Was shopping around for retina IPAD. Harvey Norman Broadway is having a clearance sale for IPAD 1 and 2.
AMEX deal is still on to receive $30 credit for $300 spend from Harvey Norman not sure when this finishes. I dont think this is on the web site so may not be able to use the $25 newsletter sign up voucher.
SILVER ipad 2 mini 32GB is out of stock, got the space grey.
Pad mini 2 is still better than most mini tablets in my opinion. It's still fast and have the best apps out there. It's a basically a mini version of the iPad Air
It's a basically a mini version of the iPad Air
Who woulda thunk it? :)
Just wanted to iterate that an mini 2 is very similar in performance to an iPad 5 :)
@edfoo: I own both, don't have any links sorry. Just look it up.
iPad 2,3 and mini about sme performance, iPad 4 in its own, iPad Air,mini2,mini3,air2 about same
@dtnvong: I assume they would, considering that they have same SoC in them (A7) and same amount of RAM with same resolution screen. Though, the screen on Mini 2 does have relatively bad colour reproduction compared to Air 1 and other tablets. It's still a reasonable tablet to get though.
http://www.displaymate.com/Tablet_ShootOut_4.htm
^Comparisons with small tablets in the market back then.
http://www.displaymate.com/iPad6_ShootOut.htm
^Comparisons of Mini 3 (which is pretty much same as Mini 2), with Air 1 and Air 2.
I think A7 was comparable to Snapdragon 800 (if not better), which would be comparable to Exynos 5420, both of which were used on Tab S.
So it'd still be reasonable in terms of performance. RAM probably is little bit too small compared to current one (since 1GB to 2GB RAM movement was done this gen), that said Apple didn't add the RAM demanding features onto the 1GB devices and I assume it'd take a long time become the hardware becomes completely obslete.
Just my 2c.
@lostn: Slightly unfair since Air series, Pro series and Mini series all use different hardware, don't you think?
@Oversimplified: Mini 2 = iPad 5 (Air 1). Same 2013 hardware.
This price is not much cheaper than it was when on 'special' at the time when it was still top model.
@lostn: AUD has fallen heaps since then. iPad prices (older models that are still being sold by Apple included) have gone up in Australia because of that (+ I think they've adjusted the price expecting further decrease as well). I think iPad price was adjusted before the release of newer models.
So you'd have a really hard time finding a new tablet if you bring up older prices.
Also, this tablet is not horrible outdated. Tablets in general have been slow in terms of hardware improvement, many Android tablets still use 2013 era SoC. Windows tablets use Baytrail and Cherry trail SoC (at least those at this kind of price range and this kind of portability), which is also around Snapdragon 600-800 in terms of performance (Baytrail was compared to Snapdragon 800 for CPU and 600 for GPU, and Cherry Trail mainly improved in GPU from Baytrail). iPad Mini 3 was pretty much an iPad Mini 2 with touch ID, iPad Mini 4 is using A8 which is one generation younger than A7.
The price is reasonable enough at current stage, the tablet is nowhere near obsolete as far as I can see.
@Oversimplified: Without going into all technicalities I agree. The user experience of the mini 2 is in no way outdated and is comparable with 2015 model androids of the same form factor.
@dtnvong: I'd probably argue against that statement as well (since it does lack RAM, Apple didn't include multitasking stuff on 1GB models). If I have to choose between 2015 Android tablets (there are really not that many though, Tab S2 is the only one that I can think of) and Mini 2, I'd go with 2015 one without giving any second thoughts on it.
If it was Mini 4, I probably would've gone with Mini 4 without hesitation (though it's bloody expensive at current stage).
@Oversimplified: it's really user preference and it comes down to OS preference and I know that 3rd party apps are generally much better on iOS than android. When that gets put into the equation the raw speed and ram doesn't matter as much.
From what I see now the extra ram in the iPad air2 is still crap. Not all apps support the multitasking. It's not much better than the air. Web tabs still seem to refresh heaps.
@dtnvong: I am not talking about user OS preference, I am simply talking about hardware. Tab S2 simply has better hardware compared to iPad mini 2. Tab S2 and iPad mini 4 is hard to compare, but I've given iPad mini 4 an upperhand because I really hate what they've done with the tablet (thinner is good, but they've reduced battery too much in my opinion and 4:3 with AMOLED in my opinion is just giving up what it does best).
