Business Lessons from History - Story of COLGATE

Colgate is a household name; and upon hearing that name, most people in America think immediately of toothpaste. But if anybody knew about the man behind that name, they might think immediately about Christ and the path Colgate and Christ walked- together.

William Colgate drew his first breath on January 25th, 1783 in the parish of Hollingbourn, in the County of Kent, England. William`s father, Robert, was a farmer by trade and was known for a sharp intellect and strong political convictions. 

William Colgate

The elder Colgate`s outspoken support for the Colonies` struggle for independence, both before and during the Revolutionary War, would eventually bring political persecution from British authorities. 

God intervened and the family was startled awake in the middle of the night by someone pounding on their front door. The Colgate`s had a friend in Prime Minister William Pitt and he had sent his personal messenger to warn William Colgate to take his family and flee England. If Colgate remained in England, the messenger warned, he would certainly face prison- or even death. But what worldly authorities meant for evil, God would eventually transform into good. 

The family boarded a ship in March, 1798 and sailed for America. They settled on a farm in Hartford Co.,Maryland. William's father soon formed a partnership with Ralph Maher to manufacture soap and candles. Young William helped the two men and caught on quickly. Despite their hard work, the partnership failed and Robert Colgate returned to farming. 

But William liked the business and was convinced he could become successful. So William struck out on his own, but within one year the business failed from lack of capital, and William Colgate had to close his doors. 

Despite the two setbacks, Colgate would not give up - a good lesson for anyone who has a God-given dream. God will still direct your paths, if you acknowledge Him and commit your business to Him in all thy ways-even failure. A Christian friend who worked as a canal-boat captain advised Colgate,

"Give your heart to Christ. Give God all that belongs to Him. Make an honest soap. Give a full pound... Someone will be the leading soap maker in New York. It may be you!"

As William studied the Bible, he was intrigued by the words of Jacob in Genesis 28: 20-22:

"And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."

In 1804, Colgate was employed by another soap maker as an apprentice. Colgate`s observation was keen, and despite his age he was aware of Proverbs admonition to heed instruction, even if that instruction comes from those who fail (Proverbs 24:30-32). Colgate believed the company was being mismanaged and he was right. 

The company finally was forced to cease production in 1806, but Colgate` s reputation and ambition enabled him to make contacts with dealers in other cities and he was able to establish himself in the business. William Colgate and Company was successful from the very beginning and within six years the company had diversified, adding starch manufacturing to its product line. Soon, the company would also be producing hand soap and other toilet and shaving soap products.

While Colgate was deeply involved in getting his business established, he did not neglect to acknowledge his God and attend to his spiritual needs. Colgate attributed his success to his commitment to Scriptural principles. As Jacob had promised to give the first fruits of his labor to God, so Colgate made a similar promise. 

Ten percent of Colgate`s profits were faithfully given to God`s work. Colgate soon became one of the most prosperous businessmen in New York. God was directing his paths. Colgate`s business was not the only thing in his life that was growing and prospering. 

Colgate married Mary Gilbert in 1811- a union that would eventually bear eleven children. His marriage to Mary was what some called, "a happy union with a partner of congenial spirit." 

The Colgates even acknowledged God when naming their children: they were fond of giving their children biblical names. This reflected their Christian worldview in every aspect of their lives. The family attended church and read the family bible together. 

Colgate was active in various Christian civic efforts, including temperance efforts. He also gave large sums of money to various educational institutions, including what was then called Madison College, in Hamilton, New York. 

Due to his generosity, the school is known today as Colgate University. He was a great supporter of missions, choosing at one time to be the sole supporter of one particular foreign missionary. In 1816, Colgate was instrumental in organizing the American Bible Society and later, the American and Foreign Bible Society. He also served on the board of the American Tract Society. Colgate became known affectionately as "Deacon Colgate."

As Colgate`s business endeavors continued to prosper and be blessed by God, he instructed his accountants to increase his giving- first to 20 percent and then to 30. And as he continued to give, his company began to prosper all the more.

The soap king met the King of Kings on March the 25th 1857. His son succeeded him in business and the company continued its successful course, due to William Colgate`s solid biblical foundations.

