
The New iPad Mini - shawndumas
https://daringfireball.net/2019/03/the_new_ipad_mini
======
emsy
Apple's lineup is getting so confusing. The iPad Mini is praised by a lot of
Apple enthusiasts but for me it just adds more chaos to their product lineup.
Which tablet supports which pen? Can I connect my iPad to my Macbook using the
included cables? Do I charge with USB-C or lightning? Does my device support
3D touch? What's the difference between an iPad and an iPad Air? What's the
difference between the Macbook and the Macbook Air and why is the Air thicker?
Does my Mac have a T2 chip (the new iMacs don't). Can I get my device of
choice with 128GB (only the XR, not the XS). There's too much segmentation and
I think it's appropriate to ask whether this would've happened under Steve. If
I can't keep up with this mess, how do they expect non-tech people to do so?

~~~
yoz-y
I think that the iPad lineup is pretty okay currently. You have the iPad which
is the cheapest, Air is lighter and Mini is smaller. They all use lightning
and support the Pecil 1. Pro hardware has USB-C, faceid and supports Pencil 2.
None of them has 3D touch.

Mac lineup tho... makes less sense.

~~~
erikpukinskis
I'm so glad 3d touch isn't on every device. It's such a bad technology.
Touching should be simple and understandable. 3D touch just feels like random
events are happening for no reason. Between long press, tap, and drag there is
already plenty of complexity there. 3D touch takes it too far.

But because Apple didn't standardize on it, it will hopefully never get wide
adoption.

That said, I'd it does eventually seep into Apple's low end, that will just
make it easier for the company that takes a usability-first approach to
designing a mobile OS, when they come to eat Apple's lunch.

I think that's a huge opportunity for whoever builds up enough gumption to
think a new mobile OS startup is worth trying.

~~~
yoz-y
I think 3d touch has problems but they are all tied to software. I find it
extremely useful for keyboard cursor. It requires some finesse but the 3d
touch version (as opposed to the long press available on iPad and iPhone XR)
is more useful as it can do selection by changing pressure. It is not very
accessible as it requires some finesse though.

Another feature I use all the time is 3d touch on apps which have quick
shortcuts.

Where I agree is that there is too much of a fine line drawn between long
press, drag and 3d touch and it is far from easy to be able to activate the
desired one 100% of the time.

~~~
erikpukinskis
The fact that you use it all the time doesn't mean it's good design. Often it
takes time to find solutions which allow the same benefits without increasing
complexity.

3D touch is a the equivalent of "just add more buttons". Sure, people will use
the buttons. Doesn't mean it was the best design.

------
sixothree
This may sound crazy, but I would consider my iPad Mini 4 (with cellular) to
be my primary computing device.

To be fair, I have multiple desktop computers, laptops, and servers in my
house. And for work we each get a development laptop and a desktop with
multiple monitors. So I'm no luddite by any stretch.

But it fits in the front pocket of a pair of Dockers type pants. Meaning, I
often leave my phone at home and carry just my iPad.

It travels with me to work and home. I bring it to meetings instead of my
laptop, unless I am coding. I leave it open to skype so that conversations
don't break my typing flow.

It sits in front of my computer while I am home playing youtube. I bring it
onto the front porch on a cool evening for kindle and carcassonne. And it goes
with me to the hot tub.

I originally bought it as a travel companion device. But found it fit so well,
that I just carry it with me pretty much anywhere.

~~~
cheeze
I'm with you but with my S10+ at this point.

I use it for browsing the internet casually. As soon as I get to work I hook
it up trough my USB-C hub to DeX to watch plex. When I get home, if I want to
get some work done I hook it up over DeX and boot ubuntu on it.

I don't bring a computer with me when I travel, I use RDP from DeX if I need
to do some real heavy lifting that the Ubuntu distro I have can't do (which
rarely happens, but does happen.)

At this point I could go months with my phone, a USB-C PD charger, an HDMI
cable, and a cheap ($20) USB-C hub.

DeX is criminally underrated and the major reason I'm going Android (Samsung
more than Android even) over iOS this generation. Granted, I'm losing out on
security/privacy :(.

