It's also awesome on the beach. My iPads are obviously useless in that scenario... Too dim
Also the latest versions are water resistant.
I still bought the mini for work. It fits in my lab coat pocket
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad mini Returning my Mini today
- Thread starter Newtons Apple
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Also the latest versions are water resistant.
I still bought the mini for work. It fits in my lab coat pocket
I agree, there is no way you can read any iPad in the sun, or even cloud lol
I purchased an Oasis and for the first time in my life I'm actually reading.
I have the first Oasis and the Oasis 2. For whatever reason, I prefer the Oasis, maybe because it’s so small and lightweight. I’ve been through several before (PaperWhite 1, Voyage, and some before that). For pure reading, I much prefer a Kindle. I generally have both an Oasis and a Mini in bed at night, but the Oasis is for reading.
Obviously, the Kindle is not suitable for color books or books with photos and diagrams, but for just plain text, I love it.
Not sure what you read on your kindle but for me, the iPad (10.5”) is my digital notebook, which I use for my work. I use it for my research in an academic context. I need to mark up text, make annotations, and write out notes. And, yes, I often do this when I am commuting, in addition to inter state and international travel. I understand what the benefits of the kindle are, but they don’t apply in my use case.
I read just books on it. For my studying and annotations I use my big iPad Pro, but I don't do that on the commute as I like to separate study and personal reading time.
In my specific context, I only have time to read my work related materials. And, my work is reading, writing, research.
My own use is simply for reading. I'm retired now so my reading can be many hours in a day, always indoors, and I've never had an eyestrain problem with a tablet display. After charging it back up, I gave the Paperwhite another try for the day yesterday. It's back in the drawer today.
I can relate. On an average, I am reading anywhere between 6 to 8 hours a day. This is serious reading accompanied by making annotations, margin scribbling, ling hand notes and drawing concept maps. The iPad has been one of my “ideal” devices thus far.
[doublepost=1554216944][/doublepost]
I don’t disagree. The kindle isn’t for me, the iPad Pro is. YMMV as may that of others.This is why there are different devices for different use cases
Traveled today with the new Air and the trade-off between the Mini and this one when it comes to weight/size is minimal at best. It weighs about a pound and takes up almost no space in my book bag (in a slimline case). The upside is obviously the much bigger screen, which is more conducive to having multiple useable apps open at the same time. Not regretting this decision at all now, which I thought I might given how light and small the mini was.
I've been a big advocate for the Mini supporting the Pencil for a long time and was excited to see how the Mini would perform. While I've been waiting, I began using my Mini 4 with a powered capactive stylus for taking notes in my GoodNotes digital notebook/journal.
I came to a shocking conclusion for myself... the Mini form-factor is too small for me for that use.
I had been using my Mini 4 on and off as a small sketch pad, and the occasional note, but when trying to use it all throughout the day for notes, it just fell short. I know that the Adonit Dash 3 is not a proper alternative for the Apple Pencil, but I have enough experience with both to know what impact the differences would have on my uses.
For now, and that could change (depending upon the "7 inch itch"), I'll be sticking with my 2018 iPad as my all-round digital notebook.
I came to a shocking conclusion for myself... the Mini form-factor is too small for me for that use.
I had been using my Mini 4 on and off as a small sketch pad, and the occasional note, but when trying to use it all throughout the day for notes, it just fell short.
I know that the Adonit Dash 3 is not a proper alternative for the Apple Pencil, but I have enough experience with both to know what impact the differences would have on my uses.For now, and that could change (depending upon the "7 inch itch"), I'll be sticking with my 2018 iPad as my all-round digital notebook.
Regarding weight—the Air is light, but the mini being 34% lighter is a pretty significant difference, especially when trying to hold the device one-handed for long periods. Not only that, but the larger size of the Air has a center of gravity that is farther from the hand. And due to physics (the lever effect?) that makes it even more difficult to hold one-handed.
Last edited:
It's the screen size of the Paperwhite that probably bugs me as much as anything. I wonder if I'd like the Oasis 2. I've read some reports that have complained about the battery life. Other people have suggested that it can be difficult to hold. What has been your experience with it?
You may like the Oasis 2. I prefer my smaller Oasis 1 for some reason. It is tiny, like a kid’s book, but same screen size as all the other Kindles except the O2.
I don’t read for hours and hours a day. Battery life is fine for me. It’s certainly better than an iPad. I plug mine in every couple of weeks most of the time. The Oasis 2 has a metal body, which I don’t particularly care for bare. I have it in a silicone-type back/front cover.
I read for pleasure so the “small” screen doesn’t bother me.
Amazon has a great return policy. L
Yes, I really dislike the Paperwhite screen size, too. I looked at the Oasis but didn't consider the additional 1" to be enough. I have an 8" Galaxy Tab S2 that I sometimes use as a Kindle reader that is smaller than 10.5" iPP.
I looked at the S2, and it looked interesting as a device for reading and listening to music. I also really like the 4:3 aspect ratio which Samsung appears to have now abandoned. But, at that point, it was too long in the tooth and so I didn't buy it.
[doublepost=1554228537][/doublepost]
It's the covers that add the weight. Like most people I greatly admire the look of the backs of the iPads. But I always feel that they seem so vulnerable in terms of scratches (slippery also!) that I feel obliged to cover them with something. I guess some kind of rubberised back would help here, but that just ain't going happen, I don't believe.
Last edited:
I went to the Apple store today to check one out and its barely much bigger than my phone so Im either getting the Air or the Pro 11, although the price of the Pro is ridiculous.
Yeah, covers probably make the weight difference even more pronounced. I don’t like to use back covers since I’m not worried about dropping my device—but I do worry about scratches on my 12.9 since it travels in my bag, so I have a skin on the back.
[doublepost=1554237078][/doublepost]
How big is your phone??
If your phone is an iPhone, the mini is significantly bigger than any iPhone.
It's a Note and the difference between it and the mini is not great enough to own both.
How can the mini be too small for iMessage but, you feel the Max is better for such?
This just breaks my brain. I have to return mine because of YAY! Touch disease in Procreate in using fingers AND the pencil.
Playing music and using Procreate / Photos in split screen shouldn't cause this kind of problem with the A12 chip and 3GB of ram.
So back it goes tomorrow morning.
I think I need to step away from iPads because as awesome as they have the potential to be, I'm just not having luck with them since 2017. Not going to get another 2018.
I love the Mini 5, but there's no way I am going through the exchange hoops after taking a wash on the 2017 12.9" iPad Pro.
Will look at Wacom tablets and just use sketches pro on my iPhone. I am gutted. Hope no one else goes through this.
Playing music and using Procreate / Photos in split screen shouldn't cause this kind of problem with the A12 chip and 3GB of ram.
So back it goes tomorrow morning.
I think I need to step away from iPads because as awesome as they have the potential to be, I'm just not having luck with them since 2017. Not going to get another 2018.
I love the Mini 5, but there's no way I am going through the exchange hoops after taking a wash on the 2017 12.9" iPad Pro.
Will look at Wacom tablets and just use sketches pro on my iPhone. I am gutted. Hope no one else goes through this.