Look at this size and pixel comparison between the iPad Mini and its competitors. It clearly shows that its screen real estate is inferior to the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD and Nook HD.
The screen may have a bigger physical size, but the lower pixel counts means you will see less stuff on the screen and it will not be as sharp as the Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus 7. The fewer pixels per inch, the more pixelized the screen looks. No retina effect here.
Obviously, Apple’s claims about having more web browsing space than the competition are false. And obviously, this thing looks more and more clearly overpriced by the day. It’s ok, though, there will still be plenty of drones buying it. [Technewsdaily via BGR]












The iPad Mini's Screen Isn't Retina But Its Pixels Are Super Small Compared to the iPad 2
How the Samsung Galaxy S IV Compares to the Competition
How the iPad Mini Stacks Up to the Competition
Yeah, its basically a scaled down iPad2 with its rubbish resolution.
Can somebody please check if Jesus has had his account compromised?
He’s just showing he can be unAppley
new word!
I assume Samsung or Google have taken his family hostage, and are threatening to torture them if he flatters Apple. I can think of no other motivation behind this article.
Don’t complain.
If his account has been compromised I want it returned to him as soon as possible, so he can enthrall us with his usual content. ^.^
iPad mini 2 with retina display.
#ThereIfixedit
poor jesus. damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
He certainly got my respect with this http://gizmodo.com/reviews/?post=53797008
wow. I sorta feel sorry for Mr Biddle after that.
after slagging him off several times, I will swallow my pride and say I may have been wrong about Jesus.
It’s just surprising to seem him being almost anti-Apple.
I personally haven’t been annoyed, as such, with any of his articles, and I think that he’s a decent writer.
I think it’s just testament to how the market has changed. At one point, Apple were selling significantly better hardware than their competitors and therefore had big, juicy laurels to rest upon; now, however, they’re slacking and it’d be nout but incompetence to have blind faith in an OEM releasing such shoddy hardware as the iPad Mini.
I think they probably rushed this iPad mini out, without much thought for what they could add in the future.
I mean look at the iPad, every year (or twice a year), thinner, lighter, faster.
At least with the iPad mini, if sales are high, will set the precedent for when Apple does release a retina iPad Mini.
Seems obvious to me what the next versions will be:
iPad Mini 2 – May/June 2013: Minor refresh, Apple A6 processor (same as iPhone 5), 1GB RAM, better camera optics
iPad Mini 3 – October/November 2013: Apple A6X processor (same as iPad 4), retina display, iPod touch colour selection.
My predictions. Heard it here first. :p
Apple’s claim isn’t exactly “false”, some of their points were related to the aspect ratio of the device, not the dpi count.
Which is basically akin to the dumb argument that pan and scan ‘fullscreen’ movies are better than the native 16:10 widescreen because there’s none of them ‘ghey black bars’.
The iPad mini has a tiny amount more height compared to the Nexus 7 when browsing in landscape mode (the correct way), which basically equates to a sentence or two more text on a page. The width of the page is actually smaller and is basically the bare minimum that websites are designed to these days. The Nexus 7′s 1280px width is more likely to show the full flair of many website designs, which often use a centred 960px block of main content (for the 1024px monitors) and a background behind that the make up the bulk of the visual strength of the site’s overall design. (And/or ads, depending on where on the Nets you are).
I guess the lower pixel density would at least mean the text would be larger and easier to read for the elders amongst us (though it’d take a second to tackle that if it were an issue on any other tablet), but personally that makes a display feel extremely claustrophobic to me. My new laptop does not have a great pixel density and had a predilection for making standard 12 point text look like text in a children’s book. That didn’t last very long. :p Sadly, Touchwiz’s insistence that all system text must be the size of the moon isn’t something I can fix on my S3, even though I have it on the tiniest font setting available…
But, yeah, there is nothing to be gained by this aspect ratio than widescreen for a tablet. Reading, watching, browsing, all best suited to the ratio employed on the Nexus 7. I don’t believe Apple even really -believes- their claim that it’s better this way, it’s far more likely that it was just -easier- as it meant they could use the same workings as the iPad 2 and didn’t have to introduce another resolution for developers to adjust to.
I’m no fanboy but do like apple products i won’t lie. But i have to say if apple had of given a retina display with this model then what would they do when the release the inevitable ipad mini 2 ? It’s a scandal really and a pattern now that apple seem to be following more and more.
Even better, they’ll release the Mini 2 in just 6 months and to hell with everyone that bought this one.
You know if the iPad mini packed a A6x CPU and a retina display (maybe next year on ipad mini hd), I really would consider it over its big brother…
The choice of comparisons should at least include the playbook, not only is it the cheapest mainstream 7″ tab on the market but it’s 18 months old and still compares favourably…
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=3830&idPhone2=5070
Except that when RIM inevitably finishes their ballad of self-destruction, it’ll also be a useless paperweight as there’ll not only be no support, but no server for it to talk to any more.
The reason it’s not being compared is ‘cos no-one would buy it (and no-one has).
Ah, erm, i bought one 3 months back, £99. Does everything i want it to do, more than any other tablet can manage thats for sure. Fully functional web browser is the canines testicals compared to the crippled efforts from ios and android. No need for apps when the web ‘just works’. No need for subscription services when you can get it all for free
Whats confusing me is, if the Mini has the same amount of pixels as the iPad 2 which had decent resolution and they have been squashed to fit a smaller screen, how can the screen quality be bad? I hope somebody can explain this to me as I can’t imagine how it wouldn’t be that good.
It would be fine compared to the iPad 2 – but this is about comparing it to its actual competitors.
>” . . . how can the screen quality be bad? I hope somebody can explain this to me as I can’t imagine how it wouldn’t be that good”
The screen is fine, it’s just we are in the post high period after Apple’s new faire has been unleashed on the world and tech Journalists like nothing better than to find something wrong with products.
1024 x 576 was fine on the iPad 1 and 2, and should be even better on the iPad mini given that the pixel density will be greater.
Since when has apple been about products just being “fine”? Just being fine shouldn’t cut it at apple. I’m no fan of theirs, but I really did expect more from them than this.
1024×576 was fine on the ipad and ipad 2, but this is 18 months on, and you can’t compare it to old tech and say “see its as good as they are”, when your competition has already got a product on the market that’s superior and your renowned for being the market leader in inovation.
So yeah if you want to compare it to something that came out 18 months ago instead your own cutting edge flagship products or those of your competition then I suppose just being fine will satisfy.
This is what I assumed, I’d just like the opinion of someone who has seen it in person, I can’t imagine it looking bad at all especially with Apple’s IPS displays. To have it pushing retina graphics it’d need a better chip and a more expensive screen, to do that it would push the price up. The Mini is already the product with the lowest profit per device, I would like to see what its like or have the opinion of somebody who has seen it as I’m considering one as a christmas present to my girlfriend.
>”looks more and more clearly overpriced by the day. It’s ok, though, there will still be plenty of drones buying it.”
I’ve always hated this kind of sarcastic / misanthropic cynicism, people buy things they like, no need to label them ‘drones’, you just come over as arrogant and self righteous.
Would you like a small house on a big plot of land, or a big house a a small plot of land?
Higher pixel count doesn’t make web page space bigger. The iPad mini has a lower aspect ratio, therefore (in landscape mode and when the page is scaled to fit width) it will show more of the web page, you should know this.