Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Normally I do not review products that I do not buy at Amazon, but I am making an exception for the iPad Mini. Let me start by stating that all my gadgetry is Apple. We own an iMac, iPod nano, two iPhones, and an iPad 3. Suffice to say: we like Apple products. Honestly, the reason I bought the iPad mini 16G, WiFi was: one, it can fit in one hand; two, it is cheaper than a new iPad; and three, because I wanted it. So: I've stated that I'm a loyal Apple customer and probably will be the rest of my life. It might be that I'm biased when it comes to Apple products as are a large majority of Apple customers. I was apprehensive at first about the display. When I found out the Mini wasn't using a Retina display, I nearly didn't buy one. I love the beautiful resolution of my iPad 3. Apple used the same 1024-by-768 as the iPad 2, BUT the screen is 7.9 inches. In my opinion the display resolution is great. Not iPad 3 great, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I have to agree with Apple and say that the 7.9 inch screen is perfect for a smaller tablet. +1 for Mini The Mini is 53% lighter than the iPad and 23% thinner--not a major selling point for me, but not a distraction either. +1 for Mini The iSight 5 megapixel camera takes great pictures and shoots decent movies for what it is. I've tried out the FaceTime and it works great--picture resolution is adequate. +1 for Mini Speed: The dual-core A5 provides this device with plenty of computing power. I was impressed as I thought the Mini's speed would suffer as Apple was attempting to cheapen the product a bit. It didn't. Internet surfing is lightning fast! +2 for Mini I'm satisfied with the battery life. Apple says that the Mini has ten hours of battery life and they're pretty close. +1 for Mini I love the aluminum unibody cover. The thing is sweet looking: sleek, like I'm in a sci-fi movie using some futuristic device. I heard one dude say it's sexy. I'm not sure that I'd go as far as calling a hunk of aluminum, glass, and plastic sexy, but it is easy on the eyes. Apple nailed it on the aesthetics of the Mini. +2 for Mini At first, I was peeved about the Lightning connector (I still am a bit). All my other devices have the old 30-pin connector. I have only one cable to charge the Mini and four old cables that will eventually be obsolete. The smaller port is great though--it looks much better, more compact and I understand why Apple did what they did...but it still sucks when you have multiple other Apple devices with the old port. Everything has to change sometime, I guess. -1 for Mini (not Apple's fault, my preference) Hey: when the apps and widgets get boring Siri's there to ask millions of important questions to. I used an iBlason case to protect the Mini and so far like it: http://www.amazon.com/i-Blason-ArmorBox-Convertible-Friendly-Protection/dp/B009PPKFNI/ref=cm_cr-mr-title So with all that said and much more not mentioned: I'm a fan of the Mini, but I think the device was overpriced a bit. I still paid the extra $130 over the Kindle Fire HD, because I prefer Apple, but after playing around with a friend's Fire HD 7", I was impressed with the Fire and the price. In the end it was a matter of preference for me choosing Apple over Kindle. I'm very satisfied with my purchase of the Mini and my kids love it too. I would recommend the Mini to anyone and everyone. Great product! *Update 11-20-12 It has been several weeks of heavy use for the Mini and I have very little negative to say about the device. Again, I bought it because it was Apple and for the Apps and because I like Apple products. I wish the external speakers were a little louder, but one can use headphones and be fine. For our family's media consumption the A-5 processor is adequate. The device seems to stream the Time Warner App without buffering or glitches--I really cannot complain. Our Mini is used on and off all day long starting with a fully charged battery in the morning and about 10-15% life at bedtime (9:00pm-10:00pm). That's using mostly gaming Apps and some video streaming. For us, that's about right. If a device's battery can make it through the day, I'm fine with that.