iPad Mini Reviews

[pl001]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

pl001
Device: Nook, Nook Color

The Nook Color/Tablet have to be the most locked down tablets ever.
Same type of restriction as Apple (only apps from their own store), but with a much worse selection, and no competitor reading apps allowed.
So you don't seem to follow your own advice?

That was a learning experience that has shaped my current outlook. I was an early adopter with both Nooks, as well as two iPods. That experience is what has driven me away from closed ecosystems. My primary reading/mobile device right now is my EVO phone. I won't buy another Apple or B&N device unless they open things up a bit.

For now, my phone is working great for me. I'd probably consider replacing it with something like a Galaxy Note before considering another tablet.

[holymadness]

Originally Posted by CommonReader

The reviewer in the Guardian initially didn't even get the prices right. That's the least one could ask for. Apart from that fanboism is just tiresome, even if it is being veiled with an attempt at irony.

It's even more tiring when disguised as privileged insight. But we can't all see conspiracy theories everywhere we look.

[Teknikal]

Originally Posted by CommonReader

If you believe that this is American flag waving you haven't seen the bilge written in the UK press, e.g. this atrocious piece:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...rt-of-comments

Apple seems to have excellent press relations and/or reviewers are simply doing copy/paste jobs with the press material. When did you ever come across the term "chamfered" in tech reviews in the past? Now you have it in every second "review".

Apples definitely got something going with a few British newspapers it's even more apparent with the Daily Mail who have recently out of nowhere started almost daily pro apple stories which to be honest are very obviously paid adverts disguised as an article.

[Tacty]

Originally Posted by holymadness

You believe that American technology blogs are engaged in a conspiracy to protect Apple's bottom line by falsely giving its products positive reviews?

yes i do...just suppose that any high end android tablet has 1024x768 resolution in this day and age with low level of ppi and the price of 329$ for basic 16gb version? it will be ripped apart, stumped all over, crashed and burried deep in the ground with no sympathy...yet, if it's apple it is the best ever...and all yadda yadda yadda is about it's made of metal. who cares...every ipad and iphone goes into cheap rubber or plastic case in order to prevent precious metal looks like shite after couple of days use...

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by holymadness

But we can't all see conspiracy theories everywhere we look.

Don't be a defeatist. You can do it! I believe in you.

[injapan]

Originally Posted by pl001

Personally, I'll never again pay a premium to join their locked-down proprietary world, but I can still see why some people find them so appealing. Unlike a lot of open standards, that proprietary world makes it easy for Apple to get their own devices integrating smoothly with each other. If you don't mind the limitations, it's not a bad world.

I agree with most of what you said, but I don't mind being locked down (as you negatively put it) to a very good platform that is streets ahead of the competition and is safe! (not to be unrated in todays world)

limitations? yes, but .... worth it? YES!

but other people have different needs, wants

[obsessed2]

Originally Posted by injapan

I agree with most of what you said, but I don't mind being locked down (as you negatively put it) to a very good platform that is streets ahead of the competition and is safe! (not to be unrated in todays world)

limitations? yes, but .... worth it? YES!

but other people have different needs, wants

Safe? Nobody's Safe.


http://www.zdnet.com/how-apple-let-a...ok-7000002141/



http://www.forbes.com/sites/adrianki...ware-outbreak/



http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/k...security/11706

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by CommonReader

If you believe that this is American flag waving you haven't seen the bilge written in the UK press, e.g. this atrocious piece:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...rt-of-comments

Apple seems to have excellent press relations and/or reviewers are simply doing copy/paste jobs with the press material. When did you ever come across the term "chamfered" in tech reviews in the past? Now you have it in every second "review".

Yeah, like the stupid 'retina' display -- I hate that made up term. I suppost Apple holds a patent on that word as well.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by injapan

I agree with most of what you said, but I don't mind being locked down (as you negatively put it) to a very good platform that is streets ahead of the competition and is safe! (not to be unrated in todays world)

limitations? yes, but .... worth it? YES!

but other people have different needs, wants

Yes, people have different needs, that's a good thing, but if you believe what you just wrote above that, I've got some bridges and land you might find interesting.

[Prestidigitweeze]

It all depends on the hardware/software and your basic uses. I'm liking the Surface for its power and user options, the Nexus for its openness and customization and the iPad for its music productivity. As always, we seem to be two to three iterations away from the tablet I actually want.

It would all be so much easier if MS didn't falter and stagger every time it approached an interest in music integration, let alone production (though that black Zune designed by Peter Saville was fun -- wish I'd snatched one during the great plunge).

[vxf]

I don't understand the negativity. I am the farthest thing from an Apple fan. Well, maybe not the farthest... I don't have any negative feeling. But I am not a fan either.
I love my ebook readers. Those are for fun.
My iPad is to read academic articles, which is my job. So I find it functional, but the emotional attachment is not there...

Anyhow... I see some people integrating into Apple's system very well. I recently bought an iPhone, rather than anything else, because my iPad is already setup and I was told I could sync the phone without any efforts. Indeed, restoring the backup of my iPad on the iPhone sync'd everything - from contacts to email accounts.

Call me lazy, but the simplicity of it was enough to make me choose an iPhone over anything else.

I don't feel the need for a smaller LCD device. But, if I did, I would buy the iPad mini. Because I would not have to fiddle with it.

Truth is, the Apple system has other advantages than the locked-in media - which I don't use. It's a system that works out-of-the-box.

And one more thought. I recently had to setup access to 6 different email accounts (2 exchange accounts, 4 imap ones) on both my Outlook on my desktop and on an iPad. The iPad took 5 minutes. Outlook took 2 hours of fiddling, searching the web for setup instructions and lists of settings. Why, I wonder?

That is why I would buy a Mini before a Nexus or a Fire, that is why I think Microsoft can stick its Surface you-know-where. That is why I am not an Apple fan, but I will buy their products. Because I have a short fuse and things i find more fun than figuring out how to jailbreak and/or properly setup anything else.

For people who enjoy that fiddling, I can see why Apple would not be appealing. But I have done my share and I would today rather spend an extra buck and even lose a pixel here and there if that means not having to google the settings of my university's exchange server.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

If you think it's difficult to set up your email on Android, you're missing out.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by kennyc

... 'retina' display -- I hate that made up term. I suppost Apple holds a patent on that word as well.

A Trademark, I believe.
Note that patents (typically) expire 17 years after filing but trademarks are quasi-eternal.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

If you think it's difficult to set up your email on Android, you're missing out.

There is a difference between 'pure' Android, such as on the Nexus devices, and Android as delivered on other phones.
I helped someone setup a Samsung phone recently. It came with three different email programs installed as standard, one from Google, one from Samsung and one from the network provider.
That certainly doesn't make it as easy to setup your email as it should be, or would be on a Nexus device.

[MV64]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

I believe that all professional blogs (run by publishing companies) engage in a bit of positive spin on their reviews... for a variety of reasons. That is why I dismiss most of those reviews and look to sites like this for the real scoop (and why I ignore anyone who simply parrots what they read on those blogs)

They could get money under the table from Apple (wouldn't shock me) but clearly they need to give positive reviews to keep getting devices to review ahead of time.