Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

thetechblock.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 72 posts

Re: Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

#51

Post by bryanlarsen »

BryantD wrote: post #38
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #19

Or the cheaper, ~lighter,~ faster, higher-res Nexus 7?

The Nexus 7 isn't lighter. Check the specs.

It isn't even as much smaller as you'd expect. The two are so close in size/weight that the difference is not significant for most use cases.

But the Nexus 7 wins one use case: fitting in pant packets. They both fit in some pant pockets, they both don't fit in others. The difference is the Nexus 7 fits in a lot more pant pockets than the iPad mini does.

That use case probably doesn't outweigh the "does it have the games I want" question, though...

Re: Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

#52

Post by Simucal »

steele wrote: post #17

On every single flight I take, the main reason why everyone loves my iPad Mini is because it is a Nexus 7. Edit: People ask: "is that the mini?". I avoid being a jerk about it and just say "It's the google one. One of the Nexus products. The mini wasn't out when I bought this but I really like it. etc etc"

I could see how the average consumer would get confused between the two. It is kind of hard for a tablet devices to differentiate themselves in their looks when the entire face of the device is a glass display.

I now own the iPad Mini and up until a week ago I also owned the Nexus 7. The build quality, weight, and battery life of the iPad Mini beats the Nexus 7 hands down. The frame of my Nexus 7 would "creak" along the edge if you put pressure on it.

The Nexus 7 was my first Android device and despite claims that Jelly Bean had finally fixed the platform's major performance issues, I still felt noticeable lag in certain situations when scrolling or paging to different home screens. It wasn't a major issue but I still feel like Android could make some improvements in this regard.

I also felt that the quality and polish of the major apps that I use was better on the iOS platform (with a couple exceptions such as the HTPC remote app on Android that was amazing).

The main thing that I miss from my Nexus 7 is the combination of Voice Actions and the Android Intents system. It felt like a magical moment when I would tell my Nexus 7 to "play some music by Nine Inch Nails" and it would launch Spotify automatically and play the requested music. It kind of blew my mind that I could simply ask this device to play music by almost any artist in the world and it would start playing immediately.

Re: Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

#53

Post by rayiner »

technoslut wrote: post #49
rayiner wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at it this way: if Apple released an MBA without a big glass touchpad, wouldn't everyone say "the touchpad sucks?" It's not that the old touchpads weren't usable, it's just that it's really hard to go back after you've used a new-style touchpad.

You presented the wrong problem. In your situation Apple gave them something they didn't ask for and was an incremental upgrade to a 20 year-old way of the solution. Society's problems, from Louis C.K.'s POV, is that everyone expects everything to be faster and they always expect to be amazed. As we all know, that occurs very rarely in technology.

The point is that people don't like something getting worse, even if other parts of a thing are better. Regression stands out.

Re: Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

#54

Post by bonch »

steele wrote: post #17

On every single flight I take, the main reason why everyone loves my iPad Mini is because it is a Nexus 7. Edit: People ask: "is that the mini?". I avoid being a jerk about it and just say "It's the google one. One of the Nexus products. The mini wasn't out when I bought this but I really like it. etc etc"

When people have experiences like yours, where the Nexus 7 looks so much like an iPad that it is confused for one by the general public, it becomes clearer why Apple is so protective of its hardware designs. People don't often mistake Windows laptops for MacBooks, for example, because their designs are so different, but the same is not true for smartphones and tablets.

Re: Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

#55

Post by AlexandrB »

Kylekramer wrote: post #4
scott_meade wrote: post #3

"even though the screen sucks" reminds me of Lewis C.K.'s "Everything is amazing and nobody is happy". How soon we feel anything less than retina sucks. Really? We're spoiled people when we look at a piece of technology like the iPad mini and our response is "this screen sucks!". Sheesh.

People jump to the "everything is amazing and nobody is happy" thing way too quickly. It is a funny bit for sure. But if we take it as a life philosophy, a: we would never function cause we just being standing around gawking in amazement at almost everything b: things would never improve. Apple makes high quality displays for all of its iOS products besides the Mini. So, yeah, the Mini's screen sucks. Especially when…

I think it's less about gawking in amazement and more about perspective. Getting wound up about small technical drawbacks is very "first-world problem".

