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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ws3 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
So buy the base model and see if it fits your needs. if not, either return it or sell it and then either upgrade or switch vendors. It's just not as difficult as you are making it.nedjinski - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Once again the Kindle HDX is left out of the comparison - even as a reference device.We can only speculate as to why.
solipsism - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Why would it be a reference device if they haven't yet completed a review?You do know that Anand was given an iPad Mini 2 for testing but was he given a Kindle Fire HDX? Reviews take time, especially ones by AnandTech for which I am thankful. Let's not push the last bastion of thorough tech journalism into an Engadget-like blog site.
There is also the issue of the Kindle Fire being the AOL Online of the tablets world. As nice as the HW is I'd definitely go for an actual Android tablet than the Kindle Fire which on this site seems to be the common theme when I read how the iPad isn't "a real tablet." If the iPad isn't a real tablet then the Kindle Fire definitely isn't.
nedjinski - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Fine - we'll believe it when we see it.As to the KF being the AOL of tablets - well that's the point actually as the HDX models seem to be rocking the boat pretty hard to break that image. There seem to be a lot of assumptions made about the new HDX tabs. I look forward to a real world shoot-out.
teiglin - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
The speculation leads us to an easy conclusion though--Anand has never used a Kindle Fire HDX. I do wish he'd mention it anyway as it is an interesting player in this field--especially the 8.9, which doesn't really have any competition in its size class.Anand, get on Amazon to sample you some HDXs! They look like solid tablets in most ways (blue light bleed or no).
huzzyz - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
First off, I love android for its ease of use and customization the very reason I love my Mac mini and my MBA, OSX "for me" gives me a lot more to customize. That being said. The simple reason I cannot connect an iOS device at anytime, anywhere (other than 5 pre-authorised devices) and just transfer files is also the single reason I will never invest in an iOS device it bottoms down to ease of use. Frankly iOS is too sandboxed for its own good. The iPad mini looks great, performs very well and much powerful that the compared Nexus 7, granted but thats all it is.BGQ-qbf-tqf-n6n - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Sorry, joined just for this comment.Pre-Authorization is only required to sync *purchased* iTunes content, not files in general.
You can transfer files between apps over iTunes USB file sharing without using one of your 5 authorization slots. You do however need to use an app which supports it (GoodReader for example), and "trust" the computer to transfer data over USB (you can trust an unlimited number of computers).
Puberticus - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
You're missing the broader picture here. There is a reason for all of that. Malware. DOD issued a report recently that said that 80%+ of all the phone/tablet malware out there was android-based.None of us like sandboxing. But keep in mind there's a reason for it.
kyuu - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Any chance you guys are going to review the Dell Venue Pro 8, Lenovo Miix 2, or any of the 8" Win8.1 tabs?BPB - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
The Asus T100 was reviewed a month ago.