Today, Colgate-Palmolive is one of America`s oldest and most successful Fortune 500 companies. Its worldwide sales revenues exceed nine billion dollars annually and it offers its products in 221 countries and provinces around the globe. 

Its product lines include oral, personal, household, and fabric care, as well as pet nutrition. Brands and products include such well-known names as Colgate, Palmolive, Speed-Stick, Fab, Murphy, Ajax, and Irish Spring. The success of Colgate-Palmolive is a testimony to what God can do with a young apprentice committed to following his dream and committed to acknowledging the God who fulfills dreams.

Colgate was known worldwide

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs iPhone 5: Honda vs BMW (Forbes)

Ever so often there is something that comes our way that just makes you go WOW. Investors did just this with the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs iPhone 5: Honda vs BMW (Forbes)

Of course Apple is everyone’s favourite for the WOW factor, but recently you have to give Samsung all the credit. There has been a great deal of talk about how they have dominated the smartphone market and some don’t know how they managed it, while others say that their dominance will not continue in 2013.

So can Samsung keep the lead or will it be more about how Apple and the iPhone 5 responds to them taking the lead that counts? Then you have to take Microsoft into account along with RIM and Nokia. Of course the latter three are not strong contenders and they perhaps won’t be able to compete with the two main competitors, Apple and Samsung. So with two in the race, the pressure is on to find out who will come in first place.

Some people may be drawn to one or the other after the court battles and on-going patent fights. Samsung managed to move up the ranks thanks to two basic factors. These were variety and cost. Samsung also have a better understanding of the ecosystem of their rival than others have. They also knew that they were never going to be able to take die-hard Apple fans away; they had to bring in their own fans and keep them. To do this they designed a phone that offered virtually everything the iPhone offers and more and they gave it a lower price tag i.e. the Samsung Galaxy S3 which is neck-and-neck with the iPhone 5 in terms of hardware.

Samsung are also not afraid to lower their prices if they need to, whereas Apple sticks to the same price time after time with their iPhone releases. Yet despite this fact the iPhone does sell well.

It hasn’t taken Samsung long to take the top spot away from the iPhone 4S and so you can say that they do have a strategy that seems to work and it works better than Apple thought it would. However the point is does Apple care about this and the answer is probably not.

Apple stands apart from other companies in that they drag in more money from each of the devices that they sell. Samsung may have taken the lead and if Apple wants to take their top spot back they could do so easily and take fans away from Samsung as all they would have to do is lower their prices. They could afford to do this easily and still be the most valuable company.

However this is not something that investors of Apple would want as there is no point in having a best-selling handset if it is not making earnings or very little. Bear in mind that Nokia and Motorola were once both at the top and look at them now.

Apple has never been known to follow trends, instead it sets them. Of course there are some that say that Apple have already responded to Samsung, with the launch of their iPad Mini. The iPad Mini comes with the price tag of $329 for the starting version, which is 60% more than the $199 price tag that comes with the Kindle Fire and the Nexus 7.

Forbes sums it up best by saying that when you compare the products of Samsung and Apple you are comparing a Honda to a BMW; after all you only get what you pay for concludes the blog.

Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) – A Guide to Malaysia’s Voluntary Private Retirement Scheme

The ‘soft’ launch of Malaysia’s voluntary Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) in July 2012 was greeted with much fanfare, but what is it exactly, and how can savers / investors / residents in Malaysia benefit?

What is the Private Retirement Scheme (PRS)?

In short, the PRS is a defined contribution pension scheme which allows people (or their employers) to voluntarily contribute into an investment vehicle for the purposes of building up their retirement income.

In a Malaysian retirement framework, it is to be complemented with (and not a substitute for) the mandatory contributions made by both employee and employers to the EPF scheme.

Having a voluntary scheme in addition to the EPF also allows private company employees and self-employed persons to voluntarily contribute towards their retirement in a systematic way.

