iPad Apple Releases new IPad Air and iPad Mini with Apple Pencil Support

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

I wonder if majority of iPad minis that are sold are cellular models (e.g. bulk corporate purchases for warehouse, shipping, logistics, etc. operations requiring built-in internet).

Could be, I know I see iPads used as such quite a bit.

[OtinG]

That might be the case. What I don't like is that Apple charges $130 for a cellular radio that probably costs them $10 to include. If they charged only $25 extra for cellular models I would get them, even though I wouldn't get a separate line with my cellular service provider. It would be worth $25 just to have the sim slot which I could fill by swapping out the sim from my iPhone into it temporarily if the need arose. As is, if I need cellular connectivity now I just use an iPhone hotspot. I suspect corporate purchasers don't care about the extra $130, and the military certainly won't as they will pay $900 for a $25 hammer! (I just hope if the military buys tablets they either build or spec them themselves or by iPads. Android is too prone to security issues.)

[OtinG]

A question for anyone who has already received a mini 5: How is the sound quality out of its speakers? If you can compare it to an older mini version or the Pro models that would be great. I suspect the sound quality of the mini 5 will be very close to that of the older minis. My mini 2 had fairly tinny sound and wasn't that good when watching movies or TV on it. It is relatively minor thing to me, but it could be a factor in my decision making process.

ETA: After using my new iPhone XR for several days now, I absolutely love it for reading and running my astronomy apps in the field. True an iPad has a bigger better screen for running those kinds of apps, but out in the field I don't need the bigger screen. I've been contemplating just keeping my older iPad Pro 9.7" rather than trading up to a new mini 5. But I'm still a ways out from making any decision.

[OtinG]

BTW, I have kept my old iPhone 5 as a backup. It is the first iPhone I ever owned. I rarely even turn it on, but I do keep it charged in case I need it. Last night I dusted it off and turned it on to make sure it was still functioning. I set it right next to my iPhone XR and it struck me how tiny the iPhone 5 is! Wow, I used to think it was the cat's meow. But playing around with it for a few minutes made me wonder how I ever got much accomplished on that tiny screen.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I suspect corporate purchasers don't care about the extra $130

They probably do care a lot about cost. However, it's more looking at TCO, reliability and long-term support. A 32GB LTE iPad Mini 5 is cheaper than iPhone Pluses as are the data-only plans and Apple devices tend to be supported longer compared to Android.

I would posit that one of the reasons Apple kept the old form factor with TouchID and headphone jack is for compatibility with existing accessories.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by OtinG

BTW, I have kept my old iPhone 5 as a backup. It is the first iPhone I ever owned. I rarely even turn it on, but I do keep it charged in case I need it. Last night I dusted it off and turned it on to make sure it was still functioning. I set it right next to my iPhone XR and it struck me how tiny the iPhone 5 is! Wow, I used to think it was the cat's meow. But playing around with it for a few minutes made me wonder how I ever got much accomplished on that tiny screen.

I still have my iPhone 4S...talk about small! I use it for white noise while sleeping, and the grandkids play a few games on it. It's perfect for little hands. It also has an old solitaire app that I like that wasn't updated to work on iOS 10 and above. The battery chomps at this point but it doesn't matter.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

I still have my iPhone 4S...talk about small! I use it for white noise while sleeping, and the grandkids play a few games on it. It's perfect for little hands. It also has an old solitaire app that I like that wasn't updated to work on iOS 10 and above. The battery chomps at this point but it doesn't matter.

I’ve only had two phones in almost ten years: an iPhone 4 and currently an iPhone 6. My policy is to buy the top-end models but keep them for a very long time.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I've got a Logitech keyboard too, model K810. It can be connected by BT to up to three devices at once with three function keys that let you toggle between the devices. I totally agree that on screen keyboards blow chunks! Hate them with a passion, especially on smaller screens like smartphones. But I don't like having a external real keyboard with no mouse capability for my iPad. It is clunky having to move my hand from keyboard to screen, and it is way more difficult to select text and what not and position the cursor on a touch screen than it is with a mouse. That is why I rarely use my iPads to create spreadsheets or to create documents that are longer than a few paragraphs. Good grief, it takes me hours of frustration and books full of foul language to create a spreadsheet on my iPad, but I could create the same on my MacBook Pro in just minutes, and the neighbors don't have to hear me yelling in foul language!