I've mentioned Android as an example to show that tablets tend to improve much slower than phones, to prove that tablet hardware from 2013 is not outdated. (i.e. I've mentioned Windows tablet as well and how little Windows tablets improved as well). At no point, I made a comparison between Android and iOS as an OS.
If you are going to say better hardware is "not worth it" even comparing iOS to iOS device, then I really have nothing to say. If you think iOS apps are generally better than Android apps, sure, why not. I've personally seen shitty apps on both end and good apps on both ends. I've heard people talking about 2GB RAM on iOS being amazing in forums I go to, I've heard no one saying this is useless (though it's a very tech driven forum, so I guess there is that). I try not to give a comparison in terms of user experience, simply because it's hard to be objective.
I will mention this, Android is not a horrible mess of an OS like some people make it out to be, in fact, I'd argue that most current gen OS are competent at what they do. I am not too sure what kind of apps you've used, so I cannot say things for certain, but crappy apps are present on both sides (like how facebook messenenger was running in background exploting what iOS does with music (when an app is playing a music in background, it can stay runing in background)). Android tend to be more lenient with background processes (I argue it's too much, but I hate stepping on people's toe), that said, it's what makes Android Android. Widgets has to run in background etc etc. Android devices are built with that kind of things in mind (i.e. more RAM is packed in Android devices, the multicore performance is better on Android if you compare iOS to Android flagships). It's simple as that. Android does offer something unique (freedom to poke around things), that iOS simply don't give. I don't compare two unless it's significantly different because the OSs are different from one another. That said, you are comparing a device that has far better SoC and far more RAM (which is compared to latest model of the other OS) to a device with far worse SoC and far less RAM, I am going to rest my case there.
iPad Mini 2 is not outdated, but it's still a device from past. I wouldn't compare it to a current gen device. It's as simple as that.
@Oversimplified: mini 2 is old but still great. It is still faster than my Samsung flagship note 10 2014, tab s 10. Both have 3gb ram. It is also at most 20% slower than my air 2. I've tested all of them. Ram doesn't make much difference from what I've seen on tablets when it is iOS vs android.
Android devices benefit from extra ram because it is more open about free running threads/processes that get spawned by any app you install. It cn also rob you of processor performance.
In terms of apps, just check out any game mostly with 3D graphics that is available on android and iOS. You will see that they are not really tuned as well for android in comparison to iOS devices. The reason for this is mainly more effort is put into tuning iOS devices.
From what I know,as an analogy, you shouldn't just factor purchasing a car by just its engine. It needs to be considered as a whole - that's why I consider this mini a great buy :)
@dtnvong: Weren't we talking about "current gen" tablets to Mini 2? If you want me to be blunt, Tab S1 and Note 10.1 2014 both do not exactly have a grunt power for the 2K. Snapdragon 800 and Exynos 5420 flew on 1080P, but it start to struggles with 2K a little especially with resource intense games. It doesn't help that Samsung tend to add a lot of their software that no one uses. Not to mention, Tab S1 and Note 10.1 had more pixels to drive which didn't really help with the situation (2560 x 1600 vs 2048 x 1536).
Tab S2 has better SoC, a SoC that was built for 2K devices, which I personally think is more suitable for QHD, but could be better. Samsung did slightly better job at optimising with new TouchWiz for current gen devices as well (they've removed fair bit of bloat). In short, extrapolating using those to Tab S2 is far fetched in my opinion.
At current stage, Air 2 has the best SoC available as well (ignoring the fact that you are comparing the devices with 2013 spec to it), hands down (at least in tablets that are officially released in Australia). Tegra K1 was worse than A8X as far as I remember and only SoC that could compete against it is Tegra X1 (which no tablets currently use, other than Pixel C, which was announced but not released). Other high end SoCs are not used in tablet or not available in Australi So there you go, Air 2 is literally is better than most of the Android devices in terms of SoC, due to the fact that A8X was designed for tablets (high TDP).