~~~
kkapelon
How do you run Ubuntu on the phone?

~~~
wvenable
[https://www.linuxondex.com/](https://www.linuxondex.com/)

------
CalChris
> It has the same A12 CPU ... with 3 GB of RAM on the _system-on-a-chip_

Actually that's _package-on-package_. The LPDDR4X DRAM is glued (well, reflow
soldered) to the back of the A12 Bionic.

[https://www.techinsights.com/about-
techinsights/overview/blo...](https://www.techinsights.com/about-
techinsights/overview/blog/apple-iphone-xs-teardown/)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_on_package](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_on_package)

------
mysterypie
There's an acute problem with using the iPad Mini that no one has yet
mentioned here. The text is too damn small unless you have perfect eyesight.
For example, Hacker News in Safari on the Mini appears in a super tiny font.
If you pinch-zoom, the edges of the page roll off the screen, and you'd be
constantly panning left and right. I've tried extensions that increase the
font size on web pages -- they all have some failing, like making the letters
run together or messing up tables.

I'll grant that this is not the fault of the iPad Mini itself. I blame web
standards and browsers for not requiring all parts of a page to scale linearly
and re-flow cleanly. It is (in theory) a problem solvable entirely by
software. However, the reality of the web is what it is. If you don't have
perfect eyesight, it's better to buy a large iPad with the same resolution as
the Mini, and then everything is nice and legible. It's a shame because I love
the portability of the Mini.

~~~
mperham
There's a fix that every person over 40 eventually learns: Settings > General
> Accessibility > Larger Text

~~~
mysterypie
That setting does not increase text size in _web pages_ which was my main
complaint. It increases size of text in some menus in iOS (and not even all of
them) and not in third-party apps either, and is completely useless for web
pages.

~~~
mstolpm
You could try a browser called iCab Mobile. This app has an option "Increase
text size" for web pages that works with HN (just tested it myself).

~~~
SllX
There’s a name I haven’t heard in a decade. I didn’t realize iCab had a mobile
version. Thank you.

------
AWildC182
....Why did the Pro get USB-C but the Mini is now shipping with Lightning? I'm
so confused. I just want all my shit to have one charging cable.

~~~
shams93
I'm glad they didn't, my main soundcard uses the lightening connector its not
optimized for usb c, for musicians there are tons of existing lightening based
devices we would have to toss out for usb c so for musician users having
lightening and 8th inch audio jack are superior to usb c.

~~~
cheeze
This is like .01% of users though.

~~~
megaremote
No, there are millions of users with lightning accessories.

------
izacus
I love that someone finally made a small 8" 4:3 tablet again - it seems like
the perfect form factor for reading. Right now I'm still using my aging Galaxy
Tab S2, but it's software support has ended.

The only serious annoyance I have is the lack of USB-C... all my other devices
(laptop, phone, headphones, etc.) are on that new port now and I only have to
carry a single charger. Except for the tablet :(

~~~
jumbopapa
I would likely read on it some if I bought it, but I can't stand anything
other than a kindle or paper for reading for an extended period of time.

~~~
izacus
Kindle is awesome for books, but I use my S2 8.0 for reading the internet /
PDFs and watching movies. Which isn't as practical on a Kindle :)

------
geddy
Wish they'd come out with an iPhone Mini! That is, back to the 5/SE roots. I
love the iPad Mini but it doesn't really have a space in my repertoire
alongside my SE and Watch.

------
crooked-v
If this had been in the "Pro" style with a thin bezel and USB-C, it would have
been an instant buy.

~~~
mark_l_watson
I agree. For $100 more, they could have had both a thin bezel and usb-c, and I
would have bought one instantly.

