Page 22 • The iPad Mini • Non-Gaming • Apple, Mac, and iPod • Eurogamer.net

dominalien 3 Dec 2013 11:11:28 10,703 posts
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Oooh, didn't know there was a new patch coming. It's almost fully functional as it is now, though, so I have no qualms about playing more as is. Just a few little UI niggles left, nothing fatal.

I remember this being very hard at the start and almost laughably easy at the end, due to characters becoming very powerful. Memorising spells is as bad a mechanic as I remember. :-)

Darren 5 Dec 2013 13:53:35 9,637 posts
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I dashed home about 3 hours ago to wait in for UPS to deliver my 128 GB iPad mini as I couldn't get anyone to wait in. Fortunately, the guy came at around noon so I was able to have a quick look at it and check it worked before coming back to work. It is gorgeous and it amazing to think that this small tablet is actually not only more powerful than the iPad 4 but also running a display that is the same 2048x1536 resolution. It looks super crisp and iOS, already v7.0.4 out of the box, is fast and responsive. Can't wait to get home and set it all up properly.

I own a 64 GB iPad 4 but I would have bought an iPad mini if one had been available with a Retina Display last year. However, I plan on keeping the larger model and splitting content between to maximise the storage space: magazines and videos on the iPad 4 and games, books and music on my iPad mini. Thanks to iCloud, I'll be able to restore all my iPad 4's content on to the mini and then decide what stays on which tablet.

I was really impressed with the speed of delivery. I ordered it on Monday (2nd) and it had shipped from China on 3rd to arrive with me on the 5th. Now that is fast!

Darren 6 Dec 2013 12:23:12 9,637 posts
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God bless iCloud. I was able to use it to restore my iPad 4 backup directly onto my iPad mini and only had to enter a few passwords to have everything automatically downloaded on to the newer device within a couple of hours. I seem to have a weird issue with some of my magazine apps, which show 0 byte issues in My Library that give an error when I try to read them but cannot be deleted. I'm sure I'll fix that somehow, maybe by deleting and redownloading the actual magazine app again then using Restore Purchases?

The mini is just so adorable. I can't believe how much smaller and lighter it feels compared with my iPad 4 when the screen is just 20% smaller. It is so much more comfortable to hold, particularly in one hand (I have large hands too), and it is very light thus less tiring to hold. The screen is lovely too, crisp and colourful. I did compare it with the iPad's screen and it does have noticeably more vibrant colours but the mini still looks absolutely fine to me. It's not something you'll notice unless you directly compare one to the other. The size makes it more suited to gaming IMO as it is easier to hold.

Although the mini seems to be working great and I've not noticed any magenta/yellow ting on white backgrounds as some have been reporting, I have come across some puzzling things. One is that the back of my mini seems to get very warm but never too hot to hold. I use a Smart Case with my iPad 4 but was using the mini without one so maybe that's why I haven't noticed heat being an issue on the larger model? Also, my mini was 100% charged out of the box but by the time I went to bed it had dropped to 23% after just 4 hours 15 minutes of use. That seems a bit low considering the battery life is supposed to be ten hours. I was downloading loads of stuff via iTunes on my PC (the iPad 4 backup I mentioned earlier) so maybe that drained the battery? Bluetooth was off and the screen brightness was left at the default setting. I recharged the mini last night and was using it for 15-20 minutes this morning to download some magazines and the charge just dropped to 99% when I switched it off. Maybe the initial charge is not very good?

All in all the mini seems like a solidly constructed and very nice tablet. Even the audio seemed pretty decent as I listened to some music streamed from my PC and a few YouTube videos; it's obviously quieter than the iPad 4 but it's still clearer and louder than the audio from my either my Samsung Galaxy S III phone or my PS Vita.

THFourteen 6 Dec 2013 13:21:59 54,987 posts
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Mine does get warm when i'm playing KOTOR, but it never seems to affect performance or anything.

