If you pick up the new Mini, it feels a lot like the old Mini. The differences become clear if you look closely, but you’d never know from a distance.
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 iPhone 5S
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. While it’s technically a bit heavier than the older model - 0.3mm in thickness, and a 23-gram difference for the Wi-Fi version or a 29-gram difference for the LTE 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.
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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? The new Mini, wisely, barely alters the equation.
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 on the Air. And, the Retina Display already looked good on the Air’s 9.7-inch display.
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It’s a big improvement, indeed. Other 7-inch tablets routinely hit 1080p or better resolution, such as the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX, with 1, 920x1, 200-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.
Device Screen size Aspect ratio Resolution
Apple iPad Mini(2012) 7.9 inches 4:3 1, 024x768(168ppi)
Apple iPad Mini with Retina Display 7.9 inches 4:3 2, 048x1, 536(326ppi)
Google Nexus 7(2013) 7 inches 16:10 1, 920x1, 200(323ppi)
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7 7 inches 16:10 1, 920x1, 200(323ppi)
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.
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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.
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Text: Retina vs. non-Retina, magnified. Screenshot by Dan Ackerman/CNET
It’s more like a focal adjustment, when reading text.
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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.
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Screen comparison, clockwise from top left: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HDX, iPad Mini Retina, iPad Air. Sarah Tew/CNET
Retina on the Mini vs. the Air and other tablets: A bit of a drop-off
The Retina Display iPad Mini has a screen resolution that matches the iPad Air’s: 2, 048x1, 536. In 7.9 inches, it’s a denser pixel-per-inch resolution. Does that matter? On both iPads, you’d have to take out a jeweler’s loupe to see the actual pixels with your own eye. Text on both looks crisp and clean from nearly any distance.
But, in terms of colors and overall picture quality, there is a difference. CNET editor David Katzmaier subjected both, along with the Nexus 7 and
and Kindle Fire HDX 7, to display tests similar to what he’s done for select phones. He found that the Retina Mini’s grayscale was great, and its contrast in the same ballpark as the others, but its color accuracy and saturation weren’t as impressive. Here’s the full results of his tests if you’re curious.
When David and I looked at a series of test photos, the color differences between the four tablets were apparent, and in highly saturated shots - particularly a close-up of some red, purple, and orange flowers - the Mini seemed more washed out and less punchy. In other shots, however, for example the skin tones in children’s faces and a black-and-white skull, the Mini’s excellent grayscale helped it look as good as the others at times, and more accurate than the Fire HDX in particular. Overall we found ourselves liking the Air the best, followed by the Nexus 7 and then the Fire, with the Mini in last place. It wasn’t bad, just not as good as we’d expect.
Does that matter? Well, if you want the best possible display for photos, games, and movies, then yes. But, the Retina Mini’s crisp, bright display still looks awfully good for just about everything, and unless you’re comparing photos or icons side-by-side, you probably won’t miss that lost saturation.
What else is new?
As I mentioned, the Retina Mini has a 64-bit A7 processor, just like the iPhone 5S and iPad Air. It also has an M7 co-processor, 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 auto adjusts 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.
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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 smoothly; multitasking and high-end, demanding tasks like graphics rendering, video editing, and the like are effortless.
Actually, it turns out, the A7 processor on the Retina Mini according to Geekbench 3 tests isn’t exactly the same as the iPad Air’s: it’s 1.29GHz, the same as the iPhone 5S processor, while the 1.39GHz A7 on the iPad Air is a little faster. The new iPad Mini has twice the RAM of the last Mini: 1GB to 512MB, but the same as the Air.
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So, maybe it’s not too surprising to see the Mini’s specs in such a small form, since the even smaller iPhone 5S managed a similar feat. But the Retina Mini is an impressively fast little tablet by any measure. In all our benchmark tests, the new iPad Mini performed a little bit slower than the Air, but close enough to put it in nearly the same territory. It’s miles beyond last year’s iPad Mini, performing up to 4 to 5x faster or even more depending on the benchmark. And, compared with the Google Nexus 7 released earlier this year, it’s a significant leap forward.
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Scott Stein is a senior editor covering iOS and laptop reviews, mobile computing, video games, and tech culture. He has previously written for both mainstream and technology enthusiast publications including Wired, Esquire.com, Men’s Journal, and Maxim, and regularly appears on TV and radio talking tech trends. See full bio
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