Buying an iPad mini...good choice?

[gino_76ph]

Hi. I have successfully sold my Nexus 7 tablet as i am disappointed on several things. And i miss having an iOS device as it is very smooth and simple to use. But i have questions in regards the new iOS6 software on the iPad mini.

1. Copy & Paste - Is it as simple as pressing on to the screen, highlighting the part what you want to copy then pasting it to an email or note or anywhere?
2. Notes - Can one send a note to an email address?
3. Twitter & Photos - Can one save a photo from Twitter? (like the Android app) And are there new features on how to edit/crop/etc. a photo?
4. Is it true that the iPad mini has stereo speakers?
5. Can one connect the iPad mini to 3rd-party bluetooth devices such as speakers or keyboards?
6. Based on what i saw on the App Store is there now a new dedicated Youtube app for the iPad? Is this true?
7. Is there now a faster or better way to transfer files (such as songs or videos) from a Mac to an iPad wirelessly without the use of iTunes or any cloud-based services?
8. Are all files saved on my iPad mini saved on to the cloud as well?

Please advice. Thank You.

[Urban Cool]

The answer to most of your questions is YES! I'm thinking of getting one too. It's a nice size. I will wait for the Retina display in the next version though!

With music you can transfer all your songs on the computer to iTunes Match for around $32 year, to use on all your devices. That would be the way to go, but it does take a couple of days to upload! It did for me with 10,000 songs and a SLOW upload speed!

There are wireless speakers around that you can play your music to also. You can also buy Apple TV to play through your TV, or Airport Express through your HiFi.

To save an image you hold your finger over it. If you can't save a photo because its protected it's fairly easy to take a screen shot! There is a free simplified photoshop app by Adobe that will let you crop and adjust your pics.

[ethansamuel17]

Yes... According to me iPad mini is the best choice.

[kornchild2002]

1. Yes, it is as simple as pressing and holding on the display, selecting the text you want, and then selecting copy.
2. You can send notes as an e-mail or even in a text message.
3. You can save photos using the Twitter app, I'm not sure about the other features as I haven't ever uploaded a photo.
4. The iPad mini has two speakers. However, true stereo separation on a device that small is pretty much impossible. Any hint of stereo separation that you'll hear will disappear once you turn it horizontally.
5. Yes, you can connect the iPad mini to any 3rd party speaker, headset, receiver, headphones, keyboard, etc. Bluetooth is bluetooth.
6. Yes, there is a new YouTube app and Google recently updated it to work with the iPad.
7. No. iTunes is still heavily relied upon for syncing. iDevices have always been about the marriage between PC software (i.e. iTunes) and the portable device. iTunes syncs over wi-fi but you are still tied to it. iTunes is the ONLY program that can sync media files, photos, eBooks, and apps to an iPad. Of course, if you are going to buy media only from the App Store and iTunes Store, you don't have to sync to a PC at all and can directly download using the iPad itself.
8. It depends. The files are saved to the cloud if you purchased them from the iTunes Store. You can backup your iPad to iCloud as well but you only get 5GB of storage free. Even then though, only a few things are actually stored in the backup. The backup information mainly contains information on what to sync to the iPad, not the actual information that is synced. That's why it is best to just use your PC to sync content and have iTunes backup your iPad. You can completely rely on iCloud but it isn't the best route.

[infinitewisdom]

Originally Posted by kornchild2002

1. No. iTunes is still heavily relied upon for syncing. iDevices have always been about the marriage between PC software (i.e. iTunes) and the portable device. iTunes syncs over wi-fi but you are still tied to it. iTunes is the ONLY program that can sync media files, photos, eBooks, and apps to an iPad. Of course, if you are going to buy media only from the App Store and iTunes Store, you don't have to sync to a PC at all and can directly download using the iPad itself.

There are some third party apps that allow you to transfer files from your PC to an iPad without using iTunes. Goodreader is one. I've seen other third party video apps that can do this as well.

As for ebooks, if you use the Kindle or Nook apps, there's no syncing through iTunes at all.

[Flyboybob]

I would recommend any iPad to anyone. They are well made, great battery life and there are a bazillion apps available. I don't have any issues with iTunes. It backs up, stores content on my computer and has never given me a problem. I have not upgraded to the newest version but it looks good. I usually wait a few months before upgrading.

[Code Monkey]

Originally Posted by infinitewisdom

As for ebooks, if you use the Kindle or Nook apps, there's no syncing through iTunes at all.

Kindle app syncs just spanky through the file transfer part of iTunes. I assume the same is true for the Nook.

At any rate, the old wisdom hasn't become any less true over the years: if you don't like iTunes, why would you buy a device designed from the ground up to work with iTunes? Even today, with Apple moving toward the so-called post-PC era, the features available from the cloud are markedly poorer than the features available by sticking with a computer based syncing method.