10-26-2012, 01:07 PM
I ordered one as soon as I got up this morning (6:30 a.m. Eastern time.) I was surprised to see that the initial supply of white ones was already sold out so I bought a black one. (I hadn't made up my mind which color I wanted when I went to order so this made my decision easier!)
I've been waiting for the Mini for months! I loved using a Kindle Fire for my calendar, Web surfing and storing/displaying photos. The size was just right for me to carry all the time. The larger iPad just didn't appeal to me as much.
For those who wonder, yes I think it's over-priced and yes I wish it had a newer processor and a higher resolution display but that's the way it is. The display has the same PPI as the Kindle Fire (I had the original Fire) so the display will be at least as good as what I'm used to. I also know Apple will likely make those changes in the next version but I needed this now.
The Kindle Fire was taking care of my needs (although not nearly as smoothly as I expect the iPad Mini to) but I had two issues with it. The biggest was that I couldn't use my Square credit card reader with it. I was using an iPod Touch to take credit card payments for my photography so I wanted that ability in a tablet. The Touch worked but it was a little small for that kind of thing. (It also turns out I could no longer use my 2nd generation iPod Touch with Square. Their most recent update requires at least iOS 5 and the 2nd gen. Touch can't be updated to iOS 5. Square now requires you to use the latest version so that was out.)
This issue was also the reason I didn't go with the Nexus 7. It won't work with the Square card reader. If it did, it would have been hard for me not to go that route, especially when it is rumored that the 16GB Nexus 7 will be selling for $199 shortly.
My second issue with the Fire was how imprecise it was. I got tired of tapping a link on a Web page only to have a different link highlighted nearby!
I'm really excited about the iPad Mini. I've been using Macs since the early 90s so I prefer the easy integration between the iPad and my Mac. (Synchronizing my calendar on the Fire was interesting. I had to buy Calengoo so that I could sync to Google Calendar and then I had to sync Google Calendar to iCal. It worked but it will be nice to be able have the same calendar app on my tablet as on my Mac!)
I've been waiting for the Mini for months! I loved using a Kindle Fire for my calendar, Web surfing and storing/displaying photos. The size was just right for me to carry all the time. The larger iPad just didn't appeal to me as much.
For those who wonder, yes I think it's over-priced and yes I wish it had a newer processor and a higher resolution display but that's the way it is. The display has the same PPI as the Kindle Fire (I had the original Fire) so the display will be at least as good as what I'm used to. I also know Apple will likely make those changes in the next version but I needed this now.
The Kindle Fire was taking care of my needs (although not nearly as smoothly as I expect the iPad Mini to) but I had two issues with it. The biggest was that I couldn't use my Square credit card reader with it. I was using an iPod Touch to take credit card payments for my photography so I wanted that ability in a tablet. The Touch worked but it was a little small for that kind of thing. (It also turns out I could no longer use my 2nd generation iPod Touch with Square. Their most recent update requires at least iOS 5 and the 2nd gen. Touch can't be updated to iOS 5. Square now requires you to use the latest version so that was out.)
This issue was also the reason I didn't go with the Nexus 7. It won't work with the Square card reader. If it did, it would have been hard for me not to go that route, especially when it is rumored that the 16GB Nexus 7 will be selling for $199 shortly.
My second issue with the Fire was how imprecise it was. I got tired of tapping a link on a Web page only to have a different link highlighted nearby!
I'm really excited about the iPad Mini. I've been using Macs since the early 90s so I prefer the easy integration between the iPad and my Mac. (Synchronizing my calendar on the Fire was interesting. I had to buy Calengoo so that I could sync to Google Calendar and then I had to sync Google Calendar to iCal. It worked but it will be nice to be able have the same calendar app on my tablet as on my Mac!)