Re: Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

#56

Post by Toady »

GiraffeNecktie wrote: post #6

The iPad mini is "disruptive" only if you live in an alternative and exclusively Apple universe. The smaller Android tablets and large phones (like the Galaxy Tab), which have been out for a long time, disrupted the iPad and forced the introduction of the mini.

Android tablets haven't been very successful. Android fans may not like it, but the public loves the iPad, so the iPad mini becomes a disruptive product. It's the smaller tablet that people have been waiting for.

There's more to the success of a product than being first to market. Apple has been proving that for the duration of its existence.

Re: Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

#57

Post by drivebyacct2 »

BryantD wrote: post #38
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #19

Or the cheaper, ~lighter,~ faster, higher-res Nexus 7?

The Nexus 7 isn't lighter. Check the specs.

You're right, my apologies. (For others, iPad Mini: 308 or 312 grams; Nexus 7: 340 or 347 grams.)

Thanks for the correction.

Re: Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

#58

Post by Toady »

mun2mun wrote: post #47
mtgx wrote: post #24

Wow. Look at every Apple user come out and say how much like they a smaller screen now, after downplaying all the 7" Android devices for being too small before the iPad Mini. And please don't tell me it makes such a big difference between a 7" and a 7.9", because in my mind the bigger display size is actually a disadvantage, as it's not a very comfortable one-handed device anymore. You can't use it like you would a s…

Also there is a popular thinking among Apple apologists that Samsung is copying Apple and taking Apple's lunch. In reality Samsung single-handedly proved Apple wrong on various things. They created a market for "phablets", proved that stylus is still relevant in normal operation, content creation. If Apple have implemented half of the feature presented in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L930NbUKgJY Apple w…

You're portraying an alternate reality in which Android tablets were a smashing success, and everyone is using a stylus. This is clearly not the case, and the iPad mini is going to be a huge seller.

You have a comment history of being a so-called "Android apologist". Please don't be a platform warrior. It's an insular way of viewing the world.

Re: Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

#59

Post by scott_meade »

scott_meade wrote: post #3

"even though the screen sucks" reminds me of Lewis C.K.'s "Everything is amazing and nobody is happy". How soon we feel anything less than retina sucks. Really? We're spoiled people when we look at a piece of technology like the iPad mini and our response is "this screen sucks!". Sheesh.

My point was what exactly sucks about it? That it's not as pretty? Even the article says "It’s not like visible pixels in any way diminish the functional experience... Text is still readable at that size, and the touchscreen isn’t any more difficult to use." So basically we're saying that if something's not as pretty as its predecessors that it sucks. That's what seems slightly wrong to me, in my humble opinion.

Re: Why everyone loves the iPad mini (even though the screen sucks)

#60

Post by r00fus »

mun2mun wrote: post #47
mtgx wrote: post #24

Wow. Look at every Apple user come out and say how much like they a smaller screen now, after downplaying all the 7" Android devices for being too small before the iPad Mini. And please don't tell me it makes such a big difference between a 7" and a 7.9", because in my mind the bigger display size is actually a disadvantage, as it's not a very comfortable one-handed device anymore. You can't use it like you would a s…

Also there is a popular thinking among Apple apologists that Samsung is copying Apple and taking Apple's lunch. In reality Samsung single-handedly proved Apple wrong on various things. They created a market for "phablets", proved that stylus is still relevant in normal operation, content creation. If Apple have implemented half of the feature presented in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L930NbUKgJY Apple w…

Phablet, yes. Definitely a strong niche.

Stylus No. I have 3 co workers who have Galaxy Notes (or Note II) and none of them use the stylus while I've seen them. They all say it's nice, but none admit to it being key or even useful.

There is no killer app for the stylus, when an onscreen-keyboard or finger would do just as well. Even finger-based signatures are pretty easy with modern smartphones' capacative touchscreens.

The only thing a stylus allows is for UI elements and hit areas to be smaller - and not many folks (other than Win8 geeks it seems) are clamoring for that on their smartphone or tablet. In fact, I know folks who run iPhone apps on their iPad because the hit area is 4x larger and much more easy to operate.

Post reply on HN