Battery life has been outstanding on mine, i always leave bluetooth and location services on, and so far i've never got less than 10 hours mixed useage (surfing/games/kindle/magazines) on a full charge.

Actually thats a lie, KOTOR seems to suck the life out of it a bit, remember having to charge it halfway htrough the day on tuesday after a 3hr session

yegon 6 Dec 2013 14:20:01 6,511 posts
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Yeah, I love the new Mini, and it's a double upgrade for me as I bunged an EE sim in there yesterday (previously used Three). First experience of LTE and it is faaaaast. Did a couple of speed tests where I use cellular a lot, seemed to average around 12 down/19 up, which is not to be sniffed at!

Darren 9 Dec 2013 11:02:11 9,637 posts
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@THFourteen - The battery life seems to be now OK at around 10% usage per hours so that's around ten hours so it looks like the initial charge was not quite full despite showing 100%.

I absolutely love the new mini and having 115 GB of storage is just awesome as I now have 20 GB of 320 Kbps music on it plus all the content from my iPad 4, including tons of games and all my magazines, and I've still got loads of space left. At some point I'm going to split stuff between my big iPad and iPad mini though but there's no need to at the moment.

My only grievance at the moment is the lack of 1080p (as well as 480p) support on the iPad's YouTube app and website. Why did they remove the 1080p option? Now the max. I can have is 720p which is OK but far from optimal for the Retina Display. So disappointed about that, especially as I can still watch 1080p videos on my Windows 8.1 PC. :confused:

Darren 9 Dec 2013 11:04:37 9,637 posts
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P.S. Made the volume through the mini's stereo speakers a bit louder by selecting the Late Night Equalizer and Sound Check settings. Audio seems fine now and perfectly audible but noticeably quieter than the iPad 4's mono speaker. Audio through the earphone jack is absolutely excellent though and identical to the bigger iPad.

Darren 9 Dec 2013 11:08:48 9,637 posts
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P.P.S. Sorted all the weird 0 byte magazine issues as well by deleting the apps and redownloading them.

Oh, almost forgot, I've twice had apps (I think they were both magazine ones) freeze on me causing my mini to restart. Both times I was downloading stuff in the background though. I never came across this issue at all on my iPad 4 so should I be concerned?

CharlieStCloud 9 Dec 2013 11:20:12 5,812 posts
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If you do not mind me saying Darren, you do come across as someone who has an almost infinite amount of money. A 128GB iPad anything is certainly not cheap.

... don't you have a PlayStation 4 and a Xbox One too?!

: O

My brother took his original 8GB Nexus 7 into Tesco to get �50 off a new iPad mini.

He took it back yesterday afternoon because he found himself having to zoom in and out on Safari too often for his liking because he kept accidentally pressing the (wrong) tiny links on various websites. He was also saying that some websites looks squashed together compared to viewing them horizontally on his old Nexus 7.

Ordered himself an iPad Air in replacement and will collect it later after work.

How is everybody getting on with theirs?

yegon 9 Dec 2013 13:28:28 6,511 posts
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Now the Mini is retina I miss absolutely nothing about my full size previous iPads. Entirely subjective and dependent on usage of course, can totally see the attraction of the Air if you're using it mainly around the house, always carry a bag anyway when you go out or to replace a laptop. Myself, the limitations of tablets irritate the hell out of me when I'm at home so I predominantly use my spanky new 15" retina mbp - I want stacks of tabs, multi windows, a keyboard and trackpad.

Flipside, all those irritations about tablets evaporate when I'm using the iPad anywhere but home, and it is absolutely the very best anti boredom device ever conceived, bar the old schmeckel. The tab behaviour irritated me for a short while, until I realised when I'm using the iPad on the go, I rarely use more than three tabs. I went 128gb, totally decadent and unneeded really, but stuffing it full of hq mkv's and only ever having to sync every couple of weeks is worth the price for me.

