Apple iPad mini with Retina Display: Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 16, 2013 8:00 AM ESTCamera
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.
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).
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emoemeka - Wednesday, November 20, 2013 - link
The fact that you would mention a junk company like ASUS says a lot about what you consider to be quality. I'm sure you can buy a Westinghouse 60" LED TV for a lower price than a 47" Sony TV with worse specs, but would you claim that the Westinghouse was a better dealbeggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
the same tablet also has 10 hr battery life, faster than your ipad (because it has a quadcore bay trail), more memory, more storage, allows micro-sd expansion.before you try to bad mouth about its quality /upgrade, a bio firmware that was just released has fixed all the problems /bugs people had with its sleep function.
also it includes Microsoft office and allows user to run Steam games.
in end, more productive, more compatible, more open, more power, more memory, more expand ability, and cost $50 less.
ws3 - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
It's slower. Just look at the benchmarks right here at Anandtech.beggerking@yahoo.com - Tuesday, November 19, 2013 - link
running what? mobile app vs desktop applications?LOLws3 - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
Why would I want FULL Windows 8.1 os on a tablet?And why would I want the ultra-crappy screen and asus-typical poor build quality of the T100?
beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
the SAME ultra-crappy screen as your last year's Ipad Mini sold for the same price? LOLwhy don't you want FULL windows 8.1 os on a tablet? do you prefer to run mini-games vs real games? mini apps vs applications? mobile website vs FULL websites?
you itarts chuckle me up lol
ws3 - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
There's really no question which device people prefer. Just look at the sales figures. Clearly most people, like me, don't care about FULL Windows 8.1 OS or any of the other things you think are important. But don't feel bad about it, obviously you are "special".beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
so you admit last yrs Mini has UltraCrap screen like you mentioned?actually, tons of questions as IOS only accounts for 10% of world mobile now. Apparently, Android is killing your love Apple.
beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
90% of my friends have swtiched from IOS to android phones, or Windows tablet.the remaining 10% will switch when their contracts are up.
you are truly the "special" one, you must have rode the special mini yellow school bus for "special" mind challenged kids growing up.
emoemeka - Wednesday, November 20, 2013 - link
Is Android Windows 8.1? The fact still remains that the market has consistently rejected hybrid tablet/laptop devices. Name one full windows 8.1 tablet that consumers are actually buying?