Why You Can Trust CNET iPad Mini with Retina Display available now, starting at $399: We go hands-on (updated)
The new Retina Mini's a little heavier and more expensive, but manages to fit a Retina Display and a much faster processor into its 7.9-inch tablet body. How does it feel? Read our unfolding review.
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The iPad Mini with Retina Display is now available, starting at $399 for the 16GB model. And, we have one here at CNET. How is it? Stay tuned for the full review, but here are my early impressions thus far.
The new iPad Mini does, indeed, have a much higher-resolution display than its predecessor, and a bumped-up A7 processor to boot, but if you pick up the new Mini, it feels a lot like the old Mini. The differences become clear if you look closely, or play games, or read lots of small text. Whatever remaining limitations separated the larger iPad from the Mini have been removed. This is the Tiny Air, down to nearly every feature.
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Apple had originally specified the Retina Mini's release date as "later in November," even as the larger
The iPad Mini, new and improved
For those looking for maximum portability, there are only two things, really, that the original 2012 iPad Mini needed to become a perfect little tablet: a Retina Display and a better processor. (That Mini had a 1,024x768-pixel screen and a 2011-era A5 processor.) With the newly announced iPad Mini with Retina Display, both those wishes have been answered. The new Mini does, indeed, pack an impressive 2,048x1,536-pixel resolution into its 7.9-inch screen, and it's got the latest, greatest Apple chips inside: the 64-bit A7 CPU, and the M7 motion coprocessor.
In fact, you could easily call the iPad Mini with Retina Display a shrunken-down clone of the new iPad Air: it has exactly the same specs as its larger sibling.
The only catch is that the 2013 upgrades come at a price: $399 for the base 16GB configuration. That's $70 more than when the Mini debuted last year (that 2012 model remains on sale, with a price cut to $299). And it's significantly more than rival tablets from Google and Amazon. On the other hand, it's also $100 less than the base iPad Air model.
With the screen and spec caveats of last year's Mini, it presented a real compromise compared with the big iPad of the time. This year? There aren't really any technology drawbacks at all compared with the full-size iPad. It's literally down to a size preference, and value proposition. Do you want to pay $400 for a midsize tablet -- or $500 for its big brother? Or are you more comfortable with Android and Amazon models that are considerably more affordable?
Design: a tiny bit heavier and thicker...but you'd never notice
The Mini comes in two colors: white-and-silver looks the same as last year, but the black-and-slate model has been subtly adjusted to "space gray," using the same lighter-metal back as the
Other than that, nothing's really changed in the iPad Mini's form. It has the same basic compact design as last year, which the iPad Air now also adopts: thin side bezels, a flat back, and a generally wafer-thin, metal-and-glass look. It's actually a tad thicker and heavier than the older model -- a 23-gram difference for the Wi-Fi version, a 29-gram difference for the 4G model, putting it at 0.73 or 0.75 pound respectively -- but you'd never know from holding it. Side by side with last year's Mini, it's nearly indistinguishable. And, it's still that same compact-but-not-quite-pocket-size form (unless you have very large, deep pockets). But, it's that extra size that gives it a huge edge over smaller tablets for running larger iPad apps in semi-miniature.
The Mini was a perfect 10 for its form: why change it? With the new Mini, wisely, Apple doesn't.
Retina Display: Worth the wait
Yes. Without a doubt, if you're a big reader, the massive jump in screen resolution is the most welcome change on this Mini. But what's most impressive, and hard to truly appreciate at times, is that there's no drop-off in pixels in the smaller screen size compared with the Air. And, the Retina Display already looked good on the Air's 9.7-inch display.
It's a big improvement, indeed. Other 7-inch tablets routinely hit 1080p resolution, such as the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX, with 1,920x1,080-pixel resolutions and 323 pixels per inch. The Mini's 2,048x1,536 resolution amounts to 326 pixels per inch, offering even better pixel density over a larger amount of screen real estate. And the Mini's screen is 7.9 inches with a closer-to-square 4x3 aspect ratio -- not the 7-inch wide-screen form factor of the aforementioned Google and Amazon tablets.
But, it's a surprisingly subtle upgrade from a distance. Put the non-Retina and Retina models side by side and it's hard to tell them apart. Get closer, and you'll see the difference right away: finer resolution, and even color quality, are improved. When looking at photos or reading books or text-heavy documents, you'll see the difference. Like the iPhone's leap to Retina, or the iPad's, it's a level of detail you'll miss after you get used to it, rather than one you'll notice right away.
It's more like a focal adjustment, when reading text.
Videos look great too, but the smaller screen size and extra letterboxing mean wide-screen movies are still pretty small. I tried out "Cloud Atlas," and the movie at least looked extra-sharp, but the viewing space on a Mini can get cramped.
What else is new?
