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The iPad Mini is here. It’s a sleek, thin and light 7.85-inch tablet made of anodised aluminium and glass that follows the format reduction pioneered by Google and Amazon. Its specs and design are pretty much what we expected.
Here are all its specs and how it compares to the Google Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HD.
The iPad Mini has a larger surface than the Nexus 7 or the Kindle Fire HD: 7.85 inches vs 7 inches. Remember that this size is diagonal, so the difference is quite substantial. The area of the iPad Mini is smaller than the regular iPad, but it’s significantly larger than the panoramic Android 7-inch tablets. Here’s a comparison:
In fact, the iPad mini’s screen has 35 per cent more real estate than the Nexus 7. According to Apple, that gives you a 50 per cent larger surface to browse the web in landscape mode and 67 per cent larger in landscape mode.
It’s yet to be seen if the the size difference will affect consumers decision. My guess is yes, if consumers think the price is competitive enough. Are all the features and the thinner, lighter and prettier design worth the price differential with the Kindle Fire HD? £110 is a lot of money.
The pixel resolution is 1024 x 769 pixels. It’s not as dense as the iPad 3 and 4, but at that size it will be much sharper than the previous generations.
The iPad mini is an all anodised aluminium design, like the iPhone 5. The Google Nexus 7 is made of plastic, while the Kindle Fire HD has a rubberised back that is quite nice to grab. Like the iPhone too, it comes in black and white.
It’s quite light and thin. As pad of paper: just 308g and 7.2 millimetres thin. That’s 53 per cent lighter than the fourth-generation iPad. It compares very favourably to the Nexus 7 (340g and 10.4 millimetres).
Some models come with LTE connectivity, but they’re much more expensive. The comparable regular Fire HD and the Nexus 7 only have Wi-Fi.
It naturally comes with 802.11a/b/g/m Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (like Amazon and Google’s models).
Like all the latest iOS products, it uses a Lightning port too.
Basically, this is a reduced iPad 2. It uses the same dual-core A5 processor, and it most probably comes with the same RAM as the old iPad: 512MB. Apple say it’s basically the same (or better) guts but in a reduced package (an exception is the cameras and the Lightning port). Both the Fire HD and the Nexus 7 come with 1GB of RAM. We will have to wait to see how much RAM it really has, though. Perhaps it’s also been upgraded.
Like all the iPads, it comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB flavours.
Apple claims a 10 hour battery life surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video or listening to music, using its 16.3-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery.
The Nexus 7 is rated by Google at 8 hours.
It has a FaceTime HD camera, which is better than the one in iPad 2. It’s comparable to the Nexus 7, which is 1.2 megapixels too. The iPad has a backside illuminated sensor and, like its older sibling, it supports Face detection.
Like the bigger iPad, it comes with a 5 megapixel camera on the back. This is something that neither the Nexus 7 nor the Kindle Fire HD have.
Price and availability
If you were hoping for a £200 starting point, brace yourself for disappointment. It starts at £269 for the 16GB Wi-Fi-only version, with 32GB setting you back £349 and 64GB for £429, while the LTE variant will set you back £369 for 16GB, 32GB for £369 and 64GB for £449.
The Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus 7 don’t have LTE support at any price point. On the Wi-Fi front, however, both Android tablets have a much better price, specially the Fire HD, which is £160 for the 16GB model. The £160 Nexus 7 will only get you 8GB.
You can start pre-order this Friday and receive the Wi-Fi version on Friday next week. The cellular versions will arrive in a couple of weeks.
The iPad 2 remains, by the way—the iPad 3 is gone, replaced by the 4th generation model at £399.
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“The Google Nexus 7 is made of plastic, while the Kindle Fire HD has a rubberized back that is quite nice to grab.”
Correction – Nexus 7 is metal with a rubberized back, it’s the Kindle thats plastic
The Nexus is plastic, it is just very sturdy/nice feeling plastic.
Starting at $329… ouch.
thats 206 quid, but who knows what price we will get them for her
329 Pounds
£269.
Jesus, Jesus isn’t even trying to look unbiased in this comparison.