I'd agree that iOS devices have advantages with 3D games and certain apps. That said it's not because more effort is put into it. Optimisation on iOS devices are far easier than Android devices so I've heard, fragmentation causes issues with optimisation (Resolution, aspect ratio, GPU, CPU etc), metal API allows better performance. It's not more effort though. In the end, I do agree iOS devices have an advantage on those. That said, it does not make Android just awful thing that no one should use. There are advantages that fragmentation bring (variety of devices to choose from) and the gaps are slowly closing in my opinion, with introduction of ART and with newer API coming out (though it would be an alleviation of the symptom at best).
If you are talking about UI uniformity (which I personally think is slightly different from optimisation), Apple has stronger guidelines than Google does.
I've not said "iOS devices have only blah RAM therefore they must suck". I've mentioned that iOS approaches background processes much strictly (which tend to be the cause of RAM requirement, which I've also mentioned). RAM is more important when it comes to multiple background processes. Multitasking relies more on multithread processing as well. I've mentioned this, Apple devices and Android devices tend to have different strength point on SoC performance and differ in RAM because of that (Android devices has better multithread performance, iOS devices has better single core performance). They are built with those in mind.
Don't tell a tech geek about things that you are not know about. I didn't say Mini 2 was a bad buy, I simply don't think it's up to the current gen devices. Tab S2 is a competitor to Mini 4 (even though I personally think Mini 4 is a better device for few reasons), it's as simple as that.
I seriously hesitated doing this, since this is an Apple device deal. I will simply list the things that are different.
Which doesn't mean you should get a Tab S2, it simply means there is a clear generational gap between devices.
Just reading about raw specs and reviews doesn't help all that much. It's not just about physical specs but overall performance. Use those devices and see for yourself. That's my suggestion to you.
What you may notice is battery stand by differences between the devices which many reviews may not tell you. iPad stand by is unbeatable. iPads also scan and service the touch screen at a much higher frequency than androids - this is one of their secrets for user perception of 'fluidity'.
Lastly, multiple cores are not crashable. Meaning, a single core which can compute "100" is not equivalent to two cores that compute "50" each. To be blunt, the single core is better in software performance. This is why Apple chose not to keep adding cores and invest big money in processor development. It is also why you don't see apples core go to 8 but stay at 3.
Tab s is a 2015 device. Note 2014 is not a note 2013? I didn't get a tab s2 because I considered it a downgrade to my tab s.
@dtnvong: Tab S 1 was released in 2014, Note 10.1 2014 was announced at the end of 2013. Both of them uses SoC that's from 2013.
@Oversimplified: I get where you are coming from but tab s 1 only recently got superseded a few months ago.
@dtnvong: In that case, would you say iPod Touch 5th gen is a fairly "recent" device? It uses SoC that was used in iPhone 4s, but it was just superseded by 6th gen few month ago (which uses iPhone 6 SoC).
@Oversimplified: yes, was still current model as of a month ago. Same goes for cars. What you have to consider is the general public isn't cutting edge but normal consumers.
A lot of people don't care about raw tech speed but overall user experience. That's what matters most.
@dtnvong: LG just released Snapdragon 800 tablet (G Pad 10.1 II), so with that logic, Snapdragon 800 must be a 2015 current SoC, am I correct?
… I think I am tired of this, if you think that huge generational gap on hardware is nothing then, that is fine by me. I've mentioned enough as is. I have better things to do.
@Oversimplified: it's a 2015 device. Yes.
Look at it this way.. What if a 2015 model Mazda car contained an engine that was designed in 2010? Would you tell Mazda off for selling you a "2010" car?
@dtnvong: Your analogy is really bad in many ways. I assume you've never even heard of Moore's law? System-On-a-Chip (SoC) is not just simple CPU and GPU (which is already important as is for tablet PCs), it includes far far more than just those (it's literally "System on a chip", things like DAC, ISP etc etc all are in there).
As I said I have said enough as is.
@Oversimplified: I'm sorry to confuse you LOL. An "Engine" is not just simple combustion chamber and Pistons, it also includes things like cam shafts, injectors, etc etc.
You are going too deep and way too technical, you are doing opposite what your name implies.
