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Apple gives iPad mini the Retina treatment
- bentcorner 13y agoInteresting that Touch ID didn't make an appearance on any of the announced devices.
- xutopia 13y agoI'd say it's because unlike your iPhone you don't take it out of the house as much.
- Geee 13y ago..And iPad isn't very personal device usually either. Although, multiple fingerprints would be excellent way to open different user profiles if there was a support for that anyway. I think they'll do this in the next version, and support 5 finger prints for each user.
- dannowatts 13y agoi believe they are saving it to be something that is (currently) exclusive to the iPhone 5s, as a differentiator.
- jonknee 13y agoSo you buy a phone instead of a tablet? That doesn't make any sense.
- shurcooL 13y agoI buy a tablet (mini with LTE) instead of a phone. Absence of Touch ID won't stop me.
- dannowatts 13y agono... in the same way that siri was an iPhone 4s exclusive before going to the rest of the lineup. the way that retina was an iPhone 4 exclusive before moving to the other devices, the way that touch-id is now.
- uptown 13y agoPerhaps 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.
- jonknee 13y agoIf 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.
- enraged_camel 13y ago>>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.
- macspoofing 13y agoRumor is that they have supply-chain problems with the TouchID sensor.
- roc 13y agoGiven how Retina and Lightning went through similar staggered rollouts, I think this is probably just "The Apple Way" to introduce new tech across product lines.
- CamperBob2 13y agoWithout an API for third-party apps, Touch ID is a non-starter. Just another example of Apple snatching lame from the jaws of awesome.
- corresation 13y agoThey 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.
- heartbreak 13y agoI would imagine that the iPad 2 is typically purchased in bulk for business or educational uses and is not used by the average consumer.
- FigBug 13y agoThe 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?
- willimholte 13y agoApple 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.
- shinratdr 13y agoThe 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.
- donalmacc 13y agoThe regular macbook was available on my education store for about 12 months after they pulled it from the apple store.
- bsimpson 13y agoHow 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. =\
- ecnahc515 13y agoIts not about biggest though, its "thinest"
- jonknee 13y agoThe 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.
- djcapelis 13y agoWhen the MacBook Air was first introduced it was more expensive than the other MacBooks, it was only after a few product cycles that it fell in price and ate the lower end of the MacBook line and became the affordable product.
- podperson 13y agoIt's easy, Apple's "mini" products don't have a display, keyboard, or mouse... oh wait.
- macspoofing 13y ago>The smallest MacBook is the Air, but the biggest iPad is the Air? That makes sense. The biggest iPad is smaller than the smallest Macbook.
- roc 13y agoThe marketing goal is differentiation from people's mental conception of the base product. They named the one iPad Mini, because they want people to think "smaller than the iPad". They named the other iPad Air because they want people to think "lighter than the iPad". Which suggests two interesting points: 1. the public at large has a mental concept of how much "the iPad" weighs. 2. enough people think it's 'too heavy', to justify a rebranding to make them reconsider. A simple marketing story of "the new one is thinner / lighter" wasn't considered sufficient.
- kbenson 13y agoWait, 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?
- turtle4 13y agoI 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.
- kbenson 13y agoOkay, 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.
- comex 13y agoWell, 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.
- gte910h 13y agoRetina is "anything past what the eye can discern pixels for" Just like smooth is "anything the hand can't feel bumps on"
- dgregd 13y agoDoes 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?
- ojilles 13y agoHaving 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!
- tr4656 13y agoI wouldn't want to have to use my fingerprint every time I unlock an iPad.
- threeseed 13y agoNow brace yourself because this might blow your mind. How about switching it off.
- grecy 13y agoMy thinking is that people don't carry their iPads around every single day like their iPhones. You're much more likely to lose, or have your iPhone stolen than your iPad.
- jonknee 13y agoSince it can't fit in your pocket I find the iPad is much easier to lose than any phone is.
- ansimionescu 13y agoWhen 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.
- worldsayshi 13y agoI 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.