Apple iPad mini with Retina Display: Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 16, 2013 8:00 AM ESTCamera
The iPad mini with Retina Display features the same 5MP iSight rear facing camera and 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera as the iPad Air. Both are quite good for a tablet, aided by iOS’ excellent camera UI and the A7’s high performance ISP. The cameras also benefit from the same dual-mic setup of the iPad Air. I won’t talk too much about quality here as it’s no different than the Air, which I've already gone over in greater depth.
| Rear Facing Camera Comparison | |||||||
| Sensor | Resolution | Aperture | Focal Length | ||||
| Apple iPad Air | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | f/2.4 | 3.3mm | |||
| Apple iPad 4 | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | f/2.4 | 4.3mm | |||
| Apple iPad 3 | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | f/2.4 | 4.3mm | |||
| Apple iPad 2,4 | 0.7MP | 960 x 720 | f/2.4 | 2.0mm | |||
| Apple iPad mini | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | f/2.4 | 3.3mm | |||
| Apple iPad mini (Retina) | 5MP | 2592 x 1936 | f/2.4 | 3.3mm | |||
| Front Facing Camera Comparison | |||||||
| Sensor | Resolution | Aperture | Focal Length | ||||
| Apple iPad Air | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | f/2.4 | 2.15mm | |||
| Apple iPad 4 | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | f/2.4 | 2.18mm | |||
| Apple iPad 3 | 0.3MP | 640 x 480 | f/2.4 | 1.8mm | |||
| Apple iPad 2,4 | 0.3MP | 640 x 480 | f/2.4 | 1.8mm | |||
| Apple iPad mini | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | f/2.4 | 2.2mm | |||
| Apple iPad mini (Retina) | 1.2MP | 1280 x 960 | f/2.4 | 2.15mm | |||
WiFi & Cellular
The iPad mini with Retina Display inherits the same Qualcomm MDM9615 modem and 2-stream dual-band 802.11n from the iPad Air. The move to 2-stream 802.11n more or less doubles peak WiFi performance compared to last year’s mini. The mini's peak WiFi performance is pretty close to that of the iPad Air as well.
Lately I’ve really begun to appreciate the flexibility offered by tablets equipped with cellular modems. Especially now that it’s not terribly expensive to add a tablet to a shared data plan (or even free), the $130 LTE adder for the iPads is something worth seriously considering. The convenience of being able to pull out your tablet, wake it up, and immediately hop on the web/check email/tweet/etc… is awesome. Qualcomm's MDM9615 is a well known quantity at this point. I didn't run into any issues with its performance on the iPad mini.
| iPad Cellular Speeds | ||||||
| Property | iPhone 3G/3GS/iPad 1 3G | iPhone 4 / iPad 2 (GSM/UMTS) | iPhone 4 / iPad 2 (CDMA) | iPad 3 | iPad 4/iPad Mini | iPad Air/iPad Mini w/Retina |
| Baseband | Infineon X-Gold 608 | Infineon X-Gold 618 | Qualcomm MDM6600 | Qualcomm MDM9600 | Qualcomm MDM9615 w/RTR8600 |
Qualcomm MDM9615 w/WTR1605L |
| Max 3GPP Release Feature | Release 5 | Release 6 | Release 7 | Release 9 | Release 9 | Release 9 |
| HSDPA Category | Cat.8 - 7.2 Mbps | Cat.8 - 7.2 Mbps | N/A | Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps | Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps | Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps |
| HSUPA Category | None - 384 Kbps WCDMA only | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps | N/A | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps |
| EVDO | N/A | N/A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A |
| LTE | N/A | N/A | N/A | 100/50 UE Cat. 3 | 100/50 UE Cat. 3 | 100/50 UE Cat. 3 |
The new iPad mini, like the iPad Air, is extremely flexible from a mobile operator standpoint. Regardless of what operator you choose at the time of purchase, you can switch to others as long as you have an activated nano SIM (there’s apparently an exception for Sprint, but AT&T/T-Mobile/Verizon should all be easily switchable). The unlocked nature of the device makes it ripe for global use, especially with support for a total of 14 LTE bands (1,2,3,4,5,7,8,13,17,18,19,20,25 and 26).
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allanwood - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
I just checked the iPad Mini w/ Retina at the store yesterday, and it doesn't have a bonded display, just like the first mini.The easiest way to check for a space between the LCD and cover glass is to look at a reflection of a light in the screen at an angle. If you see a strong reflection and a weaker one, it has a gap. One strong reflection means it doesn't.
Spoony - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
I am quite sure that the original Mini had optically bonded glass and panel. Multiple technical publications including this one I believe have stated that the originally Mini is that way. Additionally, my limited in-person experience with the Mini have definitely shown it to be bonded.allanwood - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
Nope. This is from DisplayMate:"The Kindle Fire HD and and Nexus 7 both have their Cover Glass bonded directly to the LCD so there is no Air Gap like on the iPad mini, which has 3 widely separated reflections. The lack of an Air Gap helps to reduce the Reflectance for Ambient Light."
versesuvius - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Apple is the company of few products and huge resources, with a brand name to boot (as in it will be bought no matter what). There are other companies with the same level or resources but they make many products. Samsung produces hundreds, perhaps thousands of individual products. Hundreds of phones. Apple produces one at a time. Nothing wrong with that, but while there is nothing that Samsung can learn from Apple, smaller companies could learn a lot from Apple. The way technology is advancing and getting cheap to the point of irrelevance, those companies could sink deadly bites into Apple, to the benefit of all around the world.KPOM - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Nice review as always. Thanks for confirming our suspicions about the color gamut. I have both the Air and retina mini right now and noticed a difference. I think I'll still keep the mini and return the Air, though. The portability trounces the display difference for me.I have noticed that both the Air and the Retina Mini seem twitchy with my Sprint Aircard (Sierra Wireless 803s). It is somewhat moot for me as I bought the LTE versions, but I noticed this behavior with two different iPad Airs and the retina mini. It struggles to connect in the first place, and frequently disconnects. I did not notice this at all with the previous mini, and when I tested it with the iPhone 5s it seemed to work fine. I suspect an incompatibility somewhere as both an extended chat session and Genius Bar trip couldn't resolve the issue (we tried numerous different rested and setting changes). I haven't tried it with the wifi-only version, but I'm curious if this is a larger issue and/or something that can be resolved through firmware. I also noticed the Air had a harder time than my PC at connecting to a hotel wifi network but it eventually did (I'll experiment with the mini next week). I haven't noticed any issues connecting to Apple Airport-driven wifi networks but still need to test it with non-Apple routers.
KPOM - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Are there other reasons why Apple might have chosen a lower gamut display? Does it impact battery life or is it cheaper to produce? Or is it just one more reason to try to up sell the pricier Air model?Aenean144 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Yield would be my bet.Morawka - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
i'm guessing nobody could make this panel but sharp, since they own IGZO tech. Then again,color could be off because the glue is still wet lol......nunomoreira10 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
The gamut is generally depended on the leds used in the baclight.higher gamut leds are less eficient and more expensive then lower gamut leds, so its a trade-off between battery life and quality.
Morawka - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
What do you know? anand doing another apple review.