Federico Viticci in his iPad Mini review where he talks about it being a ‘third place’:

I’ve been thinking about the idea of a third place lately as it relates to the tech products we use and the different roles they aim to serve… The iPad Mini is the ideal third place device for things I would rather not do on my iPhone or iPad Pro.

Having completely missed all the iPad Mini reviews, I saw one in-store at the weekend and remembered it existed.

I was a fan of the iPad Mini (6) when it was launched and used it for quite some time. However, once the novelty wore off, I quickly returned to using my Pro Max iPhone because it accomplished most of the tasks I used the iPad Mini for, eliminating the need for an additional device. If I could hazard a guess, I think that’s where the mini version falls for most people.

It gives you something bigger and lighter than a phone for media consumption, yet isn’t big enough to get bogged down in all the things you might expect a regular tablet to do for you. Stuck in a strange purgatory that is both useful and not quite useful enough at the same time. With the solution usually being “I’ll just use my phone”.

On picking up the display device from its stand, I immediately remembered why it holds this special place. A really nice device that offers a lot but fails to deliver a large enough use case, but — as Federico expertly put above — perhaps that’s the point?

Getting Away From It All

I am constantly fed up with my work life bleeding into everything else I do. I’ve written about it affecting my enjoyment of using my MacBook outside of work, and the same thing happens with my phone. It’s littered with Teams and email apps that allow me to do things on the go, but also act to pull me back in out of work hours.

Same too with my iPad Pro. It is predominantly a work device. One used to draw and design, so it’s out of the question to begin to read and write on it in my spare time. There’s just too many things to distract me away, and we all know I lack the self-control to avoid them!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely crazy for me to spend £500 on an iPad to use for such small tasks as would to create a ’third place’ but I entirely understand the logic. For many people, this place is gaming, but mine is my Boox Palma. A device I am often equally ridiculed for buying as I would be with an iPad Mini. However, it gives me a place to catch up with the waiting queue of RSS feeds and my favourite thing of all to do, read books.

Any third place you choose is one of happiness and contentment, no work allowed!