$329 for ipad mini

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by david_e

I haven't decided if I want one or not. Well, actually that's not true. I DO want an iPad Mini, just not the one they're currently selling.

I agree with you for the most part, especially since the Surface RT seems not to be the full-fledged amputated laptop for which I was hoping.

The iPad Mini is less powerful and not as well spec'd, of course, but even though the first gen seems uninteresting to me from a distance, more apps specific to my deeper interests do exist for it.

Besides, my momentary disinterest doesn't cancel out the validity of someone else's interest.

Later on, both the Surface RT and the iPad Mini could morph into reasonable alternatives to the best of the current tablets. But I hesitate to write off either one until I've actually used it.

The great strengths of Windows have always been power, control and hardware universality. I'm hoping the SRT will become more powerful, tweakable and inclusive in later iterations.

Even so:

The netbook taught us the importance of the user experience vs. specs. It would be impractical to forget that lesson in the name of another meaningless skirmish in an arbitrary brand war.

Read Theodor Adorno on the subject of supposedly superior mass-produced objects and the toil of the hobby of luxury (keep in mind he wrote this in the '40s):

Unfettered technics eliminates luxury, not by declaring privilege as a human right, but by severing the possibility of fulfillment in the midst of raising general living standards. . . . [O]ne cannot shake off the suspicion that even the deviant luxury has an element of something artificial. As per Veblen’s theory, it is more about permitting those who can pay to prove their status than it is about meeting their increasingly undifferentiated needs. While the Cadillac is surely superior to the Chevrolet, since it costs more, this superiority, otherwise than in the old Rolls Royce, is derived from a total plan, which cleverly equips the first with better cylinders, brakes, and accessories, and the second with worse ones -- all without changing anything in the basic schema of the mass product. One need only make small changes in production to transform a Chevrolet into a Cadillac.

Thus, luxury is being hollowed out. For in the middle of general fungibility, happiness clings without exception to what is not fungible. No exertion of humanity, no formal reasoning can alter the fact that the clothing which shimmers like a fairy-tale is worn by the one and only, not by twenty-thousand others.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by leebase

I thought "great, a list of nice tablet apps for android". Kindle I already said was good. Dont' read comics. YouTube, Dolphine, Zinio are the type of content apps I already said are fine. And Google+ is, well, a google app which I also said are nice.

So I download TuneIn. Are you kidding? This is exactly the type of "phone app" I've been talking about. The iPad app looks much nicer. Both work, mind you.

Try downloading Evernote -- THAT'S an app designed for a tablet.

I went to Google Play - they have a Staff recommendations for tablet apps section. Not a single app I'm interested in was on the list. Mostly games.

I went to the "must have table apps" section. Really poor selection.

As I _have_ an Android tablet, I look forward to this situation being rectified. As well as Google making the Play Store itself a better tablet experience

Meh. Opinion. All the apps I want work fine and I have greater choice. It will only get better. and cheaper.

[mycurlylocks]

I got one also, before the initial shipment sold out. So don't feel alone seajewel. iPad Mini sold much quicker than I expected.

Flame on...

[leebase]

Originally Posted by Graham

Bear in mind with the others, it's never been the elegance I was challenging. Just your assertion that we had to make do with mostly phone apps, rather than tablet ones, on Android.

But that's the point. This notion that it's an amazing thing that Phone apps scale to fill a tablet screen makes them "tablet apps" just falls flat. I guess if one doesn't know better, hasn't experienced the better apps, it might not feel so bad.

But coming from my iPad, the Android apps on my Galaxy tab 10.1 are just terrible. I don't wish them to be. I'm not happy they are. And it's been a LONG time already. This isn't "oh, a new platform takes time". This is clearly: there is something wrong with the economics of Android development that's keeping software developers from supporting the large screens.

I was an early adopter of the iPad. You had to run phone apps at first. Yes, there were 3,000ish "made for iPad" apps at launch. But one really did have to run iPhone apps "blown up" on the iPad. It's a different poor experience than running the "designed for phone" android apps that "scale up". They are both poor experiences, IMHO.

However, that only lasted about 6 months for the iPad. It was a short term situation while the app developer community got to work taking advantage of the large real estate. Not just making the apps look better on a big screen, but giving them more functionality.

For me, for the dollars I spend, that's a big reason I'm happy with my iPad and not the Galaxy Tab. It's more important to me than widgets or the extra configurability of Android. It's more important than sideloading....to me. For my uses.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Graham

There was that weird bit where they announced that they'd produced the two new cables, and then nothing more on them.

