The lifespan of products in our household generally go from me, to Matt, to Ma and then the family in Vietnam. And while I love the iPad mini, I am very frustrated with it’s lack of GPS and always on Internet. Yes, I can use my iPad as a hotspot so the mini can get online, but if I’m carrying it already and have to pull it out to turn on the hotspot, why wouldn’t I just look at its gorgeous retina display screen? And while most things Apple ‘Just Work’ the Linking is a less than perfect of an experience.

Despite what people say, there isn’t always free wifi available where ever I go and even if there is, I don’t always like to be on the same network with a bunch of strangers.

The lack of GPS is also a real pain. I was constantly getting can’t locate your position type messages that it became a side adventure to see all the different dead zones there are.

So I say good bye to my iPad mini and Matt is now enjoying it (since he mostly plays games and checks Facebook on it and doesn’t use it much outside of the house). I am currently debating on picking up the cell version. I’m just going with it out for now, and if I don’t miss it I may just hold out until the next revision to see if we get a retina display.

Don’t get me wrong I am ‘That iPad Guy’ and I will have another iPad mini because I LOVE the form factor. I’m testing if I’ll miss it considering I have the iPad and my Nexus 7.

In the meantime I’m off to play with my new toy, the Kindle Paperwhite. Details to come!

Bily Foster – That iPad Guy