Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi, watching video, or listening to music
Up to 9 hours of surfing the web using cellular data network
Charging via power adapter or USB to computer system
Lightning connector
3.5-mm stereo headphone minijack
Built-in speakers
Microphone
Lightning connector
3.5-mm stereo headphone minijack
Built-in speakers
Microphone
Nano-SIM card tray
Three-axis gyro
Accelerometer
Ambient light sensor
Three-axis gyro
Accelerometer
Ambient light sensor
Wi‑Fi
Digital compass
Wi‑Fi
Digital compass
Assisted GPS and GLONASS
Cellular
Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC
(from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible
(formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple
Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
User-configurable maximum volume limit
AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV (2nd and 3rd generation) at 720p
AirPlay video streaming to Apple TV (3rd generation) at up to 1080p and Apple TV (2nd generation) at up to 720p
Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 720p through
Lightning Digital AV Adapter and Lightning to VGA Adapter; video
playback up to 1080p (sold separately)
Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames
per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps,
48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG‑4 video
up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile
with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in
.m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps,
1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo
audio in .avi file format
Viewable document types: .jpg, .tiff, .gif
(images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages);
.key (Keynote); .numbers (Numbers); .pages (Pages); .pdf (Preview and
Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf
(rich text format); .vcf (contact information); .xls and .xlsx
(Microsoft Excel)
Language support for English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese
(Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese,
Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch,
Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish,
Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish,
Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Keyboard support for English (U.S.), English (Australian),
English (Canadian), English (UK), Chinese - Simplified (Handwriting,
Pinyin, Stroke), Chinese - Traditional (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin,
Cangjie, Stroke), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland),
German (Germany), German (Switzerland), Italian, Japanese (Romaji,
Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian,
Czech, Danish, Dutch, Emoji, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek,
Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian,
Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal),
Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic/Latin),
Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Dictionary support (enables predictive text and autocorrect)
for English (U.S.), English (Australian), English (Canadian), English
(UK), Chinese - Simplified (Handwriting, Pinyin, Stroke), Chinese -
Traditional (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin, Cangjie, Stroke), French,
French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), German
(Switzerland), Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish,
Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch,
Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian,
Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay,
Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian,
Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic/Latin), Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish,
Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Siri language support for English (U.S., UK, Canada,
Australia), Spanish (U.S., Mexico, Spain), French (France, Canada,
Switzerland), German (Germany, Switzerland), Italian (Italy,
Switzerland), Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (Mainland China, Taiwan),
Cantonese (Hong Kong)
VoiceOver screen reader
Guided Access
Support for playback of closed-captioned content
AssistiveTouch interface for adaptive accessories
Full-screen zoom magnification
Large text
Option to invert colors
Left/right volume adjustment
Operating ambient temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)
Apple ID (required for some features)
Internet access6
Syncing with iTunes on a Mac or PC requires:
Mac: OS X v10.6.8 or later
PC: Windows 7; Windows Vista; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
Apple takes a complete product life cycle approach to determining our environmental impact.
Learn more
iPad mini embodies Apple’s continuing environmental progress. It
is designed with the following features to reduce environmental impact:
Mercury-free LCD display
Arsenic-free display glass
BFR-free
PVC-free
Recyclable aluminum enclosure
Apple and the Environment
Learn more about Apple’s dedication to reducing the environmental impact of our products and process. Apple Product Environmental Reports detail the environmental attributes of our products.
Recycling
Apple takes a holistic view of materials management and waste minimization. Learn more about how to recycle your iPad mini.
Apple iPad mini review
ѕcιηтιℓℓαтισηѕ™ rating
4.5/5
For
Superb design
Great battery
Extremely light and portable
Against
Smaller touch targets
Higher price than competition
Low-res screen
Small is now beautiful to Apple - but is it too stripped down?
Apple
has gone where we never thought it would, with the iPad mini bringing
the Apple tablet experience to a brave new budget world.
The new
tablet comes in at a wallet-friendly £279 / $US329 / $AU369 for the
basic version, with 16GB of storage on offer for the Wi-Fi version. You
can supplement the mini-slate with up to 64GB of space to chuck movies
and music, as well as 4G LTE connectivity, but that will set you back an
eye-watering £529 / $US659 / $AU729 for the top model.
But then
again, the iPad mini release isn't about the top end specs with a
whopping price tag – it's about beating the likes of the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD in the budget stakes.
The
two competitors have been getting many column inches so far thanks to
the super cheap prices and the impressive specs on board – although with
both only offering a 7-inch screen compared to Apple's 7.9-inch
offering, the Cupertino board is confident its device will win the day
when it comes to capturing consumers' hearts.
However, the more
frugal shopper, and especially one buying for a loved on, may not agree
with this idea, as the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD costs 30% less and when
faced with a choice between the three might opt for the familiar Amazon
brand or the sheer power of the Nexus 7, with its mightily impressive
spec list and legions of Google apps.
