differently than you. For all the “Apple fanboy” criticism, you play the same role on the other side.
Apple made a decision to include technology they decided to include. Other companies do the exact same thing, including the likes of Samsung. Apple made a decision to exist in a model they feel they can succeed in, as does everything and everyone trying to make a profit.
Apple products are not perfect. Neither are their competitors.
Apple buys parts made in Taiwan, China, Japan and South Korea…BUT Apple is an American corporation with it’s huge headquarters in America and employing tens of thousands of Americans.
Samsung is a South Korean conglomerate if not cartel. The profits go to Korean coffers. America is in trouble with a disappearing Middle Class. I’m an American, I support America. No longer buy German cars or foreign appliances. Try to buy American. Sometimes not as good, but on the main…just as good and that’s good enough for me.
I buy American as well, but your analogy is a bad one. Samsung also has several large headquarters in the U.S. and employs thousands of Americans. Samsung is investing 4 billion dollars in a factory here so Americans can assemble their products.
Apple has sent billions and billions of dollars outside the U.S. when they could have had their products built in America all along. They are also one of the biggest tax cheats in the world.
– Rick
apple products are more common because they simply work.remember apple is a not a young industry and has experience in what they do.so as Microsoft and android , but think for a moment how common it is for android tablets to crash, now think how often do ipads crash.i think i got my point across.
I’ve owned three different Android tablets and two different iPads. Good Android tablets like the Nexus 7 (2013) don’t crash anymore than the iPad. If anything they crash less.
Thanks for the comment however.
– Rick
Your points are valid. That said, you compared apples to oranges, in a manner of speaking. For example, only one Android tablet is waterproof; you cherry-picked the best Android has to offer. If I wanted an Android that makes phone calls, it wouldn’t also be waterproof now would it? Nevertheless, I obviously get where you’re coming from. Here’s my story.
Last November, I bought the iPad Mini 2 after reading your article! It’s a fast, beautiful device. I even exchanged the 16 for a 32GB non-cellular versions, as I realized I’d quickly run out of space. It cost $519 here in Canada! Letter-box movies, poor quality YouTube, inability to effectively be productive using Word and Excel (even with third-party apps I bought), unable to read an external USB drive, I returned it.
I got a Lenovo Miix 2 Windows 8.1 tablet instead. It’s not a speed demon, but it’s bloody fast! I expect to charge any mobile device on a daily basis after using it constructively the day before and that’s what I’m doing. (Streaming, browsing, Word/Excel, other – 40% left.)
This device is not a camera and I’m very pleased with its picture-taking quality and capability. Widescreen movie quality is excellent! So too is YT. Audio could have been much better though. It manages its resources way better than Android devices and doesn’t crash nor lock up like they do. Yes, I’m talking about a Windows device here!
Unfortunately, I’m not able to download all 1M apps from the Windows Store like other ecosystem users can because there just aren’t that many. But, I’ve got my Flipboard, AppyGeek, Netflix…
With an OTG adapter, I’ve been able to utilize USB drives, including a 500GB HDD! Only my OD wouldn’t work (as expected; they demand more juice). THAT makes me extremely happy!
So, I’m not just consuming like Apple and Android users, I’m producing as well! All for $299! I’m extremely happy!
How about this: I like the iPad mini, and for that reason purely by itself, all of your so-called arguments for being “crazy” to indeed like the iPad mini are completely null and void.
You can throw 5,000,000,000 reasons at us why one product is supposedly inferior, but absolutely nothing you or anyone else says can trump personal preference.
I have tried android products. I don’t like them. Give me valid reasons (keyword VALID) why I’m wrong.
What kind of shoes do you wear? What kind of car do you drive? What kind of music do you like? What’s your favorite food? Shall I give you reasons why you’re crazy to like the things that you like?
Didn’t think so.
I’m glad you’re happy with your iPad mini.
