Apple iPad mini with Retina Display: Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 16, 2013 8:00 AM ESTBattery Life
Thanks to the mini’s integrated 23.8Wh battery (and the low idle power of the 28nm A7), the Retina Display’s power consumption is more than offset. Battery life in all of our tests is at worst unchanged from the mini, but at best we’re talking about a 21% increase.
Our web browsing test shows a 10% improvement compared to the original iPad mini. The new mini with Retina Display can even last longer than a 4th generation iPad, and it’s hot on the heels of the iPad Air (I'll be updating this section with LTE and LTE hotspot results).
Video playback is where we see the biggest improvement compared to the original mini. Here the new iPad mini lasts 21% longer on a single charge, once again outlasting even the iPad 4. The iPad Air doesn’t offer any appreciable gain in battery life over the Retina mini.
Our 3D battery life test is the only one where the old mini manages to beat the new Retina model. With a 1.31% margin of victory though, it’s pretty safe to say that for current 3D gaming workloads you’ll see similar battery life out of the Retina mini as the old model. This is also the only test where the iPad Air delivers better battery life on a single charge (~11%).
Apple ships the Retina mini with a 10W USB charger and lightning cable. This appears to be the same charger as what shipped with the 3rd generation iPad (but obviously with a different cable). Using the newer 12W charger from the iPad 4/Air has no impact on charge time as the mini still only draws a maximum of 11.7W at the wall (compared to 13.8W for the iPad Air).
The iPad mini with Retina Display completes a charge from 0 to 100% in a sliver under 4 hours. That’s a little quicker than the iPad Air, and similar to the original mini with its 5W charger.
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ws3 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Well there you go. Apple makes excellent products, so they get good reviews. What a surprise.Other people also make excellent products and get good reviews. So what's your beef?
p_giguere1 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Objectivity is equality in opportunity, not outcome.The fact Apple products may get recommended more often than competing products in no way proves a lack of objectivity.
BPB - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Agreed.Dennis Travis - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
I like Windows Phones but lets face it, App support is very bad. If I can't get what I need to do what I need to do, I will go to a product that has the support. WP8 does not have that support at the moment anyway.kyuu - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
What a bunch of BS. What oh-so-important apps aren't present on WP8?Puberticus - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Most of them.MarcSP - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
I have all the apps I need in WP. You do not represent everybody. Case by case.MonkeyPaw - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Perhaps he knows that he's writing to mainly potential Apple buyers. Let's face it, most people are going to stick with the platform they've already invested in (like apps, music, and videos).That said, I never pick up this "bias" that people claim, and I feel these Apple-bias complaints waste so much comment space here. Anand never says "go buy an Apple product or your family will disown you." He doesn't even talk about Apple's peripheral products (Airplay, iTunes, iCloud, etc.), he just calls the products what they are. I don't own a single Apple product, and I'm not a fan of iOS, but I can totally see the quality in Apple's product line, and I can even see why someone would like iOS. I own a Surface 2 and Lumina 521, but I won't deny that Apple makes a good product that lots of people like. That's all I hear Anand say in his articles. The site reviews the hardware, and lets the buyer decide what they want to buy. I just don't get why people take it so personally.
Puberticus - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
I think people literally cannot face the prospect that they bought the wrong product. And many will defend what they did to the last dying breath. It literally becomes a religious issue.Which IMHO, makes no sense since the technology in question doesn't give a damn about the owner. You can see it on other sites; the minute an Apple product is mentioned, the android fans come out of the woodwork for no other reason than to dis it. And it's obvious they've never touched the product they're criticizing. What the heck is that all about?!?
Absolutely bizarre.
KoolAidMan1 - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
Android fanatics on tech forums are louder and more irrational than any Apple user I've ever seen. Its weird since iDevices cross between both PC and Mac users.Teenage console fanboys are more sane than some of those people.