Apple iPad mini with Retina Display: Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 16, 2013 8:00 AM ESTCamera
The iPad mini with Retina Display features the same 5MP iSight rear facing camera and 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera as the iPad Air. Both are quite good for a tablet, aided by iOS’ excellent camera UI and the A7’s high performance ISP. The cameras also benefit from the same dual-mic setup of the iPad Air. I won’t talk too much about quality here as it’s no different than the Air, which I've already gone over in greater depth.
| Rear Facing Camera Comparison | |||||||
| Sensor | Resolution | Aperture | Focal Length | ||||
| Apple iPad Air | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | f/2.4 | 3.3mm | |||
| Apple iPad 4 | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | f/2.4 | 4.3mm | |||
| Apple iPad 3 | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | f/2.4 | 4.3mm | |||
| Apple iPad 2,4 | 0.7MP | 960 x 720 | f/2.4 | 2.0mm | |||
| Apple iPad mini | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | f/2.4 | 3.3mm | |||
| Apple iPad mini (Retina) | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | f/2.4 | 3.3mm | |||
| Front Facing Camera Comparison | |||||||
| Sensor | Resolution | Aperture | Focal Length | ||||
| Apple iPad Air | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | f/2.4 | 2.15mm | |||
| Apple iPad 4 | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | f/2.4 | 2.18mm | |||
| Apple iPad 3 | 0.3MP | 640 x 480 | f/2.4 | 1.8mm | |||
| Apple iPad 2,4 | 0.3MP | 640 x 480 | f/2.4 | 1.8mm | |||
| Apple iPad mini | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | f/2.4 | 2.2mm | |||
| Apple iPad mini (Retina) | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | f/2.4 | 2.15mm | |||
WiFi & Cellular
The iPad mini with Retina Display inherits the same Qualcomm MDM9615 modem and 2-stream dual-band 802.11n from the iPad Air. The move to 2-stream 802.11n more or less doubles peak WiFi performance compared to last year’s mini. The mini's peak WiFi performance is pretty close to that of the iPad Air as well.
Lately I’ve really begun to appreciate the flexibility offered by tablets equipped with cellular modems. Especially now that it’s not terribly expensive to add a tablet to a shared data plan (or even free), the $130 LTE adder for the iPads is something worth seriously considering. The convenience of being able to pull out your tablet, wake it up, and immediately hop on the web/check email/tweet/etc… is awesome. Qualcomm's MDM9615 is a well known quantity at this point. I didn't run into any issues with its performance on the iPad mini.
| iPad Cellular Speeds | ||||||
| Property | iPhone 3G/3GS/iPad 1 3G | iPhone 4 / iPad 2 (GSM/UMTS) | iPhone 4 / iPad 2 (CDMA) | iPad 3 | iPad 4/iPad Mini | iPad Air/iPad Mini w/Retina |
| Baseband | Infineon X-Gold 608 | Infineon X-Gold 618 | Qualcomm MDM6600 | Qualcomm MDM9600 | Qualcomm MDM9615 w/RTR8600 |
Qualcomm MDM9615 w/WTR1605L |
| Max 3GPP Release Feature | Release 5 | Release 6 | Release 7 | Release 9 | Release 9 | Release 9 |
| HSDPA Category | Cat.8 - 7.2 Mbps | Cat.8 - 7.2 Mbps | N/A | Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps | Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps | Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps |
| HSUPA Category | None - 384 Kbps WCDMA only | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps | N/A | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps |
| EVDO | N/A | N/A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A |
| LTE | N/A | N/A | N/A | 100/50 UE Cat. 3 | 100/50 UE Cat. 3 | 100/50 UE Cat. 3 |
The new iPad mini, like the iPad Air, is extremely flexible from a mobile operator standpoint. Regardless of what operator you choose at the time of purchase, you can switch to others as long as you have an activated nano SIM (there’s apparently an exception for Sprint, but AT&T/T-Mobile/Verizon should all be easily switchable). The unlocked nature of the device makes it ripe for global use, especially with support for a total of 14 LTE bands (1,2,3,4,5,7,8,13,17,18,19,20,25 and 26).
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solipsism - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
1) Ideal is conception of perfection and everything is a relation to it. For instance, a 0.1 aspect ratio on a 9.7" display would give you a 0.97"x 9.65" display. Is that more or less ideal than 9.7" at 16:9" display for reading?2) Again, there is no obsolete aspect ratio. Simply because something is more commonly used doesn't mean it's not viable. If you think that is a measure of what everyone should be doing then iOS shouldn't be used.
WaltFrench - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Interesting “use case” where you need pro-quality color and fastest-possible processing but are uninterested in the larger screen which more easily lets you see those photos or videos that you're doing all that detail work on.tipoo - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
I don't need to do professional work to see the washed out colors.ws3 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
The choice between the retina mini and the air is only "muddier" if you're the kind of ding-dong who buys based on spec sheets.The choice between the air and the retina mini is simple: larger screen vs. lower weight. That's it. If you want a larger screen, you go air. If you want a lower weight, you go mini. Anything else is irrelevant unless you plan to do nothing with your tablet except run benchmarks and display tests.
Puberticus - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Personally, after reading this review I think I'm probably going to get the Air. The weight difference isn't that significant and I think I'm going to appreciate the extra screen area.The size really isn't an issue because I would never consider putting the mini in a pocket in the first place.
moep - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
At this rate we’ll see the Haswell rMBP reviews sometime between christmas and new year, yay.Bob Todd - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Yeah, still hoping for a 13" rMBP review soon. And for an insta-ban on all of these asshats filling every Apple article with bias garbage. There are often interesting and insightful comments here from some, too bad I have to get several pages in to find them.allanwood - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Are the LCD and cover glass bonded?Morawka - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
This, The air's display gap is very distracting to me, since the display is not laminated, the glass looks like it's a full quarter of a inch away from the display. (i know it's not, but glass bends light and makes it look even worse)They should laminate because it uses less power by having incell touch, and obviously thinner.
Spoony - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
The Mini has always had optically bonded glass and LCD, although I'd like to have it confirmed as well. I am looking to get an iPad to read magazines on. However, no buy this generation. If I'm paying this much for a device I want to get a full sRGB display with high accuracy. Which it seems the Mini is not. AND I want an optically bonded display stack, which the Air is not (for some bizarre reason). Sorry, Apple. My standards are very high. Maybe next generation when the 9.7" iPad gets an optically bonded display stack I'll reconsider.