# Ipad/Ipad mini



## azchef (May 24, 2013)

I was wondering if anyone owned one of these and would provide some info on them. I was looking at getting one due to I see there are alot of apps that are not made for android systems anymore. If anyone is looking to sell one please let me know.


John


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## labor of love (May 24, 2013)

I've owned both the iPad 2, the newer iPad and a Samsung galaxy tab. I much prefer the iPads and I'm in the market for a iPad mini 3G myself. My iPhone contract ended recently and to me owning an iPad mini and an iPhone almost seems redundant. So I'll probably get a cheapie pay as you go phone for calls and texts and use the iPad mini for everything else I do on the go.


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## Craig (May 24, 2013)

What apps aren't made for Android any more? It's by far the largest mobile OS in the world right now, if anything app makers should be flocking to it.


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## Zwiefel (May 24, 2013)

I've done a lot of digging on this topic and plan to go with an iPad Mini when my Nook kicks it. I like the 7" version b/c it's much easier to have with me all the time. the 9" is too big for my bag and costs considerably more.

Craig: apps are MUCH easier to develop for iPhone and a lot of companies view the iPhone owners as a much more desirable market segment. (whether they are right is a separate fact.) iOS owners are also generally more loyal to the platform than android (according to the studies I've read).


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## labor of love (May 24, 2013)

Yeah, the one complaint I have about the regular sized iPad is that is awkward to type on. I mean, you could get a detachable keyboard but that defeats the purpose to me.


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## Zwiefel (May 24, 2013)

labor of love said:


> Yeah, the one complaint I have about the regular sized iPad is that is awkward to type on. I mean, you could get a detachable keyboard but that defeats the purpose to me.



I think there is a keyboard mode on the iPad to split the virtual keyboard in two, and push each half to the left or right side to make it easier to thumb type.


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## EdipisReks (May 24, 2013)

Craig said:


> What apps aren't made for Android any more? It's by far the largest mobile OS in the world right now, if anything app makers should be flocking to it.



why would developers flock to an ecosystem that spends little money and buys few apps?


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## EdipisReks (May 24, 2013)

Zwiefel said:


> I think there is a keyboard mode on the iPad to split the virtual keyboard in two, and push each half to the left or right side to make it easier to thumb type.



yup, just hold down the little keyboard icon, and the option to undock and to split appear.


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## apicius9 (May 24, 2013)

I had the Ipad one and then bought the mini. Very happy with it, much easier to just throw into a bag and take with me. If I had to do it gain, I would get the 4G one, though. I have a little hotspot device to dial in with my laptop or Ipad on the road, but I seem to forget that thing at home or forget to charge it too often... I like that the mini is lighter since I use it a lot for reading in bed. But it's still just large enough to use it for surfing etc. I hardly ever watch videos etc, so the retina display is secondary for me. If that is one of your things, I would wait for the next generation. 

Stefan


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## rahimlee54 (May 24, 2013)

My wife has an Ipad 1, which we got on launch week. It is great for couch surfing and general portability. We have really enjoyed it. Things I do not enjoy about it are more apple based than anything. The control they have over the iOS and store is a little extreme, but I like to tinker with my electronics. Obviously the price is absurd especially since the tech in them isn't even top of the line, they do use nice displays though, however Samsung has a oled display that looks better. I am not sure which apps you're concerned about but I don't really use to many of them so my android phone is fine for that. The only thing I wish it had access to is the sous vide app someone developed.

I do enjoy the tablet sector though because I can drag it to the kitchen to read an article or watch a video of a technique or into the bathroom while I change a sink drain. Both of which have happened and been immensely helpful. If you are going to be carrying it around alot I'd go for the mini and if you just plan to use it at home and like the screen size the regular version.


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## labor of love (May 25, 2013)

Its definitely worth the extra money to get a 3g-4g model IMO.


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## Craig (May 28, 2013)

EdipisReks said:


> why would developers flock to an ecosystem that spends little money and buys few apps?



Because it's still a huge ecosystem. China, as a market, doesn't buy much media, but media companies would be foolish not to try to sell their goods there anyway. Porting an iOS app to Android isn't that hard. Both OSes are UNIX (or UNIX-like in the case of Android) and both support development in C/C++. It takes a minor amount of rework to get an iOS app to work on Android, so even if the profits are less, the return on investment to port is pretty high.

