New iPad Mini Reviews: Capable Small Tablet With Nearly All Features of New iPad Air

[Greenmeenie]

I have the 11” ipad pro. It’s my main computer. It does all my heavy lifting. I edit 4k video & photos on it. I draw & design on it. And I consume media on it. I absolutely love it.

BUT, there has always been a soft spot in my heart for the ipad mini. Thats why I’ve always had one, and why I will be buying this one to update my 5 yr old ipad mini 2.

The ipad mini actually compliments my 11” ipad pro quite nicely. It’s the ipad I grab when I walk out of my house without a backpack. I just slip it into my cargo pants pocket & go. It’s the ipad i use when I go biking. I just put it on my handle bar mount and track my tour on Strava. I don’t own a large screen iphone, but even if i did, I’d still prefer the mini’s screen for surfing the web & other things. It’s just more enjoyable.

Now, I will be honest...I was secretly hoping the mini would get the flat edged design of the pros with apple pencil 2 support. To me, that would just make the mini the absolutley perfect little ipad. To be able to share my apple pencil 2 btwn my 11” pro & mini would be so much more convenient. I am not thrilled about buying another apple pencil for my mini. Not because of the added price...but because the Apple pencil 2 is just soooo much better.

Face ID on the mini woulda been cool too. And I know Apple says that usb-c is a “pro” only feature...but come on. Until Apple allows me to hook up an external HD to my ipad pro, it’s just another connector to me. Plus if Apple went with the flat edged design with slimmer bezels on the mini, it would be very interesting. They could slim the bezels, but keep the same 7.9” screen, making the ipad mini even more portable. OR they could increase the screen size to 8.5” but keep the same size body. That would be sooo cool.

Anyway. I will keep dreaming about an ipad mini pro design. But I will be buying this new mini now cause i really need to update my old mini badly. And frankly because there is just no gaurantee that Apple will ever update it again. Or they might wait another 4 yrs like they did for this update. Who knows.

Until then, this new mini will do nicely.

Cheers.

 

[dcpmark]

Something really has changed since I opened my account over a decade ago here... Used to be fans who wanted to discuss ways to use Apple products and to help one another. Now its dominated by negative nancys who I am starting to think are just AI bots trying to stock manipulate

I’m going with the proliferation of millennials with their sense of entitlement.....Apple OWES them to do things they exactly the way they want it. The whining, complaining. and even anger flows naturally from that narcissistic point of view. But I don’t really blame them....I blame the generation of parents who raised them this way, of course.

 

[Zdigital2015]

There is no way of getting around how bad those top and bottom bezels with the off-center Home Button look, especially when you compare it to the iPad Air.

Unless, you know, you are actually using one day in, day out accomplishing useful work and really could not give a rat's @$$, but I digress.

 

[iSayuSay]

LOL I feel we are going back to 2013 again when we were arguing about iPad Air vs iPad Mini back then. You know at the time people debating about how iPad Air display has a better "color gamut" compared to iPad Mini which shares the same A7 chip and everything else, but display size.

There were lots of instant "gamut experts" back then LOL.

 

[Princejb134]

I sort of get the complaints about the exterior design but at the same time, what’s wrong with it. The fact is has bezels isn’t wrong. That’s more of a fad than a defining characteristic of usability. Face ID would have been nice but Touch ID works fine. If I hadn’t gotten the 10.5” pro last year this updated mini is what I would have gotten. I’m glad Apple finally updated the Mini. Hope they keep it up.

what people dont understand is how you going to hold this big thing in your hand without touching the screen. I have that issue now on my iphone xs when playing games on landscape mode. Looks beautiful though

 

[JagdTiger]

For avid gamers Nintendo Switch has superior game selection. It's not even a comparison.

Yes but it’s a toy which is designed to play games and mainly designed for children and not anything else, there is not even a browser in it to surf the net or purchase items where the iPad is a adult device which not only has better processors but can do other things besides games.

 

[kirk.israel]

Count me among the "you people complaining about bezels are the most deeply superficial people I know".

