Tell me again why some company is selling a mockup, and why? What next - a Samsung replica of a mockup, with patent infringement lawsuits to follow? Insanity!

Is that an iPad mini in your pocket, or Samsung's next galaxy S IIII

I sure hope it doesn't look like this, I find it quite ugly. The form itself is not great, but even besides that I am so sick of the aluminium and don't think it fits here.

I think aluminium looks great on most of their products and adds a bit of class that other devices generally don't have but it just doesn't seem to work on this shape. With all the undercuts and complex curves it looks un-natural to be carved out of aluminium and it must certainly be a lot more work than their other designs which suit this particular manufacturing process much better.

Plastic would actually be a preferable materials choice in an iPad mini IMO.

Since this product doesn't actually match/fit/work with *any* of the iPad mini cables that we've seen leaks of, I am going to cling to the hope that this is actually not at all what the iPad mini will look like even though it seems increasingly likely that it is.

It's easier to make a fake shell than it is a fake cable/port combination.

The leaks are inevitable. Makes me miss Jobs. Apple products are great no matter what but the mystery around the launches really made them fun and special. Very odd to admit but I'm going to miss that if they can't get a handle on these leaks. I seem to remember Jobs had severe consequences for leakers but from the complete lack of surprises with iPhone 5 I have to believe it's getting harder and harder to keep a leash on vendors, partners, collaborators. (The only real surprise for me was the details of the A6 chip, which is stunning and not nearly as appreciated as it should be)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gazoobee 

I sure hope it doesn't look like this, I find it quite ugly. The form itself is not great, but even besides that I am so sick of the aluminium and don't think it fits here.

I think aluminium looks great on most of their products and adds a bit of class that other devices generally don't have but it just doesn't seem to work on this shape. With all the undercuts and complex curves it looks un-natural to be carved out of aluminium and it must certainly be a lot more work than their other designs which suit this particular manufacturing process much better.

Plastic would actually be a preferable materials choice in an iPad mini IMO.

Since this product doesn't actually match/fit/work with *any* of the iPad mini cables that we've seen leaks of, I am going to cling to the hope that this is actually not at all what the iPad mini will look like even though it seems increasingly likely that it is.

It's easier to make a fake shell than it is a fake cable/port combination.

Remember how awful the first leaks of the iPhone 5 were? Partially the photography was to blame but also the mockups were not always the same material or build quality of the final production model. Honestly most of the iPads I see in the wild these days have a full case, now that many work in conjunction with smart cover. The strength and rigidity of the aluminum is a good design material in my opinion even if you won't see it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flaneur 


And how would you like your plastic? Pebble finished? Rippled? Smooth and shiny? Matte, to hide (and collect) the grease?
And how would you suggest the heat get dissipated? What drugs would you recommend for the design team so they could swallow the thought of using such a vast expanse of plastic on their new mini flagship device?
"I am so sick" of narcissists saying they are so sick of this or that stable design feature simply because they have seen it before and they now know it's not going to change. It's like a two-year-old kid throwing a tantrum over something he knows is good for him, just to be perverse.
Actually I don't even believe what you're saying is real. Just your inner troll coming out.

Wow.  This post is incredibly rude even by AppleInsider forum standards.  

I say what I think, and you just throw personal insults back, including responding to things I didn't actually say or even imply.  Where do you get off telling me what I "actually" think?  

If I wouldn't get banned for saying it I might suggest you go f*ck yourself. Please note that I didn't actually say that, I think this might be just what you think you can detect me thinking again.  :rolleyes:  Moderators please note that this guy personally attacked me first ("narcissist"), if you're going to start banning/warning folks.

For the record:

- There is nothing wrong with plastic, lots of Apple products are plastic (always shiny despite your straw man about plastic textures).  

- There are many ways to dissipate heat beginning with not generating as much to begin with.  

- Your sentence about "drugging the team" kind of implies that you have a strong bias *against* plastic for no real reason other than you don't like it, yet you are calling me out for the very same thing.  Yeah, that makes sense.  :-/

You also probably missed the great care I took to talk about how I actually like the aluminium on most of their products and that I felt only that it was a bad choice on this *particular* product before you took to blanket insults about my character. 

OK you two, if you don't cut it out right NOW, I'm gonna have to come back there and separate you - so KNOCK IT OFF !

Quote:

Originally Posted by jragosta 


Looks to me like it's a Lightning connector. Why are you confused by that?

I wasn't clear I guess.  I meant that there have been two separate "leaks" (photos) or purported "iPad mini cables," and that neither of them actually fit with this shell design that we keep seeing lately.  

The first one here:

Has the earphone jack on the bottom, it's black, and it's an earphone jack that would only fit in a device of a different profile (hard to see, but it's cut off at a 45 degree slant just like the one in the current iPad).  

The more recent one: 

Comes in Black and White varieties and has a earphone jack that would fit in a device with this more rounded profile, (note teh "saddle" curve of the earphone connector), but is still on the bottom of the device, not the top.  

Since the last two iPads used black only connectors cut off at a slant, and the devices were aluminium, and the latest cable leak shows black and white connectors with the curved profiles, I initially thought that this meant the new iPad mini would be plastic and come in black and white varieties as this makes the most sense out of the various leaks IMO.  

The fact that this aluminium mock-up keeps popping up is giving me pause, but I still think the picture of the "iPad mini cables" (second one above), is more believable than most things we've seen so who knows?