I think I'm lucky in the websites I regularly visit too, at worse they require a double tap to zoom to paragraph, I rarely seem to pinch zoom. Only exception is EG, which is a complete abortion on the full iPad or a Mini.

mrpon 9 Dec 2013 13:34:14 37,366 posts
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Have you tried the Portable view yegon?

Moot_Point 9 Dec 2013 13:35:43 5,530 posts
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@mrpon It's a Myth turned in to modern day Legend.

yegon 9 Dec 2013 13:44:58 6,511 posts
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mrpon wrote:
Have you tried the Portable view yegon?

Yeah, I don't like it. Fine on my phone, but just feels daft on a bigger screen. Plus, unless I'm missing something, there's no "Threads posted in" link immediately apparent, which is annoying 'cos most of the threads I'm interested in are long running and are amongst these.

I know there's a "following" Tab at the top, but this seems different, although am I imagining it?

Edited by yegon at 13:49:12 09-12-2013

THFourteen 9 Dec 2013 13:50:20 54,987 posts
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I love mine, however it is the crashiest ipad i've owned for a while. Had 4 apple logo crashes in safari the last week, and i never have any more than 3 tabs open at once. Also sometimes even with two tabs open (bbc and eurogamer) it will relaod the other tab each time i switch, which is ridiculous. I know its not a RAM issue because other apps remain in memory and i can fast switch, whereas with the ipad mini 1 those same apps used to shut themselves down.

Apart from the above which i can just about cope with, i agree its the best entertainment device i have. My only gripe is that there is TOO much i can do with it, and not enough time. Shall i read some comics, finish my kindle book, watch some walking dead, PLAY some walking dead, play some xcom, read PC Gamer, check my work email.... gah i cant decide i'll just surf EG for 3 hours instead.

yegon 9 Dec 2013 14:09:08 6,511 posts
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I've only experienced crashes in Safari, no other apps with regularity, and then only crashes to home screen. It is at it's absolute limit ram-wise though, very very stingy on Apple's part, and the classic-leave-something-for-next-year that they are bastardly good at. Have to produce much more than that next year to tempt me though, something genuinely new rather than something incrementally better. I love Touch ID on my phone, but truly couldn't give a crap about it on the iPad, I switch it on/off about 100 times less a day than my phone.

Edited by yegon at 14:09:48 09-12-2013

mothercruncher 10 Dec 2013 10:14:22 19,474 posts
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Pissflaps.
Using my mini this morning, put it down for a sec, cover flopped shut. Open the cover up and... totally black screen. It makes noises but the screen is utterly, horribly black.

It's two weeks within warranty though so that's something... guess I'm going to go to an Apple store today :evil:

THFourteen 10 Dec 2013 10:32:34 54,987 posts
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Tried a hard reset?

Holding down both buttons for thirty seconds or some such iirc

mothercruncher 10 Dec 2013 12:31:20 19,474 posts
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Cheers, yup went through all the key pressing malarkey to no avail. I think I'll make it someone else's problem and see what they say.

mothercruncher 10 Dec 2013 14:20:47 19,474 posts
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They've ordered me a new one, so, fairly pleased,I suppose, that it broke with only two weeks on the warranty left.
Weird that I literally closed the cover, made a coffee and opened it again to find the screen dead. The new one will be in tomorrow though so pretty awesome service all around though.

mrpon 10 Dec 2013 14:21:59 37,366 posts
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Done a backup to the iCloud?

mothercruncher 10 Dec 2013 14:58:12 19,474 posts
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Sort of recently, about 4 days ago. I don't think I've done/bought anything major since then...

mothercruncher 12 Dec 2013 17:08:30 19,474 posts
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I picked up a brand spanking new mini today (it has that virginal finger print free thing- mmmm!), and restored my latest iCloud backup.
Man, everything is back in place. Every setting, every app, all passwords and log-in details, notes, all bookmarks, even the last web pages I looked at. Thankfully not porn-y ones...