I’d love to know what Android products you’ve tried. People always say that but it’s rarely true. Apple people are Apple people, they don’t try other things.
– Rick
I had 3 Galaxy SIII’s in 7 months. I went through three of them because each had major problems. Random and often rebooting, battery wouldn’t hold a charge, battery would drain while plugged in, would erase files from my micro SD card at random and would become corrupt (tried multiple SD cards), they were laggy, KIES was absolutely horrible, and other more minor glitches. Each phone was deemed defective by Samsung and AT&T. While it was nice I didn’t have to pay for new phones, it was a terrible product. The operating system itself seemed like a bunch of crap thrown in because they could. NFC? Useless. Face recognition? A useless gimmick. A frozen operating system? Useless. Pop-up play? Useless. Then I went to an HTC First before realizing how much I didnt like android and quickly went back to Apple.
I get that many people are happy with android. Good for them. And Apple is not perfect; I have complaints there too. But I indeed have tried android and found it was not for me, so please don’t assume “apple people are apple people.” And yes, there are Apple fanatics who are guilty of saying the same thing about android users, but that gets everyone nowhere besides looking like an ass.
I appreciate you sharing this info. I’m glad you’re happy with your comment phone. For me the GS3 was a big step up from my iPhone 3G, but everyone has different needs.
I think when you get NFC and Isis support on your iPhone 6, you’ll love it. It’s great buying things without your wallet.
– Rick
This is quite a heated thread…I love it, competition between the OS has and will continue to push our device providers to create bigger and better things! 🙂
Agreed. Competition is good for everyone.
– Rick
#1 difference to buy an ipad mini (and i AM a die-hard android fan, for the OS) over an android tablet: apps. literally 8/10 apps from the play store are junk, add ridden or just dont work the way they should and dont lie because we all know it a sad truth. angry birds only goes so far.. the ones that do work have poor quality and almost nothing is exclusive there. also its virus heaven. if your not tech savvy (as my 4 year old daughter i bought the mini for isnt quite up to par with virus removal yet) youre gonna get a slow device anyways. i just had a brand new galaxy tab 3 7 inch next to a non retina mini and the ipad out performed the galaxy tab in real time with my own eyes against all your reviews. out performed it. i returned both and got the retina 32gb mini and an amazing otterbox case to go with it. i hate apple but appisodes is where its at for the kids. search it on play store and itll give you apps that link you user uploaded youtube videos that is 100% nothing to do with disney….hmmm…hmmm….hmmm now why would that be? are user uploaded videos safe for my daughter to view in what looks to be a controlled and child friendly app? fuck no. apple took my money on this generation of electronics by a long shot
Hi Rick
I really enjoyed your article it’s a real eye opener, I’m not a huge fan of the iPad Mini retina which is surprising as occasionally write for iPad Repair and naturally I am a bit of an Apple Fan. I actually prefer the previous iPad Mini which I think is excellent. I hate how difficult the new iPad Mini is to repair (kudos are including this) and Apple are doing this with their entire range even upgrades are severally limited. One thing I would like to ask your opinion on is resale value, how do you alternatives stack up against the iPad Mini retina in terms of price after a couple of years?
Best wishes
Brian
Thanks for sharing your comments here. When I sold my iPad 3 the resale price was very good. As you know none of the iPads are bad products. My point is that they are not necessarily the best tablets available today, and they cost more than they should.
– Rick
I have both of them (there up to date) and I did test both them out even though the tablet battery life good then iPad. I had more problems with my tablet and I travel a lot while both them got water on it the tablet started messing up while iPad was fine plus apple apps better then androids. they seem to have more control on staying up to date while android trying to catch up I’m not hater but you got see it both ways.
For those bitching about apples price points,why bitch about something you don’t want anyway.First you say “Apple is inferior to your
Plastic fantastic devices”,then you want it to become inexpensive so you can do what with it?
Not buy it?Personally,I can’t use any other device without the need to smash it like a Pete Townsend guitar.