That
said, Apple fans need not worry too much when it comes to whether the
iPad mini is a worthy addition to the iBrand, as it comes with enough
power and reams of Ive-inspired design to make it a worthwhile addition
to the range – this isn't a shrunken down iPad, it's a whole new product
again.
Be it the larger screen size, the impressively low weight
or the alternative design compared to the competition there's a lot to
chew over with the iPad mini – but is it worth spending your hard-earned
when more cash will get you a fully-fledged version of Apple's tablet?
Features and design
The
iPad mini is one of those devices that exists because the market
started to dictate its presence…but that doesn't mean Apple doesn't want
to put its own spin on things.
To that end, the screen is larger
at 7.9 inches, the design is completely different to the likes of the
new iPad or the Google Nexus 7, and the whole ethos has been created
from the ground up partly under the stewardship of Sir Jony Ive,
according to Apple.
None
of that matters though – what is important is the fact it's a
superbly-designed device that at least gives a measure of why it costs
so much more than the likes of the Kindle Fire HD.
The aluminium chassis shares the same colouring as the iPhone 5, with the darker black slate and white silver options both bringing a touch of class to proceedings.
At
308g it's twice the weight and then some of the iPhone 5, but compared
to other tablets on the market (and combined with the aluminium chassis)
it gives a very lightweight feeling the hand.
The screen is
something of a worry though – with the 1024 x 768 resolution in the
expansive display we're only getting a sharpness akin to the iPhone 3GS.
While the display is better than that, thanks to improved IPS LCD
technology, its still light years behind the Retina display on the
bigger brother new iPad.
If
you own a modern iPad, you'll notice the difference straight away. But
then again, if you have one of these, then you won't want to buy the
iPad mini.
Where the tablet will struggle to impress is when users
who own an iPhone are checking it out, as it doesn't have the wow
factor of other devices.
In a side by side test of the same movie running on the iPad mini, the Nexus 7
and the Kindle Fire HD, the iPad looked the least impressive (although
the contrast ratio was certainly more than decent in our eyes).
Then
there's the issue of holding the actual tablet. As Apple says, it's as
light as pad of legal paper, and there's definitely no notion of this
causing undue wrist strain. However, there is an issue with actually
holding it, as the iPad mini doesn't really lend itself that well to any
manner of grip.
The
most comfortable and safe-feeling way to hold a tablet is to grip right
around the back – something Apple thinks you can do easily according to
its promotional materials.
Well, you're wrong there,
Cupertino-gadget-people. It's just too far to stretch around comfortably
for those with average-sized hands, so you're forced to hold it in the
corner, covering part of the screen. It's good that Apple has chucked
some technology in there so this doesn't register as a touch, but it's
not the most comfortable way to browse.
In landscape with two
hands, the iPad mini is a much nicer device to hold, with the aluminium
covering giving it a really lovely back. However, the covering in
aluminium in the same way as the iPhone 5 has led to another design
problem: scratching.
The
handsets have been getting criticism for exposing the silver metal
below with minimal scratching, and this has begun to happen within a day
on the iPad mini – which is all the more confusing seeing as it doesn't
live in the pocket with keys and coins.
It's something we hope
Apple would have changed in the manufacturing process already, and means
you'll need to keep a real eye on how you look after the tablet.
The
top and the bottom of the bezel are also wide enough here to rest your
hands comfortably, and the likes of landscape web browsing and
accelerometer-based gaming is excellent.
The rest of the design is
predictably ergonomic when it comes to tapping the minimal level of
buttons. The volume rocker keys are close to, but not too near, the mute
switch on the top right-hand side.
This is near the power
button, which is intuitively placed to always be easy to hit when you
want to reactivate the iPad mini… although many will just hit the home
button to achieve the same thing.
That
traditional Apple home key is predictably here again, and it's shrunken
somewhat to fit into the smaller chassis. However, during our testing
we found it just as easy as ever to hit, despite the dinkier dimensions.
It's
interesting that Apple has popped the headphone jack at the top of the
iPad mini, given it's put so much effort in chucking it down at the
bottom of the iPhone 5... but we do love it staying above the screen.
The
speakers are at the bottom of the iPad mini, flanking the Lightning
connector, which offers faster speeds of data transfer and can be
connected either way round that you fancy, which is handy when charging
before bed and can't be bothered to put the light on.
The
speakers provide decent enough sound, but in landscape mode really
create a distorted sense of audio, thanks to it firing quite
mono-directionally.
The
processor being last generation, in the shape of the Apple A5 effort,
may worry some but it's likely to be enough for most actions, coupled
with 512MB of RAM. It's miles away from the raw grunt of the Google
Nexus 7 or the new iPad with its A6X processor, but Apple reckons it helps it hit a sweet spot in terms of price.
