iPad Mini II or iPad Air?

I am a first iPad buyer, and also wondering which one to get. I'm considering the Air because the keyboard case accessories are larger than the ones for the Mini. I also have some useable vision to use some of those painting apps.

Hi there, Like you, I just found the iPad to be too big. I can't see the screen, and coming from an iPhone...I just thought the iPad was way too big. I don't have overly large hands, and I can easily hold an iPad Mini in one hand--and do so with the OtterBox Defender on the unit if I stretch my hand a bit. I wanted a Mini because the iPad craze got to me and because the Mini seemed like the best of both worlds.

I'm Also Looking to Buy My First iPad. My vision isn't good enough to see anything on the screen, however big. NOt even on my iMac. :) But I thought the larger screen size of the iPad Air could be good for GarageBand and perhaps text editing or reading apps as it would just give more room for gestures and require less precision. But then the iPad Mini with Retina has the same resolution and is even more portable. Thoughts? Of those of you who have a full size iPad, which would you go for?

Hi, For a full-time VoiceOver user who can't see the screen, what is the advantage of having an iPad when one has an iPhone? What do you find easier to do on the iPad? The only thing I can think of it is gives you two batteries to deplete, but this is hardly worth $399 and up. Thoughts? Thanks.

Hello, What I like about my full sized iPad, is the fact that I can touch type nearly as fast as if I were typing on a full sized qwerty keyboard. I've been thinking of upgrading. Is the same possible with the Mini? I'm just asking, because the Mini is a bit smaller.

hi guys. a few things to keep in mind here. yes, the iPad 4 and down, were rather heavy. you need to remember though, that the iPad air is very, ... very much lighter. its about the weight of a current mini lighter! LOL. so it's not really something we can figure, based on old models. the mini on the other hand, has in fact gone up in weight. not a lot, but some. grown from 312 grams for a WiFi 4g version, to about 340 grams. but like I say, we can't tell what the air will be like, till we can have one in our hands to test. I to, am going to be a first time buyer of iPad's this year, but I want to get my hands on an air, before I jump on the mini band wagon. and like one commenter, I am interested in a keyboard case, clamshell, for the iPad. and my guess is, in that case, that the keyboard would be slightly bigger for the air. also, for those asking why on earth anybody using voiceover would want a bigger screen? then here is one answer. a friend of mine can type fairly quickly. she has tried both a mini, and full sized iPad now. and ... she found, that she could type almost as fast, on the bigger screen, as her keyboard. where as the mini, is just a little bit too small. that is just one possible reason. there are probably many. just because we are blind, does not mean we will not benefit from a larger display. it depends on how you use your device, and what you are doing with it. for example. do you ever actually browse the screen with a finger? or do you flick everywhere. not being funny, but if you flick everywhere, my guess is, there isn't going to be a huge point in having the iPad. as most of your experience will be similar, excepting the split screen, and multitasking gestures. but like I say. it depends on how you use it, and what you do with it. but for sure, the new line up, is making the choice rather hard. as the internals of them, is much the same, if not exactly the same. just the screen size is different one last thing to note, is that the current mini, has stereo speakers. this makes for a pretty good sound output. it's nice and rich. at least, for a tiny device. LOL. I will be curious to see, if they put the same stereo speakers, in the iPad mini, and even better, the new air.

I too, can type faster on my iPad than on my iPhone, even if I'm using an app, such as Fleksy. With Fleksy on the full sized iPad, typing on it is just as easy as typing on a laptop or desktop keyboard. I'll try to go to the Apple Store in a week, (next Saturday) to check out the new iPads. Since they've changed this year, that's the best way to decide which one to buy.

hi, well, you should be able to check out the air. but from what they were saying at the keynote, you won't see the mini just yet. later next month is what they said. so you can get a squiz at the air. but you will have to wait for the mini. although, the new mini will basicly look the same as the current one. just a very, very tiny bit thicker, and a little heavyer.

I too was having an internal debate about buying a Ipad over the last month if it is justified in buying one. Since getting my 4s I found that my I touch 16gig is being used more for music than apps I got my 4s 16 gig about a year ago and didn't think I would use the phone for as much as I do. My words to the Verizon rep "I can't see that well so I will never use any apps" well you know what has happened . Over 200 apps who would of known now the phone is up to over 15 gigs. So do I get a new 5s 32 gig but my contract isn't up till next July so wait till than? but a few months later a new model will surely be out. So should I do a major upgrade to the Ipad air 32 gig? back and forth it goes.Finaly I said to myself "Self" this upgrade will keep me up and going for a few years, that is if I stay away from the app store. Now as I asked earlier what size screen to choose. All the comments here are helping alot.Thanks to all for the help. OH S--T 32 gig or 64 gig? P.S. never thought about accessories.

hiya. what ever one i get, will either be a 64 gb, or a 128 gb. i'll spend the extra money, so that i have lots of storage, to put music, books, radio productions, apps, and other various files on. that way, i am sure to not run out. also, my iphone 5 is a 64 gb. i've already used up about half of it.

After giving this some more hard thought, I am not as convinced of my own words than I was a few days ago. I took some more time to reevaluate how I use the iPad Mini versus how I used the previous bigger iPads. The truth is that I find myself turning the Mini into portrait mode, because for many tasks, in landscape things are harder to accurately touch. Like I would often accidentally skip over lines in Kindle books when skimming, lose my grip on an e-mail message in the list, etc., and would have to resort to flicking. And yes, for portrait mode, the smaller sized Mini fits my hands better indeed. But that would make its use much similar to that of an iPhone. Tablets really shine most when used in landscape mode. And here's a second factor: On Retina displays, much more detail is shown in many apps, for example Apple Maps. The same area of a city has much more detail and fine-grained street paths than on a non-retina screen. Imagining that much more detail on a much smaller screen sounds like things could become very very fiddly. Or I would have to zoom out by at least one step, significantly reducing the amount of surrounding the current screen shows. One of the things that made me switch from an iPad to an iPad Mini was the weight. That, obviously, will be much reduced in the iPad Air. As well as the volume of the device, with it being almost 2 millimeters flatter than the iPad 3 and 4. So on Friday, I will go to the local Apple Store and take a long hard tactile look at the iPad Air and see what my hands, wrists and fingers tell me. But the points mentioned above definitely speak in the iPad Air's favor.

So did anybody brave the lines and see what the new iPad air looked and felt like? Did anybody buy one?

What is the different for voice over users between the screen size of the iPad mini and the iPad air? What is the different typing on the smaller screen iPad mini and the larger screen iPad air?