Phase 1 in Operation: Justify Buying An iPad Mini With Retina If They’re Announced Next Week As Rumored is complete.

The iPad Mini is my go-to device. I love the size when it comes to wanting something larger than my phone screen (magazines and video, for example), but it fits in my bag better than the iPad. I wasn’t sure how much I’d use it, however, so I bought the 16GB. I can’t have a lot of video on it, and forget HD. And because everything else I have has the Retina display, it’s very noticeable the Mini doesn’t. So, I really really really want Apple to release an iPad Mini with Retina. But, I had that pesky iPad in my face, yelling “Hey, I’m a 64GB with Retina, lady! You can’t dump me in the Dead Electronics Basket of Doom!”.

Then the Teen came home from college and we were talking about TV and movies. I happened to have GI Joe: Retaliation and Pacific Rim on my iPad, along with the first two episodes of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., of which he missed the second. Because he had homework, visiting and PS3-ing to do, along with watching four episodes of Hell On Wheels to wrap up the season, he didn’t have time to watch them while home. Being a generous and selfless mother, I sent the iPad back to college with him.

Phase 1 complete!

Phase 2 will be more difficult. It involves subtly manipulating my husband or the Short Kid into falling in love with the iPad Mini I already have, but it’ll be a challenge. The husband seems perfectly happy with the first-gen iPad he’s been using, and he’ll be resistant to less screen real estate. And the Short Kid’s world revolves around his iPod Touch. As a matter of fact, the Teen taking the iPad to college to take advantage of his mother’s lack of iTunes willpower is the first interest either boy has shown in any iPad. The challenge is heightened by the fact I do use the Mini every day.

Phase 2 Step A will be installing my husband’s favorite Solitaire game on the Mini, which is so light compared to the first-gen iPad. Said first-gen iPad is still buried in the bag that takes electronics to camp and back, rather than being charged. “Oh honey, it needs to be charged. Here, use the Mini to play Solitaire for a while.”

Of course, if Apple doesn’t release a Mini with Retina, there will be epic pouting. (Which will be limited to my phone, since Operation: JBAiMWRITANWAR will have backfired badly and my guys will have absconded with my iPads.)