Interface and performance
When it comes to the interface on the iPad mini, it's not going to be a shock to any long-time Apple users, with the same iOS 6 method of displaying icons still as prevalent as ever.
This
means the transition to the smaller size of device will be easy for
most, as although the iPad layout, with more space between the icons on
the home screen, is prevalent once more, it shrinks down nicely.
Holding
the iPad mini in portrait mode is easy enough thanks to the weight, and
prodding the icons on screen isn't too difficult nor does it feel like
you're going to push the tablet out of your hands and onto the floor,
waiting for that heart-stopping moment when you see a crack slide across
the display like demon fingers reaching into your wallet.
The
iOS interface is simplicity itself, so any users not familiar with
Apple's mobile operating system will pick it up in no time at all. The
icons are laid out in a 4 by 3 layout, and unlike on the iPhone they
will rotate when you move the tablet into landscape format.
The
ability to place icons in the bottom dock means you can have the apps
you want pervading around the home screen, while dragging and dropping
said apps on top of one another will allow you to create folders with
ease, which you can rename anything you want.
As we expected with a
device running iOS 6 there are no widgets to speak of, which means the
only app you can really control from the home screen is the music
player, which can be accessed by double tapping the home button (which
activates the list of recently-used apps) and swiping left for access to
the music controls.
What is also nice here is you can alter the
brightness of the iPad mini from the same screen, as well as change the
speaker output if you're using AirPlay... little things but the
direction Apple needs to take to make iOS a little more modern. It's
nothing new, but it works very well on the smaller tablet.
The
lock screen is a slightly different matter; for those au fait with iOS
on the iPad, this will be old news, but for the newcomers: if you double
tap the home button here you'll be presented with access to your music
controls again, along with album art displaying when you're listening to
music.
And
there's also the option to have the lock screen as a slide show of all
your favourite pictures, which is started up by pressing the photo icon
at the bottom - it's these little tweaks that have brought joy to so
many Apple users over the years, and we're still impressed by them
today.
However, this is still iOS 6 running, and that's becoming
something of a problem in our eyes. Not so much at the moment, as
there's enough simplicity and function on offer to not make us too
worried, but it's a system that is starting to show its age.
For
instance, one of our main bugbears is through controlling settings -
this is still only really possible through the main 'Settings' app,
which means if you want to tweak mail settings, music or apps themselves
you'll need to jump out of whatever you're doing and head into another
menu from the home screen just to make a small alteration.
However,
Apple is still catering for the iPad owners with some handy gestures to
make things easier to move around. Instead of double tapping the home
button to switch apps, touching the screen with all five fingers and
swiping left and right will move you through the most recently-used
apps, and pinching all digits together will return you to the home
screen.
This is really helpful when using the tablet on the move,
as it means you don't need to shuffle the palm around to hit the home
button - and it's really cool too. It's an even more intuitive system on
the iPad mini than the iPad 'proper', as it somehow fits the screen
size better.
We still like the Facebook and Twitter integration –
being able to post thoughts directly from the notification centre
(available anywhere by dragging from the top of the screen)
Apple
might be criticised for bringing last year's technology to the iPad
mini, as the A5 chip with 512MB of RAM doesn't sound like a lot when you
can buy the quad core Google Nexus 4 smartphone with 2GB of RAM for the same price as the mini, and with the same amount of storage too.
However,
in practice it's really rather hard to fault Apple's interface
performance when using the device in day to day use. It's definitely not
got the grunt of the larger new iPad 4,
as when we were setting up the device and downloading all manner of
music and settings the whole thing melted down and wouldn't let us move
around menus or see what was going on with other apps.
But that
was a rare situation, as only apps getting snarled up and shutting
themselves down caused us any consternation in day to day use. This
isn't a regular occurrence, and to be fair happens a lot less on iOS
than it does on Android, as Apple's quality control is a tad higher when
allowing apps into its marketplace.
The only real gripe, and it's
one you'll hear time and again from us throughout this iPad mini
review, is the fact that the screen is too low-res. It simply saddens us
to see menus we're used to on both iPads and iPhones not having the
same sharpness as before... and we're certainly not used to seeing Apple
take a step back in quality.
If you've never used a top end
smartphone or tablet, this won't be an issue as the display is fine, and
technically still HD in terms of pixel count. But it's definitely the
trick Apple is holding up its sleeve for the next iteration of the
device - that Tim Cook is a sneaky one, isn't he?
Messages and contacts
The
way the iPad mini handles messages is two fold: through the impressive
email client and now with iMessage on board. When it comes to emailing,
there aren't many better clients on the market, with an expansive view
and the ability to see your messages differently in both portrait and
landscape mode.
You can have multiple accounts set up on the
device, be it through Exchange or a web-based service like GMail, and
then you're able to see these individually or together in a unified
inbox. Either offers an excellent view of your message, with it being
easy to delete emails as a batch or as single missives.
