Nexus 7 or iPad Mini?

spoffle said:
If you're considering an iPad mini then you should go for a Nexus 10
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Weirdest comment ever...:confused:

lsg1r said:
nexus 7... ipad is nearly twice the price for the equivalent size capacity... and in my view is less powerful. It does not feel cheap even though it's made of plastics (it's good quality stuff)

flash doesn't work with stock 'chrome' browser. Grab firefox (or similar) and sideload flash and you should be good to go though.

gaming's fine in my opinion as long as you like the onscreen control aspect (but android does support a range of controllers etc not that I've tested them)

as to paypal.... not to my knowledge but I just use google to pay...
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It may be twice the price, but it's half the size, even with a bigger screen... I've been looking at getting a 7" tablet and tried them all out in the shops and the mini is about half as thick as the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7. The Fire feels really cheap and thick, the Nexus 7 only slightly better, with the screen being a horrible aspect ratio for a screen that small. From a hardware point of view (not internal, just external look and feel) the mini is lightyears ahead of the other two. I didn't want to like it but it really looks like a £260 device and the other two really look like £150 devices.

The mini isn't overpriced really either, the Fire and Nexus are subsidised by their respective companies... If they wanted to actually make money on the hardware then they would be very similar prices...
 
The iPad mini certainly is the better looking of the two devices, say what you will about Apple but they know how to create premium looking devices.

The biggest consideration is probably going to be what you want to use the device for.

iTunes has an amazing range of music, video, games and apps. Google are catching up pretty well but aren't quite there yet, that said with Android being so much more open than iOS you aren't locked in to buying from the Google Play store. In terms of Apps pretty much all of the 'big' Apps are available for both. If you have already invested heavily in one of the two (e.g if you have an iPod or an Android mobile phone) then that would be an important factor to consider as you can use the same account and thus gain access to content you have already purchased.

iOS is easier to use but you can't do quite as much with it, Android is open enough that you can play about with it to your hearts content.

In terms of the actual spec of the devices I believe the Nexus is a bit better however since there are so many Android devices about you are much more likely to run in to compatibility issues than you would with iOS Apps.

Personally I would probably go for the Nexus out of the two devices, it's cheaper and more flexible in terms of what you can do with it. If you aren't 100% sure you might want to look at grabbing one from a retailer with a good returns policy that allows customers to try out a product and return it without any penalties that way you can be a bit cheeky and try it in real world usage for a bit.

I myself use a Kindle Fire HD as my mini tablet and whilst I know that it isn't amazing spec and that the modified OS is pretty horrible it suits me perfectly for what I want it for which is for Kindle content and web browsing which it does very nicely thanks to the MIMO Wi-Fi.
 
Thanks for the help everyone.

Sounds like the ipad mini is probably the better device overall, especially because of the extra screen real estate for web browsing, but it also sounds like it's overpriced for what it is. I know people will say you get more for your money, but I'm not so sure about that when you read that apple make a 43% profit on the mini, and google make little to no profit on the nexus 7.

Also I would hate to spend £269 on the mini and then not like it, whereas if I can get a 16gb nexus for £159 and then don't like it, I'm not going to feel half as bad about it. Just need the 16gb ones to be in stock somewhere for a reasonable price. I may even wait and see what this £120 OcUK tab is like, because it doesn't look like google are going to get on top of the stock problems anytime soon.
 
Amp34 said:
It may be twice the price, but it's half the size, even with a bigger screen... I've been looking at getting a 7" tablet and tried them all out in the shops and the mini is about half as thick as the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7. The Fire feels really cheap and thick, the Nexus 7 only slightly better, with the screen being a horrible aspect ratio for a screen that small. From a hardware point of view (not internal, just external look and feel) the mini is lightyears ahead of the other two. I didn't want to like it but it really looks like a £260 device and the other two really look like £150 devices.

The mini isn't overpriced really either, the Fire and Nexus are subsidised by their respective companies... If they wanted to actually make money on the hardware then they would be very similar prices...
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seriously the only thing that is smaller on the ipad mini is the thickness which isn't an issue in my view, I can fit my nexus 7 in my pocket, the ipad mini won't fit because it's too wide :rolleyes:

Personally I prefer widescreen aspect ratios, especially on a device that will be mainly used in portrait mode for websites or widescreen mode for widescreen movies/shows (don't get many of them 4/3 ratio shows these days) :rolleyes:

And I still say the mini is overpriced, it's using tech that is 2 years old, the screen res isn't anything special for this day and age (just look current 1080p 5 inch phones) and the process to manufacture the case has been around for decades (no apple did not invent the process). A metal case does not make a better product.

Fish99 - the ipad mini technically has less real estate than the nexus 7, it's a bigger screen with a lower res than the nexus 7. In terms of pixels there's more on the nexus 7 (and kindles with 720p or higher res). The 'processing' of the layout for the screen is different that's all.
 