Similarities of PRS with the EPF:

1. Retirement Purpose: Both the EPF and PRS schemes are for building up a person’s retirement assets and income.

2. Tax Benefit: Tax relief is given for contributions to both schemes (up to RM6,000 a year for EPF, RM3,000 for PRS)

PRS vs EPF: A Summary

Feature Differences	PRS	EPF
Contribution Type	Voluntary	Mandatory
Contribution Amount	No statutory minimum or maximum	Statutory minimum (11% Employee, 12-13% Employer)
Contribution Frequency	No statutory interval	Statutory Monthly Contribution
Contribution Paid to	Individual PRS Providers	EPF Directly
Yearly Personal Tax Relief	RM3,000	RM6,000
Partial Withdrawal	From Sub-Account B only, and 8% Tax Penalty	Account 2 only, specific reasons no penalty
Selection of Fund Investments	Freedom of Selection (among PRS Providers)	Freedom only on Partial Amount (EPF-MIS)
Dividend Policy	No statutory minimum (depends on Fund performance)	Minimum 2.5% p.a.

PRS Providers

The PRS Providers are fund management firms which are approved by the PRS administrators to manage the investment vehicles that contributions get paid into.

The eight PRS Providers approved (as at 5 April 2012) are:

• AmInvestment Management Sdn Bhd;
• American International Assurance Bhd;
• CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd;
• Hwang Investment Management Berhad;
• ING Funds Bhd;
• Manulife Unit Trust Bhd;
• Public Mutual Bhd; and
• RHB Investment Management Sdn Bhd

PRS Features – Contributions, Investment, Benefits, Withdrawals

While the major points are covered in the summary above, in this section we will attempt to give a bit more detail about the specific features about the PRS.

The PRS was just recently ‘soft’ launched (July 2012), by this we mean that PRS Providers are not yet ready to accept funds, and all the relevant parties will spend the next few months educating potential members and the public on the various aspects of the PRS.

Contributions

Unlike the EPF, PRS contributions are not mandatory, and they can be made by either an individual or an employer. There is no statutory minimum amount (although PRS providers may specify a minimum amount as per their own internal investment policy) and no statutory time interval for contributions.

Investment Choices

In the PRS scheme, individuals themselves have the autonomy to decide on fund investments (similar to the EPF-MIS scheme, but this time with the entirety of their contribution rather than a small amount), meaning that individuals can tailor their investments according to their own risk-return profile, whereas in the general EPF scheme they would have their retirement fund subject to a single set constraints and objectives which may not be suitable for everyone.

Members would have the option to contribute to more than one fund under a PRS or to contribute to more than one PRS, offered by different PRS Providers. The PPA provides quite a handy graphic to depict this process:

A default option would also be made available for members who select their PRS Provider but do not specify a fund option. The default option would cater for different age groups, with aggressive funds for younger investors and conservative funds for older investors.

Members would also have the option to switch funds within a PRS at any time, or change to another PRS Provider once a year subject to terms imposed by the PRS Provider. The first transfer can only be requested by a member one year after making the first contribution to any fund under the Scheme.

Dividend Policy

Unlike the EPF’s statutory minimum dividend rate of 2.5% p.a., the PRS does not have one, and as it involves investments which can go up as well as down, and herein lies the biggest difference. If EPF investments don’t perform well, the EPF still has to give positive returns (this 2.5%) to their members, whereas PRS members may see non-dividend paying years or even worse, their pension investments going down in value, regardless of choice of risk-return profile of investment.

Benefits

In the Malaysian Government’s Budget 2012, there is a specified tax relief of up to RM3,000 for 10 years beginning 2012 for contributions to the PRS. This is similar to the tax relief given to EPF contributions. For top tax rate payers, this amounts to a saving of RM780 a year!

A tax exemption is also given on all income generated by the PRS Funds.

Withdrawals

Similarly to the EPF, contributions in the PRS are split into two types of sub-accounts (they are lumped together for investment purposes but the seperation is to identify the withdrawal status), 70% in Sub-Account A and 30% in Sub-Account B.

The entire fund in your PRS can be withdrawn upon reaching retirement age (currently 55 years), death or emigration.

Partial withdrawal for pre-retirement (prior to reaching 55 years of age) is allowed as well, but this can be only from Sub-Account B once a year and will incur an 8% tax penalty on the withdrawal amount. This is unlike the EPF Account 2 where withdrawals can be made without penalty for specific purposes (buying a house, paying for education etc.). 

