Living with the iPad Mini: Three weeks and counting

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

OK, I'll admit it. The iPad Mini hasn't left my hands in the last three weeks. It's been no contest, really. While the larger fourth-gen iPad has sat alone by my bedside table, the mini has gone on field trips on the bus, gotten dragged in my jacket pocket while I dropped my kid off at school, been coddled at the cafe over breakfast, and slipped alongside by laptop on work excursions.

As I predicted when I reviewed it, the Mini's had a hard time leaving my hands, because few places seem inappropriate for it. At a Kindle size, it's bedroom-friendly. It'll set up nicely on a kitchen counter. It slides into otherwise lesser-used front pockets on backpacks. And it might be the best gaming handheld Apple's ever made, based on the sheer size of the screen and its thin, two-hand-friendly frame.

But, what does that mean? (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

It means, I'm enchanted with the form. And rightfully so. You could make the argument that the original iPad was all about screen size and form, more than anything technologically revolutionary. The same feels true here. The iPad Mini would have been a shocking device a few years ago, but now it slides into a ... [Read more]