The iPad mini is the 3rd Apple product I bought in the last 8-9 years years after iPOD and iMac. And not much has changed as far as Apple is concerned. Except for the "anti-Jobs" decision to manufacture an 8 inch tablet (arent we all immensily happy at that), Apple continues to cater to a niche market that values show-off over utilitarinism and all else. I wont therefore talk much on the core specs but will instead try clubbing the overall experience under commonly discussed parameters. The item was purchased for my wife, intended primarily to serve as a book reader, networking and watching movies/photos.
Size, Weight & Looks - Apple products have always had looks to die for and the iPad Mini isnt an exception. The Mini stands out. And that probably is the biggest reason why its bought. The size is just about right for coat pockets/purses/handheld portfolios while the weight is minimal too, meaning handholding is not a pain at all. Whats even more remarkable is that the Mini has a very narrow bezel on the sides and the aspect ratio of the screen (768 x 1024) packs in the largest screen "real estate" for a 8 inch device and is perfect size for an ebook reader. If you are into comics, it may be a touch small though.
The screen, though an IPS capacitative LCD, is only oleophobic - no Gorilla glass. This makes it scratch resistant but not almost scratch-proof as Samsung’s Gorilla glasses are. Again the ~162 ppi pixel density is no Retina display and is at best modest in line with the times but I dont think it matters as much for an 8 inch device as it is often endlessly sweated over.
Storage - Kills the device before its born. For many of us, including myself, external card support is a "NO GO" criteria, especially when (1) internal memory is only 16GB (about 13GB user accessible) and (2) there is no USB on-the-go (OTG) support which is so critical for accessing data. Having to use iTunes for transferring files is, simply put, as ugly as it can get. But then thats the price you pay for patronising the over-protective environment that Apple has always been so obsessed with.
Under the Hood - The 1Ghx dual core processor complimented by the SGX543MP2 GPU has enough firepower for almost all tablet oriented tasks except the most demanding games at high resolutions. Similarly the 16.3 watthour battery has enough juice to keep the device running for 8-10 hours. And if you dont mind looking funny, the Mini is also the cheapest iOS6 product that you can buy for making calls (only in cellular version). As is the wont with Apple, the cameras, front and rear, are fantastic for their resolutions and an absolute pleasure to use Skype/videocalling apps on, besides the casual photography/videography. Problems of connecting to non-Apple devices through bluetooth abound and configuration continues to be a big headache.
App Store - Frankly I feel this is an unnecessarily exaggerated attribute that marketeers keep harping on to delude the public. Having apps for commonly visited sites or for common productivity tasks/resources like calculators, thesauraus, calorie burner, organiser, etc doesnt qualify an any app store as ’Great’ far as I am concerned. The App store, just like the Google Pay store, is currently the leader as far as mobile/tablet Games are concerned but as someone who has been using them for 3-4 years now, I’ll concede that there is hardly anything new except the same old stuff repackaged again and again. In fact, to make matters worse, the newer versions of the popular apps/games are worse off since they often stop working soon as an updated version is released. There is just too much of updating going on. And apart from the fact that the updates cost money (internet cost) they also mean using more and more wi-fi (thats how apps/games are updated) which I’m not sure is a great idea.
The Ideology - to make you operate in an overly constricted environment, so that completing simplest of tasks appears like a grand accomplishment; and as a corollary thereby encourage you to buy apps/games/songs/books from App store. Why someone in his right mind should want to load his files to "clouds" using internet and then download/stream them back to his device again through internet, everytime he wants to use it, beats me. But the fact that millions of people out there take special pride in doing it means I must be missing something very fundamental.
The thing with technology these days is you cant have it all. Apple products are invariably marketed at the techonologically naive/disinterested Noob who is looking for a protected ecosystem that reliably delivers a desirable experience every time, time after time without having to spend precious time/energy in the upkeep of the product. This isnt necessarily a bad thing in itself (since the typical man on the streets has too many gadgets that hog on his time) as long as the price is digestable and more importantly the freedom of usage isnt sacrificed. This is where Apple fails miserably. To think that I bought a 22k tablet that I cant read all my ebooks on or cant transfer files to without iTunes or cant read files from an external memory device (except photos by using the proprietary cable at extra cost) or cant even easily connect to non-Apple products via bluetooth, is enough to give me a feeling of getting nastily ripped off.
The list of things you "cant do" with the iPad Mini is way too long !!