The West Foundry: June 2015

I got the Xiaomi MiPad in July 2014, soon after it was launched in China. I live in Singapore, and Xiaomi sells its products here. But it didn't launch the MiPad in Singapore until February of this year. Yes, a full seven months after its initial release in China. Needless to say, having gotten it soon following its launch in China, my set is a Chinese set and it came without Google Framework Services installed.

Installing it myself was a breeze and after the MiPad's release in Singapore, I flashed the Global version of the MIUI 6 tablet software, overriding the Chinese version of MIUI which the tablet came preloaded with, out of the box.

For this review, I'm not going to dive very deep into the technical aspects, but rather, the overall user experience because that is the most important thing.

What I Like

Price-to-Performance Ratio

The MiPad definitely punches well above its weight. That is, if you were to look at the price-to-performance ratio, this product compares very favourably to other products in its price range. In China, the MiPad costs RMB 1,499 (US$243) for the 16GB model and RMB 1,699 (USD$276) for the 64GB model. The MiPad still compares very favourably against other competing products price-wise, even today.

Good Screen Quality (For the Most Part)

The screen is pretty good, though my unit and many others suffer from light bleeding. I find it to be tolerable. As far as I can tell, the screen is fully laminated, which means there's no air gap, which is definitely a win over Apple's iPad Mini line, with which it directly competes with.

Decent Battery Life

Battery life is pretty good, if you don't turn on the "Performance Mode". Battery life drains pretty quickly though, when running intensive tasks, no doubt due in part to overheating(more on that later).

What I Don't Like

It's an Android tablet

There's no getting around it: The MiPad is an Android-running tablet. The app situation on the Android tablet front has improved over the years, but it is still severely lacking when compared to the iPad. Unlike on Apple's iPad, Android tablets still suffer from a dearth of apps that are tailored for a larger screen canvas and that take full advantage of a tablet's larger display. Often times, in place of a tablet-optimised app, users are left with a "stretch-out" smartphone app, on a tablet display, which translates to a horrible experience.

This is even more apparent to me as I use an iPad as well. There's always this sense that I should put down the MiPad while I'm using it and grab the iPad cos the experience with apps is so much better on the iPad. I really don't mean to knock the Android ecosystem, but it is what it is.

Here are a few app comparison photos I took:

The comparison is with apps on the iPad Air, which has a larger display. However, this is still a valid comparison, as apps on the iPad Mini(same size display as MiPad), are as well-optimised as on the iPad Air, unlike Android apps on the MiPad.

ChannelNewsAsia app on iPad Air(Left) and MiPad(Right)

BusinessInsider app on iPad Air(Left) and MiPad(Right)

One can clearly see how iPad apps are tailored for a larger canvas, are optimised to display more information in a more visually appealing manner. Hopefully Android tablet apps will keep improving overtime.

Also, as the MiPad runs Android, it suffers from app incompatibility issues. So, users might not be able to run some apps which are on the Google Play store, a problem I ran into pretty often.

One of the many apps I couldn't install on the MiPad

Inconsistent Performance/Occasional Sluggishness

The tablet also tends to get very hot when running CPU and/or GPU intensive tasks.
I also found that the NVIDIA K1 CPU takes quite some time to "get up to speed". Let me explain. If my MiPad was sitting on my coffee table, and in standby mode and I pick it up, wake it from standby and launch a game such as Asphault 8, it would stutter like crazy. It takes awhile(about a minute, give or take) before it stabilises and after that, the game runs pretty smoothly.

My guess: Since I just woke it from standby, the CPU had to take some time to "accelerate/throttle up", thus it stutters in the beginning and the stuttering stops after awhile when the CPU has "gotten up to speed".

I also noticed that the home page takes a while to load most of the time, when returning from an app to the home screen, very often when I have a few apps running. I find that MIUI on both smartphones and tablets to be pretty RAM-hungry, so this could be the cause.

MiPad telling me "Just a sec" while loading the home page

Conclusion - Should You Get It?

Do I think the Xiaomi MiPad is worth getting now?

Well, that depends on a few things.

1. Are you absolutely dead set on a non-iOS tablet?

3. If you don't mind the lack of LTE connectivity or don't need LTE connectivity at all

2. Can you get it for cheap? If you can, it's a good buy. But I doubt it, since unless you live in specific countries where Xiaomi sells it's products, you probably need to import and pay the relevant fees, and it will all add up to a bloated cost.

All in all, I found that when it was first launched close to a year ago, the MiPad offered plenty of value. I just wish Xiaomi gave customers an Wifi+LTE option and that the Android app ecosystem wasn't so sparse.

For non-power users who just want a small tablet for couch surfing and basic tasks, the MiPad is worth a look. I also think the MiPad is also suitable for those that live outside of Apple's ecosystem. That is, if you own other Android device(s), are invested in the Android ecosystem and do not have any investment in Apple's ecosystem.

If however you are a demanding user and big on apps and are particular about app quality, look elsewhere. The MiPad's day-to-day performance, app quality and the Android tablet ecosystem still can't match the it's main competitor - the iPad Mini.

Earlier in April, AppleInsider reported that Apple's iPod Touch, long due for a major update, might finally see an update this year.

Some would shoot down this rumour and say an iPod Touch refresh is unlikely, given its reduced prominence in recent years, as well as how iPods themselves represent a very small percentage of Apple's sales.

But I would say the biggest hint that Apple hasn't given up on the iPod Touch came from Apple CEO Tim Cook himself, when he was interviewed at WSJD Live in late 2014. I caught this hint back when the interview first got uploaded on Youtube in late 2014 and with the recent rumours of an iPod Touch refresh due later this year, I thought I'd revisit this and flesh it out to those that didn't catch the hint.

I have attached the video below.

When questioned by a member of the audience regarding the discontinuation of the iPod Classic with its massive 160gb storage (Video time stamp:29:00), Tim Cook said, "We had the choice the choice of either doing a total redesign, a total new project, or trying to get people to go to the iPod Touch if they wanted a dedicated music device... And we are shipping a lot of flash(storage) in it(iPod Touch) now." More importantly, he added, "And so, you can get almost all the ones that can go on the Classic. Not quite yet, over time that might change."

So, Tim Cook basically said that he feels the current iPod Touch with 64gb configuration is enough for most users and over time, there might be an iPod Touch with a larger storage configuration for those storage-hungry users.

I take this to mean that Apple has an iPod Touch update in the pipeline. Why else would Tim say, "over time that might change"?

iPod Touch 128gb anyone?

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Saturday, 6 June 2015

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10 Months With The Xiaomi MiPad - How Has It Held Up? User Experience Review