Thoughts on the iPad Mini 7 Review Is It Good Enough

  • 0:20 — Jelly Scrolling has been fixed
  • 1:20 — Great spec bump with the A17 Pro / 8GB RAM / 128GB storage
  • 2:28 — Apple Pencil Pro support with squeeze, barrel roll and hover
  • 3:28 — Old cases still work
  • 3:45 — USB-C port is now 10GBps
  • 4:55 — No improvement to battery life
  • 5:12 — Front camera has not been moved or upgraded
  • 5:58 — No external-screen Stage Manager
  • 6:33 — Some ‘Pro’ apps will be locked out due to lack of M-chip support
  • 7:48 — Screen still only 500 nits

@Lane
This is a really helpful format. Thanks for sharing.

@Lane

0:20 — Jelly Scrolling has been fixed

Just a note that The Verge says it’s the same

Zane said:
@Lane
0:20 — Jelly Scrolling has been fixed

Just a note that The Verge says it’s the same

Since it’s using the same display I’d be surprised if it’s changed.

@Zuri
The issue was caused by the display controller, not the actual display.

Oaklan said:
@Zuri
The issue was caused by the display controller, not the actual display.

They didn’t change the controller either. Well, they rotated it.

Zuri said:

Oaklan said:
@Zuri
The issue was caused by the display controller, not the actual display.

They didn’t change the controller either. Well, they rotated it.

There are ways to fix the problem without changing the controller, and rotation isn’t one.

Zuri said:

Oaklan said:
@Zuri
The issue was caused by the display controller, not the actual display.

They didn’t change the controller either. Well, they rotated it.

Why is this downvoted?

They are using the same controller but rotated the orientation of it.

@Zuri
It’s downvoted because that’s not how it works

The problem is screen tearing, which means it’s either a frame rate mismatch between the GPU and the display. Or the display controller isn’t scanning new frames quickly enough before the display refreshes. Changing the physical orientation of the controller fixes neither of those problems, it scans out just the same.

@Vega
Apple didn’t change the screen or the controller. I was just stating the facts.

Zuri said:
@Vega
Apple didn’t change the screen or the controller. I was just stating the facts.

How do you know that? They either changed the controller or the TCON to fix the tearing. I guess we’ll wait for iFixits teardown.

Zane said:
@Lane
0:20 — Jelly Scrolling has been fixed

Just a note that The Verge says it’s the same

David Pierce is not a great reviewer and his product knowledge is really poor. I wouldn’t trust his opinion.

@Vern
Did they switch it to landscape mode perhaps?

I was at the store looking at the new iPad Pros and noticed jelly scrolling there too but not as much due to the high refresh rate. So it makes me curious how they ‘fixed’ it here. This guy didn’t even check landscape mode.

@Ainsley
One orientation will show the jelly scroll. A screen refreshes top to bottom in a single orientation.

The jelly effect is because it’s refreshing horizontally based on how it’s held.

With the 6th gen, they made it refresh horizontally. It was noticeable because most people scroll in portrait, plus being 60Hz made it more visible.

The A17 model just swapped back to refresh vertically, so you’ll see the jelly scroll in landscape like it should have been.

@Denny

One orientation will show the jelly scroll

Which orientation on the iPad Pro shows jelly? Or the Air? Or even the base model?

As far as I know it only exists on the mini. The problem didn’t exist on my old Tab S2 or Nexus 7.

Jelly scrolling is not a given with this tech. It’s a result of choices made. If you search and exclude the iPad mini you’ll find a OnePlus phone and two years of one of the Samsung tablets. And nothing else.

Don’t normalize Apple’s mistake.

@Aeron
Some people say it happens with all displays but, like you mentioned, before the iPad mini, I only heard about it with the OnePlus 5. It was a big deal back then because I had a OnePlus 3 and didn’t want to upgrade if my screen was going to be worse.

@Aeron
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWKb_khoFzw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJQiu6TTx94

Check these out.

@Aeron
On the new iPP I noticed jelly in portrait mode. It was less noticeable than the mini but still there if you look closely. But I probably wouldn’t hold it in portrait much, as it felt awkward.

@Vern
Many other reviews noted it’s not fixed, but much reduced.

The idea of Apple changing the display so it’s more obvious in landscape fits with what those reviews see.