As we mentioned, the Retina Mini has a 64-bit A7 processor, just like the iPhone 5S and iPad Air. It also has an M7 coprocessor, which helps track motion and could be used for motion-aware apps and to reduce strain on battery life. It has a better front-facing camera than the last Mini, an improved MIMO Wi-Fi antenna (but no 802.11ac wireless), and improved LTE connectivity internationally for LTE models, plus an extra microphone on the back that autoadjusts and emphasizes environmental audio based on whether you're using the rear- or front-facing camera (for clearer FaceTime calls, for instance).
In a lot of ways, the Retina Mini is much like the iPhone 5S, except it lacks a fingerprint-sensing Touch ID home button: this year's iPad home button still has a square on it, and won't do anything with your fingerprint except collect a slight smudge. Not having Touch ID is a bit of a letdown, but it would have been an utter luxury on a small tablet like this.
Performance: Similar to Air, and a huge leap over last year's Mini
If you're a gamer or a serious user of apps like video-editing or media-rich programs, you'll notice gigantic speed boost on the Mini, thanks to its leap from an A5 last year to an A7 this year. Applications that hiccuped before now run silky-smooth: multitasking and high-end, demanding tasks like graphics rendering, video editing, and the like are effortless.
The A7 processor on the Retina Mini, according to early Geekbench 3 tests, is 1.29GHz, the same as the iPhone 5S processor. The 1.39GHz A7 on the iPad Air is a little faster. The new iPad also appears to have twice the RAM of the last Mini.
Stay tuned for full benchmarks, but so far the new iPad Mini looks a hair slower than the iPad Air, and similar to the iPhone 5S based on Geekbench 3 and 3DMark app tests.
Apps run nearly identically on the iPad Air and the new Mini, again because they're running almost exactly the same hardware. The difference is basically screen size and pixel density: some apps like games can look even more finely detailed, while others might seem a tiny bit small compared with on the larger iPad. But, in general, almost all apps I've seen make the transition to the smaller screen size excellently.
Does it warrant an upgrade from last year's Mini? If you're power-using your iPad, yes. For everyday use, especially video viewing and reading, you'll be fine sticking with the non-Retina version. But, be aware that app developers are going to go full-force with new types of experiences that maximize use of the A7 across iPhone and iPad. As a way of future-proofing your iPad for an extra $100, new prospective buyers should seriously consider going Retina for the processor alone.
Moving up to a Retina Air over the previous Air, however, you will have suffer increased download sizes: apps, and movies, and digital magazines all take up more space in their Retina-optimized forms. The movie of "Cloud Atlas," while long, was a 6.2GB download. You might want to consider a bump up to at least 32GB when getting a Retina Mini.
Price: Clearly no budget mini tablet
This isn't a budget tablet, but it's clearly not meant to be. It's a packed-to-the-gills little tablet beast. The storage configurations now add a 128GB model: the Wi-Fi-only 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB models cost $399, $499, $599, and $699, respectively. LTE-equipped versions, available in the US from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, cost $129 more: $529 to a sky-high $829.
The iPad Mini's already been designed to truly do a lot of tasks equally as well as a larger-size iPad, and that Retina Display makes it a better e-reader, Web browser, and photo viewer. But its price seems to acknowledge its versatility. And, while it's $100 less than an iPad Air for the same specs and promised battery life, some people will inevitably consider paying up just for a physically larger screen on the Air, even at the same resolution.
iPad Mini versus the non-Apple competition
Of course, the tablet world is no longer an Apple-only affair. To that end, the iPad Mini with Retina is entering a very competitive landscape of small and midsize tablets (7 to 9 inches). The 7-inch
It's largely the same situation with other like-size Android competitors with high-res screens. The 8.3-inch
Air or Retina Mini: Only a matter of price and screen size?
So, indeed, there are a wide range of Android -- and even
Indeed, you're probably here because you've already looked past those competing tablets, and have held out for the new iPads. But now that they're both here, the question is: which should you get? The Mini certainly presents an awfully tempting proposition, offering a better overall value for pure performance and storage for the dollar. So far, the Mini looks like it has no drawbacks at all compared with the Air, other than being smaller. That will be an advantage to many, but keep in mind that anyone looking for a laptop alternative is probably better off with the Air -- just don't expect it to fully replace a laptop for every single type of use.
If you want the most affordable iPad Mini, last year's model is still being sold for $299 -- a $100 savings versus the Retina model. But I wouldn't do that. The Retina Mini is a better bet across the board. Stay tuned for our final, full review soon.
Editors' note, November 12, 2013: This story has been updated to reflect the availability of the iPad Mini with Retina Display, and the beginning of our review-in-progress. An earlier update on October 25 replaced the version originally published October 22. Senior Editor Eric Franklin contributed to this story.