~~~
scarface74
That kind of defeats the point. They were trying to reach a price - $499 for
the Mini wasn’t that price.

------
AdmiralAsshat
So what is the nomenclature for these things now? Apple keeps calling them the
"New" i-X, which gets me confused with the last one they released that they
called the "new" one, and eventually we settled on some kind of retroactive
name for it like "Retina i-X" or "i-X (20XX)".

~~~
wlesieutre
iPad Mini (2019) seems like the reasonable choice. The Mac and iPad are stable
enough as products that the main pressure to upgrade is that it's broken or
too slow. It's not like an iPhone where there's a new design language every
three years, steadily improving cameras, or big improvements to screen
brightness and anti-glare.

If they put iPhone version numbers across all their products you'd have
obnoxious names like iMac 19s Max. Calling them by their size and year is more
meaningful than trying to remember "How old is an iMac 14?" since they aren't
on a strict yearly release clock like the phones are.

------
00deadbeef
I've had my iPad Mini 2 for years now and love it. Finally a worthy upgrade.

~~~
noir_lord
Same, I have a gen 6 ipad that I like and an iPad Mini 2 that I love, I bought
the mini 2 for mobile safari testing but outside of my desktops/laptops I
spend way more time on the Mini than I do my phone, it's just a convenient
form factor.

Think I'm gonna spring for the new mini and give my old mini to the boy.

------
jayess
I feel like the mini is way underrated and I was worried they would cancel it.
My mini is my favorite device. I'm excited to trade in my old one for a new
one.

------
chx
> The iPad Mini hits a sweet spot: it’s way bigger than any phone and way
> smaller than any laptop.

Yeah, I bought a One Mix Yoga 2S for that purpose. I understand the need for
pure tablets for some but you can't beat that little powerhouse of a laptop-
tablet. The hardware practically matches up with the latest Macbook Air --
Amber Lake Core CPU, 8GB RAM, NVMe SSD. It's 7". I love, love, love it for
emergency purposes. Not an everyday workhorse but if you are on call ... beats
hauling a 14" laptop everywhere for those once-in-a-half-year emergencies.

------
jumbopapa
I've been eyeing a tablet for a while. Unfortunately, the pickings with
Android are rather slim, so that really only leaves the iPad. I haven't bought
the iPad (6th gen) due to it only having 2gb of ram, but maybe the Mini is
right for me.

~~~
hellofunk
I'm curious, why are you concerned about 2gb of ram? What do you plan to do on
the iPad that requires more than that?

~~~
jumbopapa
I'm not even sure. I probably wouldn't do anything too extensive. Probably
Plex and some light browsing. I just didn't like the idea of limited ram
someday causing me issues.

~~~
theshrike79
You can't really measure iOS RAM usage to a PC or Android device. The OS
handles memory completely differently.

At most you might notice that some memory hungry apps that don't suspend
correctly "start over" when switching between multiple apps.

~~~
drusepth
How is that different from how a modern Android manages memory? That's all
I've ever noticed from limited RAM for many years now.

~~~
hellofunk
Android requires significantly more memory because it’s a garbage collected
environment (one of the reasons). Apple’s platforms by comparison have much
more efficient memory models, though the developer overhead is arguably a big
greater (which Swift has helped to address a bit). To get the same performance
on an android device that you would get on an iOS device requires
significantly more memory on the android device.

------
B1FF_PSUVM
$3xx - iPad 9.7

$4xx - iPad Mini 7.9

$5xx - iPad Air 10.5

Is it just me, or is the small cheap one to give to the kids, or keep around
as the 'spare iPad', missing from the lineup? Even if it was just 20 or 30
bucks less than the current iPad 9.7 ?

~~~
r00fus
Apple's "budget" options are essentially last year's models. Given my little
ones still rock an iPad mini 1 and it still runs Netflix fine...

