Protected, boring and all the pieces I would like in a small pill

To the shock of few, the new iPad mini that Apple introduced final week is a small replace reasonably than a significant reinvention. It could have been three years between iPad mini updates, however the 2021 mannequin was the primary to ditch the previously ubiquitous residence button in favor of smaller bezels. Apple definitely wouldn’t redesign the iPad mini solely to take action once more after a single era, so that is one other instance of a brand new Apple product that appears the identical on the skin however has some notable upgrades on the within.

What’s new right here may be summed up shortly: extra storage, help for the Apple Pencil Professional and, most crucially, a extra highly effective chip. The A17 Professional permits the iPad mini to make use of Apple Intelligence options after they launch later this month, which might be why this pill exists in any respect. Apple clearly desires to get as many individuals as attainable utilizing these options, and now each iPad the corporate sells (aside from the entry-level mannequin) will work with Apple Intelligence. After all, that makes absolutely evaluating the iPad mini robust, as a result of Apple Intelligence isn’t right here but. However there’s nonetheless lots to know should you’re fascinated with Apple’s latest tiny pill.

What’s the identical?

As is commonly the case with new iPads, nobody will know whether or not you’re utilizing the 2021 iPad mini or this one until they’re an astute research of Apple’s colour schemes. This yr, extraordinarily gentle shades of blue and purple substitute the richer pink and purple choices — my check iPad mini is purple, however appears to be like like a fairly straight silver in loads of mild. I actually want Apple would supply extra daring colour choices in additional of its merchandise, however right here we’re.

There isn’t loads to complain about relating to the iPad mini’s design. It feels completely in step with the opposite iPads Apple sells, with modest bezels (which might be beginning to really feel a bit thick) surrounding its display and stereo audio system when held in panorama orientation. These audio system sound a lot better than you’d anticipate given the mini’s small measurement; Apple has been placing surprisingly nice audio system in all its merchandise for just a few years now and I’m glad this pattern continues right here.

The digicam remains to be portrait-oriented, not like all the opposite iPads you should purchase. That doesn’t actually trouble me, since you’re not often, if ever, going to place this tiny iPad in a keyboard dock and take a video name. I think about most individuals making FaceTime calls will simply maintain it like they’d a telephone.

As with the prior mini and non-Professional iPads, there’s no Face ID array right here. You’ll should make do with the Contact ID sensor on the facility button, which is quick and handy sufficient, however nonetheless not fairly as easy as Face ID. It additionally has the identical front- and back-facing cameras because the final iPad mini. The 12-megapixel digicam on the rear takes surprisingly first rate photographs in low mild and will work tremendous for scanning paperwork or QR codes. However as normal, simply use your telephone to take photographs and movies — chances are high it has a greater digicam than the iPad mini.

Similar goes for the front-facing shooter. It’s tremendous for FaceTime calls, however pictures are missing intimately. That’s as a result of it’s a 12-megapixel ultra-wide digicam that then crops them right into a extra customary subject of view. Lengthy story quick: this digicam is simply ok for a pill digicam, however not a lot else. And that truthfully doesn’t trouble me.

The 8.3-inch display on the iPad mini is about on par with the one on the iPad Air. It helps the P3 huge colour gamut, has an antireflective coating and is absolutely laminated to the entrance glass, not like the display on the entry-level iPad. All these specs, together with its decision and 326 pixel-per-inch density, are unchanged from the final mannequin. It’s a really good display, however it’s nonetheless an ordinary LCD show with a now-pedestrian 60Hz refresh charge. I’m in no way shocked by this, as Apple has stored its greatest display expertise for the iPad Professional. However very quickly it’s going to want to up the refresh charge on different iPads (and iPhones if we’re being sincere) in addition to the Professional fashions.

One bit of excellent information in regards to the display is that it appears Apple has mounted the “jelly-scrolling” downside that plagued the prior iPad mini. Jelly-scrolling happens when one aspect of a display doesn’t refresh at precisely the identical charge as the opposite, and this impact was noticeable in portrait mode with the previous iPad mini. It’s not one thing that I ever seen whereas utilizing the brand new iPad mini. I’m curious to see if the difficulty has been completely resolved or if my eyes simply didn’t catch it, however I’ll proceed utilizing the iPad mini within the coming weeks to see if I spot any show points.

