Intel Corp (INTC)

[mmoy]

I like the iPad Mini though I'd like it more if it were 7 inches instead of 8 (it would fit in a side pocket in my gym bag). I don't think that I really want to use a 10 inch tablet.

You can get everything done with the iPhone + Mac but I the iPad Mini is a nice in-between size and there are some minor iOS software differences that are a little nicer on the iPad than on the iPhone.

I used the iPad Mini as a hotspot at my car dealer yesterday while waiting for service (their WiFi was down). I used it for a little less than two hours and the battery level was down to 99%. It's a fairly new device which explains part of it but my iPhone would have been down to about 75%. I run the hotspot with the screen off and the iPad battery is a lot bigger to power the screen which means that the hotspot functionality takes a much smaller percentage of power available. Using a tablet as a hotspot is a special-case use though but it works out a lot better than a phone or Jetpack.