The Apple Pencil section was confusing. Several paragraphs pass but the text never states "the 2nd gen Apple pencil DOES NOT WORK WITH THIS"(?). Then there's a concluding sentence for the section that says "It's too bad it doesn't work." I re-read and skimmed it repeatedly. The section praises the 2nd gen Apple pencil, which is confusing when it's not clearly that it doesn't work with the products under review until the last couple lines.
Anyway, yes, the darn old Mini hardware design. The bezels are bad today, but what is worse that is the angled strip of cheap-looking shiny plastic that intervenes between the screen glass and the side/rear shell. It looks terrible and cheap, it has always looked terrible. I'm in disbelief about that part every time I look at my iPad Mini or the new iPad Minis at the store. That part is stunningly un-Apple-like. What I really want is new iPad Mini that has the same curved sides as the iPhone 6 - iPhone 8.
The "64 or 256" option is trolling. Clever, but trolling.
Might look cheap to you, but I don’t think that’s plastic. Polished aluminum I believe. Part of the rear housing too I think if we’re talking about the same thing.
It absolutely is polished aluminum, and saying that it's "un-Apple-like" reveals an ignorance of the history of Apple design. The chamfered edge of the iPhone 5/5S/SE is cited as one of the important elements of its critically-acclaimed design.
Do link me to a reputable design award that specifically cites or details the polished chamfered edge.
The new 2019 versions deleted the polished shine on the edge (I was mistaken about this in my earlier post because I had only seen photos and hadn’t seen it up close yet), rightfully, so it couldn’t have been too special.
The “ignorance of Apple history” comment is an insulting and drastic fundamental attribution error. I’m talking about my personal take on one single tiny element. And specifically the shiny polish by the way, not the edge itself. I’ve been buying Apple products for 15 years, used them at school for 30 years, and none of them had what looks like a strip of shiny tin foil wrapping an edge with non-shiny matte right next to it. The mirror-shiny part seems to exaggerate scuffs/dings on the edge, this is what made me incorrectly think it was plastic, in addition to the shine resembling fake plastic chrome on a toy. Anyway, it’s like shiny chrome rims on a car, it’s not automatically a good thing unless it works with what is right next to it, and it’s out of place with what I love and have come to expect with my iPods, iPhones, and MacBook Pros. In my opinion the polished shiny metal strip is also a terrible example of “OOOH, SHINY MEANS QUALITY, RIGHT?” superficiality which is a fail in this one case, like an obnoxious chrome or gold gun skin in Call of Duty. Meanwhile shininess is executed perfectly fine aesthetically in a different case, like the back of the great iPhone 4 in my opinion.
I think you’re not paying close enough attention if you’re not able to see and understand a person’s hot take on one single tiny design element, even if you disagree with the judgment.
“You’re ignorant of Apple design” is a religious-like statement that can be used with completely different meanings to dismiss any possible criticism. It can mean “that design element ISN’T out of place, you’re too ignorant to realize it” or also “that design element IS out of place, you’re too ignorant to know that Apple sometimes does an unexpected detail, out of place is good here.”