My fingers hurt when I have tried all other phones,laptops,pads etc… I have lost my temper to the point of smashing several android devices… Also,any instance of purchasing the cheaper alternative has led to regret.
If it were not for apple IPads there would be no a Nexuses etc…just like the headphone game rt now. If it were not for a certain rappers cans there wouldn’t be a revival of Bose,SE,Etc… Yet you haters just keep on spewing the Crap. I don’t want you owning my products.ill pay extra to avoid having anything ever in common with any of you.
My family and I have 4 android devices and 5 ios devices.When I wanted a tablet with celluar,I went with the Ipad mini from Verizon.The Ipad mini from Verizon supports most of the cellular bands.AT&T will activate a Verizon Ipad mini on their network.You will only get a max of AT&T 4G with a Verizon Ipad mini though.Because of that,I bought a new AT&T Ipad mini with retina display.All of the cellular Ipad mini’s with retina display have all of the cellular bands.Android no longer supports CDMA.I can pop the activated Verizon sim into my AT&T mini and have full Verizon service,if I want to.I like the Android platform and probably would have gone with an Android tablet if they had one that supported all of the cellular bands.I travel for work and sometimes the Verizon signal is better and sometimes the AT&T signal is better.AT&T LTE is much faster than Verizon LTE from what I have seen.
Thank you for sharing your observations here.
– Rick
I wish I’d read this before wasting my money on a 32GB iPad mini.
The hi-res display (I hate the brand-name “Retina”… yuck) is very nice but in every other way the iPad Mini is vastly inferior to my 32GB Nexus7.
I had to install a malware program called iTunes just to reset it to factory. Luckily I was able to use an anonymous netbook connected to a public hotspot through a disposable USB wifi adapter to accomplish this task. Rooting my Nexus7 to gain full administrative privileges was a relatively painless operation.
Now I have to figure out a way to install Photon browser (to get flash video support) without starting an account that involves giving them my name, address, phone number, email, name of first pet, etc. I have no problem paying for the program as long as I can do it with an anonymous prepaid Visa card. Without Flash support the iPad is pretty much useless.
Perhaps my biggest beef of all is the fact that even when it’s connected to a computer with its proprietary USB cable I can’t copy files from the computer to the iPad. It only lets me copy files from the iPad to the computer. Wow. Just wow. They really want control over your device.
Let’s see… can’t import DivX, mpeg, wmv, flv or mp4 files… can’t watch flash streams… can’t upgrade storage… can’t get administrator privileges… the list goes on and on… it just plain doesn’t work.
The whole nasty experience served to remind me why I swore I’d never buy any Apple product and laughed at Apple devotees as being gullible dupes. Now the joke’s on me. Apple saw me coming, suckered me in like a midway rube, and got me to at least sip the Koolade.
Luckily I spit it out before I got poisoned.
Truthfully, this has to be the most useful comment to date on this thread.
I can’t get my education apps on an android device. So, I’m stuck.
Jimbo, dude have you even glanced at an iPad before?
1. iTunes isn’t malware, it’s legitimate Apple
2. Use iTunes to transfer files to your iPad
3. I don’t know what OS you are using buddy, but IOS will play MP4 at least
4. Who are you? A spy? Why do you need to remain completely anonymous to everyone?
5. I am typing on an iPad mini (1) right now which I have had for almost 2 years and I have not had a single problem with it in all that time.
I have worked with a surface pro and an iPad. Give me apple products any day. So much easier and logical for a non geeky person to understand. I hate windows, I love iOS.
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Apple devices are simple, intuitive, and very user friendly. So if you want to easily use multiple devices seamlessly, Apple is a good choice. Also, the tech support and customer service is outstanding. Apple is the only computer/smart phone/tablet/watch manufacturing company that I am aware of in the U.S.A. where you can walk into the manufacturer’s dealership for sales, service, training, and repairs, much like buying a car.