Sharon just
raised the computer stakes in our household by buying me a wi-fi iPad
Mini. Between us, we now own at least
one of the following: Desk-top (Mac) > Laptop (PC/Windows) > Ultrabook (Apple)
> Tablet (Apple)> Smartphone (Google/Android) > Music players/radios (iPod
and MP3).
It’s
interesting to speculate the direction that the personal computer arena will go
and where we will fit into that evolving spectrum. I suppose my layman predictions
will be (1) operating systems within one manufacturer’s suite (the way we use
computers, tablets and smart-phones) will gradually merge and become seamless
between the various devices (2) user-decisions on optimum size will mature; clearly
ultra-books and the larger tablets already occupy the same physical space as do
the smaller tablets (7-inch) and larger smart phones (5½ -inch). (3) solid-state
memory is already available to 512 GB: presumably moving hard-drives in all but
powerful desktops are destined to become dinosaurs (4) users will continue to migrate
away from physical devices to the “cloud”. This may render some of the above points
purely academic.
The “need” for
multiple devices remains, at least for now. If I was starting today, I would probably
buy an ultra-book with whatever external accessories I need (CD drive, extra
memory etc.), a 7-inch tablet with cellular capability (and therefore GPS
navigation) and the cheapest phone I could find (all other capabilities residing
with the tablet). This assumes I do not
want to be seen walking around holding the tablet to my ear.
And what are
my first impressions of the iPad Mini? I suppose all tablets still operate like
“big smart-phones” rather than “small computers” although it’s interesting that
many of the tablet apps operate quite differently from their smart-phone brethren
and clearly very differently from their computer equivalents. Even though the Big
Three (Google, Microsoft and Apple) claim some level of interchangeability, it’s
clear that different devices work far better by sticking to the platform for
which they are designed (which is, of course, what the developers want). My iPad
is a cool minicomputer but I spend a lot of time trying to get it to mimic my
other devices (Google/Android) to maximize compatibility and minimize duplication.
This means that I probably will not be able to take advantage of some of the
Apple tablet’s capabilities which are operating-system dependent.
On the plus
side: the Mini’s size/weight is great, construction quality is excellent,
navigation through the pages and menus etc. is easy and battery life is very impressive.
On the negative side, for some reason the Mini does not use Apple’s superior Retina
display, there is no GPS capability or Google Maps and they are quite expensive
(about $430 versus $250 for the Google Nexus 7). Any meaningful comparison between the Mini and
the latest Google products is tough: it really depends on which operating
system horse you want to back.
