Tag / iPad

by ibmacin

The Mighty Mini

I recently picked up the new iPad mini 6 and wanted to give some quick thoughts on it after about a week of using it.

I have always loved the iPad mini, going all the way back to the original one from 2012. I have owned each model, save for the 3rd generation. Most recently I got the iPad mini 5th generation when it was released in March 2019. I was so excited that Apple was updating the mini that I preordered it the moment it was announced. The iPad mini 5 was my constant companion up until back in January of this year when I unfortunately lost it. I have never lost an electronic like this in my life but after spending a few weeks trying to find it by retracing my steps as well as using Apple’s Find My app, it was indeed lost for good. 😢

I found myself craving another mini but by the time I had lost it, that model was about 2 years old and I hated to buy another one at full price. Apple complicates things for us mini lovers as they only sporadically update it. I decided to take a wait & see approach, and I’m glad I did as on September 14th this year, Apple unveiled the iPad mini 6th generation. Finally, I could have the mini back in my life!

Apple really went above and beyond on the new mini. I believe this is because they know that they only update it on occasion, so they make it count when they do. The iPad mini 6 introduces a lot of new features for the mini line. It has an all-new design mirroring the recent iPad Pros as well as the 4th generation iPad Air. This means saying goodbye to the home button as well as a introducing a squared off design and an edge to edge screen. The body of the iPad mini 6 is actually slightly smaller than the mini 5 it replaces but the screen has gotten slightly larger due to the reduced bezels, from 7.9″ to 8.3″. All of these are welcome changes in my opinion and make the iPad mini 6 truly feel modern again.

I picked up a Space Gray iPad mini with 256gb of storage and 5G cellular connectivity. As this is my favorite model of iPad, I don’t mind spending a bit more, although it does seem that Apple is reaching the upper limit for how much they can charge for the mini line. 💸💸💸 After using it for about a week, here are my thoughts so far:

  • One thing I love about the mini is it can just be an iPad. With Apple pushing the iPad Pros the last few years, with their keyboard cases, multitasking, and best in class performance, more and more people are now using their iPad’s as laptops and their main computers. This is fine of course, I use my iPad Pro in this same manner. However, there is something about the mini, with it’s compact size that is too small for a good keyboard case and a screen that is better suited for single-screen tasks than multitasking, that hearkens back to how we all used the original iPads, as just a fun device. I love using the mini full screen in portrait way more than in landscape. This is a big strength of the mini in my opinion.
  • As I mentioned before, the size of the mini is not conducive to a keyboard case. This means you are going to be doing a lot of typing using the mini’s on-screen keyboard, which is fantastic, particularly in portrait mode. I absolutely love thumb typing on the mini in portrait orientation, it is so so good.
  • I have been very impressed with the speed of the mini as well. Apple gave it their latest processor, the A15, the same chip they put in the also recently released iPhone 13 line, and it is fast. I have yet to find anything that can slow this iPad down. I would imagine that this chip will perform very well for years to come, which is great because it will most likely be years before Apple updates the mini again. Likewise, I appreciate that the iPad mini 6 has moved to 5G for its cellular data connection. This insures that it will get the best cellular speeds for years to come.
  • Another new feature for the mini 6 is support for the second generation Apple Pencil. While the 5th generation iPad mini did support the original Apple Pencil, I much prefer the gen 2 Pencil. It has a nicer matte finish, has a flat side, and most of all charges in a much more elegant way than the first gen did. Huge upgrade in my opinion.
  • Another feature the mini 6 added is support for Center Stage for the front facing camera. The was a feature first introduced with the M1 iPad Pros earlier in 2021. Basically, Center Stage utilizes the wide angle front facing camera by showing you a cropped view and then following you if you move to the left or the right. This allows you to actually move around a bit when on a long video call, knowing that the iPad will keep you in frame. It can also detect if someone joins you in the room and automatically zoom out to keep both subjects in the frame. It’s a great feature and it just works.
  • My favorite feature of the new mini is something it shares with all of the previous minis in the line and that is simply it’s portability. I love how easy the mini travels with you. It fits in my jacket pocket, my small sling bags, the back pocket of my jeans, & you barely even notice it in a larger bag. There is rarely a reason not to take it with you because of this. Having an iPad that is this powerful but also this small is a really useful thing.

These are my thoughts on the iPad mini 6. It really is a fantastic little device. The main way I am using it so far is for reading saved articles, going through my RSS feeds, playing Apple Arcade games, scrolling thru Twitter, and watching YouTube. I’m very glad to have the mini back in my life.

by ibmacin

The iPad Pro

IMG_1696

I purchased an iPad Pro 12.9″ (the big one) a few weeks ago and wanted to give my opinions on it now that I have had it for a while. I got the silver 128gb cellular iPad Pro. I also purchased the Smart Keyboard and the Apple Pencil (more on the accessories later). I was not sure how I was going to like it, at first it seems comically large, but after spending some time with it I absolutely love it.
The Hardware – There’s no denying that the 12.9″ iPad Pro is huge. It is also pretty heavy when compared to the standard 9.7″, 1.57 pounds vs .96 pounds, but it is about as light as it can be given the size of the device. The Retina display is a joy to look at & I just love how big the display is. In fact, it has quite a bit more screen space then my laptop for the last several years, the 11″ MacBook Air. The speakers are a huge improvement over the previous iPads. There are now four speakers as opposed to two and they are on each corner of the iPad Pro. They get really loud if you crank them, so much so that I have not found the need to connect it to a bluetooth speaker. The battery life has been really good as well. I’m getting 12+ hours even when watching a ton of video. And the standby time has been great as well. I love that there is just zero battery anxiety with this device, if you have it fully charged in the morning you will not run it down in the course of a day.

img_0010

The battery life on the iPad Pro is legit.