How do I become a member of a PRS?

According to the Private Pension Administrator (PPA), the appointed administrator of the scheme, to make contributions to PRS, you have to contact the PRS Provider of your choice directly and indicate your fund selection. At the same time or prior to contributing, you may open a PPA account by completing an account opening form that can be obtained from any PRS Provider or from the website of the PPA.

The PRS providers are yet to be able to accept applications for the PRS funds, they are given a 6 month grace period from time of approval to implement the relevant systems, this was April 2012 so we anticipate that people will be able to apply to contribute to PRS funds before the end of 2012.

While the system is not yet fully up and running (at the time of writing in July 2012), we anticipate that you will be able to see a summary of your PRS Providers and various investments through the PPA website after registering for a PPA account.

Benefits for Employers to make voluntary PRS contributions for their Employees ?

The main benefits for employers are that they can offer additional recruitment incentives like Medical Insurance, whereby they can attract and retain top talent with a generous private pension contribution.

Employers will also get a tax exemption for contributions for up to 19% of employees base salary per year.

iPad 4 vs Nexus 10.

Both the iPad 4 and the Google Nexus 10 are excellent choices for someone in the market for a tablet this holidays. But which one is the most impressive and gives the consumer more for their money? Let’s find out.

iPad 4 vs Google Nexus 10

When it comes down to the size of the devices the Nexus 10 happens to be thinner than the iPad 4, and it is also wider and taller, along with being lighter. However it does have the sturdiness of the iPad despite the “fragile” dimensions.

iPad 4

The display on the Nexus 10 comes in at 10.55 inches and that of the iPad 4 is 9.7 inches. The resolution of the Nexus 4 is higher as it comes with 4 million pixels, while the iPad has 3.1 million.

The Nexus 10 uses PLS TFT HD tech on the display and this provides users with sharp images and deep colours. The display technology is bright and it uses less power than the IPS tech of the iPad 4.

Nexus 10

The Nexus 10 comes with connection only to Wi-Fi and the iPad 4 has connectivity for 3G, 4G LTE and Wi-Fi. The Nexus has the benefit of NFC and this is something that isn’t available on the Apple tablet but nevertheless LTE is the future. (NFC = Near Field communication)

Both of the devices have cameras of 5 megapixels which offer the same resolution and are able to take videos in HD. The Nexus 10 comes with a 1.9 megapixel camera on the front and the iPad has a 1.2 megapixel front camera.

You can get the Nexus 10 in 16GB or 32GB, while Apple offer the iPad in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions. It is thought that Samsung could release the 64GB version in 2013.

When it comes to hardware the Nexus 10 is in front slightly thanks to the 1.7GHz quad core processor and T-604 GPU that has 2GB of RAM. the iPad comes with the A6X processor and it has 1 GB of RAM.

The Nexus 10 is loaded with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and the iPad 4 has the latest iOS, which is iOS 6.

You can pick up the Nexus 10 from $399 and the iPad 4 will cost you $499 for the starting version.

When it comes to picking between the two, your choice will likely come down to OS. Do you prefer Android or iOS? Secondly, whether you need LTE or not, and lastly the price tag.

The Google Nexus 10 is officially launched

Google Nexus 10

The long rumoured Google designed, Samsung built 10-inch tablet running Android 4.2 is now official. The 10-inch Nexus 10 features an impressive 2560×1600 resolution display pushing out approximately 300ppi. In comparison, the Retina Display on the iPad 4 pushes about 264ppi with a resolution of 2048×1536 pixels on a 9.7-inch screen.

Google Nexus 10

There will be two variants — 16GB or 32GB – and for now, both will be WiFi only, though we won’t be surprised if cellular or LTE versions crop up later down the line. Powering the device is a 1.7Ghz dual-core Exynos 5250 processor paired with 2GB of RAM and a quad-core Mali T604 GPU. Match this with the latest Android Jelly Bean (version 4.2) that now supports multiple users on one device and gesture-based typing, you can expect the Nexus 10 to run smooth all day long.

