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My thoughts on Apple's long-awaited 2024 refresh of the iPad mini
I have been waiting for what seems like forever for the iPad mini to get a refresh and at long last, it has happened. That said, I’m admittedly underwhelmed by this refresh. While the new iPad mini will be able to use the shiny new Apple Intelligence that everyone is talking about – even though it hasn’t been released yet – the other changes in this refreshed model are pretty minor. I was hoping they would use one of the newer M-series Apple Silicon processors in the mini, just as they’re using in the current air and pro models. Unfortunately, they’re using the A17 Pro chip which, while not bad by any means, is the same chip that Apple used last year in its iPhone 15 Pro models. Couldn’t they at least use the chip that they’re using in this year’s iPhone 16 Pro models? To me, it almost feels like someone at Apple found a drawer with leftover chips and thought, “Gosh, what are we gonna do with all these leftover chips from last year? Let’s give the Mini a refresh and then update it for real once we run out.” I’m sure the situation is far more complicated than this, but it’s hard to justify upgrading knowing that I would be buying last year’s technology and still paying a premium price for it. All that said, I love my current mini, I love the form-factor, I love how portable it is, I like that I can have my apps organized in a way that helps me be productive in ways I can’t be on my phone. I would even go so far to say that of all the Apple mobile devices I’ve owned, the iPad mini, 6TH generation, has been one of my favorites.
There are a number of articles that do a great job of detailing what’s new with Apple’s newest generation iPad mini. For anyone curious to learn more, I highly recommend this fantastic post by Jason Snell.
So, will I be upgrading to Apple’s shiny new iPad mini? I’m still not sure. On the one hand, I like the idea of being able to use Apple Intelligence on the mini since that’s where I already do a lot of work, but on the other, I hate the idea of buying last year’s tech as if it were truly new. I’m definitely glad Apple is refreshing the iPad mini line, but after three years, I was really hoping to see a bit more.
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When Success Means Buying a Smaller Suit
Recently, I got to participate on the Parallel podcast talking about, of all things, accessibility and fitness. The reason I phrase it this way is that anyone who knows me probably knows that fitness and I don't normally go together in the same setence, let alone the same podcast. From the show description:
Starting or maintaining a fitness program is a challenge for anyone. If you have accessibility needs, you might experience barriers related to touchscreen devices, coaching that doesn't address a hearing or visual disability, or a need for accommodations related to physical limitations. With its Fitness+ service, Apple has taken on some of these issues, and opened up the program to many more people with disabilities, We'll talk with a Fitness+ user, and someone who has worked on Apple accessibility teams.
https://www.relay.fm/parallel/80Talking about anything fitness related has always been challenging for me and so I want to particularly thank the ever-awesome Shelly Brisbin for being brave enough to include me. I also want to especially thank Sommer Panage and the other unsung heros that dare to dream of a more accessible world, and work so hard to make that a reality.
Parallel can be found everywhere great podcasts can be found, more info about the episode and how to subscribe to Parallel, which you should totally consider doing whether you listen to this episode or not, can be found on Parallel's home page.
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Just held my first Nano SIM and wow is it tiny
I just received an iPhone 5 and of course before powering it up, I had to take it apart, at least a little. One thing that has made me curious about the iPad Minis and the new iPhone 5 is Apple’s use of a new, Nano SIM chip. For those unfamiliar, the SIM chip is what contains all your personal cell carrier data, IE which carriers your phone should work on, your phone number and other settings. One major advantage to using SIM chips is that you, the user, could easily remove the chip from one device and use it in another, especially handy if you often switch devices, or have multiple devices. You might also have more than one SIM chip in theory allowing you to use one device with multiple carriers, great for international travelers. Anyway, the Nano SIM represents the fourth generation of the SIM chip, the original first generation roughly being the size of a credit card. Each generation has gotten progressively smaller than the last while retaining the same core form factor. So, this being the fourth generation, you can naturally understand why I was curious about it’s size .. what’s that? You can’t? huh.
I’m not super good at judging sizes, but I’d guess that the Nano SIM is roughly 12.3 mm by 8.8 mm by 0.67 mm. In the interest of fairness, I should mention that these measurements are available from multiple sources, so I’m probably better at using Google than I am at guessing sizes. Anyway, if you’ve ever held the SIM chip contained in the GSM version of the iPhone 4, imagine something even smaller and thinner. If you were to drop both this and a needle in a haystack, I suspect the needle would be the easier of the two to find.
As one of those who actually does remember the first generation credit card sized SIM, it’s kind of amazing to me to see just how much smaller this generation has become. Another neat thing – I think it’s neat anyway – is that by using a cutter, or a razor blade, you can actually cut a previous generation SIM down to Nano SIM size and assuming you don’t cut the gold contacts or your finger off, it’ll actually work. This could come in incredibly handy if your particular carrier doesn’t offer nano SIM chips or, if you just like playing with razor blades.
What’s that? You want to learn more about SIM chips? as mentioned above, there are lots of great, dare I say interesting resources on the net such as this one. Isn’t technology great?
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