It's extremely impressive.

THFourteen 12 Dec 2013 17:21:57 54,987 posts
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Having just had to reinstalla new dfirmware and all my apps on my Samsung s3 I definitely think apple have got the I cloud backup stuff spot on

Fake_Blood 18 Dec 2013 14:03:57 11,093 posts
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Today I got all excited because UPS was bringing me a replacement iPad mini, I open it up and it has the same yellowish tint above the home button. The serial number is practically the same as the old one DLXLL. I was expecting some 'you're doing it wrong' from apple but no, the box to send this one back is on it's way. I think they're well aware there's something wrong with this batch of ipads.

THFourteen 18 Dec 2013 14:59:58 54,987 posts
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ah no!

I still think there may be slight yellowing on the bottom of mine, but i'll live with it. Its not bad enough that i notice unless i look for it, and i use my ipad too much to want to send it back and wait till next year for a new one.

should add, looks like the App sales have started already

plus we should see some big new titles tomorrow, think its the last window before christmas!

Edited by THFourteen at 15:00:23 18-12-2013

Darren 21 Dec 2013 11:07:35 9,637 posts
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CharlieStCloud wrote:
If you do not mind me saying Darren, you do come across as someone who has an almost infinite amount of money. A 128GB iPad anything is certainly not cheap.

... don't you have a PlayStation 4 and a Xbox One too?!

: O

Yes, I have an Xbox One and PS4 as well. However, I'm certainly not rich, it's just that I'm single and have no other commitments other than a mortgage and the usual bills. I spend all my money on my hobbies, which is mainly gaming, music and collecting BDs, but I'm certainly spent up for this year. I didn't see the point in getting a 64 GB mini and then regretting not going for the larger capacity. I always try and buy the best I can afford.

By the way, rich people are generally rich because they DON'T spend their money! That's certainly NOT me!

Darren 21 Dec 2013 11:12:37 9,637 posts
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I was curious to read the comments about the mini 2's Retina screen not being as good as the larger models. To be honest I hadn't noticed it at all and thought the mini 2's screen looked amazing. However, I've since compared it alongside my iPad 4 and the larger iPad definitely has punchier, more vibrant colours that help make the screen look even more impressive. It does unfortunately make the mini 2's colours look washed out in direct comparison but it's not something you'll notice otherwise.

I've seen PC utilities that allow you to ramp up the vibrancy (my NVIDIA control panel has such a feature) so I'm curious as to why Apple don't artifically ramp up the colours on the mini 2 to make them more like the larger models. It's a minor thing though really as the mini 2's screen is still superb.

rock27gr 17 Jan 2014 16:07:57 6,439 posts
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So got an iPad Air yesterday, along with a cheappish HTC 8X. My idea was to use 8X as wireless hotspot for the Air when out and around, while enjoying the iPad's large display. they together cost as much as my intended iPhone 5S purchase.

Unfortunately I didn't realise the WiFi-only iPads don't have GPS!!! Shame on Apple for the price, but so it is.

So now I am thinking of returning it for an iPad Mini Retina 4G, but getting a nagging feeling that it will somehow be a "lesser" experience? Any one got both the Mini Retina and Air can compare the two? The Mini should in fact be more manageable out and around/while travelling, but in the house we currently have a Galaxy Tab 7.0 and I hate that for all uses.

Benno 17 Jan 2014 16:47:21 11,854 posts
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The mini is great. If you are planning on taking it out of the house I think the mini would suit you better.

Deleted user 19 April 2014 07:45:20

It seems a new Mini with Retina is on its way to me. Reading some complaints about the iOS 7 lag issues and crashes I'm not sure if it comes with iOS 7 installed? If it does not, should I rather stick to the previous version? Thanks.

Edited by Cosmopolitan at 07:45:54 19-04-2014

The iPad Mini • Page 22