iPad Mini

pollyanna24

iPad Mini

I’m a bit clueless when it comes to technology, but I do love my iPhone. I’m planning on buying an iPad Mini each for my two children (this is a special one-off present, not something I do all the time!).

Just a few questions. Where is the best place to buy from? I can see from the internet that they are going to cost around £199 each. This is for 16gb. Is this enough? I have no idea if this a lot of storage space or not.

Is it possible to link the two iPads up with my phone and have all the same apps without paying three times for them? They have a lot of games on my phone at the moment and when I buy more, just want to be able to put the new game on both of their iPad Minis.

Will they only be able to use the internet when we are at home and connected to the house wifi?

Erm, think that is all for now. Thanks anyone who can answer.

iSaving

Hi,
How old are your children and what would they use them for? 16GB is sufficient for general apps, and some photos and videos. But can soon be used up quickly if lots of music or TV/Videos are added to the devices.

Apple now offers a service called family sharing with its iOS 8 software (check if you've updated your phone to see if you have this already). This allows you to buy apps on your parental account, and share them with your children. It also stops your children purchasing apps without your consent (you get a notification to allow or deny requests).

In terms of the best place to buy them, you should check the Apple refurbished store. These are professionally restored by Apple and look as good as new, and come with the standard 12-month warranty. You can get iPad Minis from £169 this way.

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/ipad

wiogs

"Will they only be able to use the internet when we are at home and connected to the house wifi?"
They will be able to connect to whatever internet they have access to. If they are at a friends and have access to their wifi then they can use that. They also have the ability to connect to free public wifi.

gjchester

pollyanna24 wrote: »

iPad Mini

Just a few questions. Where is the best place to buy from? I can see from the internet that they are going to cost around £199 each. This is for 16gb. Is this enough? I have no idea if this a lot of storage space or not.

John Lewis offer a 2 year warranty, if you have a local store them may have cheaper returns, still come with the 2 year warranty, and often they are just like new, you can look at them in store. However its luck as to what is returned to the store, the bigger the JL, the better the choice so to speak.

I'd suggest the Ipad mini 2 at the least, the new Ipad 3 has the same spec as the 2 the only different is the touch ID sensor on it.

In terms of space buy what you can afford, I have a 16gb and its fine, but I don't store a lot of games on it, mostly space is used by videos for flights / holidays.
Remember once you have bought an App you can always delete it from the device and then re-download it later on.

pollyanna24 wrote: »

Is it possible to link the two iPads up with my phone and have all the same apps without paying three times for them? They have a lot of games on my phone at the moment and when I buy more, just want to be able to put the new game on both of their iPad Minis.

Yes Apple call it Family sharing

http://www.apple.com/uk/ios/whats-new/family-sharing/

pollyanna24 wrote: »

Will they only be able to use the internet when we are at home and connected to the house wifi?

Hard to say. iPads have WiFi and 3g version models, if you buy a 3g Model you can put in a sim card and use it out and about.

Even if you only have a WiFi Models they will still be able to use any open hotspot, so for example Starbucks, McDonalds, or neighbours.open hotspot.

You cannot restrict this in IOS8, but you could put a restriction on apps (say Safari) to try and stop non child friendly sites if that's what you were thinking of.

mrochester

iPads have great parental controls that you can lock down with a passcode. Depending on the age of the children is strongly recommend you make use of these to control what the children can and ca t access.

DCFC79

The 16GB wont be so once the OS is installed.

pollyanna24

iSaving wrote: »

Hi,
How old are your children and what would they use them for? 16GB is sufficient for general apps, and some photos and videos. But can soon be used up quickly if lots of music or TV/Videos are added to the devices.

Apple now offers a service called family sharing with its iOS 8 software (check if you've updated your phone to see if you have this already). This allows you to buy apps on your parental account, and share them with your children. It also stops your children purchasing apps without your consent (you get a notification to allow or deny requests).

In terms of the best place to buy them, you should check the Apple refurbished store. These are professionally restored by Apple and look as good as new, and come with the standard 12-month warranty. You can get iPad Minis from £169 this way.

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/ipad

Thanks very much for your help. They are only 6 and 4 and like the dressing up games you can get on the iPhone. They also like You Tube a lot.

I didn't think they would be able to buy any apps without my knowing as I have to put my password in, or is it different on the iPad? I'll have to have a look into that parental thing.

pollyanna24

gjchester wrote: »

John Lewis offer a 2 year warranty, if you have a local store them may have cheaper returns, still come with the 2 year warranty, and often they are just like new, you can look at them in store. However its luck as to what is returned to the store, the bigger the JL, the better the choice so to speak.

I'd suggest the Ipad mini 2 at the least, the new Ipad 3 has the same spec as the 2 the only different is the touch ID sensor on it.

In terms of space buy what you can afford, I have a 16gb and its fine, but I don't store a lot of games on it, mostly space is used by videos for flights / holidays.
Remember once you have bought an App you can always delete it from the device and then re-download it later on.


Yes Apple call it Family sharing

http://www.apple.com/uk/ios/whats-new/family-sharing/



Hard to say. iPads have WiFi and 3g version models, if you buy a 3g Model you can put in a sim card and use it out and about.

Even if you only have a WiFi Models they will still be able to use any open hotspot, so for example Starbucks, McDonalds, or neighbours.open hotspot.

You cannot restrict this in IOS8, but you could put a restriction on apps (say Safari) to try and stop non child friendly sites if that's what you were thinking of.

I work near the JL in Oxford Street, so I could probably go and have a look in there before deciding.

How do you go about downloading videos / films? This would come in handy on a flight we are going on in September.

DCFC79

pollyanna24 wrote: »

I work near the JL in Oxford Street, so I could probably go and have a look in there before deciding.

How do you go about downloading videos / films? This would come in handy on a flight we are going on in September.

You can buy films from itunes and download them over the wifi connection to the ipad/s.

wiogs

Some movies now come with digital copies included if you buy the Blu ray.

You can also transfer your own DVDs to watch

pollyanna24

wiogs wrote: »

Some movies now come with digital copies included if you buy the Blu ray.

You can also transfer your own DVDs to watch

All starting to go over my head a little bit! How on earth would I put their own DVDs on the iPads?