The beauty of not being a popular tech pundit is that I feel no obligation to write about the new Apple hotness in a timely manner. But it's not fair to keep all 3 of my readers in suspense, so without further ado here are my very brief thoughts about Apple's latest iOS devices.

iPhone 5

For the first time since the iPhone 3G, AT&T did not offer me an early upgrade to the iPhone 5 at the fully subsidized price. I won't deny that I was pretty miffed when I checked both AT&T and Apple's sites (repeatedly) for my eligibility. I got to play around a little with my brother-in-law's iPhone 5 last week and I'm glad I didn't upgrade. I wasn't a fan of the larger screen. It felt awkward to hold and too big in my pocket. I'm sure I'd eventually get used to it, but I'm quite content with my 4S and it's "tiny" screen.

Some of Apple's other decisions surrounding the iPhone 5 also rubbed me the wrong way. Apparently I'm one of the few people who charges their phone in a dock every night¹. The new Lightning connector would make it a pain to hook the phone up to my car's aux port.

iPad Mini

Unless you were living under a rock, the iPad Mini was not a surprise. I've written about my love for the Nexus 7 and the 7" tablet form factor elsewhere. If Apple had released their offering in this category prior to Google, I may have given it serious consideration. I've gone back to using my iPad 3 for most things, but I still carry the N7 with me to work every day².

I haven't actually held one yet, but from the pictures it seems that the iPad Mini suffers from one of the biggest problems I had with the Nexus 7: the side bezel is too thin when you're holding it in portrait to grip it comfortably without accidentally triggering a touch event. And with a starting price of $329, it's just out of my price range for a device I don't really need.

Conclusion

Unlike some pundits, I don't think Apple is doomed. Not by a long shot. But for the first time I can say that their latest crop of mobile devices holds no interest for me whatsoever. Of all the new products Apple has unveiled in the past few months it wasn't the iPads or iPhones, not the ultra-thin iMac or even the shiny new 13" retina MacBook Pro that caught my attention. Of all things it was the Mac Mini that had me visiting store.apple.com to check pricing and availability.