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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Rogess - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Last time I checked China had a population bigger than 1.3 billion. That would account for roughly 18% of the world's population.I agree with your metaphor about luxury cars, however. It's a known fact that you pay premium for an Apple product because it is an luxury item. Often you get the same functionality at a minor price point (just like in the car market). But everyone can decide for themselves if the added bonus like brandname or reliability is worth the price difference.
MarcSP - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
I think he ment the rich chinese, not all of them, but yes, it is not so clear, and I would like to konw the source of that info, hehe.sebas4096 - Thursday, December 12, 2013 - link
you only need to check who are the strong buyers: mostly teens but anybody who think apple is like BMW is not ready to discuss like a grown up .BMW builds/design cars in a entire difrent way as mainstream car manufacturers ,justifying the high prices of apple comparing to BMW is insulting cos is a 12year old argument,BMW uses a diffrent technology and materials as well highly trained workers if apple would be doing the same thing the devices would not be manufactured like chicken wings in a chinese factory, i just cant believe somebody older than 20 is using BMW-apple analogy maybe because they dont know what is like to own a bmw, people just buy apple cos is trendy ...products in the same park as BMW dont have the problems as apple period ,neither use deceiving marketing strategies to sell..the antenna problem, scuffgate ,just a joke, apple is the starbucks of gadgets name a problem with defective materials in BMW,audi.. apple will never have the same quality as BMW they will never ship a product being aware is faulty like iphone 5 ,macbooks that crack by itself .rich people just buy it cos they now not many people will get it mostly teens..apple fans will keep dreaming with delusional europeans cars methaphors while they will never have a bmw but they will buy apple BIG LOL
bplewis24 - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
I care about quality, which is one of the reasons I buy Android.darkcrayon - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
There's a specific "Android" brand that denotes quality?Cptn_Slo - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
He must mean samsung,oh wait...
zeagus - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
HTC stands alone there I think.sebas4096 - Thursday, December 12, 2013 - link
like this" appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/21/some_users_find_scuffs_nicks_on_newly_purchased_iphone_5s , never have seen a bmw with this problem, neither audi or ferrarisorry but scuffgate technology cant be copied only steve knows
zeagus - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
Hahahhaahaa...RadarTheKat - Monday, November 18, 2013 - link
Plus the mini has a larger display than the Nexus 7. That makes a big difference if you've held them side by side.