But
it's the little tweaks that make this option a decent choice for a
work-based tablet, if you're one of those types that move around a lot
when doing business things.
It's not going to change the world,
but there's a lot we like here: the power draw of the email client is
relatively minimal compared to older Apple products, you can easily
manage folders and see specific emails through the search function and
it just makes everything easier than competing products on Android.
The
keyboard on the iPad mini was an area we were interested to drill into,
as given the smaller proportions of the device we wondered if it was
going to be any easier to type on than the larger iPad.
Well, in
normal portrait and landscape modes it's a little bit odd. With its
bigger brother (and most large screen tablets) you can place them on
your lap in landscape mode and rattle out messages at a fairly rapid
rate thanks to the bigger display.
That's not possible on the iPad
mini really, and holding the device in portrait means you can't type
one handed either. However, if you use Apple's clever split dock
keyboard, the whole system is much better. This feature is available on
the bigger 'Pad, but with the larger size the weight made it hard to
hold and type with.
For the iPad mini, typing on the move is an
excellent experience once you spend some time practicing - entering text
on tablets has always been hard, but this is as easy to use as the
impressive SwiftKey on Android, bar the clever auto prediction of text.
It's
obvious Apple would include iMessage on this device, allowing you to
send messages between other Apple devices for free (in most cases,
depending on how lenient your network is) in the same manner as RIM's
BBM.
It's a simple system, and without the extra confusion of a
phone number to worry about it doesn't get in way of actual SMS
messages, which was a problem on the iPhone 5.
If you're someone who has others in the family set up on an Apple
device, you'll find yourself using this feature out and about a fair
amount, especially if you've picked up the LTE iPad mini.
FaceTime
One
of the 'magical' features for the iPad mini is the ability to call
people using FaceTime, which won't come as a shock to many of you, given
Apple is certain people need to see their cats before saying goodnight
when away on business trips.
The service is much unchanged on this
model of iPad, although the HD front-facing camera is an excellent
choice for chatting with people using your head rather than just your
mouth.
The service was slick (with a strong enough Wi-Fi
connection) and although we wish the contacts menu made it clearer who
was rocking an Apple device and would thus be ready for FaceTime, the
overall experience was smooth and the on-screen power impressive.
Contacts
When
it comes to contacts management, Apple has never been the most
impressive, and that continues on the iPad mini. While the service is
perfectly acceptable in terms of storing names and numbers, the rest of
it isn't too intuitive.
For instance, with the involvement of Facebook on iOS 6
you can now see your buddies with phone numbers in your Contacts list,
as well as those from iCloud and other services you've connected in,
like Exchange.
However,
while on other devices (mostly Android) there are clever suggestions to
help you link them together, and automatic options in many cases,
there's no such thing on the Apple front.
You have to dig into the
contact, edit the listing, then tap a tiny '+' icon to call up another
list of people to join together. It's not a huge problem, and if you
can't be bothered with it you'll just end up with a messy list of
associates, but it's irksome when it's so much better implemented on
rival platforms.
The app itself isn't the most attractive out
there either, simply because in portrait mode Apple hasn't stretched it
out to take up the full amount of the screen. It seems curious that the
company that prides itself on such elements of design would take this
approach, rather focusing on the landscape version of the app, but at
least the UI is attractive.
A special mention should be made for
the list of letters on the left-hand side, allowing you to skip to the
people you want to get hold of easily. This part is really sensitive but
also manages to register the letter you're after time and again. It's
the little things that please us, and make Apple products so attractive
to so many people.
Internet browsing
Apple
led the way when it came to mobile browsers back in 2007, and five
years later the same structure is still giving a decent mobile
experiences on a multitude of screen sizes.
The iPad mini Safari
browser is an excellent implementation, despite its age; while it lacks
some of the impressive bells and whistles of its competitors, the
simplicity of being able to scoot between web pages with ease is enough
of a trade-off for many.
The browser is fast enough too, although the A5 processor isn't able to match the speed of its bigger new iPad 4
brother over the same Wi-Fi connection, which can render pages a few
seconds faster in our tests. It's no slouch, but in the pantheon of
top-end devices (including the Google Nexus 7) can all chuck the text and pictures we want to see together in a much more impressive time.
The
display resolution isn't too bad for the browsing experience
thankfully; with the low-res effort we were worried zoomed-out text
would look illegible until we double-tapped or pinched to get closer,
but it's good enough for those without eyesight problems to be able to
see effectively.
As we mentioned, the iPad mini browser is fairly
feature-light, but what it does have is useful. For instance, sharing a
web page, printing it out (as long as you have an AirPlay printer
connected) and sending the link via mail or Facebook is a simple as
tapping the icon, and the integrated nature of the tablet means there's
no confusion over what it's doing.
