Camera

The iPad mini with Retina Display features the same 5MP iSight rear facing camera and 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera as the iPad Air. Both are quite good for a tablet, aided by iOS’ excellent camera UI and the A7’s high performance ISP. The cameras also benefit from the same dual-mic setup of the iPad Air. I won’t talk too much about quality here as it’s no different than the Air, which I've already gone over in greater depth.

Rear Facing Camera Comparison
  Sensor Resolution Aperture Focal Length
Apple iPad Air 5MP 2592 x 1936 f/2.4 3.3mm
Apple iPad 4 5MP 2592 x 1936 f/2.4 4.3mm
Apple iPad 3 5MP 2592 x 1936 f/2.4 4.3mm
Apple iPad 2,4 0.7MP 960 x 720 f/2.4 2.0mm
Apple iPad mini 5MP 2592 x 1936 f/2.4 3.3mm
Apple iPad mini (Retina) 5MP 2592 x 1936 f/2.4 3.3mm

 

Front Facing Camera Comparison
  Sensor Resolution Aperture Focal Length
Apple iPad Air 1.2MP 1280 x 960 f/2.4 2.15mm
Apple iPad 4 1.2MP 1280 x 960 f/2.4 2.18mm
Apple iPad 3 0.3MP 640 x 480 f/2.4 1.8mm
Apple iPad 2,4 0.3MP 640 x 480 f/2.4 1.8mm
Apple iPad mini 1.2MP 1280 x 960 f/2.4 2.2mm
Apple iPad mini (Retina) 1.2MP 1280 x 960 f/2.4 2.15mm

WiFi & Cellular

The iPad mini with Retina Display inherits the same Qualcomm MDM9615 modem and 2-stream dual-band 802.11n from the iPad Air. The move to 2-stream 802.11n more or less doubles peak WiFi performance compared to last year’s mini. The mini's peak WiFi performance is pretty close to that of the iPad Air as well.

iPerf WiFi Performance - 5GHz 802.11n

Lately I’ve really begun to appreciate the flexibility offered by tablets equipped with cellular modems. Especially now that it’s not terribly expensive to add a tablet to a shared data plan (or even free), the $130 LTE adder for the iPads is something worth seriously considering. The convenience of being able to pull out your tablet, wake it up, and immediately hop on the web/check email/tweet/etc… is awesome. Qualcomm's MDM9615 is a well known quantity at this point. I didn't run into any issues with its performance on the iPad mini.

iPad Cellular Speeds
Property iPhone 3G/3GS/iPad 1 3G iPhone 4 / iPad 2 (GSM/UMTS) iPhone 4 / iPad 2 (CDMA) iPad 3 iPad 4/iPad Mini iPad Air/iPad Mini w/Retina
Baseband Infineon X-Gold 608 Infineon X-Gold 618 Qualcomm MDM6600 Qualcomm MDM9600 Qualcomm MDM9615 w/RTR8600 Qualcomm MDM9615
w/WTR1605L
Max 3GPP Release Feature Release 5 Release 6 Release 7 Release 9 Release 9 Release 9
HSDPA Category Cat.8 - 7.2 Mbps Cat.8 - 7.2 Mbps N/A Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps
HSUPA Category None - 384 Kbps WCDMA only Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps N/A Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps
EVDO N/A N/A 1x/EVDO Rev.A 1x/EVDO Rev.A 1x/EVDO Rev.A 1x/EVDO Rev.A
LTE N/A N/A N/A 100/50 UE Cat. 3 100/50 UE Cat. 3 100/50 UE Cat. 3

The new iPad mini, like the iPad Air, is extremely flexible from a mobile operator standpoint. Regardless of what operator you choose at the time of purchase, you can switch to others as long as you have an activated nano SIM (there’s apparently an exception for Sprint, but AT&T/T-Mobile/Verizon should all be easily switchable). The unlocked nature of the device makes it ripe for global use, especially with support for a total of 14 LTE bands (1,2,3,4,5,7,8,13,17,18,19,20,25 and 26).

 

The Display Battery Life
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  • cknobman - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link

    $400 for a mini tablet and it still gets a glowing recommendation?

    LOL. Sure the hardware is nice but how many laptop reviews do I see where everything is great but 1 or two things and it gets hit hard in the final recommendation/summary.

    Not for Apple crap though!!!!
  • deasys - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link

    No, $299 for an iPad mini. At least get your facts straight.
  • cknobman - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link

    Try comprehending better. The review is about the new retina iPad mini which is $400. IT IS A MINI TABLET.

    @RadarTheKat why should we consider the resale price? I dont buy gadgets with the future intent of resale. I buy them to use them. Sure when a device is old and I want to upgrade then maybe resale comes in but usually the device is SO OLD by then even if it were apple it would be worth nothing.
  • ws3 - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link

    You can get $100 or more for a 3 year old iPhone, so resale value is a legitimate consideration.
  • ws3 - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link

    To me, $400 for the retina mini seems like a bargain.
    Why wouldn't the retina mini get a glowing recommendation? It's an excellent device.
  • beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link

    for $350, i can get a asus T100 64gb tablet / netbook convertible runs FULL windows 8.1 os with 2gb of memory...along with external keyboard included....

    ya, $400 for a tablet is overpriced. way over priced.
  • beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link

    the same T100 also runs Bluestack which enables Android applications as well.
  • ws3 - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link

    And the T100 is also slower than an iPad Air. I'm sure FULL Windows 8.1 os will be astoundingly performant on a processor slower than an ARM tablet SOC.
  • beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link

    wtf are you talking about? T100 slower than your Crap air? LMOA!!
    it runs FULL OS with real multitasking etc you idiot!
  • beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link

    you are still smelling Steve Job's dead behind air? lol

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