I assumed they were going to part of the iPad packages, but I think it was "we've now got two more cables you can buy".

Graham

You think there will be a waiting line to get them?

[kennyc]

Apple Stock dropped and trading was halted briefly yesterday, but is treading water today.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by seajewel

okay, I broke down and ordered. Which is a complete 180 from where I was during the event. I guess I can officially be called an apple fangirl. ...

Okay so, to confirm it, please send me by return mail your Sony 505.

[johnnyb]

My prediction: when a company that "revolutionizes" starts settling with "evolutionizing" they will be out-evolutionized in the long run...

[leebase]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

My prediction: when a company that "revolutionizes" starts settling with "evolutionizing" they will be out-evolutionized in the long run...

Really. So you think every product a company makes is to be a revolution from the product before?

Can you name such a company? A company that never refined a product but simply put out revolutionary change after revolutionary change?

Is every Ferrari model, every year, a complete break with the past?

Did folks greet Ford's Model A with "that's still a car like the model T, you're not innovating anymore".

[seajewel]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Okay so, to confirm it, please send me by return mail your Sony 505.

Haha my 505 is in my museum now. The battery life is shot after so much use for so many years. It did well!

[PatNY]

"SquareTrade has taken Google’s new Nexus 7 tablet and put it up against the new iPad in drop and dunk tests, and it might surprise you to learn that the Nexus 7 has been named the winner. In all, SquareTrade performed three tests: both tablets were dunked in water, dropped from a standing position, and pushed off the edge of a table. Though the iPad put up a good fight in some situations, it was ultimately the Nexus 7 that was crowned the most resilient of the two."

So much for the supposedly superior build quality of the iPad. It's a test that was done last July, but it's timely in this thread and is instructive as to various misconceptions about what really constitutes quality.

http://www.slashgear.com/nexus-7-vs-...-wet-19239435/

I think when it comes to the major players today, basically all of them put out quality tablets on par with Apple -- Samsung, Google, Asus, Amazon, B&N, Toshiba, etc. The differences will come down to features, pricing, the ecosystem of each tablet, and service and support.

[seajewel]

Originally Posted by Graham

Don't be!

We may bat these things back and forwards but if MR has a vocal majority view on something it's only a vocal majority view here, and only because we're digging deep into stuff that may not matter to any one particular user.

All the high end devices are pretty good (spectacular by the standards of a few years ago) and we only nit pick because it's a fun (if somewhat wasteful) way to wind down.

Let us know how you get on with it.

Graham

Thank you! I definitely feel a little silly because I was with the majority.. in fact, my summary of the apple event introducing iPad mini was "specs suck, price sucks." but really, I didn't get a look at the actual weight and size of the thing until last night and that really intrigues me. I like getting a lot more screen real estate for a lot less weight. That said, I'm really sensitive to non-retina screens (the 220 ppi of the iPod Nano bothered me a great deal in store.. i actualyl couldn't believe it was 220ppi when I checked on wikipedia later) so who knows if I can actually stand to keep it. I will report back.

[darksaber35]

All nexus 7 with GPS and with expandable USB storage via App +OTG cable ($5-6)

NEXUS 7 32GB $250 already on sale in some staples stores
NEXUS 7 16GB $200 (already price lowering in UK and Europe)
NEXUS 7 8GB $99 or phased out
NEXUS 7 3G ???? Find out on October 29th

APPLE MINI 16GB WiFi $329 NO GPS
APPLE MINI 32GB WiFi $429 NO GPS

APPLE MINI CELLULAR 16GB $459 WITH GPS +mapping that's faulty
APPLE MINI CELLULAR 32GB $559 WITH GPS+mapping that's faulty

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-575...or-32gb-model/

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/19/3...ilable-staples

http://store.apple.com/us/buy/home/s...mily/ipad_mini

[david_e]

Don't even bottom market cars come with GPS already installed?

And if someone is so incompetent that they're worried about getting lost on a weekend stroll through the city, maybe they should just stay home.

The remark about looking ridiculous while taking pictures with a tablet has been made before, but that might be trumped by the wandering and confused looks of someone staring haplessly at a tablet, any tablet, as they try to find the nearest fill-in-the-blank.

[bugjd]

Yeah, I guess I'd be interested in hearing how those with 7-10 inch tablets use their GPS? Are you hooking those things up to the dash somehow? I have a hiking GPS that is small and rugged for outdoors use, and then I can use it on the dash too, since it's only 3 and half inches. And then my phone when navigating a strange city. But none of those situations seem ideal for a larger tablet.