Apple itablet icomputing (iPad and derivatives)

[Jason]

I've been thinking of getting a new Retina iPad Mini, simply because I have to upgrade my phone (current one is dying) and I'm uncomfortable with having a phone that's faster/nicer than my tablet :lol:

So stupid.

[Rob]

I got a 128GB Air a couple of months back. Because want.

I don't know if it'll bother the photographer part of your brain, but the Retina Mini has a severely reduced colour gamut when compared to the Air and previous full-size iPads. It was noticeable even under the harsh Apple Store lights when I went and bought my Air, with everything (although especially blues) looking all washed out and shite.

[Jason]

Wait, what happened? Wasn't there a single tablet thread?

And yes, that would bother the photographer part of my brain... that's good to know. Hrm...

[thesameguy]

Yeah, but we didn't want your FruitCo stuff comingling with the poseur nerd stuff and generic made in China stuff, so decisions had to be made. :D

Edit: Also, what Rob said. I think the Mini is not so good. If you want small or budget, buy a Kindle or a Venue. If you want FruitCo stuff, buy an Air - it's pretty darned decent (and awesomely expensive!)

[Jason]

I have a first generation Mini, and I rather enjoy it. But I guess I have bad taste. :)

[Yw-slayer]

That size (7" or so) is the right size for general tablet use, but not for SRS BSNS work. Too bad Jobs took too long to realise it.

[thesameguy]

I have a first generation Mini, and I rather enjoy it. But I guess I have bad taste. :)

I don't think it's a matter of taste... good or bad. But go play with an Air, and go play with a new Mini - you'll see the difference. When the Mini came out it was a smaller iPad at a reduced cost, and that was fine. But held up next to the Air, it really seems like Apple shuffled the Mini off to the b-squad.

[Random]

Wait, what happened? Wasn't there a single tablet thread?
...


Yeah, but we didn't want your FruitCo stuff comingling with the poseur nerd stuff and generic made in China stuff, so decisions had to be made. :D

!)

Something like that. ;)

[Jason]

I had an iPad and iPad 2... now a Mini. I enjoy the Mini much more. I don't see why larger is automatically better, unless you're saying the Mini sucks just because the screen isn't as good as the Air (but reviews still show it as better than many tablets).

[Rob]

I've had the 2 and the 3 and went in with an open mind since the new mini is effectively identical to the Air. The cash saving on the mini doesn't offset the dodgy looking colours. The screen is worse than the 3 and 4 too.

The Air is lighter than the 4 as well. Narrower bezels also cut down on the bulk.

[Jason]

Guess I'm stuck with the OG mini, then, if the screen is terrible. I don't care for a big tablet much.

[Jason]

Hm, I never had any huge issues with the Mini's display, but apparently it's pretty poor compared to some of it's peers. The rMini seems to review slightly better, but still a bit worse than some of it's peers.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7519/apple-ipad-mini-with-retina-display-reviewed/3

I probably would be fine with it. I mostly use a tablet for reading comics and surfing the web these days.

[Jason]

Pulled the trigger... Retina Mini is just as eye opening as the 4S was vs the 3GS for me... mmm dpi.

Performance is damned nice also.

[Rob]

http://assets.ilounge.com/images/reviews_apple/ipadminir/30.jpg

[Jason]

Bottom one fits in my hands better :P

[Yw-slayer]

If they release a 12" ipad I'm all over that shit. 10" as a size is not big enough to view a sheet of A4 as, well, a sheet of A4, while simultaneously being too big to carry around comfortably (which is what the 7"-8" size is for e.g. Super GNES gaming).

[Jason]

If they release a 12" ipad I'm all over that shit. 10" as a size is not big enough to view a sheet of A4 as, well, a sheet of A4, while simultaneously being too big to carry around comfortably (which is what the 7"-8" size is for e.g. Super GNES gaming).

Didn't Samsung release a bigger Note?

[Yw-slayer]

Yeah, but PDF Expert Pro (the best ipad PDF reader/editor I've found) shits all over Repligo (the best Android reader/editor I've found) from a great height.

