
Apple gives iPad mini the Retina treatment - coloneltcb
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/apple-gives-ipad-mini-the-retina-treatment/
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bsimpson
How many people who don't skim tech blogs are going to be confused by the
difference between "Mini" and "Air"? Both their current iPad lines include a
diminutive in their titles.

The smallest MacBook is the Air, but the biggest iPad is the Air? That makes
sense. =\

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ecnahc515
Its not about biggest though, its "thinest"

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jonknee
The iPad Mini and iPad Air are the same thickness (or thinness if you are in
Apple PR). It's a strange naming scheme, especially considering their laptops.
The Mini should have been the Air in the first place.

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bentcorner
Interesting that Touch ID didn't make an appearance on any of the announced
devices.

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uptown
Perhaps they wanted to see a period of time with real-world use with the touch
sensor on the 5s before going all-in across their entire platform.

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jonknee
If that were the case they wouldn't have first used it on their most popular
product (and their most profitable). You don't test out crazy ideas on your
golden egg.

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enraged_camel
>>You don't test out crazy ideas on your golden egg.

You could consider the idea "crazy" if it was a major change that had the risk
of actually hurting your golden egg's success. As things stand though, Touch
ID is simply a new feature that has the potential to become more important as
time goes on.

From that perspective, testing it out on your golden egg makes perfect sense,
since the product's popularity ensures the new feature will get the widest
exposure possible. More usage data = more ideas for how to improve the
feature.

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kbenson
Wait, I thought the whole point of retina was to be a set PPI based on optimum
viewing distance. Are we now expected to believe that the new iPad Mini and
the iPad Air have different optimum viewing distances that happen to result in
the exact same resolution?

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turtle4
I think it is a set PPI _or above_ , since 'retina' was marketed as the point
at which the eye couldn't detect the pixels. Presumably anything more dense
would be considered the same. Since the 10" is a so-called retina display, it
stands to reason that a 7" display with the same resolution also is retina.

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kbenson
Okay, that makes sense. I take it the screen sizes are also close enough in
size that font size difference problems will be minimized? I've been wondering
how Apple is going to respond to the need to sell better hardware while
keeping their design targets minimal, which IRC is a major developer selling
point for them in comparison to Android.

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comex
Well, in this respect it's the same situation the old iPad mini was in a year
ago, and I haven't heard of major problems.

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ansimionescu
When they announced the silly-sounding 'iPad Air' renaming I instantly got
excited, hoping for some incredible, maybe 12", iPad Pro. While that left me a
bit disappointed, it might be a clue that they're looking into making
something bit bigger/more powerful - e.g. remember the iPad in the OR? I
imagine there, for instance, a bigger/more powerful iPad could come in handy.

By the way, two (large-ish) hands fit on a 12" display beautifully.

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worldsayshi
I don't really see the point in tablets. At least not if you already have a
lightweight laptop and a smartphone. Most people that have tablets seems to
just have them lying around. Having a decent touchpad helps too.

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ojilles
Having had the 5S for a few weeks now, all I can say is: why did no iPad get
the TouchID treatment? I've been enjoying that feature immensely!

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tr4656
I wouldn't want to have to use my fingerprint every time I unlock an iPad.

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threeseed
Now brace yourself because this might blow your mind. How about switching it
off.

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dgregd
Does this mean that iPad Air will have 264 ppi screen for a next couple of
years? Or the Air is going to get 528 ppi screen?

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corresation
They also gave it the A7/M7.

This makes Apple's product line extremely confusing, and I would predict that
the Mini will be the biggest seller by far.

$399 iPad 2 $399 new iPad Mini with A7 & M7 / 2048x1536 display $499 new iPad
Air with A7 & M7 / 2048x1536

The Mini seems like the _better_ device of the two, for less! And I don't
understand why anyone would consider the iPad 2.

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FigBug
The only thing I can think of is it's for corporate or educational buyers who
standardized on it for some reason. The 30 pin connector perhaps?

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willimholte
Apple has continued sales of old devices to corporate/educational buyers
without making them publicly available in the past. The eMac and original iPad
were both available to education markets far longer than public markets.

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shinratdr
The eMac was, but that's because it had it's origins in education. That was
also 8 years ago and Apple has changed.

I can't find any corroboration for your assertion about the original iPad.
Every source I can find says it was discontinued immediately in favour of the
iPad 2. Selling off old stock to the education market isn't the same.

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willimholte
My memories of the iPad 1 might be hazy—though I had friends in education that
purchased them well after the iPad 2 was available. Perhaps they were getting
bulk orders of refurbished (or third party refurbished) units.

The main point is that it's not unreasonable to think Apple would keep
products around for enterprise/education markets without selling them
publicly, or at the very least without mentioning them during a high profile
keynote.