------
PHGamer
question? couldnt apple make an accessory that connects/syncs the pencil 2 to
the ipad mini 5 without having to use the pencil 1?

~~~
saagarjha
How would you charge it?

~~~
Teckla
I think PHGamer answered that already: an accessory. Presumably some kind of
dongle.

~~~
saagarjha
But there aren't any ports on it.

~~~
arthurcolle
The hypothetical dongle would get electricity via the iPad port and then would
expose a surface that would leverage the magnetic coupling/inductive charging
for the Apple Pencil in the same way that it works now. Might not be the most
attractive dongle but I don't think there's anything physically impossible in
engineering something with the capabilities needed to allow charging...

------
listic
Is there anything similar to the new iPad Mini on the Android side?

~~~
dragonwriter
8” tablets with broadly similar features exist (e.g., Galaxy Tab S2 8”),
though details vary a lot, and since I don't think any near the top of the
field have a refresh in a couple years (8” isn't a hot spot in the Android
tablet market), they're probably mostly less expensive but not quite at
feature parity, ignoring OS/ecosystem preference issues.

~~~
int_19h
They usually get bad screens in that segment. The last 8" Android tablet that
I would consider good was Huawei MediaPad M5, which is 8.4" 2560x1600.

------
camillomiller
I used to read Gruber often, but I feel his reviews especially grew stale and
uninformative, well written but plain. Also, he’s quite late to a lot of stuff
while not adding enough insights to justify being that late. I think I changed
in the way I read Apple-related news, so maybe he has always been like that
and it’s just my perception that shifted? Either way, I think I just don’t
want to spend my time reading one-company pundits. (He usually gets any other
company’s doings so shallowly wrong, it’s embarrassing)

------
qu1mby
I love that the mini has been refreshed with the retina display - though was
hoping for the new form factor (no button + smaller bezels)

~~~
saagarjha
The last couple of Minis have all had Retina Displays, with the same
resolution as the larger iPads.

~~~
r00fus
This one is TruTone and laminated display though. Definitely an improvement.

~~~
saagarjha
Yeah, no doubt.

------
tootie
I posit that while iPads may be "the best" tablet, you could get 95% as much
utility out of a 3 year old Kindle Fire.

~~~
saagarjha
Does your Kindle Fire perform well?

~~~
tootie
I don't actually have one. I never use tablets for anything. I have a few
iPads in the house that fell in my lap and they are basically used as portable
YouTube machines by my kids.

I do use a phone that costs $300 unlocked and is 95% as useful an iPhone.

------
gcb0
> Face ID is so much better than Touch ID.

Yeah, no.

~~~
saagarjha
Have you tried using it?

~~~
kevas
yup... have the iPad Pro 11 & an older mini (use that for the gym/cardio and
when I don't want to lug something so big around)... I do not use FaceID at
all. Tried it, yet went back to the Pin.

~~~
saagarjha
Why not? Did it not work for you?

------
malloreon
if this had edge to edge and face ID I'd line up to get it.

------
StreamBright
>>> The iPad Mini uses a Lightning port and has a microphone jack.

Is Apple returning to reality?

~~~
saagarjha
No, they just kept the same external ports as last time.

------
melling
No FaceID? TouchID often failed. never works with wet fingers, for example.

I’ve also gotten used to saying “Hey Siri, my weather” as I pick up my phone
then looking at my screen to unlock.

    
    
        “open New York Times”
        “open Wall Street Journal”
        “open CNBC’
    

I should look into Siri shortcuts. I’d like a “Hey Siri, Hacker News”

[Update]

Done! Siri was ready with Hacker News as a suggestion.

I noticed on another device, even without a shortcut, I can say “open the
website Hacker News”

~~~
abtinf
I wish I could use Siri as you describe. Alas, it rarely recognizes the wake
word unless I’m holding it very close, and queries take far too long anyway.
For weather, it is much faster to simply pick up the phone, which
automatically turns on the screen, then swipe right.