[FaultyMario]

Anyway to message someone from Hangouts to Messages?

[Kchrpm]

Hangouts can only send SMS, MMS and Hangout/GTalk/GChat messages.

[FaultyMario]

thanks, Keith. I knew it was going to be your answer.

[Jason]

Jailbroke both iPhone 5S and iPad rMini... Pretty limited mods so far...

Added some toggles to Control Center (kill all bg apps, respring, reboot, power off), changed the transparency of the dock, sped up animations, more apps per page in the folder view, etc.

:up:

[Jason]

Only real downside of the rMini so far, that I've experienced, is the RAM seems to be fairly limited. I'm assuming it has 512mb, which is a real shame.

Luckily, I don't do a whole lot of high demand multi tasking, so it hasn't effected me too much. But I have noticed a couple tabs need reloading when switching between a bunch of active apps.

Edit: Sites say it has 1gb of ram, and Safari issues are just bugs, that are fixed with the upcoming 7.1. Well, that's lame (won't be able to use 7.1 without losing jailbreak).

[Yw-slayer]

Use Chrome?

[Jason]

Ew.

[Rare White Ape]

I think Chrome for iOS is really good. Better if you use Chrome on your desktop.

Although I can't compare it readily to the newer versions of Safari because it's been over a year since I used that.

...because I've been using Chrome.

[Yw-slayer]

Chrome lags a bit from time to time, but overall it's a more pleasant experience. I agree that it's good to use if you have Chrome desktop as that auto-syncs everything across too.

Another thing I like is how, once installed, if you "click" on a link in Gmail it opens Chrome rather than some shitty Safari/Gmail hybrid which always seemed to be totally fucking worthless and inflexible.

[Jason]

I've never liked Chrome on iOS.... it's simply Apple's WebKit in a Google wrapper, so there's no real advantage. I've also found, at least in the past, the sync to be buggy and/or slow.

Safari, while not perfect, has been pretty solid for me. In the past I used iCab because of built in ad blocking, but I have that system wide now. I might give Mercury a try, I've heard good things.

[Rare White Ape]

I tried Mercury.

Paid $3 for it even.

It got the Cam treatment. I use Chrome now.

[Freude am Fahren]

So I got an iPad mini as a gift, but really don't want to keep it. I have a Galaxy note, so the mini seems like waste. I'm considering exchanging it for an iPad Air though. I kinda want to get a cell one, but am not sure I want to spend that kind of dough. I have an ulimited plan (AT&T) for my phone, and obviously don't want to lose that. If I just add a tablet plan, could that affect my phone plan?

I also looked at mobile share plans. Since I only have the lowest minutes/text, they're more expensive than seperate plans I think, and I lose unlimited data on my phone.

I wanted to take a look at the new Galaxy Tab 10.1, but it doesn't look like it's available with 4G.

[TheBenior]

If you add a separate plan, I wouldn't think it would affect your '"unlimited" but we really mean we throttle you after 3GB of 3G or 5GB LTE data' plan, but you'd have talk to AT&T to be sure.

[Freude am Fahren]

Yeah, I'm not too concerned about throttling. I don't go that high (over 5GB) too often, but when I do, I don't want to pay out the ass.

That reminds me, my Note allows me to set a warning level and my own data limit. Does the iPad/iOS have that? That'd be nice to avoid paying overages if I'm not paying attention to it.

[TheBenior]

FWIU, there's no native app for it, though there are third party data usage tracking apps (http://www.igeeksblog.com/how-to-track-iphone-data-usage/).

[Kchrpm]

I would suggest adding the new iPad on a different account, maybe even going with T-Mobile instead. Just so you don't risk messing with the plan you can't get back.

[Jason]

Yeah, I'm not too concerned about throttling. I don't go that high (over 5GB) too often, but when I do, I don't want to pay out the ass.

That reminds me, my Note allows me to set a warning level and my own data limit. Does the iPad/iOS have that? That'd be nice to avoid paying overages if I'm not paying attention to it.

AT&T will send you a text and/or email at certain percentages of use. I forget if I had to set that up or not, though. Might want to log in to your AT&T account and take a look.