It's been fun, catch ya 👍😋
@dtnvong: … Simply speaking, SoC processes many many many many many things that you'd not expect CPU or GPU to process. How music files are decoded and how well it is decoded and transformed into analog signal, how the photos you've taken are processed, etc etc. It is pretty much the heart of the smartphone that does almost everything (depending on devices, more functions get added to it). Moore's law is simply, number of transistors increase doublefold in a chip in two years (which increases performance and energy efficiency). In layman's term, SoC is not just CPU and GPU (it does far more than just "let your games run") and improvements on them are ridiculously fast. 2 years is a very very long time in that market, especially since mobile phone SoCs have been improving at really ridiculous rate.
Dear Oversimplified,
Thank you for all your unsolicited information. Whilst I agree with most of your "facts". I regretfully have to inform you that Moore's law in which you learned of from the internets has in fact been saturated a few years ago.
Don't worry! I still think you are smart. (I get all that unsolicited content)
🍀 (Peace)
@dtnvong: It's becoming less relevant in PC industry (it has slowed down a bit since 2000s, when multi-core devices started to appear in PC, I believe?), but it's still not irrelavant (especially in smartphone industry, i.e. A7 to A8, there was an increase from 1 billion transitors to 2 billion transitors according to Apple, it probably is less than double, but they've reduced the physical size as well as there is only one year gap). If you want me to give you another example, here is Intel CEO commenting on A7, mentioning Moore's law advantage. Besides, it doesn't lessen the fact that engine improvements are far far slower than SoC improvements. I've mentioned that law because SoCs have been improving ridiculously fast whereas engines don't and that law pretty much is an easy way to explain that.
So 5 years difference in Engine technology is not exactly same as 5 years difference in chips, especially smartphone ones.
AUD has fallen heaps since then. iPad prices (older models that are still being sold by Apple included) have gone up in Australia because of that (+ I think they've adjusted the price expecting further decrease as well). I think iPad price was adjusted before the release of newer models.
After 2 or 3 years, things are expected to go down by a LOT more than the currency has gone down. That's how it works with every non-Apple company.
So you'd have a really hard time finding a new tablet if you bring up older prices.
A new iPad you mean.
Also, this tablet is not horrible outdated.
Most 2-3 year old flagship tablets aren't.
The price is reasonable enough at current stage, the tablet is nowhere near obsolete as far as I can see.
I never once mentioned the word obsolete, so I don't know where this comes from. But for me, no deal. The AUD was not above parity when the Mini 2 originally released, it was somewhere around the 80 mark. Now it's just below 70. You can't put the high price down to AUD after 2 years.
How do you even explain the "bargain" price of $323 for the Mini 1? This is using iPad 2 SOC from.. 2011? That's obsolete as all (profanity).
@lostn: I apologise a bit, my patience has thinned out a bit. First of all, do you see a +'ve vote from me?
Secondly, have I ever said I think mini 1 is a bargain? I did imply Touch 5th gen is outdated once which I think is on par with Mini 1 in terms of spec? (I am out so I can't be bothered to check it right now). I personally don't think mini 1 is worth anything at current stage (unless you want a low res live photo frame to decorate your house or something, which I believe goes cheaeper than $300).
Thirdly, Tab S1 8.4's lowest price was around $270 (from DSE discounting + coupon), the cheapest 7-8 inch tablets that I remember which were around this caliber (that is not grey import) is an ASUS baytrail tablet from ASUS Store, $250 (I think, it was one of the deals I've posted). The price isn't that bad for an iPad mini 2 which is pricier than Android tablets (due to Apple's large profit margin). Mini 2 is still sold by Apple store and all retailers have matched that price. So yeah, I think it's a reasonable price for an iPad which are often more expensive. It'd still perform relatively well, considering that it's on par with last gen iPad Mini.
Lastly, I can't be bothered to find the release date of Mini 2 so using exchange rate from December 31st 2013, it was 0.8931 (Checked for november exchange rate, it was above 0.90. I can't be bothered to change my calculation, so consider my calculation to be smaller than what it should be). Currently, it sits at 0.71. Australian dollar is around 20% cheaper than before. Also, I've mentioned this briefly, Apple probably raised price to accomodate possible AUD fall as well (there is a cost to which companies have to bear when they change price of the goods they sell). So you'd have a hard time finding a deal if you think about the old bargain price.
HN Auburn wont match
Still so expensive for something of that age.