Similarly, we loved the
offline reading function - while, again, this isn't a new feature on a
mobile device or an Apple product, the portability of the iPad mini puts
it in a lovely spot between the iPhone (which can be too small for
reading longer articles) and the larger iPad (which can be a hassle to
get out on the train compared to the pocket-size of the iPad mini...
well, large pockets, that is) for reading the things you don't have time
to.
The list is easy to view when trying to find the article you
want to read, and the icon to save for offline reading is again easy to
hit (in the sharing section).
The
other feature, and one that's been around for a while is the Reader
option, where tagging the feature in the URL bar will give you a
cut-down version of the article you're reading without all the
unnecessary features that mobile advertising brings.
Again, the
iPad mini is the best device for reading the articles you really care
about on the go, and beats its budget tablet competition hands down in
this area.
Apple should be commended here as well for sticking to
its guns in the mobile video arena and eschewing Flash - while its
reasoning for not including it previously as a standard in its web
browser was suspect, the upshot is we now have a cleaner video format
for mobile devices that isn't as convoluted to use.
On the iPad
mini, while the video experience isn't as good as it could be thanks to
the screen resolution, for web video and clips its excellent, and the
speed of loading is more than acceptable. It means sites like the BBC
offer nearly all its online content with ease, rather than the
frustrating 'Flash is not supported on your device' message we all sadly
had to get used to.
There are a few things that irk us when it
comes to the web browser on the iPad mini - and not just the slower
speeds, which aren't necessary when you consider that the cheaper
competition is able to provide a much speedier experience.
Not
being able to perform functions like finding text on a page or reflowing
text to fill the screen as you zoom in are elements we wish Apple would
offer, despite knowing that it never will. It would add to the
experience immensely, and give a good reason to consider the
competition.
But overall the iPad mini web experience, while
rather last-gen, is still one of the best around. It brings ease of use
and acceptable speeds while providing an excellent wide screen size to
actually see and read the things you want to, either on the sofa or on
the go.
Movies, music and books
When
it comes to the iPad mini, it's clear Apple is doing what it has always
done and made it into a multimedia hub for the 'modern user on the
go'... which in today's terms is the same as every tablet out there.
However,
very few can cope with the raw power and breadth of offering available
in the iTunes library, which brings a smorgasbord of music, video and
books to the device - and that's before you even get into the subject of
using third party apps to extend the experience.
TV and Movies
The
iPad mini suffers from the same thing that all the other iPads do:
namely that the 16GB version, which is the poster child of the new
cut-size range, is too small to really pack with the movies and apps
that you want.
With the release of the Retina-imbued new iPad,
the size of apps like iMovie has soared, so combine that with a whole
series of HD video or your favourite movies and you can see why it makes
sense to pay a fair bit more to get more storage on your tablet.
It's
a pretty big issue that plagued the first 'new' iPad, and although the
lower-res display of the mini doesn't need as many pixels, the sizes for
download are still the same.
Comparing a TV download through the
iTunes app in SD and HD quality wouldn't be that different - or so you'd
think. In reality, the HD quality videos are much more impressive on
the iPad mini, meaning you'll always be tempted to fork out a little
more to get the extra sharpness.
And there's another problem: the
cost of downloading things through the iPad mini. An HD TV series can be
purchased for around £35 ($AU40), but in 'real life' (as in, on the
shop shelves) it can be over half that for a Blu-ray version of the same
episodes.
It's not just Apple that charges these high prices, but
in reality it's a real issue - you want to power up your new tablet
with loads of video, and unless you want to find a way to get access to
files without heading through the iTunes store, which many won't, we can
see many new iPad users being frustrated by this limiting access.
There's
the other issue here: the lack of file compatibility. The iPad mini
will play .mp4 files fairly easily, but if you fancy chucking on a DivX
or AVI option then that's out of the question. There are third party
applications you can use, but these can be extremely buggy and cost
extra to put on your tablet.
But that's the griping out of the way
- as a video player, the iPad mini is excellent. It's just the right
size and weight to hold two-handed in landscape mode, and if you're OK
with it not feeling as secure in one hand, a decent heft to hold with a
single set of digits.
The headphone jack is also well-placed -
holding it with the Home Button to the right will keep it completely
palm free, and if you choose the other direction you'll find it's just
clear enough to not get in the way all the time.
We will admit
that not being able to hold it in one hand securely will be an issue for
some, and Apple shouldn't be pretending that it will be a comfortable
experience for many, but the wider screen is so much better than on the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD that we can't really be annoyed too much.
The
ability to fine tune how you slide through the video to get to the
section you want, the ease with which you can jump in and out of
episodes or movies or the simple one-touch option to fire the movie out
to a bigger screen through AirPlay is all intuitive and impressive.
There might be an issue getting what you want on the iPad mini, but once
it's there it's one of our favourite devices to use for video.
