Introduction
Wait, did hell just freeze over? Maybe a couple of degrees cooler? Rumors of a mini version of the iPad had been laughed at, dodged and denied - not necessarily in that order and often all at once. But here it is - the iPad mini is finally a reality. It caused due measures of excitement and perhaps a bit of disappointment. Yet, in typical Apple fashion, it's an excellent piece of hardware. In short, it's a polarizing device that may as well be the next best-selling tablet.
Apple iPad mini official images
You have to hand it to Apple's R&D team - they know how to design hardware. The iPad mini is super thin and light, with a cool aluminum shell. Sure, they swore they'd never make a 7" tablet and the truth is they still haven't - the 7.9" screen of the mini offers 36% more real estate than the screens of the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire HD.
Less bezel on the left and right of the screen combined with the ~310g of weight make it reasonably comfortable to hold with one hand. Apple did make some compromises, which drew a lot of ire. Here's the summarized list of what's good and what's bad about the Apple iPad mini:
Key features
- Compact body: 200 x 134.7 x 7.2 mm
- 7.9" LED-backlit IPS LCD touchscreen, 768 x 1024 pixels; scratch-resistant, oleophobic coating
- Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity, carrier-dependent hotspot support
- Optional 2G/3G GSM, CDMA, LTE connectivity (data only, separate models)
- Optional GPS with A-GPS support (for the 3G model only)
- Apple A5 SoC, dual-core Cortex-A9 @ 1GHz chipset
- 512MB of RAM
- PowerVR SGX543MP2 dual-core GPU
- iOS 6 with Siri, iCloud support and activation
- 16/32/64GB of inbuilt storage
- Weight of 308 grams (312 grams for the Wi-Fi + Cellular option)
- Bluetooth 4.0
- 16.3Wh battery
- Accelerometer, compass and three-axis gyro-sensor
- Compatible with every iPad and iPhone app without any modifications
- The base version costs less than a SIM-free iPhone 4, only $30 more than iPod touch
- 5MP auto-focus camera
- 1080p video recording at 30fps
- 1.2MP secondary camera capable of FaceTime calls, 720p recording
- Four and five-finger gestures
- 1080p TV-output with the Apple Digital AV Adapter (purchased separately for $49), 1080p video streaming
- Supports magnetic cases
- Lightning connector
- Stereo loudspeakers
Main disadvantages
- More expensive than 7" Android tablets, only $70 cheaper than iPad 2
- No Retina display, 162ppi only
- Same chipset as iPad 2, now two generations old
- iTunes still required for most of the content uploads
- Reflective screen struggles outdoors
- No standard USB port, Lightning accessories still rare and expensive
- No GPS receiver in the Wi-Fi version
- No memory card slot
- Lack of basic iOS apps - stocks, calculator, voice memos
The disadvantage list may seem longer than usual but most of the items there are general complaints that apply to virtually all Apple products, like the absence of a memory card slot. The way we see it, there are three main problems with the iPad mini - the (relatively) low-res screen, the old chipset and the price.
Apple products have so far effortlessly hit it big with users despite their perceived limitations compared to the competition. The new crop of iPads - the iPad 4 and iPad mini - already sold in the millions.
iPad mini in our office
The software - iOS 6 - should be very familiar to Apple users, but the hardware is new. It's not like the big iPads, which mostly varied in thickness, this one has been designed to comfortably hold in one hand and slip into a coat pocket.
Some analysts have gone as far as to say that the iPad mini will become the iPad - it's highly portable, capable enough and drawing on the vast resources of the Apple eco-system. And if you adjust for the "Apple tax", the mini isn't that expensive.
Final words
OK, then. Before we have our say on the iPad mini, we'll let the numbers talk. Three million tablets sold over the opening weekend easily beats the record set in March by the then new iPad. It's a combined figure of course for the two new slates - big and small - but it's quite likely for the iPad mini to claim responsibility for the better part of the traffic.
It's the novelty factor for one - a truly portable Apple tablet at long last against an iPad 4 that hardly brings anything new over the now discontinued iPad 3. No doubt, the mini is the new iPad, and it's not beyond belief that it may end up as the iPad of the future. Looking at the third and fourth generation of Cupertino slates, it's easier to imagine an iPad 5 with a Retina display in the mini form factor than another incremental upgrade.
On a second thought - would it have made sense to simply launch the iPad mini with a high-res screen and an A6 chipset instead of releasing another full-size slate just months after the previous model? From the perspective of iPad 3 owners, it most certainly would.
It's hard to guess what's on Apple's mind. At least a little pressure from cheap Google-powered tablets must have been felt. Or they may be simply encouraging users to have both sizes - one as a stay-at-home, the other for outings. That's more like Apple actually. They'd rather go on and on about portability and carefully avoid the subject of affordability.
Because, let's face it, the iPad mini is way more expensive than the likes of the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fires. Whatever the stunts that allow Google and Amazon to charge less than $ 200.00 on their tablets, they at least have the decency of putting an HD screen.
At $199 for a 16 GB version the Nexus 7 is a steal but even a 32 GB variant will set you back much less than a baseline 16 GB iPad mini. On the other hand, a bigger 8.9" screen on the Kindle Fire HD is also cheaper than the cheapest iPad mini.
Asus Google Nexus 7 • Amazon Kindle Fire HD • Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9
In an ideal world, the iPad mini would've been out at least a year ago and competing against something like the Samsung Galaxy 7.7. But when it gets to tablets you wouldn't call it an ideal world unless you're... Apple. Yes, Cupertino has been calling the shots forever and we're at a point where for a tablet to sell it either has to be dirt cheap or sport a bitten apple at the back.
Samsung P6800 Galaxy Tab 7.7
So, there we are. The iPad mini is nothing more than an iPad 2 with a smaller screen and premium finish. The A5 chipset is two-generations old and the mini has fewer pixels on a bigger screen than the closest Android-powered rivals.
Yet, the iPad mini is the biggest thing to come from Apple this season - after an underwhelming iOS 6, after an iPhone 5 and an iPad 4 that are not exactly making the previous versions obsolete.
It's a beautiful device too, we'd go ahead and call it the best looking Apple tablet to date. But portability is by far its biggest asset. Enough probably to make millions of users buy the mini and keep their bigger iPad.
Not only because it can go wherever they go, it's for things like gaming too. Videos suck on the small, low-res, 4:3 screen; web and picture browsing, as well as reading, are a lot better on Retina. But playing games is where the iPad mini is at its best. The screen size is right in terms of how far your thumbs can reach and accelerometer control is a lot more sensible than on a full-size iPad. And we mean for more than a couple of minutes.
But does this make the iPad mini a niche device for gaming and commuters? The competition would certainly like to think so. But even they must realize it's too good to be true. We can take people who are committed to Apple in one way or another - an iPhone or an iPad, most likely both - out of the equation.
It's just become harder for the neutral user about to decide on their first ever tablet. And that alone is a win for Apple already. We're not saying it's fair. But the choice is really between sensible and fancy, cheaper and apple at the back.
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