As for USB-C = Pro, it's simple:: for the non-pro stuff you can use the same gear you have for your phone. "Pro" means you're more willing to invest in new hardware and pushing it in different ways. (I guess; honestly I think USB-C has not taken off the way they aassumed it would when they started the new baby Macbooks)

And as for that C-Net dude

As Apple keeps splitting its iPad line into more variants, the Mini feels far less essential than ever, particularly as the iPhone screens creep to six inches or more.​

This is just stupid - for anyone who likes to read a book and not in the formfactor of a magazine article, iPad Mini is where its at. Until Apple starts making a Pencil-compatible phone, maybe never, this is also the most comfortable doodling pad.

3 Cheers for the new iPad Mini. An iPad Mini Pro would be fun too, but really, Pencil is the #1 feature - and now it's here.

 

[jonnysods]

I just love the form factor of the iPad Pros now - I have the iPhone X as well and I can't go back to bezels. I'm glad the Mini is alive and well, but I'm aiming for the 11" iPP I reckon now.

 

[MoreRumors?]

I can deal with bezels and don't mind the Touch ID, but that huge price for more memory is just too much.

 

[Greenmeenie]

I’m going with the proliferation of millennials with their sense of entitlement.....Apple OWES them to do things they exactly the way they want it. The whining, complaining. and even anger flows naturally from that narcissistic point of view. But I don’t really blame them....I blame the generation of parents who raised them this way, of course.

 

[borntrouble]

Oh, for Pete's sake, you are really just complaining for complaining sake, aren't you.

The bezels have exactly the same dimensions than in the previous iPad mini version, which - as I have to remind you - has been released about four years ago.

And the Home button has always been off center on the iPad, since the very first iPad nine years ago. If that isn't the case with current Air, it is the exception of the rule.

Dude, chill out. I like the new mini. It was a joke.

 

[mi7chy]

Yes but it’s a toy which is designed to play games and mainly designed for children and not anything else, there is not even a browser in it to surf the net or purchase items where the iPad is a adult device which not only has better processors but can do other things besides games.

iPad is an even dumber toy. Doesn't do anything more than a phone, not as specialized as a Nintendo Switch and too gimped by iOS to be a laptop replacement. Our iPad is used to entertain kids when then come over but even kids prefer their portable gaming console or laptop.

 

[JagdTiger]

iPad is an even dumber toy. Doesn't do anything more than a phone, not as specialized as a Nintendo Switch and too gimped by iOS to be a laptop replacement. Our iPad is used to entertain kids when then come over but even kids prefer their portable gaming console or laptop.

Not a toy at all, the Nintendo switch is just a gaming machine and so is a dumbed down computer and has no keyboard which the iPad has and one day will be a laptop replacement, as far as kids preferring a gaming system of course they would but elders may like something which does more and that’s a iPad.

 

[NickName99]

$299 looks like a better price

If your budget is $300, pick up a refurbished 2015 iPad Mini, they’re $309 straight from Apple. Or grab one used off eBay or craigslist.

 

[travis64]

Ummm.... ok.
And $199 looks like a better price than that. Also, $99 would look like a better price.
Them paying you $499 to take one and including a bag of free puppies would look like a better price as well.

Are we through stating the obvious or do we still think that there’s any readers that don’t understand math to the extent that we must list lower prices & then explain: “these prices would be better... because it’s less money”?

Looks like a better price because this thing looks old as hell

 

[NickName99]

Touch ID 1 or 2?

I really hope it at least has the iPhone 7 haptic TouchID. I get that we can’t have FaceID yet if we want it to be $399, but come on.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Yes but it’s a toy which is designed to play games and mainly designed for children and not anything else, there is not even a browser in it to surf the net or purchase items where the iPad is a adult device which not only has better processors but can do other things besides games.

Whoa there big cat, i'm gonna have to disagree with you. Both devices are suitable for ALL ages. The Nintendo Switch is used by typically those who can spend their money to buy it and games, so the age group of 18-35 is what Nintendo is more concerned about. Parents will buy a Nintendo Switch for their kids as well but there are also another age group that is usually discounted and it's those above the age of 35 yrs old. They also play games as well so the Nintendo Switch is not just for kids because it's a dedicated gaming console.