In the imaging department, there’s a 5MP rear camera (1080p videos) and a 1.9MP front camera (720p videos). Power is supplied by a 9,000mAh battery, which Google says should be good for up to 9 hours of HD video playback. Speaking of video playback, the Nexus 10 also features front-facing stereo speakers for proper sound-staging when watching movies and the like.

Other specs include microUSB and Micro HDMI ports as well as two NFC chips (one on the front and one on the back).

2560x1600 resolution

The Nexus 10 starts from USD399 (approx. RM1,220) for the 16GB version and $499 (approx. RM1,520) for the 32GB version. It will be available on November 13th in the Google Play Store in the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Spain and Canada. No official word on when the Nexus 10 will come to Malaysia but looking at how things are going, an early 2013 release looks likely.

Back view

iPad Mini Quick Review

Apple’s latest and cheapest iPad offering is out: the iPad mini has been introduced to address two issues that users care about: a smaller form-factor and a new price segment now just above $300. 

After initially dismissing smaller tablets under the direction of Steve Jobs, Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook decided to venture in new waters to counter a growing threat from Google and Amazon who have introduced tablets far below the $499 price of the iPad. At $329, the iPad mini cannot match the pricing advantage of its rivals, but instead, Apple has wowed to add enough value to justify the $129 price difference (64% above the $199 Nexus 7) to prospect iPad mini buyers. In this review, we will go over the pro and cons of the iPad mini to see if that would work for you.

Technical highlights

	iPad mini	iPad 2	iPad 4	Nexus 10	Nexus 7
Display size	7.9	9.7	9.7	10.05	7
Display resolution	1024×768	1024×768	2048×1536	2560×1600	1280×800
Display type	IPS LCD	IPS LCD	IPS LCD	Super PLS LCD	IPS LCD
Processor	Apple A5	Apple A5	Apple A6X	Exynos 5250	NVIDIA Tegra 3
Storage GB	16, 32, 64	16	16,32,64	16, 32	16
Battery capacity	16.5Wh	25	43Wh	9000mAh	4325mAh
Camera back MP	5	0.6	5	5	N/A
Camera front MP	1.2	0.3	1.2	1.9	1.2
Weight (lbs)	0.68	1.33	1.43	1.32	0.75
Dimensions (inches)	7.87×5.3×0.28	9.5×7.31×0.34	9.5×7.31×0.37	10.38×6.99×0.35	7.81×4.72×0.41
Price	329	399	499	399	199

Industrial design

The goal of the iPad mini was to introduce a smaller, more portable iPad which addresses both the size and the absolute price of the device. To date, this is the cheapest iPad, although not remotely the cheapest tablet at all. The industrial design of the iPad mini has achieved the goal of producing a smaller, yet functioning iPad. However, there are legitimate questions that users may have and we’ll try to address them here.

From left to right: Kindle HD, iPad mini, Nexus 7

First, the build quality: no photo can tell a proper story, so here’s our take on it: although the overall quality is very high for this segment of the market, I find it to be lower than the iPad 2 or the iPad 3. We’ve worked on this review with the black iPad mini, and I found that the softer touch of the back does not feel as “high-end” as the aluminum from the regular iPad. The black also tends to attract fingerprints at a higher rate than I would have thought, which is not so hot. One important design point: the iPad min is significantly thinner than the Nexus 7 or the Kindle HD.

The iPad mini is thinner than the Nexus 7. No question here.

Secondly, a lot of people are asking if the thin bezels on the left/right can induce accidental touch actions. The answer is ”mostly not”. Apple did a good job of detecting that you are not intentionally pressing the touch display when you hold the device and when your thumb accidentally touches the screen. However, in some cases, apps like Netflix would think that you’re trying to zoom in, and would scale a video. I would not be surprised to see this happen in other apps too. It’s a minor issue for now.

The Apple website shows the iPad mini as a one-handed device in portrait mode, and that’s not how I think of it. The iPad mini is not comfortable at all to hold in portrait mode with one hand as shown by the picture above (I wear “M” men’s gloves, just to give you an idea). 

