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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blewyn - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
What about speaker volume ? I'd like my mini to be a bit louder than it is....any change with the new mini ?Streamlined - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Please stop using old benchmarks for the ipad 4!!! They are all about 40% worse than the ipad 4 under ios 7.Tehk17 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Apple did a lot of JS benchmark target optimizations with iOS7. iOS6 is much more accurate.ws3 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
They are both accurate. The results under iOS6 are the results under iOS6, while the results under iOS7 are the results under iOS7.Tehk17 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Not compared to Android.Crocography - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
The mini is too wide and both machines are far too slippery. It is these ergonomics where they fail. Certainly most of the Android tablets and the Dell Venue Pro 8 (although since it is a real computer it isn't a fair comparison) have better materials and dimensions to hold.ws3 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Most of the Android tablets have much cheaper construction and have an aspect ratio best suited for viewing HD videos. For anything other use the iPad's aspect ratio is better.BearT - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Liked the article: 1. The display of iPad mini w/ Retina is superb, and its size dwarfs that of others in this category (e.g. Nexus 7). This matters to me as I read magazines in portrait mode. 2. I tried the browsers from a number of devices. The "Reader" feature of Safari is a must, if you loathe online ads as much as I do. 3. The high fidelity of the FaceTime "audio" is uncanny; one has to try it to appreciate the "pin-drop" sound across the globe, okay, just the long-distance. The normal phone audio doesn't come close in clarity!Renasena - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
No TouchID no thanks I'll wait till next year.ws3 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
I'm pretty sure Tim Cook and Jony Ive both spontaneously started weeping tears of shame and remorse when you posted that.