Music
Music
is also well-placed on the iPad mini, with a simple to use interface
and a much better price range for new songs should you want to keep up
to date with the latest and greatest of the hit parade.
Before
the first iPad made its debut we wondered how Apple would increase the
size of the interface to make use of all the space on the screen, and
while it's a little expansive on the larger version, the iPad mini
revels in the larger amount of room to show albums and tracks but also
makes it much easier to hit the buttons on the screen.
Like with
the video option, the AirPlay function is easily accessible, but only
when available, which makes it a much easier system to use if you want
to pump your tunes around the house.
The sound quality through
headphones is, as ever, excellent, although when playing it through the
speakers the fact they're chucked down one end of the device does mean
the sound quality isn't as good, especially if it's placed with the
connector facing downwards (obviously).
The sound is rich enough
to get away with should your DJ be taken ill an hour before the party,
but it's not going to win any audio quality contests.
Overall
though, and especially with wireless headphones, the iPad mini is great
for tunes, in terms of being able to choose new songs through the store
from the Music app to high-res album art playing on the lock screen - as
well as the aforementioned widget controls it gets from the
multitasking menu.
Books
With the smaller screen size,
you'd be forgiven for thinking that this may be an e-reader above all
else – well, no, as the iPad mini is no better for e-books than its
larger brother.
It's superior in terms of portability and ease of holding, but the main advantage dedicated e-readers like the Kindle PaperWhite have is the fact the display is passive, and therefore doesn't cause as much eye strain.
The
iBooks app is decent enough, with a fun bookshelf layout and an easy to
use interface that means you can swipe or tap to head through the
tomes. However, given many people now have Kindle accounts, the
dedicated app from Amazon is superior in our view.
It
seems odd that iBooks isn't actually pre-installed on the iPad mini, as
it seems to be a core feature of the device at the screen size, but
you'll be prompted to download it when you head into the App Store for
the first time.
The reading experience is fine, but as with many
LCD screen-based e-readers longer sessions aren't as pleasurable as they
are on the e-ink devices, simply because the screen quality causes more
strain on the eyes. The lower resolution means that words aren't
displayed as sharply on the screen, which is a shame, but it's not the
end of the world… just another area where the cost savings have been
met.
Gaming
The gaming prowess of the iPad mini has been
called into question slightly, as the onboard chip certainly isn't the
most powerful Apple has ever cranked out.
That worry was confirmed when firing up some higher-power games, such as Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy, which looks phenomenal on both the iPad 3 and new iPad 4.
Graphics
were much blockier, although the gameplay was smooth enough and the
three-axis gyro made playing shooting games a little more fun – this
coupled with the smaller dimensions of the device but with a larger
screen made some games a heap more playable than before.
Apple has
crafted the iPad mini to attract the casual gamer; while others will
work fine on the device, don't expect to be wowed by the gaming prowess.
Apps, maps and gallery
There are now over 700,000 apps on the Apple App Store, with nearly 200,000 available as dedicated for the iPad itself.
In terms of the dedicated Apps Apple is touting for the iPad, check out our new iPad 4 review for the more in-depth look at what can be achieved on the iPad mini.
However,
it's worth taking note of the fact that the likes of iMovie aren't as
impressive on the iPad mini, as the lower processor and the less-sharp
screen mean that rendering movies takes a bit longer than we're used to
nowadays.
Of course, if you've never really used a more powerful
device then you won't feel the difference, but then again you probably
won't be that bothered about iMovie or the speed of it and its
app-brethren anyway.
Maps
You've probably heard about the Apple Maps fiasco with iOS 6, and it's the same situation with the iPad mini, with no general upgrades for the new tablet.
It's a similar system as seen on the likes of the iPhone 5
– Flyover is an option for many cities, and the rest of the things
you'd expect, like traffic info, are also present and correct.
It's
not the end of the world missing out the functionality, but it's a big
selling point of Apple's Maps, and it's a shame to not see it there.
We're
not going to get into the accuracy of the app, as while it's still a
long way off in terms of getting things in the right place (Luton still
defaults to the small village in the south-west of England) things are
improving day by day as faults are reported and updated.
There's
no doubting that Google Maps (and Nokia Maps) are by far the superior
options, Apple Maps at least looks impressive and will be getting better
and better.
The navigation option is also good on the iPad mini,
with the larger screen making it a very easy tool to use in the car.
It's also impressive that it still works without a connection, as long
as you've set the information before you leave, so you can even get away
with doing things without the LTE version.
However,
given there's no GPS chip on offer in the Wi-Fi only version you'll
have to be really happy with having some pretty sketchy directions read
out to you on the way, although they do work on the lock screen as well,
with the iPad mini coming out of sleep mode when you approach your next
turning.
Overall, Apple has a long way to go in terms of putting
the confidence back into its mapping function, but the app is far from
horrendous aside from that.