“Like the bigger iPad, it comes with a 5 megapixel camera on the back.” So like owners of the bigger iPad you can be an annoying tool holding your iPad up to record whatever concert you attend, ensuring no one else see’s it live through their own eyes either.
Colour me totally underwhelmed
I pad mini its hardly an ipad mini more like ipad just a little bit smaller not exactly hitting the sweet spot in between the ipad and iPod touch, whats the point in that ?
It’s not *everything* we need to know.
For example: Will it blend?
Well it is everything we *need* to know…but most definitely isn’t everything we want to know
I was up for one of these till they announced the price.
Its starts from £269…
“The pixel resolution is 1024 x 769 pixels. It’s not as dense as the iPad 3 and 4, but at that size it will be much sharper than the previous generations.”
Just couldn’t bring yourself to say it isn’t as dense as the Nexus 7, could you.
so to summarise
slower processor than the nexus 7
less ram than the nexus 7
slower and less GPU’s than the nexus 7
less PPI on the screen than the nexus 7
all for what looks like £100 more?
3 generations old technology in a smaller form factor for a huge mark up
What. A. Con!
Thank you for filling the gaps where Jesus decided not to compare the Nexus to the iPad Mini, conveniently he compared everywhere the iPad was better than the Nexus but missed the worse than.
you are also missing the absence of GPS and NFC
I was really excited for this until I saw the specs and the price. I moved away from Apple because of the Galaxy note and was thinking of going back with the mini. Seems like its a Nexus 7 for me this Christmas
In fairness, I’ve never understood why processing power and RAM are so important in tablets… I’ve never really found any want for more processing power while using my iPad 2, and thats now 2 generations behind the curb.
Frankly, processing speed, RAM, GPU and (to a lesser extent) PPI are all things users will NOT notice in day-to-day use. You know what they will notice?
Larger screen than the Nexus 7
Lighter than the Nexus 7 (and thus less strain on the wrist)
SIGNIFICANTLY larger options in terms of apps than the Nexus 7
Those are all features that are far more important than processing speed or RAM.
(the price, however, is certainly a big letdown, I will accept that much.)
Sorry, pixel density I most certainly do notice, up to a point. Anything above 250 or so is superfluous, but at 162ppi the iPad mini is at risk of being noticeably blockier than the competition.
If you’re merely using a tablet for surfing I agree with you but processing power, GPU’s and ram are vitally important in tablets if you’re a gamer or if like me you sketch and draw. I certainly notice them and there’s a huge difference in the quality of the screens between the iPad mini and nearly all of the other 7″ tabs. You’re going to notice that when watching a movie or looking at pics on that podge of a screen.
Apple just show such hubris and a level of contempt for customers releasing a tablet with such poor and antiquated specs then charging far far more than its worth. It really is a joke that may bite apple on the arse in the long run.
Pixel density.
iPad mini: 162ppi
Nexus 7: 216ppi
Just because no-one’s compared them directly yet.
or 30% higher
wow, looks like an over sized galaxy note….
Yes, it really does.
It’s nothing like a note… Get ur goggles on, it’s more like it big brother than anything else. The note may lose some of its potential interest when this thing hit though. Far cheaper, still fits in pocket and has a better app offering.
…and yet no stylus.
A stylus isn’t necessary on its screen, and If it means so much…. Buy one for a couple of quid
Without suitable palm rejection on the iPad (as far as I’m aware…) third party pens are pretty useless (particularly for us lefties!)
Average specs, too big to be a ‘smaller size’ tablet, too small to be a ‘proper’ tablet and the 32GB version is an inexplicable £169 more expensive than a Nexus 7.
If you’re going to spend the money, why would you not just get a normal iPad?
“According to Apple, that gives you a 50 per cent larger surface to browse the web in landscape mode and 67 per cent larger in landscape mode.” that bit made me laugh. The whole point of a mini tablet is that it’s supposed to be smaller and more convenient than larger ones, and they are saying you should buy theirs because it’s bigger than their competitors.
and where did they even pull these statistics?
They had a side by side comparison, it’s because the nexus has lots of crap filling the screen when using the Internet
by “lots of crap” I think you mean functional buttons, and I don’t think that amounts to 50% increased surface…
When are we expecting the adverts that say that using two hands to operate an Apple device is better than one hand?