Apple recently unveiled the iPad Mini and in the Gadget Pr0n video below, Matt Mira and John Barrowman review the device. The two break down the iPad Mini features, including a 7.9-inch IPS display, a dual core A5 processor and more.
What You Need To Know
- The iPad Mini measures 5.3" by 7.8" tall and the whole thing weighs 0.68 pounds.
- The tablet is also very thin as 0.28".
- The design features an aluminum back.
- The button layout is familiar if you've used an iPad in the past with a sleep/wake button, the volume rocker and the home button.
- The real thing to know about this is that it's genuinely more comfortable to hold than other tablets on the market.
- The screen's resolution is 1024x768, which sounds good until you realize the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HD have higher resolutions and smaller screens.
- If you have an iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 or the latest iPad with Retina Display, this screen will make you think you forgot your glasses somewhere.
- The screen looks fuzzy and while the size does lend itself to reading, we didn't like reading on this particular screen.
- Watching online videos was a better experience but the screen itself wasn't perfect for that either.
- There's an issue with the aspect ratio, which isn't 16x9, so most of the new media you watch is going to be suffering from letterboxing.
- However, the color reproduction and brightness is good.
- The screen is the perfect size for surfing the web.
- The iPad Mini uses Apple's A5 processor with 512 MB of RAM, which leaves us with a small version of the iPad 2.
- The tablet runs iOS 6, which is a very good OS with a very bad navigation and map application.
- The 5 megapixel camera shoots 1080p HD video and a front camera for Facetime, both of which worked very well.
- The nice thing about the size of the iPad Mini is that you won't look as ridiculous as you normally would when trying to take photos.
- Facetime is actually better on this sized device because it's light and more mobile.
- The picture resolution will appear to be better than the larger screen on the iPad, but this isn't the same overall.
Price
- $329 for the 16 GB iPad Mini.
Rating
- 3 Seals of Approval out of 5 (How do we rate gadgets?)
- The iPad Mini is a great size device and one of the most comfortable 7-inch tablets we've used.
- The screen is not up to part with what most users will be used to from Apple.
- The price is very high.
- If you're looking for a 7-inch tablet, save yourself a lot of money by getting the Google Nexus 7 or the Kindle Fire HD.
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