I bought a mini ipad today!!!!! I was wondering what DH would say about it. He had said yes about 2 months go but he tends to forget. But we had been talking about our daughter from out of town that she is no longer able to call us frerquently. It used to be daily and now we are lucky if we get once a week. I don't have audio on my laptop, yes I can play stuff but I can't talk so I an't use Skype. She can talk to me but I can't talk to her. I told him about face time on the ipad. So he told me this week to get one. I told him the price and he said go ahead. Best Buy had an offer that you get a $25 gift card with the purchase of a mini ($50 with a full size) so I bought it today. Once some one gets something set up for me I can run with it but I wanted to do this MYSELF. So I got it set up, we talked for about 90 minutes. That's all I have on it so far. They are coming up this weekend so I'm sure he will put more on it. I've got to get My fitness pal, my face book games, etc on it but I think I can do that myself. Is the protective cover a good idea? I'm not talking about a cover, I'm talking about the film cover.

I don't have a protective film cover on either of my iPads (a Mini, and an iPad 3) I have a protective film cover on my android phone, and really haven't noticed that it helps much. It might be what makes it more difficult for me to read my phone screen outside in the sun.

My dad has my old iPad 2, and he's pretty rough on that thing, and his screen looks fine. A little fingerprinty, but I haven't seen any scratches in his. (btw, don't use any liquid glass cleaner on your iPad)

I DO have a carrying case cover for my iPads tho. They really do need it. If you drop it, there's a good chance the screen will shatter or crack. My sister's kids have the fancy Otterbox covers that cost a lot, but they're kids. Their iPad probably needs the extra protection.

Did you get the Applecare for it? I have that for both of mine, along with all the other Apple products I've had, and it really has come in handy. I used it for my old iMac a couple of times, and I've had to do a couple of calls to Apple for my Mac Mini computer over the past few weeks for some stuff. Helps to have it.

The carrying cases for the iPad Mini's are not that expensive. (the Otterbox covers are expensive tho. I haven't found an Otterbox cover that I like tho, so I use more basic covers.)

I just got a new cover for my iPad Mini that's pretty nice. It's got the Union Jack (British flag) on the outside of it, and it doubles as a stand. I have another one for the iMini that's made of really nice blue leather, that also doubles as a stand. I think both covers cost me less than $20 apiece on Amazon. (about $16 apiece) Not sure if the covers would help in a really really hard fall, but I think they're good enough to protect the iPads in a not so hard fall. At least they give the screens some protection.

The covers also give you something to hold onto. I noticed that the iPads, outside of their covers feel really slippery to me. I like that the covers at least give me the impression that they're easier to hold onto.


I love my iPad Mini. It goes everywhere with me. I think it's with me almost all of the time. (kinda sad really. It seems to be my only friend at the moment. It sleeps next to me on my bed. I read a lot. Like I said. It's kinda sad) I do a lot with my iPad Mini. I use it as a camera a lot. Of course, I do a lot of reading on the Kindle and Kobo reading apps. Watch movies on it. I use the iPad 3 as a kind of diary, and I read on it a lot. Also use the iPad 3 for talking on Skype with my boyfriend. Mostly because the iPad 3 fits on the fancy charging stand my dad bought me. (my iPad 3 has the 30pin charger on it. I got that iPad about this time last summer, before they released the new iPad 3 that uses the same charging cable as the Mini)

I'm waiting to buy an iPhone 5 from Sam's Club. (they're on sale there). On a waiting list there for that. I want the iPhone because it'll have all the same functions that my iPad Mini has. Might be easier to carry around with me than the iMini is sometimes.

i'm still slowly trying to discover it. I am trying not tolet it tke over my life of which I have a tendency for my new toys to do that. Since I wake up around 11 AM daily, have to visit all my things on face book and do my games for the morning, then have lunch. Then it's off to the Y, come home, catch my breath and on the the NH to visit MI From there we go out to supper. and tonight was grocery shopping for the family coming in this weekend. So I haven't had much time to discover it. My SIL is an Apple freak and an IT guy and I know he will have fun setting me up with everything I need. I at least I hope he will. It's kind of hard to get him away from his own laptop when we are with him, whether it's at their house or ours. He has had this Apple laptop since about 2003, same one. So far I don't like the app store, or maybe I just can't understand it. My android phone has a search engine that is so easy to find and see and I can find any app I want. I did manage to find a magazine I wanted. I found out that just because it says free doesn't mean it's free after 1 month.

yeah, I didn't like that about the magazines being "free". I don't buy e-magazines. I get actual paper magazines when I want one, because that way I don't have to worry about ending up with a subscription that I didn't want. Not all the free magazines do that tho.