The iPad is a device that is targeted primarily for adults but parents will buy an iPad(s) as something to entertain their kids either at home or in the car with kids games and apps or video/music content. So that device can also be used for a wide range of ages.

 

[imola.zhp]

What is this noise about the home button? Am I the only one that doesn't see it?

I don't think so. Every other iPad since the original (except mini 4) had a perfectly centered Home Button, if you take an external aluminum frame into account.

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For your noise to make sense, you have to include the external aluminum frame. Your noise falls apart when you only measure the white space.

Much ado about nothing.​

 

[Crowbot]

I don't think so. Every other iPad since the original (except mini 4) had a perfectly centered Home Button, if you take an external aluminum frame into account.

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There may be a perfectly good engineering reason to put the button where it is on the Mini. Maybe the screen needs a certain clearance at the bottom and the only way to accommodate it was to move the button down a bit. I've been using Minis for years and I'll admit I never noticed it. And I love symmetry.

 

[JagdTiger]

Whoa there big cat, i'm gonna have to disagree with you. Both devices are suitable for ALL ages. The Nintendo Switch is used by typically those who can spend their money to buy it and games, so the age group of 18-35 is what Nintendo is more concerned about. Parents will buy a Nintendo Switch for their kids as well but there are also another age group that is usually discounted and it's those above the age of 35 yrs old. They also play games as well so the Nintendo Switch is not just for kids because it's a dedicated gaming console.

The iPad is a device that is targeted primarily for adults but parents will buy an iPad(s) as something to entertain their kids either at home or in the car with kids games and apps or video/music content. So that device can also be used for a wide range of ages.

The gaming systems are mostly geared for kids, the software dictates this...for example there is not any real strategy games (historical) like the pc would have, little apps, no external keyboard and the games are expensive certainly not the cost as ones which come from steam...with the iPad at least adults which don’t play games can still enjoy surfing the web, shopping, paying bills and email.

 

[seek3r]

As for the iPad mini sticking with the Lightning connector, Apple told Patel that it views USB-C as a "pro" feature -- aka iPad Pro.

That seems to make it a lot less likely that the 2019 phones will get USB-C in Sept :/

 

[kirk.israel]

iPad is an even dumber toy. Doesn't do anything more than a phone, not as specialized as a Nintendo Switch and too gimped by iOS to be a laptop replacement. Our iPad is used to entertain kids when then come over but even kids prefer their portable gaming console or laptop.

I have a switch and an iPad. The iPad lets me read books, do some light web browsing, and acts as a doodle pad for my pseduo artsy-wanna-be aspect. The Switch does none of these things. (and when I use the switch, usually i want it up to a TV anyway, where it's competing with PS4, not iPad)

 

[Falhófnir]

Well, I think it's a good update. Everything anyone was asking for outside the unrealistic expectations for a smaller Pro (and yes they always were unrealistic given it would have had to be big enough for a smart KB, if it was to maintain functional parity with the other pros). Just think of it this way - Apple has invested in keeping the mini in the lineup, eventually it might be that we will see an update that will bring some of the current pro features down to this size an price point. If they hadn't, there wouldn't have been a mini for people who want one at all.

 

[whoisyourdaddy]

As for the iPad mini sticking with the Lightning connector, Apple told Patel that it views USB-C as a "pro" feature -- aka iPad Pro.

That's a lie. The MacBook models received USB-C before the "Pro" models. I'll guess he didn't call them out on that BS reply.

 

[fooobar]

It’s not that USB-c makes a device a Pro machine, it’s that not having USB-c excludes a device from being used by pros.

honest question - what's the advantage of switching to USB-C, over lightning?

i keep seeing people mentioning wanting USB-C for future iphones & ipads, without any real explanation as to why it would be better, other than just wanting to be able to use the same cable that they use to charge their laptop (i literally created an account just now in order to ask this question!)...

thanks in advance for any replies! =)