More interestingness. I have no problems making selections with fingers, but if I need more precise cursor placement, I have an Adonit stylus which works with all my iOS devices. I do a lot of photo editing on the iPad and for fine adjustments, the stylus is great (combined with an app like Photoshop Fix, for example)

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

More interestingness. I have no problems making selections with fingers, but if I need more precise cursor placement, I have an Adonit stylus which works with all my iOS devices. I do a lot of photo editing on the iPad and for fine adjustments, the stylus is great (combined with an app like Photoshop Fix, for example)

Maybe it is just my iPad Pro 9.7" that is wonky then, but even with the AP1 it is often difficult to get the darn selecting to occur and to occur correctly. Maybe a screen issue?

I do a lot of astrophotography, and I've tried various iPad apps for post processing photos including Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC, but it is a disappointing and frustrating task. Trying to get photos from a camera onto an iPad is tedious, and trying to get them back off is also tedious and time consuming. Perhaps post processing iPad/iPhone photos from the Photos app is okay, but certainly not from RAW files from a camera. And I often have way too many large files to work with after a night of shooting (sometimes hundreds) and there is no way the iPad could handle that many without taking a week or more. I find I have to use my MacBook Pro for post processing and file management as the iPad would be too slow and too tedious and a total failure with file management. They simply are not designed for the photography projects I work on nor or they designed for file management. The iPad is good for viewing photos that I load to the internet, but not much more, especially not good for post processing a lot of RAW camera files. A real laptop or desktop is the only way to go in my case. YMMV of course. It is relative easy to edit Photo app photos on the iPad, but doing profession type of processing is beyond it's design purposes regardless of what Apple TV commercials claim.

[kyteflyer]

@OtinG: Free app called RAW Power, free apps Snapseed (does RAW), Photoshop Express, Photoshop Fix. A gadget which plugs into the lightning port and pulls photos off your SD card. If you're doing hundreds of photos a night, I get why you wouldnt bother, but for casual photography, the iPad is fine. File Browser for file management (and many others, that just happens to be the one I use). I dont edit in Photos, I use other apps which do a better job. Affinity, Pixelmator, Snapseed, PS Fix.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

@OtinG: Free app called RAW Power, free apps Snapseed (does RAW), Photoshop Express, Photoshop Fix. A gadget which plugs into the lightning port and pulls photos off your SD card. If you're doing hundreds of photos a night, I get why you wouldnt bother, but for casual photography, the iPad is fine. File Browser for file management (and many others, that just happens to be the one I use). I dont edit in Photos, I use other apps which do a better job. Affinity, Pixelmator, Snapseed, PS Fix.

Well don't get me wrong, I can process single RAW files on my iPad Pro 9.7", but the experience is slow, clunky, and kluge. I just fail to see the need when I can load them to my MacBook Pro, process them in a fraction of the time, and not have to jump through a set of kluge steps to get the files loaded, processed (and edited), then transferred to my storage drives. I don't use a cloud for security purposes and because that gets expensive. My workflow is just so much better on a computer. But single RAW file processing is a small part of what I do. I routinely take dozens or even hundreds of photos of the night sky then use complex apps (on a computer) that can take all of those RAW files and align them and stack them into a single image to lessen the noise level and increase the detail and dynamic range. That requires a huge amount of processing power that is quite frankly way beyond the design specs of any iPad. My MBP and my Mac Mini both have 16 GB RAM and they sometimes struggle with that kind of processing load. Plus I also find that for single photo processing, RAW or not, the workflow on a tablet is not as good nor efficient as it is with a computer. The iPad works okay to process a single photo, but the computer is still faster and easier by a long shot. I had hoped I could use my iPad more in my workflow, but with the current state of iOS and the current specs that was just a dream that might never come true in my particular case.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

I still have my iPhone 4S...talk about small! I use it for white noise while sleeping, and the grandkids play a few games on it. It's perfect for little hands. It also has an old solitaire app that I like that wasn't updated to work on iOS 10 and above. The battery chomps at this point but it doesn't matter.

