John Gruber:
Everything Apple is promoting about the Air 2 is true, both in terms of what you can objectively measure, and in terms of how it feels to use it. It’s thinner, lighter, faster, and has a better display and better camera. And, yes, Touch ID is great, especially if you’ve been using it for the last year on your iPhone.
I don’t think I’m going to buy one, though.
Last year after spending three months using both the (then) new iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina, I switched from being a hard-core proponent of full-sized iPads to being a fan of the iPad mini. And I can’t imagine going back.
There is more to it than just that the mini is lighter and easier to hold with one hand. The screen size didn’t impact the way I create or “consume” content at all. Moreover, the smaller footprint of the iPad makes it easier to fit in my bag, or to carry around by itself in a sleeve.
It’s unfortunate that it looks like the iPad mini is now going to be one year behind in hardware innovation, but that’s okay. I mostly use my iPad for reading, writing, research, and basic communication. Though, now that I’m switching to a desktop Mac as my main machine, who knows… perhaps the amount of work I do on my iPad will spike in the upcoming year.