I went to look at the iPad Mini in person today, and have to admit I’m tempted. While it’s still comfortably in “want” *not* “need” – it is many of the things I was hoping the Kindle Fire would be – and seems to have all the advantages of Apple’s ecosystem (iTunes *and* Apps) + Amazon’s ecosystem (Kindle + Prime + digital media). While admittedly, it’s $329 instead of $199-299, and lower resolution and all those things… it’s still nicer to hold – and astonishingly thin and light feeling. The weight that makes an iPad somewhat hard to hold up in bed to read (resulting in awkward propping on the lap) is gone in the Mini. But it’s big enough that typing on the keyboard is still easy and smooth. And has all those apps.
I’ve owned 3 kindles (3rd-Gen, Touch, Fire) and loved them all. And yet – since getting an iPad, I hardly touch them. The Kindle App for the iPad is great. Even though the iPad Mini with LTE (since, really, always being connected to the internet, on every device you own, is *incredibly* addictive) is $559… being able to read my books, watch my videos… *and* Skype my buddies, check my Evernotes, and play games using the same apps I do on my phone and the big iPad is… priceless. 🙂
I do think there’s going to be pressure to get the price under $300 – but, it feels nice. I even like the lightning connectors – for all the complaints about the new connectors, well, it’s nice not to worry about plugging it in backwards 🙂 I am, however, like everyone waiting for a good speaker dock – and trying to figure out if it’s worth replacing the *big* iPad, just to get down to one set of connectors and chargers…
The Kindle has been a winner for me too – but iBooks has been growing on me – in particularly the fact that it lets me easily import the good 150 *non-Kindle* eBooks. And – as long as you import them into iTunes, all the page-syncing and bookshelf sharing matches up – but for books I’ve bought from 1/2 a dozen bookstores, almost all (especially Baen Publishing – a long-time eBook pioneer) now available in ePub.
So… I’m torn. I *probably* won’t be able to justify a Mini… which doesn’t mean I’m not tempted…
Tempted by iPad Mini
I went to look at the iPad Mini in person today, and have to admit I’m tempted. While it’s still comfortably in “want” *not* “need” – it is many of the things I was hoping the Kindle Fire would be – and seems to have all the advantages of Apple’s ecosystem (iTunes *and* Apps) + Amazon’s ecosystem (Kindle + Prime + digital media). While admittedly, it’s $329 instead of $199-299, and lower resolution and all those things… it’s still nicer to hold – and astonishingly thin and light feeling. The weight that makes an iPad somewhat hard to hold up in bed to read (resulting in awkward propping on the lap) is gone in the Mini. But it’s big enough that typing on the keyboard is still easy and smooth. And has all those apps.
I’ve owned 3 kindles (3rd-Gen, Touch, Fire) and loved them all. And yet – since getting an iPad, I hardly touch them. The Kindle App for the iPad is great. Even though the iPad Mini with LTE (since, really, always being connected to the internet, on every device you own, is *incredibly* addictive) is $559… being able to read my books, watch my videos… *and* Skype my buddies, check my Evernotes, and play games using the same apps I do on my phone and the big iPad is… priceless. 🙂
I do think there’s going to be pressure to get the price under $300 – but, it feels nice. I even like the lightning connectors – for all the complaints about the new connectors, well, it’s nice not to worry about plugging it in backwards 🙂 I am, however, like everyone waiting for a good speaker dock – and trying to figure out if it’s worth replacing the *big* iPad, just to get down to one set of connectors and chargers…
The Kindle has been a winner for me too – but iBooks has been growing on me – in particularly the fact that it lets me easily import the good 150 *non-Kindle* eBooks. And – as long as you import them into iTunes, all the page-syncing and bookshelf sharing matches up – but for books I’ve bought from 1/2 a dozen bookstores, almost all (especially Baen Publishing – a long-time eBook pioneer) now available in ePub.
So… I’m torn. I *probably* won’t be able to justify a Mini… which doesn’t mean I’m not tempted…