Just for fun I ran an astronomy app called SkySafari Pro on my iPhone 5 last night when I was outside photographing the night sky. Talk about slow and clunky on the iPhone 5! It runs fast and wonderfully on my iPhone XR and did so on my iPhone 7 when I had it. That is one of the reasons I upgrade every 2 to 3 years. As the phones get faster and more capable, the apps get modified to take advantage of that and no longer work as well on the older phones.

Originally Posted by HarryT

I’ve only had two phones in almost ten years: an iPhone 4 and currently an iPhone 6. My policy is to buy the top-end models but keep them for a very long time.

I do need the power of newer phones for my astrophotography when in the field. See above. But I'm also a sucker for new stuff! As they say, kids never grow up, their toys just get more expensive. I guess I'm just a school child trapped in an old man's body! If memory serves me correctly, I started out with the iPhone 5 in 2012 or 2013, about 2 years later I upgraded to the iPhone 6 Plus, then in 2 years I updated to the iPhone 7, and just recently I updated to the iPhone XR. With T-Mobile I can get a new iPhone for the going rate, pay only the taxes up front, then they finance the remainder in 24 monthly payments with NO finance charges. That is a pretty good deal. Plus after they are paid off USA law requires the carrier to unlock the phone if the customer so requests. Plus I own the phone once paid off, so I can sell it to whomever will give me the highest amount rather than being obligated to trading it in to T-Mobile at a ridiculously low price.

ETA: BTW, I'm usually frugal with most things. For example, I'm still watching TV on my Sony Brava TV I purchased in 2008--it gets the job done and still has a great picture. I usually keep my automobiles at least 7 years, sometimes longer. I usually trade it in only when it starts to have too many maintenance issues. For me a car is about getting from point A to point B more than it is about style. But for some reason I do like to upgrade of few of my electronic devices like iPhones and iPads fairly often.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

As they say, kids never grow up, their toys just get more expensive.

Yep. Good thing I never got into cars. Mine's 10 years old now and still chugging along quite nicely.

Originally Posted by OtinG

If memory serves me correctly, I started out with the iPhone 5 in 2012 or 2013, about 2 years later I upgraded to the iPhone 6 Plus, then in 2 years I updated to the iPhone 7, and just recently I updated to the iPhone XR.

Lol, my iPhone upgrade history was:

2007: original iPhone
2009: iPhone 3GS
2010: iPhone 4
2011: iPhone 4S
2012: iPhone 5
2013: iPhone 5s
2014: iPhone 6
2016: iPhone 7

I know the yearly upgrade seems like too much but we're on a 4-person family plan so my 1-year old phones got handed down to other lines in the same plan.

We usually got rid of them by the 2-year mark because:
1.) they're super slow after 2 major iOS upgrades, and
2.) to replace the phone costs $200 with 2-year contract and to get Apple to replace the battery costs $100 (after a Nokia that caught on fire after replacing with 3rd party battery, I just don't trust 3rd party batteries anymore).

Now that we don't have "subsidies" anymore, I'm quite happy to keep my iPhone 7. Also, we've reached the point where performance is more than good enough. I'll upgrade eventually but I'm really hoping for something XS size at the XR price point (I'm happy to stick to LCD).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I do need the power of newer phones for my astrophotography when in the field. See above. But I'm also a sucker for new stuff! As they say, kids never grow up, their toys just get more expensive. I guess I'm just a school child trapped in an old man's body!

Funnily enough I was recently having a similar conversation on a photography forum. I’m an avid photographer and spend what any reasonable person would probably consider to be ludicrous amounts of money on camera equipment. But I spend as little as I can on things like clothes and, like you, have a 10-year-old TV. We all have to prioritise where we choose to spend our money.

[Sidor]

Hah, how did we manage to use them without pencil before!?