Apple iPad mini 2 review: Moving up the ranks

Introduction

The iPad mini with Retina screen is everything the little tablet deserved to be - a more compact equal of the bigger iPad with no compromises made. And unfortunately, it's just one thing short of what we all thought a compact tablet should be - cheap. Well, Apple isn't exactly known for selling cheap, it's quite on the contrary.

Last year's iPad mini was more of a byproduct of the iPad lineup - with a significantly cheaper price, a different design and somewhat inferior hardware, the baby iPad was quite different to its full size sibling. This year marks a shift in Apple's product strategy. Now, the two new iPads are equals - with the mini being merely a scaled down version of the same spectacular screen tech and the same high-performance internals.

There's been no corner cutting this time and the new iPad mini is more expensive as a result. We guess the price hike comes only to highlight the iPad mini's new standing in the pecking order - it's no longer the budget option - it's the more portable version of the same flagship product. A lower price point would have also hurt the big iPad sales because the two tablets are not at all that different.

You would actually be amazed how identical the two look. But that's a good thing in a sense. Users no longer have to pick one of the two based on feature set or design, or bezel size for that matter. Now, you can just pick the size that's right for you. The high-end user experience is all there without any give or take.

 
Apple iPad mini 2 press photos

Comparing it to its predecessor, the Apple iPad mini with Retina screen looks no different either, but that's until you turn it on. The new screen is impressively sharp and the new chipset is blazing fast, meaning loading times in most apps are noticeably faster now. The Wi-Fi speeds have doubled, there is a seriously bigger battery inside, there is a second mic for noise cancellation and now you have a brand new 128GB version, if you've got the money to burn - the last generation iPad mini maxed out at 64GB.

Key features

• 7.9" LED-backlit IPS LCD touchscreen, 1536 x 2048 pixels, ~ 324 ppi, oleophobic coating
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity with MIMO dual antennas
• Optional 2G/3G GSM, CDMA, LTE connectivity (data only, separate models)
• Optional GPS with A-GPS support (for the Wi-Fi+Cellular model only)
• Dual-core A7 64-bit 1.3 GHz Cyclone (ARM v8-based) chip with M7 motion coprocessor
• PowerVR G6430 quad-core GPU
• 1GB of RAM
• iOS 7 with gesture support and a premium set of free Apple apps - iLife, iMovie, iPhoto, etc.
• 16/32/64/128GB of inbuilt storage
• Weight of 331g (341g for the Wi-Fi + Cellular option)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Lightning USB port
• Stereo speakers
• Accelerometer, compass and three-axis gyro-sensor
• 5MP auto-focus camera
• 1080p video recording at 30fps
• 1.2MP 720p secondary camera capable of FaceTime calls
• 23.8 Wh Li-Po battery
• 1080p TV-output with the Apple Digital AV Adapter (purchased separately for $49), 1080p video streaming or separate audio streaming via AirPlay
• Supports magnetic cases

Main disadvantages

• Expensive for a compact tablet
• Non expandable memory, extra storage is largely overpriced
• Tied into iTunes for uploading most of the content
• No standard USB port
• No GPS receiver in the Wi-Fi-only version

The new iPad mini is exactly the same size like last year's with a mere .3mm difference in thickness. You wouldn't feel that sort of difference even if you had both in your hands. What you may notice is the difference in weight. The new iPad mini is 23g heavier to accommodate the larger battery, which should deliver the same endurance despite the quadrupled resolution.

The new dual-core 64-bit A7 chipset inside the new mini jumps two generations ahead of the A5 processor in the original. It's not that the older mini was sluggish, but the new device is notably faster and more responsive in almost all apps we tried.

Last season's bigger iPad at least had the luxury of being more powerful but those days are gone. Now the two size of iPads have equally good specs, which kinda puts the iPad Air in a sticky position. It's true that the bigger Air is easier to carry than any other full-size iPad and the slimmer frame helps single-handed operation but there's no avoiding the fact that the iPad mini is the friendlier form factor.

The iPad mini's handling and portability could be the big decider for a lot of people who are eyeing a new iPad for Christmas. To be honest, we don't think Apple will mind no matter which one you pick.

