The iPad mini has received an overall positive critical response. (Photo : Apple)
Reviews for the iPad mini have arrived at last, and the reception is overwhelmingly positive.
Apple's latest tablet offering features a Dual-Core A5 Prcoessor, Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology , a 7.9-inch diagonal LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology, a 1024 x 768, fingerprint-resistant coating, a front-facing 1.2 Facetime HD camera, and a 5-megapixel iSight Camera.
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The mini challenges the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 this holiday season, and critics appear to have warmed up to the Cupetirno tech giant's premium pricing. Here's what they had to say.
"This isn't just an Apple tablet made to a budget. This isn't just a shrunken-down iPad. This is, in many ways, Apple's best tablet yet, an incredibly thin, remarkably light, obviously well-constructed device that offers phenomenal battery life. No, the performance doesn't match Apple's latest and yes, that display is a little lacking in resolution, but nothing else here will leave you wanting. At $329, this has a lot to offer over even Apple's more expensive tablets.
Those comparing this to the Kindle Fire HD will have a hard time, as that's a tablet manufactured to a fixed cost and designed to sell you content. This is very much more. Similarly, the hardware here -- the materials, the lightness, the build quality, the overall package as it sits in your hand -- is much nicer than the Nexus 7 and it offers access to the comprehensively more tablet-friendly App Store, but whether that's worth the extra cost depends entirely on the size of your budget -- and your proclivity toward Android."
Those in favour: excellent build quality; very light, comparatively large screen, not significantly wider than competition (for putting in coat pockets), excellent text rendering, huge selection of apps, music, books and films, pain-free setup from iCloud backups for existing accounts; 3G/4G LTE option; fast-growing range of accessories.
Those against: price is higher than rivals - at £229 £269, it's £40 £110more than the £159 16GB Nexus 7; no expandable storage; letterboxing of films; no HDMI out (though AirPlay is a wireless equivalent).
Lining those pluses and minuses up against those for the Nexus 7 - which garnered four stars - there's no doubt that this is indeed a five-star device. The 20% 70% difference in comparative price is more than made up by the difference in build quality and software selection.
I've been testing the iPad mini for several days and found it does exactly what it promises: It brings the iPad experience to a smaller device. Every app that ran on my larger iPad ran perfectly on the mini. I was able to use it one-handed and hold it for long periods of time without tiring. My only complaints were that it's a tad too wide to fit in most of my pockets, and the screen resolution is a big step backwards from the Retina display on the current large iPad.
The iPad mini is a product that's resolutely "Apple": it distills the essentials of the 9.7-inch iPad - iOS app compatibility, multimedia functionality, premium build quality, and comprehensive connectivity - without diluting them to unnecessarily meet a budget price point the company has no real interest in achieving. The iPad mini isn't a cheap tablet in comparison to $199 Android-powered options, but it feels better in the hand, has a huge number of applications specifically intended for tablet use, and delivers what it promises to in a cohesive and predictable way.
