I think we've established that Apple provides above average support for their products. Let's please return to the topic of the iPad Mini.

I think the set price point is too high, and the screen size too close to the Ipad's. If screen real estate matters, the Ipad's the choice, for portability, the Iphone. I don't think it will be very successful, because Apple product users will not see 'the need', relative to existing Apple products and Android users are not generally interested in the Apple's 'closed culture'.

Define not very successful. Is that selling as many units as the Nexus 7? It does not appear that Google has released sales figures for this device but the guess is "high six figures to about a million"

I am guessing that the iPad mini will become the second best selling tablet on the market, behind only the iPad itself.

Off-topic posts removed. Please stick to the topic of the iPad Mini.

It may well be, despite the fact that there are better products out there. Some sites that are usually pro-Apple are not being too complimentary when comparing it to other products available.

The comment you refer to in the article you're posting pertains to screen resolution on the iPad Mini, compared to the Nook HD, the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HD.

While the iPad Mini's resolution is undeniably less than those tablets, Apple has chosen that particular format for a reason, actually 275 000 reasons: they are called native iPad apps. By adopting the same aspect ratio and resolution than the iPad 2 (and iPad 1), they are ensuring that developers can have their apps run on any device without having to tweak them.

This is a problem which plagues the Android platform. It's called fragmentation and it explains why so few apps are native to Android tablets: several manufacturers, each producing their own version of "the ideal tablet".

My iPad 1 has a 1024 X 768 resolution on a 10 inch screen, which is equivalent to my oldest flat screen TV, a 43-inch Pioneer. The TV still looks pretty darn good. Needless to say my iPad still looks very good. I haven't seen the iPad Mini in person, but my guess is the display will be excellent given its small size.

It's important to keep things into perspective.

It's also conveniently cheaper for Apple to produce. Apple didn't seem to worried about maintaining the screen resolution ratio with the iPhone 5.

However, while I definitely think the screen is a weak point for the iPad Mini, it's only one of the many factors that make a tablet good or bad. Focussing on a single weak spot and saying that alone makes it a poor product is the same thing Nokia did when the iPhone was first released, and how did that work out for them?

To be honest, I think the older processor is more of a concern, because it makes me wonder whether the iPad Mini won't receive the same lengthy support as other iOS products if the hardware is a year old already.

^ TC, the other way to look at this would be to think that Apple would maybe want to think twice about dropping support too soon for legacy processors, seeing as the iPad Mini is brand new.

That's certainly possible. I'm not saying that's necessarily what I think will happen, or that people shouldn't buy one because of that possibility, it just seems like a more relevant concern than the relatively low pixel density.

Not getting the latest iOS version after 2 years is not equal to "dropping support".
Also, most people are not so attached to their $330 gadgets to plan 3 years ahead for them.

If it gets full iOS updates for two years then it's a non-issue. My concern would be that if the iPad 2 is discontinued next spring, when iOS 7 is announced next spring/summer that there are significant features missing from the iPad Mini due to the lack of horsepower, and then when iOS 8 is announced the following year the first gen iPad Mini isn't even on the list.

Again, I'm not saying this will happen. Apple, in my opinion, has a good history when it comes to iOS updates and might keep the iPad Mini on the list for three years or more. I'm just looking at the pattern for the original iPad, whose hardware was supported with iOS releases for two years, and extrapolating. Obviously that's an incredibly small sample, and not nearly enough to be confident in the pattern.

The same thing happened with our Kobo reader. It's sort of stuck where it's at now. But I'm not upset, nor am I surprised.

It still allows us to read books. It still works. Are there new features or newer, better readers available now? Of course.

Like I said, maybe iPad 2 owners will be in luck next year when iOS 7 comes out because they're running an A5 chip.


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I just downloaded an update for my Kobo Touch last night. There are improvements to be sure. But then, a Kobo is a single use device - aside from improvements on it's use, there are really no new features to add. It's not the same as a tablet, which has multiple uses.

Apparently the iPad mini with have stereo speakers, hence the 2 sets of holes on the bottom. First iOS device with stereo.

Doesn't the 4th gen full size ipad also have these? If so then it is a tie since they ship on the same day.