   
The Apple iPad mini 2 at HQ

Yet, it's still up to the mini to prove itself as a true equal to the big gun. And so it will. Join us ahead where we intend to subject it to every test we have around our test lab. This shorty will not be getting off easy, we promise.

A big white box, but in the good sense

In terms of accessories the Apple iPad mini 2 comes with a lightning cable and an A/C adapter - hardly a surprise after a few generations of tablets already. There are of course the usual leaflets and a couple of stickers.

 
The iPad mini 2 retail box

The retail box this year has almost twice the height of the last year's mini packaging. The culprit is the bigger 10W 2A charger (as opposed to last year's 5W unit), which is the same as the one supplied with the iPad Air.

Same on the outside

There are no two ways about it, the new iPad mini looks just the same as the old iPad mini. It even measures pretty much the same so you would have some pretty hard time telling the two apart with their screens off.

Here's a tip for you, a little telltale feature is the second microphone pinhole, which can be seen on the back of the iPad mini with Retina screen. It's close to the camera lens and it's about the only difference in their machined aluminum bodies.

The new iPad mini comes in the same "black front/gray back" and "white front/silver back" paint jobs, both of which look exactly the same as on the Air even on closer inspection.

The iPad mini is like a miniaturized carbon copy of the iPad Air too - complete with a smaller Home key and thinner bezels. The volume keys and the silencer switch and the camera lenses are identical in size on both iPads.

  
Size comparison: iPhone 5s • iPad mini 2 • iPad Air

The downsizing was only limited to the exterior. They share the internals - the same camera and the same A7 chipset.

When you turn on the iPad mini 2 it becomes evident where all the work has gone into. The new high-resolution Retina IPS LCD screen is spectacularly sharp. On a 7.9-inch diagonal, the new resolution of 1536 x 2048px works out to a pixel density of 324ppi. That's four times the pixel count and double the pixel density compared to the original mini.

  
iPad mini 2 up front

Above the screen (if you can take your eyes off it) we find the same 1.2MP resolution front-facing camera as last year. It's capable of 720p video capture. Next to it, there's an ambient light sensor, which helps in adjusting the screen brightness automatically.

Under the screen lies the familiar home button. We all hoped to see Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the iPad mini 2 and iPad Air much like on the iPhone 5s, but to no avail. So, perhaps next year?

The left side of the iPad mini 2 is completely free of any controls, while on the right we find the the two volume keys and the silencer switch (that one can also lock screen orientation if you choose so in the system settings). The volume keys have solid feedback and are generally very comfortable, the only usability problem is reaching them when you hold the tablet in landscape orientation - they are quite far off from where you fingers would rest and not directly visible when you look at the screen straight on.

  
The sides of the tablet

Last year's stereo speakers are here as well. These are hardly unforeseen as it was namely the original iPad mini that premiered the double speakers setup in the iPad family.

Subjectively, the speakers don't leave an impression of being as loud as we hoped - we'll test their loudness further in our review.

The issue with the speaker setup remains the same as before - they are really easy to muffle with your hand when holding the iPad in landscape orientation. Also they are so close together that we couldn't spot a perceivable stereo effect in whatever game or video.

At the bottom, set in-between the two speakers, we find the now typical Lightning connector port. The top of the iPad mini 2 is reserved for the 3.5 mm headphone jack and one of the two microphones.

  
The bottom and top

The second microphone is on the back of the slate, close to the camera. This year Apple introduced a dual mic setup, which is used for active noise cancellation in things like FaceTime calls or talking to Siri. The system works just fine isolating your voice nicely during calls when you hold the iPad in front of you.

The 5 MP camera sits on the back of the new iPad mini, in the top left corner. It's got a F/2.4 aperture and it's got a viewing angle of 33mm (in 35mm terms), so not much of a difference to last year. There is no LED flash much like there isn't one on the iPad Air or the last year's iPad mini.

  
On the back: the camera lens and the second mic

The iPad mini 2 sits comfortably in your hands in both portrait and landscape orientation and many of us find this sort of screen size to be the sweet spot for a tablet. iOS looks like a natural fit for the 7.9-inch screen and it doesn't feel as if we're using a blown up iPhone interface as it does on the iPad Air.

 
Handling the iPad mini 2