Another new hardware addition on the iPad Pro is the new smart connector on the bottom of the iPad when it is in landscape. This 3 pin connector allows it to attach to various 1st and 3rd party accessories wirelessly and with no power required from the accessory. This is a really cool new feature, one that I use nearly constantly with my Smart Keyboard.

Smart Connector

The Smart Connector

Lastly, the A9x chip and 4gb of ram make the iPad Pro 12.9″ super fast. Everything just flies on this thing.

IMG_0016

Test results from the Geekbench app on my iPad Pro 12.9″

Overall, I really like the hardware of the iPad Pro. However there are a few nitpicks that I have with the hardware:

  1. Apple ships the iPad Pro with a dinky 12w charger that takes a very long time to charge the iPad. The 12.9″ iPad Pro supports fast charging via USB-C, but you have to pay about $75 for the necessary charger and cable. This is ridiculous on a device at this price point. They should ship it with the proper adaptor and cable.
  2. The iPad Pro is really not a one handed device, unlike the mini or regular size iPad. It is pretty unwieldy in portrait orientation. If you want something to read books on or slip into your purse, this is probably not the right device for you.

The Software – The new multitasking features introduced in iOS9 for the iPad were just made for the 12.9″ iPad Pro. Multitasking truly feels at home on this big screen. It gives you almost 2 full size iPad apps side by side. Check out the multitasking view in the picture below.

Narwhal (Reddit client) on the left, Safari on the right, and a picture in picture baseball game on top.

 

I have found myself using the multitasking view so much more with the Pro than I did with my iPad Air 2. There are a few other new software features that the 12.9 Pro gets, namely a full size software keyboard with a number row & a two column today view. These are still the early days for the 12.9″ iPad so while I feel like things will get better on the software front, not everything is rosy right now. A few of my gripes are –

  1. You can only have the same amount of icons on the home screen as all of the other iPads. There is so much wasted space!
  2. Some of the apps are still not optimized for split screen (Pocket), picture in picture (YouTube), or even the new screen size 😡 (Facebook).
  3. The multitasking app picker is just awful at trying to find the app you want. There needs to be a complete redesign as well as a search bar.

The Accessories – When Apple announced the iPad Pro, it also announced two brand new accessories that only work with the Pro – The Smart Keyboard & the Apple Pencil. I own both and would like to tell you my thoughts on each.

48E6CE98-2A65-45DB-B857-5DBE996B0E39

The smart keyboard is awesome, it has a full sized keyboard & doubles as a cover for the front of the iPad Pro.

The Smart Keyboard – Before I purchased my iPad Pro, I did a lot of research on various cases & keyboards. I narrowed my choices down to two options – the Smart Keyboard & the Logitech Create. Both keyboards have their pros & cons & both support the new smart connector on the iPad Pro. I decided on the Smart Keyboard due to it’s lighter weight, more minimal design, & the ability to pull it off as easily as a smart cover when I just want to use it as an iPad. That second part ended up not mattering much because I absolutely love the Smart Keyboard and would estimate it is connected to my iPad Pro 95% of the time that I use it. Some combination of it being a full size keyboard, it instantly responding to you pressing a key with no need to wait for a bluetooth connection, never needing to be charged, and all of the keyboard shortcuts available for the iPad in iOS 9, have just endeared me to this accessory in a way I had not imagined it would. I use it setting on a table, my desk, on my lap, as a stand for watching streaming content, etc. This is the accessory for the iPad Pro in my opinion. It also completely takes away one of my gripes with the 12.9″ Pro, namely it being a little hard to hold comfortably for extended periods. With the Smart Keyboard, my iPad simply rests on my desk or on my lap with no strain on my hands at all. Would it be better with backlit keys and a shortcut row of keys? Absolutely, and I hope that a future version does all of that but for what it is, I absolutely love it.

IMG_1686

😍

The Apple Pencil – Oh, the Apple pencil. It’s so beautiful and I love it so much, but I am not quite as bullish on it as I am on my Smart Keyboard. On one hand it is the best stylus I have ever used hands down. I’ve tried out a bunch of iPad styluses as well as the styluses for the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book, and the Apple Pencil is just better. It has the least amount of latency I have seen and it is a joy to use. It is really fun to use in an adult coloring book app called Pigment. It is also really cool to take handwritten notes in Notability and Apple Notes. It’s useful for editing photos as well. But the main thing it is awesome for is for artists. If you like to draw, this is the stylus for doing that with. Unfortunately, I am not even close to being an artist so using the Apple Pencil for drawing is not something I can really take advantage of. This leads to me not using it that often and for what it cost, it’s hard to justify recommending it if you are not an artist or a big handwritten notes taker. I got it solely because I was excited about trying it out and because it looks so beautiful. I am trying to figure out ways that I can use it but right now it is not used as much as my Smart Keyboard.

So those are my thoughts on the iPad Pro. I love it and use it every day. I go for days without turning on my Mac since I got it. The fact that I can have a 12.9″ Retina display with tons of storage & power, LTE connectivity, all day battery life, and the huge app selection of iOS in a device that weighs what the original iPad weighed is just mind blowing to me.  At the same time, I know that the iPad Pro is not for everybody, especially the big one. It’s not a cheap device & some people are still more comfortable with a laptop or a desktop. That’s perfectly fine, use the device that is right for you but I firmly believe that the 12.9″ iPad Pro is the right device for me.