Apple does a good job preventing accidental touchscreen action in the software

In practice, it’s also not obvious to hold it with one hand from the side because you want to avoid touching the screen with the thumb, even if there are no accidental touch action. I found myself using it with two hands most of the time. To its credit, the new width makes it very easy to thumb-type – we’ll talk about that later.

Other than that, it pretty much has the overall feel of an iPad: the buttons are in the same place, and the camera is too. The speaker is located at the bottom instead of the back, and of course, the iPad mini comes with the new lighting port for which it’s hard to find cheap cables. Just a matter of time, but the prices are ridiculous.

Display (low density, outdated, works “OK”)

Left: the Nexus 7, and right: iPad mini

iPad mini critics have been quick to point out that the iPad mini uses the same resolution than the iPad 2: 1024×768. By today’s standards, it is low-definition (4X less than the iPad 3 and iPad 4). However, many of the same folks were just fine when it was used on the iPad 2. Of course, I can understand that from a specs standpoint, it is lame, especially when $199 tablets like the Nexus 7 have 1280×800 displays.

So why did Apple do this? Simply because iOS and iOS maps don’t handle 1280×800. One of the issues is that apps don’t scale and because iOS uses bitmaps everywhere that won’t scale properly. Apple had to choose between 1024×768 or 2048×1536. The latter was a non-option given the cost and battery requirements, so 1024×768 it is…

The more important question is: “how is it visually”? Well, let’s put it this way: first, it remains the larger of all low-end tablet displays. Secondly, if you thought that the iPad 2 was OK, then this is a bit sharper than iPad 2. it’s not HD, and it’s certainly not high-DPI, but it gets the job done. I hope that I have set your expectations properly.

Killer apps

Note that most of the apps are identical to what you can find on iPad 2. For those who are not familiar with iPad apps, I’ll get into some details here, but if you’ve had an iPad before, you can probably skip this paragraph.

Windows 8 is NOT supported by iTunes today: this may be important if you plan on using your device with a Windows 8 computer, or if you plan on upgrading to Windows 8. While it is possible to install iTunes, the iPad mini will not show up. I’m not sure what’s going on, but no iOS device will show up in iTunes when connected over USB. It seems like one of those idiotic things that Apple has seen coming, and did nothing about. You’ve been warned. 

Virtual keyboard: 

The virtual keyboard is identical to what you may have seen on iPad or iPhone before – no news here. However, the shorter width of the tablet makes it very decent thumb keyboard in portrait mode. In that respect, I prefer typing emails on the iPad mini, even if it comes nowhere close to the Surface RT in terms of overall productivity. In landscape mode, the keyboard is very decent too, but it gets closer to a regular iPad experience.

Email: This is the classic email application from iOS, and I’ve set it up with a Microsoft Exchange server. It works well enough for a secondary machine and I don’t have any particular complaints about it. If you’re going to use it for the first time, you should know that attaching photo/video files can be done by a press and hold gesture, which makes an “insert photo/video” menu option appear. This is really non-intuitive, but once you know it, it’s not so bad.

There’s also a VIP category for your contacts, and I typically use it to get notifications for emails coming from certain contacts. This is handy, although I should really try to sync these over iCloud because right now, I need to rebuild the list for all my devices.

Entertainment (very good)

In virtually every aspect of entertainment, the iPad mini is an iPad 2. The obvious downside is that it is smaller, and keep in mind that the 4:3 aspect ratio of the screen induces big bands on 16:9 movies. That’s a pity because most of the extra surface is wasted when watching anything “cinematic”.

When watching 16:9 movies, a lot of the display surface is wasted with black bands (right: Nexus 7)

Video playback works really well, and it’s not a surprise. With only 0.7M pixels to handle, the video decode is fast and smooth. The iPad mini’s A5 processor can do that easily. As usual, it’s easiest to buy/rent videos from the store, but if you want, it is possible to copy your own movies to the tablet via iTunes, if you can get a format that makes iTunes happy (.mp4 usually works for us).

If you have never used an iPad before, you should know that downloading movies (1GB or SD and about 4GB for HD) can be VERY slow with iTunes. Your luck may vary but I think that it is fair to say that if you plan on downloading 3 or 4 movies before going on a trip, you will need to “prepare” that ahead of time. I Typically download that overnight.