What’s new?

The headlining new characteristic right here is the A17 Professional chip, which Apple says is 30 % sooner than the A15 within the prior iPad mini. The 5-core GPU is 25 % sooner and helps hardware-accelerated ray tracing. One odd programming observe: the A17 Professional within the iPad mini is barely totally different from the one within the iPhone 15 Professional sequence. The chip within the iPhone 15 Professional has six graphics cores, whereas the one within the iPad mini solely has 5. It’s a bizarre little bit of minor nerfing, however I additionally can not think about that anybody shopping for this iPad will discover or care about this slight potential efficiency distinction.

Benchmarks from Geekbench 6 again this up. The A17 Professional within the iPad mini is ever so barely much less performant than the one within the iPhone 15 Professional, however not sufficient in order that it’ll make any actual distinction in how you employ the pill. It nonetheless trails M-series chips and the brand-new A18 sequence, however gives greater than sufficient juice for an iPad mini.

Some may need hoped for an M2 processor right here, and even this yr’s A18, however I’m assured that the A17 Professional is greater than succesful for principally something you may do with the iPad mini. Given its small measurement, I by no means as soon as considered utilizing it as a laptop computer alternative like I do with the iPad Professional. As a substitute, it made a cushty sofa companion for looking the web, messaging mates, triaging e mail, taking part in video games and sometimes enhancing some pictures. The A17 Professional was greater than able to all these duties, with no slowdowns or stutters to notice. Maybe extra importantly, it has the overhead to be succesful for years to return.

The opposite massive change for the iPad mini is help for the Apple Pencil Professional that was launched earlier this yr. I’m glad to see that Apple now helps the Apple Pencil Professional on each iPad it sells other than the entry-level mannequin. The Pencil lineup was a little bit of a large number for some time, however now there are simply two choices to think about: the $79 USB-C Apple Pencil and the extra succesful $129 Pencil Professional. Apple nonetheless sells the first- and second-generation Pencils for older iPads, however the lineup has fortunately been streamlined going ahead.

The Apple Pencil Professional is sort of a bit extra succesful than the usual one. It has stress sensitivity, haptic suggestions, a gyroscope so you’ll be able to roll the pencil in your fingers to alter your brush width, a double-tab management to alter instruments, a “squeeze” characteristic to convey up the entire device palette, help for the Discover My app and magnetic charging and pairing once you snap it to the aspect of the iPad mini.

That’s loads of bonuses for the additional $50, and the combo of the Apple Pencil Professional and iPad mini makes for a tiny however extraordinarily succesful digital pocket book and canvas. It’s additionally the identical worth as the reMarkable Paper Professional pill and stylus, although the units have fully totally different display sorts and the iPad does a complete lot extra. Relying on what you’re searching for, which may not be a great factor, as an enormous a part of the reMarkable expertise is a scarcity of distractions that may pull you out of focus in addition to a greater writing expertise than you’ll get with a glass LCD display.

Lastly, the iPad mini has 128GB of storage on the $499 worth, double what it had earlier than. It is a long-overdue change and makes it attainable to suggest somebody simply seize that base mannequin. There’s additionally a 512GB choice for the primary time. And, as normal, you’ll be able to add 5G connectivity for an additional $150. The mannequin I attempted was a top-of-the-line 512GB mannequin with 5G, which retails for a considerably loopy $949.

Oh, and the brand new iPad mini helps Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E. Not a game-changer, however good to have the most recent wi-fi specs for future-proofing.

What’s an iPad mini for?

I haven’t used an iPad mini for an prolonged time period in years, and as I settled in to testing it, Billie Eilish’s sultry voice drifted into my head, asking “what was I made for?” Sure, this can be a extremely ridiculous anecdote, however that was what I got down to discover: what’s an iPad mini best-used for? It’s undoubtedly not meant to be a laptop computer alternative, just like the a lot bigger and extra succesful 13-inch iPad Air and iPad Professional I reviewed earlier this yr. As a substitute, it’s an fulfilling secondary system that I principally used after the workday was performed, instead of my MacBook Professional or iPhone.