The difficulties in coding for Android were mostly related to OS fragmentation, meaning there were a lot of different versions of the OS out there at any given time, because every handset maker used a slightly different version. This has become much less of a concern in recent times, especially for the tablet market where Samsung is really the dominant player right now and devices tend to mostly run on the same versions of the OS.

But ignoring all of that, can anyone come up with any apps they want but can't get on Android? Because I can't. I opted for Android because I like the look and feel of it better. It has better widgets (things that let me look at my home screen and know the current time or temperature or seem my e-mail or facebook or twitter, etc.) and it offers a much more customizable experience, which I like. Plus the device was half the price of the competing Apple product, which made it a no-brainer.


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## EdipisReks (May 28, 2013)

Craig said:


> Because it's still a huge ecosystem.



http://techpinions.com/androids-market-share-is-literally-a-joke/16709


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## bprescot (May 28, 2013)

I run several iOS custom development teams. I do QA on all ipad 3+, iphone 4+ and, now, mini. I really like the mini. It's the easiest form factor. 

To be honest (and people will disagree) iPad is a content consumption device. Content creation is possible, but not great. The iPad handles creation better than the Mini, but the transportability, easy handling for on-the-go consumption, better battery life of the Mini make up for it... If I were in the market for a tablet intended for content consumption and knew I wanted iOS, I'd grab the mini.


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## Craig (May 28, 2013)

EdipisReks said:


> http://techpinions.com/androids-market-share-is-literally-a-joke/16709



Ok, so that's an article that's basically pointing out that profit share might be a more meaningful metric than market share for determining how well a company is doing. It's apparently unaware that Backberry used, and continues to use, similar arguments to justify their plunging market share. Besides, even if you buy the premise, my point was that even if Apple is the better place to make an app for, once you've made that app putting out another version for Android is relatively cheap and a relatively good investment. Yes, developers will still make more money off their Apple apps than their Android ones, but they'll make money of their android one too.

But even ignoring all that, here's the thing. That article is talking about profits from hardware sales, not app sales. Specifically, it's talking about the profits of the company that sells you a phone or a tablet, not at all about profits for app developers. What that article is actually saying is Apple manages to get 57% of all profits from hardware sales on 18% of all total sales. To put it another way, their margins are much, much higher than anyone else's. About 6 times higher than the average. Which is great news for Apple and it's shareholders, but actually means that if you buy an Apple device, all other things being equal, you're overpaying for it by a fair margin.


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## Justin0505 (May 28, 2013)

Craig said:


> if you buy an Apple device, all other things being equal, you're overpaying for it by a fair margin.



Bingo!

I switched to android 3yrs ago an have never looked back or regretted it. However, I understand why people like apple stuff and would invest in more had they already tasted and enjoyed the apple flavored kool-aid; it's just not for me. I like more control over my device and my content and prefer the taste of googleade. I use (gmail, docs, picasa(photo), drive, music, video, goggles, maps/ places, and the new "Google Now" homepage / info aggregator is the first service of it's kind that I actually use) it's all mostly available for iOS, but it works better and is closer/better integrated into Google's own OS.... and I hate,hate,hate itunes is both it's store and desktop client forms. 

I don't know what apps the op is missing that are "no longer made" for android, but I don't want for any. Gator's (zknives) knife steel app is on android....nuf said. 

This guy will surely get an ipad mini though:
[video=youtube;aMRTgLR0Z_o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMRTgLR0Z_o[/video]


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## Crothcipt (May 29, 2013)

My mom got a ipad. I set it up for her to use, it makes no sense to me at all. But then again I don't get the idea of a app. for a computer either. Exp. when you can have a shortcut to the program itself. The only reason I see anything used on pads is for server farms to finally make some money.


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## Lukas (May 30, 2013)

I have the latest model of both, I like the iPad bigger screen and higher resolution, specially for video content, but the mini is great if you want the ultimate portability, I'm still amazed at how light it is, much more comfortable to use than the iPad. Go to an apple store and try them for a while


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## Zwiefel (May 30, 2013)

Lukas said:


> Go to an apple store and try them for a while



lus1: There really is no substitute for this when dealing with these two products.


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