I don't have a lot of apps on my iPads. I have a few, but I get bored with them pretty quickly. I really just use my iPads like I would a computer. It's a way for me to get onto the internet. I use it for banking and my car insurance. And it's my library of books and other stuff to read. (I read fan fiction that I get off the internet. Use Amazon to convert documents into Kindle files)

I do love to use Siri. When I want to know what the temperature is outside. All I have to do is hold down the Home button until I get the little Siri beep, then say "temperature". You don't have to say Siri's name for a lot of stuff. Just one word can sometimes get her to answer your question. I use her as a calculator a lot.

The iPad Mini also has a nice alarm clock on it. I just hold the Home button and say "wake me at <whatever time>" and it sets the alarm for me. Works better than any other alarm clock I've ever had. (don't have to twist into weird positions to get to the top of my bed's head board to turn off the alarm either)

When I go grocery shopping, I make my lists on the notepad. (I haven't been grocery shopping in a long time. I had a flare earlier this summer that screwed up my walking. Hope I can get back to doing that. My parents never buy me the cookies I like)

I think my iPads are actually more useful than my regular computers are. Mostly because they're portable. The Mini is more portable than the iPad3 is tho. They're just fun. But, I am a gadget geek. Love anything electronic and gadgety

I like to ask Siri funny tings and see what she says. The main reason I bought this expensive toy was so I could talk to my daughter. Their budget is so tight that she can't call me but once a week and then has to limit the time on her phone since they have the prepaid now. With our Ipads we can talk all we want and I can see her. I see the grand kids and see thier litlle antics.

I do the same thing with Siri. I also cuss her out sometimes to see what she'll say back to me.

oh, and my transformation to total Apple fangirl is now complete. I bought an iPhone 5 on saturday. I have been assimilated. Resistance was futile...not that I was resisting much.

I've been waiting for two years to get an iPhone. I bought my old android two years ago, and two days after I bought it, Sprint had finally gotten the iPhone. Missed it by two days and had to wait two years. But, I'm glad that my first iPhone is the iPhone 5. It's pretty cool. I still prefer my iPad Mini for doing everything I do online tho.

I am surrounded by Apple products right now. Two iPads (iPad3 and a iPad Mini) I'm typing this on my new iMac, and watching movies on my Mac Mini. I am about to sell my old 120gb iPod to my boyfriend, and might be doing the same with my iPod Touch. Apple saw me coming and just started making cool gadgets for me to throw money at them for. I'm a little afraid to see what their next gadget will be. I'll probably end up buying one, whatever it is.

I'm starting to feel like an old fogey around you folks; and everyone else these days. I still have a land line and my cell phone is still the flip phone type and it hasn't even been set up to take messages .
I've never taken a picture with it and texting with it is out of the question because the keyboard is the old kind with numbers and 2 or 3 letters below them. Mind you, I only use it occasionally...mostly in case I run into some sort of trouble during outings.

While I admire those who have embraced the new technologies, I feel somewhat intimidated by the iphones and ipads that I see people using. Not ready to take the plunge and get one yet.

With love, Erika

Me too Erika.

I tend to be hard on electronics, so I did put a film cover on both my nook and samsung. A little hard to put on without bubbles, but it does protect the screen. Glad you got your Ipad. ginnie

My dad is talking about going back to a flip phone that just takes calls. He did say he might be ok with a camera. My dad was saying that now that he's retired, he doesn't exactly need the fancy smart phone. Seeing as how I've got one, and I can look up anything he wants faster than he can turn on his cellphone, he doesn't really need his android anymore.

I thought that he could just get one of the phones that doesn't have a contract, and he can just add minutes to it when he needs them. I love having gadgets, but I can totally see the appeal of having a basic phone too. The batteries on a basic phone probably last a lot longer without having to power a screen, bluetooth, and wifi.

My mom's phone that we bought her for Xmas in 2002 still works, and is probably the most basic cellphone I've ever seen. We've never changed her contract, so I think she's just month to month now on her phone. For her, she would never be able to figure out how to get onto the internet with her phone (think it might have that function, if we paid for it). If her phone breaks, we'll get her a no-contract phone. Hope it doesn't. She's pretty proud of how long her phone has lasted.