Studying

It’s a wonderfully sized system for studying, whether or not it’s articles on web sites, posts from Substack or novels utilizing the Kindle or Apple Books apps. I nonetheless favor a paper e-book or a Kindle system, as they’re each way more comfy than studying on an LCD display, however the iPad mini is total a much better studying system than every other iPad. Nonetheless, this was additionally one place the place I needed the iPad mini had a better refresh charge. Vertically scrolling by means of lengthy articles is noticeably jerkier than doing so on my iPhone 14 Professional or an iPad Professional, each of which have 120Hz refresh charges.

Messaging

Its measurement additionally makes it a terrific messaging system, with the portrait-oriented keyboard completely comfy for two-handed typing. For those who’re chatting away in a messaging app, having speedy entry to your conversations makes leaping from one contact to a different loads simpler. I wouldn’t need to write an article on this, however it was tremendous for firing off messages. And once more, it’s much better suited to this use than greater iPads.

Gaming

The iPad mini additionally grew to become my go-to Balatro system. The sport simply hit iOS just a few weeks in the past and I’ve been fully sucked in, like lots of my co-workers. It’s slightly cramped on my telephone, however feels nice on the iPad mini. Different informal video games like these you’ll discover on Apple Arcade additionally really feel nice on the iPad mini, however I did have a more durable time with extra fast-paced titles like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. The on-screen controls felt slightly too cramped, one thing that may after all be alleviated by pairing a Bluetooth controller.

Due to the A17 Professional chip, the iPad mini can even play a handful of AAA video games that you just’d usually anticipate to see on a console or PC like Demise Stranding and Murderer’s Creed Mirage, each of which have been introduced for the iPhone 15 Professional in September 2023. Solely the iPhone 15 Professional and 16 Professional can play these video games, together with iPads which have not less than an M1 processor. Now that the iPad mini has (basically) the identical chip because the iPhone 15 Professional, these video games can be found. I haven’t had an opportunity to check them but, however I’ll replace this evaluate as soon as I get an opportunity to see how they maintain up on this {hardware}.

Apple Pencil Professional

I’m no visible artist, however I can think about individuals who love to attract discovering the iPad mini to be a terrific moveable sketchbook. Generally, having the bigger canvas you will get on an iPad Air or Professional is preferable, however relating to one thing you’ll be able to throw in your bag and neglect about, the iPad mini is unequalled. I bought within the behavior of utilizing it as a digital pocket book — simply pulling the Apple Pencil Professional off the aspect and tapping the display opened up a clean observe doc I may jot my ideas and to-do objects onto.

Watching video

Whereas the iPad mini makes for a tremendous moveable video participant, it’s one situation the place I missed a much bigger display. If I used to be flying cross-country or over the Atlantic, I’d undoubtedly favor one thing bigger. The usual iPad or the 11-inch iPad Air and Professional are barely heavier, however they’re well-balanced sufficient that they aren’t a burden to carry and watch a film on. If that’s a main use case for you, contemplate stepping as much as an iPad with a much bigger display.

Battery life

As for battery life, I didn’t at all times hit the ten hours Apple guarantees. Utilizing a wide range of the apps and workflows I’ve described, I’d get round eight hours earlier than needing a cost. After all, these routines usually included a good bit of gaming, which undoubtedly takes successful on the battery (even when it’s simply informal issues like Balatro). I haven’t had time but to do a video playback battery check, however my guess is that one will come out loads nearer to the usual 10 hours.

Wrap-up

This yr’s iPad mini is a type of typical Apple updates that focuses on software program and inner {hardware} reasonably than a flashy redesign. However that’s OK. For those who purchased the prior iPad mini, you’ll be able to safely ignore this one until you’re actually all-in on Apple Intelligence. Anybody else who has a smaller iPad that also has a house button will get a ton of worth out of this replace. It has certainly one of Apple’s greatest cell chips and Apple Pencil Professional help makes it simple to suggest for anybody who desires a conveyable sketchbook.

I wouldn’t hate an improved show with smaller bezels and a better refresh charge, and I wouldn’t have mentioned no to an M2 or A18 Professional chip inside, however these are the one issues I’d change right here. And each would certainly make the iPad mini dearer. As it’s, it’s a strong performer for $499. For those who simply need slightly sofa computing companion, or a pill so small and lightweight which you can take it all over the place with you, the iPad mini stays your most suitable option.