“The rumors were true: Apple now has a smaller iPad,” David Pogue writes for The New York Times. “The iPad Mini [sic] is half the weight of the big iPad (0.7 pounds versus 1.4), thinner (. 28 inches versus .37), shorter (7.9 inches versus 9.5) and narrower (5.3 inches versus 7.3). Those specs add up to one towering meta-change: you can comfortably hold this iPad in one hand.”
“Apple’s masterstroke was keeping the screen shape and resolution the same as on the iPad 2 (1,024 by 768 pixels). As a result, the Mini can run all 275,000 existing iPad apps unmodified, plus 500,000 more iPhone apps. The text and graphics are a little smaller, but perfectly usable… The Mini doesn’t gain Apple’s supercrisp Retina display. Nobody’s going to complain about the sharpness — it packs in 163 pixels per inch (ppi) — but it’s not the same jaw-dropping resolution as the big iPad (264 ppi),” Pogue writes. “By pricing the Mini so high, Apple allows the $200 class of seven-inch Android tablets and readers to live (Google Nexus, Kindle Fire HD, Nook HD)… But the iPad Mini is a far classier, more attractive, thinner machine. It has two cameras instead of one. Its fit and finish are far more refined. And above all, it offers that colossal app catalog, which Android tablet owners can only dream about.”
Pogue writes, “Over all, the Mini gives you all the iPad goodness in a more manageable size, and it’s awesome. You could argue that the iPad Mini is what the iPad always wanted to be.”
Read more in the full review here.
Related articles:
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple’s iPad mini: ‘A splendid choice; terrific for reading, watching movies and playing games’ – October 31, 2012
Mossberg reviews Apple’s iPad mini: ‘An impressive feat; the perfect solution’ – October 31, 2012
Interesting how popular the 7-inch tablet space has become, early iPad market-speak notwithstanding (“our research shows 7 inches to be too small”) . I wonder how much this is a function of the small smart-phone screens getting us accustomed to less real estate. That said, I’ve no interest in the mini, since I have the iPhone and an iPad.
I think you are on to something there.
That’s what every girl has told me about their ex-boyfriend.
And next year when the come out with the iPad mini with Retina display for the same price, the can drop the price on the original mini by a hundred dollars in their customary way and CREAM the competition. Same old devastating strategy.
Reviews are nice but you really have to check out products for yourself. That said, a review can save you from wasting time if it alerts you to something that you absolutely do not want in a product. You always have to take reviews with a grain of salt, Apple owns Walt Mossberg, Pogue and the knucklehead from Darring Fireball. Just as there are probably those in the media who are always going to have a negative view of anything from Apple. Best to trot out to your local Apple store and hold one in your hot little hand. I have the iPad 3 and iPhone 4S along with the iPod touch fourth generation. So I probably won’t pick up the iPad mini. Although as a Mac kind of a guy you just never can tell with me?
Yeah, “owns” ol’ Mossback, he and his *Android* Tourette’s, and let’s remember Pogue’s over-the-top criticism of Maps. As for John Gruber, I’ve found his site, DaringFireball.net, to be a source of reliable, incisive, thoughtful commentary about and the tech world in general.
Perhaps you ought to hang out at Gizmodo instead of MDN and the like.
Touch a nerve did I? I’ll try not to be so objective and honest next time. Simply my observation of these three. I simply don’t trust very many in the media, whether they like Apple or not. Gizmodo? I don’t think so. Try not to be so touchy. Try not to be such a rabid fanboy. I’ve owned Apple stuff probably longer than you have been alive. I make my living with Mac’s. So calm down and take your medicine. Believe me, the last thing I am is an Android lover. Different strokes for different folks. I think for myself and have my own opinions. I don’t follow the crowd or drink the Kool-Aid. Try it sometime.
How is it possible to (1) properly spell “mini” when veteran writer Pogue couldn’t, and (2) properly spell “Kool-Aid”, but (3) pluralize Mac as “Mac’s”? 🙂
Very good. You got me. Unlike you I do make mistakes. 2 out of 3 isn’t bad. Right? Prick.
Yep, longtime Apple customer here, too. Bought our first computer (Mac SE) in ’89, have never owned a Windohs PC, make our living using a plethora of products – iPhones, iPads, Mac Pros, MBP.
Well, you might be older than I, but be aware, I was starring in “Green Acres” when I was a teen.
Really? Which character? Be careful, I know Arnold! Yeah, Mac Pros,MBPs mostly with Pro Tools etc.
Which character? I think Arnold the pig, aka, Arnold Ziffel.
@GM,
“Check out the products yourself”? Always a great idea.
“Apple owns Walt Mossberg, Pogue and the knucklehead from Darring Fireball. ” Now that is just Fandroid speak for experts like Apple. Shame shame.
While there are bloggers out there Dvorak, Thurrott, and others that make their money either as a hand me down from Microsoft etc, or by getting page hits, and many more that just repeat what these guys said…. to get page hits, the ones you mentioned usually try real hard to play it straight.
Just a thought,
en
We agree on Dvorak and especially Thurrott.
Both Mossberg and Pogue (especially Mossberg) frequently have negative things to say about Apple and rave over competing products. So to say Apple own them is a bit ridiculous!