Introduction
Apple has gone where we never thought it would, with the iPad mini
bringing the Apple tablet experience to a brave new budget world.
The new tablet comes in at a wallet-friendly £279 for the basic version,
with 16GB of storage on offer for the Wi-Fi version. You can supplement
the mini-slate with up to 64GB of space to chuck movies and music, as
well as 4G LTE connectivity, but that will set you back an eye-watering
£529 for the top model.
Apple fans need not worry too much when it comes to whether the iPad
mini is a worthy addition to the iBrand, as it comes with enough power
and reams of Ive-inspired design to make it a worthwhile addition to the
range – this isn't a shrunken down iPad, it's a whole new product
again.
Be it the larger screen size, the impressively low weight
or the alternative design compared to the competition there's a lot to
chew over with the iPad mini – but is it worth spending your hard-earned
when more cash will get you a fully-fledged version of Apple's tablet?
Design
As with virtually all Apple devices, the iPad mini is an undeniable
beauty, combining sleek, seamless edges, a stunning brushed metal back
and strong build quality that is unrivalled by anything else on the
7-inch tablet market.
To that end, the screen is larger at 7.9 inches, the design is completely different to the likes of the
new iPad
or the Google Nexus 7, and the whole ethos has been created from the
ground up partly under the stewardship of Sir Jony Ive, according to
Apple.
The aluminium chassis shares the same colouring as the
iPhone 5, with the darker black slate and white silver options both bringing a touch of class to proceedings.
At 308g it's twice the weight and then some of the iPhone 5, but
compared to other tablets on the market (and combined with the aluminium
chassis) it gives a very lightweight feeling the hand.
The screen
is something of a worry though – with the 1024 x 768 resolution in the
expansive display we're only getting a sharpness akin to the
iPhone 3GS.
While the display is better than that, thanks to improved IPS LCD
technology, its still light years behind the Retina display on the
bigger brother
new iPad.
Interface and performance
I Pad mini is powered by the dual-core A5 chip, which powers iPad 2 and
the fifth generation iPod touch and not iPad 3′s A5X chip or iPad 4′s
A6X chip.
Camera:
iPad mini comes with front and back
facing camera. The back-facing iSight camera is a 5-megapixel camera and
the front-facing FaceTime camera is an HD camera, which will allow
users to take 1.2-megapixel photos and record 720p HD videos.
Battery Life:
iPad mini comes with the same battery
life as the full-sized iPad, which is amazing. It offers up to 10 hours
of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music.
Ultrafast Wireless:
iPad mini will also support 4G LTE
networks around the world. It also supports HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA. It can
also connect to Wi-Fi networks on 2.4ghz and 5ghz on 802.11n.
Lightning Connector:
As expected, iPad mini comes with Apple’s new Lightning connector like the
iPhone 5, 5th generation iPod touch and 7th generation iPod nano.
Music:
Music is also well-placed on the iPad mini, with a simple to use
interface and a much better price range for new songs should you want to
keep up to date with the latest and greatest of the hit parade.
The sound quality through headphones is, as ever, excellent, although
when playing it through the speakers the fact they're chucked down one
end of the device does mean the sound quality isn't as good, especially
if it's placed with the connector facing downwards (obviously).
Overall though,especially with wireless headphones, the iPad mini is great for tunes,
in terms of being able to choose new songs through the store from the
Music app to high-res album art playing on the lock screen - as well as
the aforementioned widget controls it gets from the multitasking menu.
PROS
We liked a lot. A whole lot on the
new iPad
mini, and although the price is a little high . Apple has just about justified it with the way the device sits in
the hand.
The larger screen might not fit fully in a single palm,
but from the smooth back to the Smart Covers designed specifically for
the model, we're fans - pure and simple.
The speed of the
processor is perfectly acceptable and lag-free for all tasks, the UI is
actually better-engineered for this 7.9-inch screen compared to its
bigger brother and we're chirpy indeed about the battery prowess through
harder use.
CONS
The lack of a Retina display is
so, so frustrating as that's the killer feature (along with, perhaps, a
slightly faster processor) that would have meant we gave the iPad mini
our first five star tablet review. It's that good. But the screen is too
fuzzy at times compared to the likes of the
new iPad or iPhone 5 to consider it a dazzling display, and that's a real shame.
The
low-power GPU is going to be an issue for some, even for the price
point - although that's more for future proofing as in our tests the
iPad mini performed as well as the quad core variants.
And while
we've long given up on looking for expandable storage or a removable
battery on these devices, 16GB of storage isn't enough for the plethora
of large apps and HD content we're interested in downloading onto this
device.
Verdict
Certainly
the most desirable 7-inch tablet on the market, the iPad mini’s £269
starting price is considerably higher than the competition but for that
outlay you get a device that, although not specs superior, is a far more
enticing option than much of what is already on the market.
Combining
a brushed aluminium back with seamlessly curved edges and a fascia that
will be familiar to full-sized iPad owners, the iPad mini is a device
that looks and feels every penny that you pay for it. A step on from the
plastic backed likes of the
Google Nexus 7, the iPad mini is unrivalled in terms of build quality and style.
More
than a simple piece of eye candy, however, the iPad mini is a joy to
use and one which, thanks to its slightly larger 7.9-inch display is
immersive and perfectly sized for a combination of business and pleasure
purposes. If you have recently splashed out on a full-sized
iPad 3 or
iPad 4
then this might not be for you. If, however, you are looking to make
the plunge into the tablet market for the first time and can live
without an HD display, it’s hard to look past the new iPad mini.
Samsung announced a 85-inch ultra high definition 4K TV, the largest! Samsung is coming out with this TV in march 2013.One of the key differences of this TV is that it has a full array backlight around the back, which means it doesn’t have the edge-lit display. Samsung will also include the local dimming on this set so this combined with the back-lit display will improve the picture quality.
The S9 series will also give you the latest Samsung Smart Hub and employs improved gesture controls and a voice-control remote. Possibly one of the more notable innovations is the introduction of the One Connect system, which consolidates all audio/visual cables into one solitary cable that plugs into the back of the TV, getting rid of the frustrating rat's nest of HDMI cables
Samsung Galaxy Skin was just a kind of rumors, but the flexible smartphone arrives sometime next year.
