iPad Mini: New, thinner, lighter, attractive and excellent, but costly say reviews

The iPad mini is now available in India for a price of Rs. 26,990. This latest product from Apple the iPad Mini has been appraised for its better features but was criticized for its high price tag.

We are consolidating for you what the leading news reports have said about this device. So before you plan to put your hard-earned money in this device read the these review.

Cnet gives it a four star rating and says “If you want the full, polished Apple tablet experience in a smaller package, the iPad Mini is worth the premium price. Otherwise, good alternatives are available for less money.”

Techradar says “… this isn't a shrunken down iPad, it's a whole new product again. Be it the larger screen size, the impressively low weight or the alternative design compared to the competition there's a lot to chew over with the iPad mini – but is it worth spending your hard-earned when more cash will get you a fully-fledged version of Apple's tablet?”

In the Gizmodo news story ’Is the iPad Mini the Beginning of Apple’s Decline?’ Dave Winer writes “I believe it's not only not a winner, but it signals a new Apple that's no longer beyond compare, no longer insisting on delighting its users to the point of orgasm. This Apple is content to be a competitor.”

Engadget says in its review of the device “This isn't just an Apple tablet made to a budget. This isn't just a shrunken-down iPad. This is, in many ways, Apple's best tablet yet, an incredibly thin, remarkably light, obviously well-constructed device that offers phenomenal battery life…. but whether that's worth the extra cost depends entirely on the size of your budget -- and your proclivity toward Android.”

PCMag gives it four star rating with the remark “excellent” and says “The iPad mini lets you run the best library of apps in the biz on a tablet you'll actually want to carry, but it's not the best small-screen tablet you can buy.” Though “beautifully designed” this mini tablet is “expensive, wide and slippery” says the review.

Eurogamer.net in a review says “The iPad mini is a sweet product at a good price - it makes the £250 fifth-generation iPod Touch look horrifically over-priced for what it offers, especially when you factor in that the A5 runs slower on the smaller unit. Similarly, the notion of paying £329 for a larger, bulkier, less sexy iPad 2 with the same performance level as the mini but with sub-par cameras and slower Wi-Fi seems downright bizarre.”

TheVerge opines “But regardless of market positioning, the iPad mini has to be viewed in a world with a $199 Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD — two strong performers that are a far cry, at least in price, from the iPad mini. Even though Apple might want consumers to see these as separate product categories, consumers may only see that $129 gulf.”

T3 review says “The Mini is thinner and lighter, yet has a screen almost an inch bigger than its two main rivals. ...We will say this, though: the iPad Mini is the best iPad Apple has ever created.” 

UberGizmo says “The goal of the iPad mini was to introduce a smaller, more portable iPad which addresses both the size and the absolute price of the device. To date, this is the cheapest iPad, although not remotely the cheapest tablet at all.” The post says “If you don’t care about the budget and like this product, go for it.” But also mentions “ If watching movies, listening to music, basic email and web browsing are your main interests, you could get a much better deal with the Google Nexus 10 tablet ($399+) which obliterates the iPad mini for $70 more, or the Google Nexus 7 ($199) which is comparable to the iPad mini for $120 less. For a mere $20 more than the iPad mini, you can get a larger Asus Transformer TF300 tablet. Finally, you can also check Amazon’s Kindle HD devices, if your life revolves around consuming Amazon services.”

ComputerActive, the UK based fortnightly publication says “The iPad Mini is an attractive tablet thanks to its small size, low weight and sturdy yet sleek build.” The review also mentions the high cost factor of the device and mentions the other tablets are more than good enough for web browsing and enjoying ebooks and videos, but the iPad Mini is more versatile thanks to its huge selection of apps.

TrustedReviews also mentions the high cost of the device in its review “iPad mini is more expensive than its closest rivals, thanks in part to a bushed aluminium back and seamlessly curved edges, the device looks and feels every penny that you pay for it.” In a detailed review report it says “This seemingly seamless design isn’t without a slight gripe, however. When playing a game such as Need for Speed: Most Wanted in which the device needs to be held in a landscape manner, the iPad mini speaker location becomes a cause for concern. …With little area to gain a finger hold, it can prove irritatingly difficult to pick the iPad mini up off of a hard flat surface without having to drag it to the edge.”

The AppleInsider review says “It feels a lot more like a "big iPod touch" than the full sized iPads, but this comes at a cost: the screen is scaled down. Text on the screen is smaller, but interestingly, the title bar and lock screen text and graphics that appear about 60 percent smaller than other iPads is now about identical to the size of those elements on the iPhone.”

In a MacWorld review Dan Frakes “Indeed, in our benchmarks testing, the iPad mini performed identically to the iPad 2 in every test except for our Web page-load test, where the iPad mini bested the iPad 2 by roughly 40 percent—likely because of the aforementioned 5GHz Wi-Fi enhancements in the mini.”

Gottabemobile says “Though relatively heavy full-sized iPad can be uncomfortable to use without support for extended periods gaming or browsing sessions. The iPad mini is much easier to use and handle than its predecessors. This is especially important for apps and games that require moving and shaking the device, such as racing games.”