Here is a good video comparison from Lisa Gade,


Although I also think that iPad mini is over priced looking at this comparison I think I would prefer the mini as the aspect ratio and size seems to make it a lot better for surfing the web, particularly in landscape mode, skip to 9mins for landscape web comparison.
 
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Amp34 said:
It may be twice the price, but it's half the size, even with a bigger screen... I've been looking at getting a 7" tablet and tried them all out in the shops and the mini is about half as thick as the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7. The Fire feels really cheap and thick, the Nexus 7 only slightly better, with the screen being a horrible aspect ratio for a screen that small. From a hardware point of view (not internal, just external look and feel) the mini is lightyears ahead of the other two. I didn't want to like it but it really looks like a £260 device and the other two really look like £150 devices.
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Well it really isn't is it.. It is a bit thinner but bigger in every other respect.

The mini isn't overpriced really either, the Fire and Nexus are subsidized by their respective companies... If they wanted to actually make money on the hardware then they would be very similar prices...
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To the end consumer it does look overpriced. Why do we - the consumer who pays for the device - care whether the Nexus is subsidized? At the end of the day you pay the RRP of the device, and the Nexus / Fire are a lot cheaper than the Mini.

Whether the Mini is worth the extra is a completely different matter.
 
I went for the Nexus 7 - reasons being higher pixel density, higher screen resolution over all, far cheaper price and similar specifications otherwise. The only place that the iPad mini really seems to pull away is in 3D games performance, though for me I barely play games in general any more so it wasn't a consideration. I really like the form factor of the Nexus 7 - I was sceptical at first, but it's actually quite nice as it allows you to grip it from the back like you would with a phone (to me this way feels more secure and comfortable than gripping it from one side only when holding it with one hand).
 
Nexus 7 all day long. The mini may look nice but the iOS is old hat now and made for kids with fluffy little "ooow look at my cute icons i can press" lets face it a home screen full of icons is just a mess I wish apple would learn it looks ugly. I shopped for awhile when picking my tablet and tried most of them out at pc world before deciding on the N7. I have plenty of apple products over the years including 3 iphones and an ipod touch and they apple hype is over for me. I plan to also move to the nexus 4 once they are back in stock. Also if wondering for as little as £1 you can buy a cable to attach to the mini usb port then have the nexus 7 control things like a DSLR camera or connect an xbox controller and play the games with an xbox controller. IMO the nexus just does more than the ipad mini you just have to take time to research it all.
 
Nexus if it was me.

If you go down the Android path particularly a nexus they are wide open for flashing custom ROMs.
 
Personally wouldnt get this gen iPad Mini at all, you just know next year we will get the real deal and not a hand me down SoC, and sub par screen compared to the rest of Apples offering. TBH while using it in store the felt rather sluggish, the screen was ok but at the price I wouldn't want just ok. It felt rather wide and was hard to hold it in 1 hand properly.

Nexus 7 overally felt a lot better then I thought, it felt rather snappy. The aspect ratio as stated before wasnt great for web but it fits better in the hand and is a much better for watching movies, so it depends on what you would do more. The screen felt better, but I have seen a fair few people in the mobile forum with issues, hopefully its better now. iPad does have better build and battery life, but just knowing in a few months there will be a new model that is going to be so much better.
 
For the Twitch app on iOS, you can only watch live streams. You cannot watch older streams like on the website. Also the follow function doesn't work, you click it but when you go to see who you are following, the page is blank. I've also experienced blank screens on certain streams, probably due to it being 1080p. My iPad 2 can only watch it at 480p and I guess the mini should perform the same.
 
LolMeister said:
For the Twitch app on iOS, you can only watch live streams. You cannot watch older streams like on the website. Also the follow function doesn't work, you click it but when you go to see who you are following, the page is blank. I've also experienced blank screens on certain streams, probably due to it being 1080p. My iPad 2 can only watch it at 480p and I guess the mini should perform the same.
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I think the twitch app on the android market is pretty much the same you can not follow but the last time i used it i was sure i could view who i was already following. I will have a tinker when i get home and check.

However you can just download dolphin browser on the android and all the streams and twitch functions work a doddle.
 
My thoughts so far-

It's really slick, very nice web browsing experience, and performance is so much better than my old Archos 43 IT. The touchscreen is very responsive too (the A43IT had a resistive touchscreen). Battery runs down a bit quick with the wi-fi on, looks like it'll only do 5-6 hrs (with brightness low), versus about 8 with it turned off. Other than that the only gripe would be the bar at the bottom taking up nearly 10% of the screen height when browsing the web in landscape mode, those three buttons could easily move to either side of the screen instead.

It was obviously one someone had returned btw, not sealed and had someone elses google account settings on it. It also came with absolutely zero documentation, not a single bit of paper in the box, and the leads were already unwrapped. Bit cheap of Curry to sell it as new, but I can't see anything wrong with the device itself, so not inclined to return it.
 
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I'd definitely pull them up on it - you'll probably be able to get a few quid back or at least a store credit - very naughty to sell refurb/returned goods as new!
 
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