The Apple iPad Mini 4 Review
by Brandon Chester on October 28, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Apple
- Mobile
- iPad Mini 4
Camera
When it was unveiled, Apple described the iPad Mini 4 as a small iPad Air 2. Although that isn't quite true for the performance, we've seen over the course of the review that it has held true for every other aspect of the device. The camera also follows this trend, as it's the exact same camera sensor and lens arrangement as the iPad Air 2. It's an 8MP 4:3 sensor with 1.1 micron pixels, an F/2.4 aperture, and a 3.3mm focal length. Josh previously took a look at this camera in his review of the Air 2, so I won't be doing a lengthy of commentary as it would be mostly redundant. However, since I end up doing the majority of tablet reviews for AnandTech I felt it was still worth putting it through my standard photo tests so it could be compared to other tablets available on the market that have come out since the iPad Air 2 launched last year.
I do have to apologize up front for having to use both fall and summer comparison shots. Many tablet OEMs don't allow us to keep samples indefinitely which means photos can't be updated as the seasons change. The only other option is to simply remove several devices from the comparison, which isn't a great solution either. As winter rolls around I'll be redoing my comparisons with the best phones and tablets I have on hand.
Ignoring the differences in the photo like the color of the leaves, the level of detail, sharpness, noise reduction, and other processing is essentially the same as what you'll get on the iPad Air 2. This isn't unexpected, as both the ISPs and the camera systems are literally identical in both tablets. The iPad Air 2 still has one of the best tablet cameras around too, so if you do like to use tablets for photography I don't think the Mini 4 will let you down in the daytime.
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Night time photo quality on the Mini 4 is also unchanged from the iPad Air 2. In fact, if you look at this photo and the iPad Air 2 one side by side you might think they were taken at different angles on the same device. Only the leaves on the ground give away the fact that the photos were taken at different times, and even then they still look like they could have been taken with the same camera. While I would hardly recommend that you take photos at night with your tablet, if there is ever a case where you need to do that the iPad Mini 4 definitely offers best in class image quality for low light tablet photos.
As for the video quality, it would be quite good if it wasn't for a literally glaring issue. For whatever reason, the Mini 4 has a high degree of lens flare whenever the sun or another light source is aimed at it. As you can see in the video above, any moment where I wasn't in the shade was one where there the video was basically impossible to watch due to the lens flare. It's worth noting that I took this video immediately after the one I took on the Tab S2 for its review, and the Tab S2 had almost no lens flare at all so it's not an issue that occurs on every device with those environmental conditions. Like I've said before, I'm not a tablet photographer, but it's still disappointing that this sort of issue could end up shipping. If you do need to take videos with your iPad Mini 4 just be sure to point it away from the sun.
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akdj - Sunday, November 1, 2015 - link
I meant to add the speed of the onboard storage and it's read write performance as well as the anti reflective coating, better color gamut and similar brightness with phenomenally accurate displays ...my guess is it's a power users dream to own a secondary display that is this mobile and this accurate with a gazillion apps that benefit the creative folkAnyway
Moving along
...there's more than just the 'A8' here that's in play and the iPod touch isn't much of a comparison.
osxandwindows - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
No they could not produce more a9s then was necessary for the iPhones.denem - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
You have some inside information perhaps? The whole iPhone supply chain is set up to be able to meet demand.akdj - Sunday, November 1, 2015 - link
Hence the reason they're using two companies to fab their SoC this year? TSMC & Sammy? That's not tradition. It's very likely a contributing factorosxandwindows - Tuesday, November 3, 2015 - link
What did you want them to make 120 million of a9 chips?, come on dude even thats a hy number for samsung.akarogi - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
If the iPad switch to match the ID of the iPhone 6, the rounded edges would render useless the multiple Keyboard or stand accessories that I've purchased. That hard edge on the iPad is important for stability, to be able to firmly catch the edge on whatever stand you're using.For example, the Microsoft Universal Mobile keyboard works well to prop up just about any device I own, except for the iPhone 6. The rounded edges catch just enough to hold it, but the slightest bump on the desk will send it crashing down.
Of course, manufacturers would just make new accessories for a new iPad ID, but I wonder if what I mentioned above factors into their decision to keep the existing ID. Having stability on a stand is much more critical for an iPad than for an iPhone, and iPad accessories on average will be a more significant monetary investment... so I'm quite glad my new Mini 4 still works on my keyboards and stands.
akarogi - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
for example... think about how you would have to design a keyboard stand for an iPad with iPhone 6 industrial design, if you wanted to allow multiple viewing angles, like if you wanted to offer a 45-degree angle. With the rounded edges, this would be difficult to do without having a holding mechanism that needs to have a contact point far up onto the glass... basically the contact point would have to be right at the edge of where the screen starts. I don't think it would work unless they left a pretty decent flat margin between the edge of the device and the edge of the touchscreen.GC2:CS - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
The charge time for the iPad mini 4 looks really exciting, bassically on par with an iPhone 6 Plus (with an 5W adapter).It's better than any iPad ever cause if i remember corectly the iPad and iPad 2 got around 4 hours (10W ) the new iPad got over 6 (10W) the 4 get something like 5,5 (12W) and then Air got a much smaller battery and pushed down back to 4.
But please, from every source i can find, only the late 2012 iPad and iPad Air shipped with an 12W adapter and both mini 4 and Air 2 got the 10 W power adapter.
Can anandtech confirm this ? And does it mean there could be even a bit better charge times made with an 12W one ?
And then... what about the iPad pro ? Its got a 38,5 Wh cells which is bassically two iPad mini batteries stucked in there. So the big question is if it's going to ship with a 12W power adapter, or something higher. Like you know the Mac Book with it's 39,7 Wh battery got a 29W power adapter and I just feel thet iOS devices got behind in this area.
Would like to see some charging time data for the MacBooks.... to compare.
And the maybe even more important question to some, will this X-watt power adapter charge the smaller iPads even waster than the 12W one ?
Exchequer - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Regarding that final tip. If you are a student and you need to create word documents then you will quickly find out that the default apps on IOS and Android do not support track changes. With a lot of searching I did find an app (Documents Ti Go) for Android and for IOS I never found one.So basically if you want to edit documents your best bet is a Surface (Pro) where you can just install the full office suite like you are used too.
kmmatney - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I can't imagine being a student and creating word documents on a tablet, though. At least get a cheap laptop. Then again I was a college student before laptops existed, and was using a desktop with Windows 3.1 and dot matrix printer. Our track changes was "Save As...".