iPad mini Hands On - Updated with More Photos & Videos
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 23, 2012 2:25 PM ESTWe just spent a good amount of time with the iPad mini and the easiest way to describe the device is that it's lighter than you'd expect. The build quality and finish both feel good as you'd expect, but the device is just considerably lighter than the iPad which results in superior in hand feel.
The display doesn't feel cramped either thanks to the reasonably large diagonal size. It's clear that the iPad mini is a nod to those who want something even more portable than the standard iPad.
In terms of performance, there's a pretty noticeable difference between the A5 in the iPad mini and the A6X in the 4th gen iPad as you'd expect. I do wish that Apple had brought the A6 to the mini, however something has to give in pursuit of the lower price point.
The LTE version of the iPad mini has an RF window at the top of the unit similar to the standard iPad, although it does blend in a bit better on the black model.
Check out more photos and impressions in the gallery and video below.
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tipoo - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
1024x768, A5 guts from the iPad 2, and 130 dollars more than the Nexus 7 to boot...I'm underwhelmed. They aren't even selling the 3 at the price of the 2 like they did with the 2 for the 3 either, it's just the 2 or the 4 now. No quad core in the Retina Macbook pro, the iMac dropped the optical drive and tapered the edges a bit. Meh to all of this.kyuu - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
Agree.Plus, after following all the WinRT tablets coming out and now looking at this, I can't imagine buying an iPad now, mini or otherwise.
tipoo - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
Yeah, I can't wait to try out a Surface RTsteven75 - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
The problem with the Surface RT is it will come out with about 4,000 apps vs the very well established iPad ecosystem with it's whopping 275,000 apps.drwho9437 - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
275,000 applications sounds important right? But I can think of maybe 10-20 programs I actually use. Do I think those will be covered in the first 4000, probably, if not I'm quite sure with MS's developers, developers, developers base they will be soon. I think the lack of brand name envy for MS is going to be the bigger issue given Surface pricing. Here is to hoping I am wrong and that people are more rational than I give them credit for.B3an - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Theres already 6000+ apps in the Windows Store right now. Likely over 8000 on release day. Apps are not a problem anyway, this is Windows not some unknown OS. The app count will grow very fast. And any app made for the Windows Store automatically work on both Win 8 and RT as all apps run on the new Windows RunTime. Win 8 apps are also Win RT apps.I agree with the others, iPads are not appealing against RT tablets, let alone a full Win 8 tablet.
steven75 - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link
People said WP7 would grow it's app collection very fast as well and look at it now: Still a 7x multiple behind Android/iOS and still missing headline apps like Instagram and Pandora (I'm aware Pandora was announced for a *future* release)Also, do we really have to go over the flaws in the "but I only need about 20-40 apps" argument again? Ok, ONE MORE TIME:
You only use that many apps but your set is different than everyone else's set. Now do you see why selection matters? It should be pretty easy to understand considering this is the main reason people have bought Windows computers in the last 2 decades. No one says "oh, I only need 20 apps so I'll just use Linux" or whatever.
name99 - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
Troll type 4, Son of "I don't even own a TV", strikes again...What makes you think ANYONE gives a damn about what you as an individual plan to buy or not?
Try to add something to the conversation beyond just "me, me, me --- look at me"
puggsly - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
Ok, so how about this. For the extra $80 you pay for an iPad Mini vs a nexus 7 you get.1) physically larger touch panel.
2) physically smaller and lighter device.
3) A usable camera for stills and video.
4) More than a quarter of a million apps designed for the larger screen.
5) Faster Graphics performance.
6) Higher quality build.
7) The number 1 rated company in customer service for these devices.
What the competition has.
1) Higher resolution display.
2) Faster CPU performance.
Beyond this we can get into Siri, iCloud, iWork, and iLife vs Google Maps, and web services etc... But from a primarily hardware standpoint I can't see how the Nexus is clearly superior.
nofumble62 - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
Don't forget the GPS and Google map. Instead of upgrading your GPS, just get a Nexus.