Gallery
The gallery app on the
iPad mini is as good as it's always been, with the smaller screen size
making it very easy to manipulate images, such as being able to crop and
enhance what's on offer.
We found the speed of doing this to be
more than acceptable despite the lower-spec processor, with the smaller
screen making cropping photos even easier than on the iPhone.
There
are a number of other features, such as being able to geo-locate photos
and see them on a map within the app being a really nice addition in
terms of bringing your snaps to life. And as before the Twitter and
Facebook integration is right there, so sharing photos is simple in the
same way as on the internet.
Siri
Oh, hello Siri – what are you doing here? Surely given the iPad 2's
processor, which is the same as in the iPad mini, can't handle Siri
(according to Apple) then it shouldn't be on the new device, should it?
But,
there it is, and nicely incorporated too, as the little pop-up window
that gives access to the voice recognition is nicely unobtrusive. The
accuracy is also much improved over the first iteration of the software,
and the range of functionality also enhanced.
With
the ability to tell you if your football team is winning or losing, the
weather in Paris or open an app on command, the iPad mini has the same
implementation as the iPhone when it comes to Siri…and therefore as much
use.
There's no way you'll ask it to book an appointment for you,
because a) it doesn't always work, and you'll wish you had just typed
it in and b) you're likely to be with someone, and the risk of failure
and looking stupid in front of them is too high to try it.
The Google Now cards on Android Jelly Bean
is much better when it comes to information, as being told what's going
on with your team is much easier than having to ask for it. Both are
different systems, but Siri is never going to gain mass appeal until it
finally becomes almost unerringly accurate at recognising what you're
saying.
We still like the little pop-up window, though.
Camera and video
The camera on the iPad mini is a fairly standard affair, coming in with a 5MP camera sensor on the rear of the device.
It's
not the strongest camera on a tablet by a long way, but does come with
some features to help bolster its performance, such as backside
illumination to improve the light sensitivity of the sensor and the same
five-piece lens that helps filter the light more efficiently.
But
in practice, well, you've guessed it: it's an average camera on a
tablet, and people shouldn't really be using such a device for
photography unless it's an absolute emergency. Simple as that.
There's
also no HDR mode here, which is usually necessary to help enhance the
quality of your snaps on the go – we're upset that Apple has shorn the
iPad mini of the functionality, but it's nowhere to be found.
There's
no flash here, so while the low light sensitivity is improved, it's a
long way from usable in the real world. The same autofocus elements are
in place though, so face detection and focus/exposure locks are
available (the latter by long pressing the portion of the picture you
want in focus and brightest).
The front facing camera is actually a
little more usable, as the 1.2MP sensor helps take some above-average
profile pictures, if that's what you're into. It's obviously better for
FaceTime games, but it's a surprisingly high-spec sensor in a budget
Apple tablet.
Check out our samples to see what we're talking
about – but if you really don't want to use a phone or dedicated camera
for snapping, this isn't the tablet you should be turning to.
Video
The
video capabilities of the iPad mini are alongside the camera in
impressiveness. While it can take 1080p video and stabilise video as you
go, the lack of video light makes it a little hard to use in many
situations.
You can at least focus the scene during the video
shooting, which helps improve snaps in a constantly moving scene… but
that's about the most impressive thing we can say about it, other than
it's a decent alternative when you've got nothing else to shoot with and
you can rest it securely on a surface to minimise judder.
Battery and connectivity
Apple
devices have historically had issues with battery life, but in recent
years the iRange has been stepped up in terms of power performance, and
the iPad mini is following in that trend.
The battery life was a
hot topic at launch, as many suspected that the lack of a high
resolution screen was to help manage the power consumption as much as
give Apple the specs for the iPad mini 2 next year. In practice this
seems to have worked, as the battery life is pretty darn low.
We
tested two usage scenarios: one with full brightness, high power apps
running constantly and movies being played over and over, with downloads
running in the background. In this case the iPad mini managed to last
nearly six hours, which was more than acceptable in our eyes.
In
low power mode it was a whole different case. Powering the display right
down to the minimum brightness, keeping it turned off and locked and
jumping onto Airplane mode from time to time led to an astonishingly low
battery consumption, with the unit lasting well over two days with 50%
still remaining (on the Wi-Fi only version).
Given that the device
will mostly be in the bag or pocket (at a stretch) we can see you'll
only need to keep the charger handy every two or three days to keep
things juiced - barring a marathon gaming session or email reply storm.
In
short, the battery life won't ever give you any nasty surprises on the
Wi-Fi version - while we haven't tested the LTE option as yet in our
time with other iPads rocking the cellular signal there wasn't a huge
amount of power consumption difference, so we're pretty hopeful the same
will be true of the smaller-screened iPad mini.
Connectivity
The
iPad mini's two specifications, 3G and Wi-Fi only, and they differ
quite a lot in terms of what's on board. The latter is pretty sparse,
with only dual-channel Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 on board. We say 'only',
but in truth that's quite a decent option for the things you'll want to
do with it.
