Apple's iPad Mini will cost £269

BigRonW

Given the amount of speculation that there's been on the forum, seemed like a good idea to present the actual price. http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_ipad

Call me biased.... but it seems to me that (like almost anything else made by Apple) it's a nice enough machine, that's obscenely overpriced. I don't see the other existing makers running scared from a 7" tablet which costs THAT much. Besides which.... it's got a 4:3 screen, unlike Android's more modern 16:9 screen. 16:9 7" screens fit in pockets.... shorter, wider 4:3 screens don't.

paddyrg

Not in pockets... That makes it as portable and convenient as a full-size model then if you still need a bag. Whoopee. Maybe this was why Steve Jobs famously absolutely slated the 7" form factor - not just dismissing it, but a real verbal tirade about how it was pure devilspawn - he had seen the 4:3 aspect ratio ;-)

dacouch

http://youtu.be/95TFCQDbXbM

CoolHotCold

Well it's essentially a 8" device.


When you consider the Galaxy tab is £200 and Motorola Zoom is £200
then the £70 more for the mini is going to be competitively priced.


Apple will still sell a truckload.


If you want one that fits in your pocket, buy one that fits in a pocket. If you want something larger with more screen estate for webpages or games, buy that.

Apple are not holding a gun to your head and going "Buy this, only this and nothing but this". Besides the real news should of been the new iPad 4th gen, looks like they released early to compete more with Microsoft's new OS which breaks the boundaries between tablets and computers with the right hardware.

BigRonW

CoolHotCold wrote: »

If you want one that fits in your pocket, buy one that fits in a pocket. If you want something larger with more screen estate for webpages or games, buy that.

Apple are not holding a gun to your head and going "Buy this, only this and nothing but this".

Curiously enough, I did buy one that fitted neatly into a pocket. The logic of doing so (after decades of owning mobile phones that ALSO fitted into my pockets) seemed obvious to me. What seemed LESS obvious was Apple releasing a product that their sainted former boss railed so loudly against. An 8" 4:3 tablet is just as big a pain-in-the-bum to lug around as a laptop would be. No obvious advantage over a 10" tablet, plenty of disadvantages over a 16:9 7" tablet. (Unless, of course the purpose of displaying one's ownership so overtly is to advertise that you've got far more money than sense!)

Kite2010

Apple have come up with the iPants or iTrousers in the UK, new trousers designed to take he iPad mini, only 100 a pair of 3.99 supermarket jeans with a bigger pocket. Bargain of the century

Lifeforms

I have a phone to fit in a pocket, I love my ipad 2 but it is big, fine in the house, but after a year of taking it about with me, It kinda gets me how big. Now there were no 7" comparable models that I liked when I bought my ipad, so it was an ipad or nothing for me. With the release of a smaller one, it'll suit me far better. The cameras are improved, but aside that it's a clone pretty much of the ipad 2. I expected it to be around £50 dearer than the current models, and not to be of the ipad 3 specs, and for me it's fine, and I will buy one.

As a female, I carry about handbags anyway, so pocket size doesn't come into it

I just have decisions now on the size. Because it's smaller and lighter, maybe I'd take it even when I wasn't on long journeys, so could replace my battery depleted itouch as a music player. But then £80 between 32GB and 64GB models, with a new battery for itouch being around £65-70 (iirc). Current ipad is 64GB and I get no where near that so for general use 32GB would be fine, but not if I use it for music.

sillygoose

BigRonW wrote: »

Curiously enough, I did buy one that fitted neatly into a pocket. The logic of doing so (after decades of owning mobile phones that ALSO fitted into my pockets) seemed obvious to me. What seemed LESS obvious was Apple releasing a product that their sainted former boss railed so loudly against. An 8" 4:3 tablet is just as big a pain-in-the-bum to lug around as a laptop would be. No obvious advantage over a 10" tablet, plenty of disadvantages over a 16:9 7" tablet. (Unless, of course the purpose of displaying one's ownership so overtly is to advertise that you've got far more money than sense!)

I disagree, I looked at 7" 16:9 tablets and didn't like them so went for a 8" 4:3. the 7" 16:9's are very short so used for web browsing means a lot more scrolling either way up - bearing in mind due to the ratio you also have a lot less overall area too. The 8 4:3 was better for watching movies on, a 16:9 device close up enough to see clearly means a lot more eye scanning, 16:9 only really works at a decent distance, its more comfortable (IMHO) to watch even 16:9 content squished on a 4:3 at short range. 4:3 is better for documents too. In its neoprene bag it easily fits in the inside pocket of my fleece - the advantage over a 10" is weight and mostly cost as its half the price!

I agree many 7" tablets are fantastic and if it suits you better fine, for me the 8" 4:3 was a better solution.

Now my device was a mere £90 and I can't see what more the Apple device would do for me for another £180 except make life a bit more difficult as you can't just plug it into my PC with a USB cable and dump movies and music on/off in a second.

debitcardmayhem

It will fit in my pocket no problem

penrhyn

At least if you decide to take your iPad mini on walkabout to take photos, you won't look as big a knob, as those who use full sized ipad, have you seen them !!!!!!!

lvm

Am I right in thinking the iPad mini is pretty much going to have everything that the new iPad and iPad 4 have, except for size and possibly processor/wifi speed??

Or am I missing a HUGE new feature that the 4 will have which I'd miss out on with the mini?

I bought a refurbished iPad 2 when the new iPad came out as I wasn't bothered about the retina display.

Looking to buy the mini and sell iPad 2 unless I'm missing something glaringly obvious!!