iPad Mini- Take 2! (2022 Edition)

 

Whelp, I did it again- for the past 10 days or so, I've been using the new iPad Mini 6... and I just love it. I wish that Samsung would make a 7 or 8 inch tablet, but until they do, I am enjoying this one. With my life becoming increasingly mobile in nature, I was finding the Tab S7 just too cumbersome to carry around. Not to mention, because of its size, I have been unable to use any of my handbags since they won't hold it. So, I decided to take the plunge, mainly because:

1. The new version of the Apple Pencil does not need to be stuck into the bottom of the ipad to charge (that setup was so annoying!)

2. The new Ipad Mini uses USB-C so all my current cables work with it perfectly. 

3. iOS has widgets! For me- being able to immediately see data on my main screen is a make it or break it proposition.

The transition took some work, even though I use a lot of apps that have cross-system functionality. Evernote, SafeinCloud, Dropbox took no time to get on my iPad. But Samsung notes and YourCloset don't have Apple versions, and these are my top used apps. My workarounds:

Samsung Notes -> ShelfNote:

I painstakingly exported the notes I would need into PDFs. This was not as bad as I thought it would be, because most of my notes get sent into Evernote once completed. I tend to only keep 'active notes' that I need to annotate in SN. 

I decided to use ShelfNote. I had previously tried it for a while on the Surface Duo but it drained the already paltry battery so quickly that I had to look for an alternative. I see it's hard on the iPad battery but with more capacity, it's not as big a deal.

One of my favorite features of ShelfNote, and a big reason to use it if you are using cross-platform devices (my phone is still Samsung) is that you can configure it to auto-sync notes to Evernote. I can see all my notes even as I am updating them on my iPad. 

YourCloset-> Stylebook:

I lucked out when I landed on YourCloset as my wardrobe manager app. Tucked in the settings menu was a hidden gem called "Export Images to Gallery (Beta)". This feature made it possible for me to make the most of the almost 500 images I had compiled in the years I had been using it. I then made folders in Dropbox by category and uploaded all my images there, then imported them into StyleBook. Creating outfits/looks was a tedious, manual process but once it was done, so worth it. 

With Stylebook only being for iOS, I had to find a way to access the data via my phone. I decided to use the OneDrive widget and save a screenshot each month of my planned outfits. I really hadn't been using my phone to manage my wardrobe any way, so this was not a huge workflow change. 

Connectivity

This is a big one. After 2+ years of wifi only, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had the option to add a 5GB block of Tmobile Data to my ipad for just $10 with 6 months to use it. I think this model is so much better than paying month-to-month for data you may or may not use. 

I've really been enjoying using this iPad. In another few days I'll be deciding if I am going to go ahead and sell my Samsung tablet- it's definitely looking like I will!