The former has everything under the sun: most LTE
bands, DC-HSPA for sub 4G speeds that still impress, GPS and GLONASS for
on the go mapping (providing you get the courage to do use such a
function with Apple Maps).
The Bluetooth 4.0 integration is one
that's impressed us over time, as it means low power sensors (such as
those in healthcare or fitness) can be used with the more portable
tablet, which will be great news for doctors who can't convince their
patients to buy an iPhone or lug around a larger tablet.
There are
other devices that have the same functionality, of course, but Apple
always likes to put in the minimum amount of technology when designing
devices, so this shows it really believes in the technology.
Benchmarks
The
GeekBench score is what we usually use to tell if any new Apple product
is up to much, and you'll be glad to know that it's… exactly as
powerful as the iPad 2 and the iPad 3.
The
latter isn't really a fair test as it's got a much improved GPU running
the show to help power all those pixels, but it shows that in terms of
CPU grunt there's not a lot to worry about here.
However, it is
under half as powerful as the new iPad 4, which is able to ripple
through web pages and apps in a much shorter time… Apple always gives
you something to update to, right?
Hands on gallery
Official photography
Verdict
We
often struggle to sum up an Apple product. We can ask the same question
of the iPad mini that we've asked nearly every mobile device that Apple
has made: How much more should consumers pay for a well thought out OS
and more impressive design over the competition?
Usually, the
answer is 'not as much as is being charged'... but in that case that's
not as true as normal. Yes, the iPad mini is once again too expensive -
why is it 30% more for a device with lower specs than the competition
when Apple has other devices with more grunt, and when Apple is making
at least 43% profit on each device, according to iSuppli?
And it's
especially irksome that Apple has pointed out it's making a lower
profit margin on this device - rather than make us say 'well done' for
taking the hit to enter a new market, it just makes us think that the
company could charge less for other devices and stop its cash mountain
threatening to topple over and kill Apple employees.
It is worth
noting here that the likes of Google and Amazon, while both haven't
explicitly said so, are making no money or even using the likes of the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD
as loss leaders to claw back money on apps and content, a strategy
Apple has no intention of deploying, but may give consumers pause on the
high street.
But
forget all that for a second, and focus on this: the iPad mini is the
best iPad Apple has created to date. We fell in love with its design,
the way the screen seems so much more expansive than the Google or
Amazon competition or just the way the smooth aluminium feels in the
hand.
We liked
We liked a lot. A whole lot on the new iPad
mini, and although the price is a little high (and you should REALLY
think about the 32GB option for safety if you're thinking of getting
one) Apple has just about justified it with the way the device sits in
the hand.
The larger screen might not fit fully in a single palm,
but from the smooth back to the Smart Covers designed specifically for
the model, we're fans - pure and simple.
The speed of the
processor is adequate for all tasks, the UI is actually
better-engineered for this 7.9-inch screen compared to its bigger
brother and we're chirpy indeed about the battery prowess through harder
use.
We disliked
The lack of a Retina display is so, so
frustrating as that's the killer feature (along with, perhaps, a
slightly faster processor) that would have meant we gave the iPad mini
our first five star tablet review. It's that good. But the screen is too
fuzzy at times compared to the likes of the new iPad or iPhone 5 to
consider it a dazzling display, and that's a real shame.
The
low-power GPU is also sadly lacking, even for the price point, and while
we've long given up on looking for expandable storage or a removable
battery on these devices, 16GB of storage isn't enough for the plethora
of large apps and HD content we're interested in downloading onto this
device.
Verdict
Can we see someone owning an iPhone 5, iPad mini and new iPad 4?
Actually, yes...and not just the pointlessly rich. The iPhone is the
perfect device for hopping in and out of content, giving you the
internet all the time and generally allowing you to play more simple
games.
The iPad mini is perfect for a train ride: it's just the
right size for a few TV episodes when packed nose to nose with fellow
commuters before slipping it back into a bag or pocket when leaping for
your platform.
And the new iPad 4 is great for longer sessions and
more involved gaming - air travel is so much more improved by its
presence and no matter what game we were playing or which content-rich
website we wanted to view, it was always the larger device we reached
for.
We've said it already, but we'll say it again though: the
iPad mini is the best iPad Apple has ever created. It offers better
value for money, sits more pleasantly in the hand and can handle all the
tasks you want at least adequately and many times better than you'd
expect.
If you're thinking about which tablet to buy a loved one
and money isn't an issue, we'd recommend the iPad mini every time for
it's more impressive design compared to the swathes of plastic offered
by its competitors. It's still overpriced, the CPU and display aren't as
strong as they could be, but we can safely say this is the gift we'd
like to see Santa put under our tree over the rest.
Dual-core A5
1
2
5
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