iPad
Mini 4 The
iPad mini 4 is obviously the best smaller tablet Apple has ever created; well,
I say obviously, but last year's mini 3 was actually something of a backwards
step. That device was just the mini 2 with a new colour and TouchID, but the
mini 4 is a much better device.Overdue upgrades add faster A8
processor, better cameras, a more vivid Retina display, slightly slimmed-down
design, and the ability to run split-screen apps in iOS 9. The small size is
perfect for traveling and iOS remains a superior user experience on tablets. At
7.9in and with a "Retina" resolution of 1536 x 2048 giving a pixel
density of 324 per inch, you'd be forgiven for thinking the mini 4's screen is
exactly the same as the mini 3's. But it isn't. At a more technical level, the
new tablet's screen is, according to the experts at DisplayMate, the best screen on any
iPad, ever – and that includes the Air
2and
new iPad
Pro. Moving
from the iPad Mini 2/3, the iPad Mini 4 also has slightly different speaker
grills at the bottom (one row of holes at the bottom, rather than stacked
rows), and the size is now very slightly different: at 203x134x6.1mm the iPad
Mini 4 is slightly taller and thinner than the iPad Mini 3
(200x135x7.5mm). Apple
has a couple different tiers of camera sensors it uses—the top-end ones in
iPhones, and the "good enough" ones in iPods and iPads. Like the
sixth-generation iPod Touch, the iPad Mini 4 steps up from a good-enough 5MP
camera to a good-enough 8MP camera, roughly the same one as used in the iPad
Air 2. The two tablets take very similar pictures in outdoor, indoor, and low
light. Neither is as good as an iPhone, but both can capture more detail than
the 5MP iPad Mini 2 and 3. The iPad mini 4 is pushed along by Apple’s 64-bit
A8 processor, which is definitely an upgrade from last year but not quite as
powerful as the Air 2 despite what Schiller boasted on stage. Apple says the
new chip delivers speed gains of up to 30 percent, and sure, apps definitely
open faster. The mini 4 has 2GB of RAM inside, so apps are also less likely to unexpectedly
restart when you’re multitasking, and Safari won’t need to reload your tabs so
often. Graphics performance has jumped by 60 percent, and it’s impossible to
find any current iOS game that slows down this iPad in any noticeable way. Apple claims the
iPad mini 4 can last up to 10 hours on a single battery
charge when connected to Wi-Fi. Our battery test streams a full-screen video
over Wi-Fi on 80 percent screen brightness, and the iPad mini 4 lasted for 5
hours and 15 minutes. Not quite as long as Apple claims, but in line
with other small-screen tablets. The 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 lasted 5
hours, 33 minutes. The iPad mini 3 and the iPad Air 2 lasted for 5 hours, 45
minutes, and 5 hours, 15 minutes, respectively. The iPad mini 4 features
802.11ac Wi-Fi with MIMO support, and performed admirably on our networking
tests.
But, A lot more expensive than most 8-inch tablets on the market.
Multitasking on the smaller screen isn't as useful as on the larger Air 2.
Processing speed is a step below other iPads and new iPhones, and battery life
takes a step down, too.
THE BOTTOM LINE The iPad Mini 4 makes the most of iOS 9 and has a number of
welcome upgrades, but its high price will have some skipping straight up to
larger iPad Air models.
Price:$399.00
VS The iPad mini 3 The iPad mini range is still a brilliant proposition, offering the best
of the iPad but squishing it down into a smaller package.
Well, that's what happened last year - this year Apple has
basically rebooted the Mini 2, put TouchID on the front, made it gold and
called it a new tablet. Performance
The iPad mini 3
has exactly the same processor as the iPad mini 2 and iPhone
5S – a 64-bit A7
dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM. The cores run at 1.3GHz, as opposed to the
iPad Air 2’s tri-core 1.5GHz, and a quad-core GPU provides plenty of grunt for
3D gaming.
Even though it’s
a year old, it’s still a very competent processor. The iPad mini 3 zips through
menus on iOS 8 and apps open with speed. Games look fantastic, particularly
those made with the 64-bit architecture in mind, such as Infinity Blade 3.
As expected, in
our benchmark tests the iPad mini 2 scores almost exactly the same as its
predecessor. It scored 2550 on Geekbench 3 and 14,009 on 3D Mark Ice Storm
Unlimited – both decent scores, but less than the Snapdragon 801 or 805 that
most top Android tablets have. It’s also a lot less than the Nvidia Shield Tabletcan muster. That scores 3209
on Geekbench 3 and a whopping 29,206 on Ice Storm Unlimited. That’s more than
double the gaming performance for a lot less cash.
However, the iPad
mini 3, like the mini 2 before it, performs well and should still do so for a
few years to come.
It's only ahead of the older version (a cheaper option while
offering the same specs minus the biometrics) due to this being a list of the
best tablets, and this is the best mini tablet from Apple, but it's not
offering a lot more than last year's model.
What it does bring is
good though: iOS 8 works very well on the mini 3, and the overall speed and
compact size is still a very good combo, even at the higher price. Weight: 331g |
Dimensions: 200 x 134.7 x 7.5mm | OS: iOS 8.1 | Screen size: 7.9-inch|
Resolution: 1536 x 2048 | CPU: Dual-core 1.3GHz | RAM: 1GB | Storage:
16/64/128GB | Battery: 6470mAh | Rear camera: 5MP | Front camera: 1.2MP Price: 
No comments:
Post a Comment