First view of the Paceman

Posted on by Ian C.

The new MINI Paceman has been wandering the country, appearing at various MINI dealerships; I missed it at MINI of Peabody, but (thanks to James) saw it this evening at MINI of Orlando. The one car on show is a “Brilliant Copper” S, loaded with all the technology, leather seats; sadly the copper color was not so “brilliant”, at least inside the dealership; it was really hard to get a good idea of the cars color, see how different these photos are:

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SONY DSC
SONY DSC
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It was easier to see, and appreciate, the overall shape; the lowering roofline makes the Paceman a lot better looking than the Countryman. I also really liked the rear lights design.
Interior, not noticeably different from other MINIs and the Countryman – though again the expensive leather seating color is hard to identify …

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SONY DSC
SONY DSC

Getting in to the back of the Paceman was surprisingly easy (though no doubt not as easy as the Countryman) – but leg room seemed VERY limited, at least for anyone sitting behind me! Even then, in the back my head brushed the roof, so that roofline presumably is the cause of limited leg room. So get a Countryman if you want to use the rear seats, maybe?

The exterior design of the Paceman is the most interesting MINI I’ve seen for a while – but with a $38,000 price tag, it’s really not a weekend play thing!

eBooks

Posted on by Ian C.

Since getting my first iPad back in 2010, I’ve read paper books / magazines less and less – I’ve tried a few times to read eBooks, but until I got my iPad Mini last year, I found the (full size) iPad too heavy.

The iPad Mini is almost perfect for reading; agreed the display is not quite as crisp as retina, but the benefit of such a low weight far outweighs that – the one problem is that it’s really difficult to read outdoors, especially down here at 8002 in Florida with all the bright sun!

With the low prices and claimed fabulous screen quality of e-ink displays on Amazon’s Kindle, I purchased one … outdoors, the Kindle is so much more readable than the iPad:


I did find the Kindle display a bit disappointing indoors – even with the backlight of this latest “PaperWhite” version; iPad wins, indoors:

 

I also tried an “app” on the Kindle (called “Active Content”), but it was quite pointless – the slow to update and not-too-clear screen resulted in a fast delete!

Curiously also, the Kindle seems heavier to hold, even while tech specs claim it to be much lighter. Not sure if the larger iPad is expected to be heavier and then is surprisingly not, or if it’s because it’s thinner, or … whatever reason, the lower weight is not apparent.

Stick to iPad Mini for everything non-reading, and even for reading indoors; the Kindle is great for outdoor reading, but little else. But since that’s exactly why I bought one, I’m happy!