Gaming: Again given that the iPad mini has iPad 2 specs, so all the games that one found great on iPad 2 will work just as well – that’s quite a lot of them. Not the latest technology, but games will routinely work at 30FPS and casual games should not be a problem at all. Now, I would not recommend playing high-end titles like Infinity Blade 2 if you want a decent framerate.

Speaker-quality: the speaker is surprisingly powerful for a device this size, and this is one the area where Apple has done better and better, even it most reviewers think of it as low-key. I believe that audio is 50% of the multimedia experience, so this is a big deal. On the downside, it is pretty clear that the more powerful the speaker gets, and the more it is obvious that the sound is coming from only one side of the device.

Apple has put on some decent spatialization efforts in, but at the end of the day, the sound is coming from the bottom. Newer tablets like the Galaxy Note 10.1 or the Nexus 10 have chosen to place the speakers in the front, which is the best possible spot. However, with a small design, this probably proved too difficult.

Digital Imaging

A photo shot with the iPad mini on a cloudy day

Having digital imaging capabilities really sets the iPad mini apart from the 7″ Android tablets, which have front web chat cameras, but no rear HD camera. With its 5 Megapixel rear camera, the iPad mini can capture 2592 x 1936 still photos or 1080p 30FPS (17Mbps bitrate) mpeg4 videos.

The photos tend to be a bit noisy and slightly over-exposed, but overall, I think that the quality is very decent in absolute terms and I would call it very good for this particular category of tablets. In low-light situations, don’t expect miracles, but again, having an “OK” solution trumps having none at all.

The video pretty much reflects the same observations. The quality is very good in reasonably lit environments, and OK for darker settings.

Battery life

I’m still running some overnight battery depletion tests, but overall, the iPad mini’s battery life reminds me of the iPad 2 battery life, which was excellent. The final numbers have yet to be in, but by the looks of it, users will be pretty happy with it.

Keep in mind that battery life varies a lot depending on the apps that run in the background, your network reception, your local network density and the amount of time that the: display is ON. You can always refer to the Android battery report to see what is consuming the power. Finally, keep in mind that network transactions generated by apps can appear as “Android” as it is ultimately the OS that handles those transactions.

Conclusion: not a slam dunk

The iPad mini is not an obvious choice to make

Although Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs once said “10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps”, Apple has recently seen the light and identified the sub-10” tablet market as viable, compelling and worth fighting for. To that end, the iPad mini was introduced, and at the end of the day, it is simply a small iPad 2 with a better camera.

With a very potent competition priced at $199, the iPad mini ($329) is most definitely not an obvious choice, and how well it will work for you really depends on what you intend to do with it. I’ll cover what I think are the most common cases:

Easy choice: If you don’t care about the budget and like this product, go for it. If you have already used an iPad and you want the same functionality (including front and rear cameras) in a smaller, more portable form-factor: this is a perfect match, just do it. Also, If you are looking for the cheapest iPad, this is it as well, but it’s far from being the best iPad too. 

Intermediate choice: you are familiar with iOS because you own an iPhone, but not an iPad. Should you go for the smaller form factor or the regular 9.7” one? Most people use their tablets at home, so take a minute to think about what you are going to do with it. If it is for home or in-flight entertainment use, the 9.7” version is more expensive but much better in terms of user experience and performance.

Impossible choice: you don’t own a tablet or an iPhone, but want a great tablet for home use or for travel entertainment. If watching movies, listening to music, basic email and web browsing are your main interests, you could get a much better deal with the Google Nexus 10 tablet ($399+) which obliterates the iPad mini for $70 more, or the Google Nexus 7 ($199) which is comparable to the iPad mini for $120 less. For a mere $20 more than the iPad mini, you can get a larger Asus Transformer TF300 tablet. Finally, you can also check Amazon’s Kindle HD devices, if your life revolves around consuming Amazon services.

As always, I hope that this review of the iPad mini gave you a good sense for how it is to use it in the real-world. Thanks for stopping by, and share this page if you liked it!

source:ubergizmo