Browse and experience iPad mini with Retina display operation

First iPad mini was introduced in the autumn of 2012 and has become a very popular device. You can blame Apple is that they came in the wake of the market, but to deny the success of the iPad mini does not take anybody. Millions of consumers have made their choice in favor of the iPad mini the purse, that only confirmed the correctness of the chosen way of Apple.

In the fall of 2013, Apple updated its line of tablets, including the iPad mini. Compact plate got updated hardware and a long-awaited Retina-screen, the absence of which in the first generation mini deterred many from buying (including me). Now the iPad mini with Retina screen available for sale, and I just could not buy it myself. Are my expectations about the iPad mini with Retina screen and whether you buy it yourself?

model Selection

I already had experience with the "big» iPad 2, but I was not satisfied with its size. We can not say that the full-size iPad very much bulky and heavy, but typing with the landscape orientation of the screen I was uncomfortable, and to carry in a bag "piece of iron", weighing 700 grams, with the help of which you can not even work full text to me at some point just tired. And I sold the iPad 2.

Then I clearly understood that full-size tablets - not my size. A gadget that constantly wear with them must be compact, lightweight and easy to use. The full-size iPad I see more as a tablet for the home.

The first iPad mini, I did not buy because of the lack of the Retina-display, and iron it stood already at that time is not the most recent. So I waited for iPad mini second generation, which in terms of iron and screen me "on paper" I was completely satisfied.

I chose the iPad mini with Retina color Space Grey display and memory capacity of 16 GB without cellular module. All the same, while in most of the country (including in my city) 4G yet, I do not see much sense to take the iPad mini with cellular module. A Wi-Fi point is now more than enough, and in extreme cases, as a router can act and iPhone or even Mac.

Version of 16 GB is more than enough to me, because on the iPad I do not have such a large number of applications and games, like on the iPhone, there is a huge photo library, music and movies. If you want something to watch or listen to, then I prefer to do it with the help of online services.

Purchase

Still, good that Apple took the Russian market closely. You do not have to wait for six months, while the new device will be officially on sale. iPad mini Retina, for example, has been available for order in the Apple Online Store for 15 of November, ie just a few weeks after the start of sales in the West.

Of course, to other iPad mini stores reached later. My iPad mini Retina, I took in late December and find it on display at a reasonable (read - officially established) the price I could not. Well, there are online stores, one of which I ordered iPad mini Retina 16 GB for reasonable 16,000 rubles. After 3 days, the order has arrived and I took a long-awaited tablet.

Box and accessories

No revelations from the box and complete iPad mini Retina should not wait. Standard box standard equipment: the tablet itself, lightning-cable, the Russian plug, documents and labels. Nothing more, including headphones.

Case and Screen

iPad mini Retina physical size and appearance has remained virtually the same as it was the original iPad mini. Rounded corners, a small frame around the screen, the screen size - 7.9 inches. Only slightly increased weight of the device. Hold the tablet in both hands comfortably enough, but when you work with him with one hand, still felt that he was a bit heavy. I hope that in the future Apple will land on the "diet" a compact tablet, the more that its competitors weigh less.

Locating connectors and speakers on the case remained the same. All body itself is also made of aluminum, the front part is covered with glass.

iPad mini in color Space Gray looks great. After the "faceless" black in the previous models, "space gray" looks much more interesting. It is worth noting that the paint does not oblazit as the iPhone 5, for a while, until I use the tablet, no problems. He still looks as good as new.

Screen size has not changed - 7.9 inches, but the resolution has grown to "retinovskih" 2048 × 1536 pixels. Pixel density - 326 pixels per inch, just like the iPhone, that more than iPad Air (264 ppi). We have to admit that the difference between the Air and Mini for pixels you will not notice - they are not seen as mini, and on the Air. However, iPad mini screen is worse than the iPad Air because of the relatively palely the color, brightness and contrast. Generally speaking, the screen itself is quite good, but the stars from the sky is not enough.

Zalyapyvaetsya screen with a bang, you have to constantly wipe it from dust and fingerprints. But this is hardly a feature specifically iPad mini with a screen Retina. This is the problem with most modern mobile devices.

Another thing that catches your eye - is that the screen is "deep" recessed into the body. Apple did not apply here some special technologies (screen with no air gap, for example) and "depth" between the glass and the display itself is quite noticeable. It is not much impact in everyday use, but still would like to see this time corrected.

Iron fillings and performance

The new iPad mini has 1 GB of RAM and the latest processor A7 - the same as in the iPhone 5s and iPad Air. However, in contrast to his older brother iPad Air, its clock frequency is 100 MHz less. When working with the iOS interface and most of the difference between the Mini and the application no Air, but Apple would not be Apple, if between them all would not make any difference. And it is.

The test GeekBench 3 iPad mini is gaining nearly 2,500 points, which is slightly below the iPad Air, but it's not a synthetic figures. When working with intensive games such as GTA: San Andreas, Real Racing 3 sags disagreeably frame rate, which had not been observed. Apparently this is due to the fact that applications for the most part are not optimized for 64-bit architecture A7 processor. And maybe they played a fatal role those same 100 MHz frequency?

It is worth noting that many of the applications on the iPad mini Retina work the same or even worse (!) Than the iPhone 5, which is set A6 processor. Here are felt high resolution screen and neoptimizirovannost software (especially for iPad).

iOS 7 iPad mini Retina 64-bit processor running... is not ideal. Animation is often choppy, changing the orientation of the screen does not always happen smoothly. I hope that with the release of iOS 7.1 Apple will cover this shame, because suffer permanent respringi hang and there is absolutely no desire. It's not Android, iOS is - a system that has made a name for itself, thanks to stable operations. And from this very stable performance in iOS 7 big problems.

Camera

The camera in the iPad mini Retina is, it is able to take pictures of very average quality, but for a tablet, and it can be considered a good indicator. The video is recorded in high quality, mode slo-mo, both in the iPhone 5s, then, of course, not.

But I was pleased with the front camera. In good light pictures are quite good (as much as they can in general be such as the front camera). For selfshotov and video calls to Skype more than enough.

vitality

Traditionally, Apple promises 10 hours of battery operation for their tablets. With the iPad mini Retina, in practice it turns out it is slightly less. With the active use (browser (half an hour per day), post office (hours per day), social networks (hours per day), games (2-3 hours day), video (half an hour per day), books (hours per day)) tablet lasts for 1-1.5 days or 8-9 hours of continuous work. If we restrain his enthusiasm, we can achieve and 2-2.5 days. Again, the use of the model are different, and these numbers may vary depending on your preference.

In any case, iPad mini Retina remains very tenacious device - you will not worry about the battery and all the time to glance at the battery charge indicator. You can charge the iPad mini and easy to take it with you for the whole time - the battery you exactly enough. Plugged iPad mini Retina charge in about 4-5 hours. When my usage patterns, charge it about 4 times a week - it is quite a good result.

How do I use it all the time iPad

Reading articles from the web

iPad mini - is a great gadget for reading. Books, articles from the web, RSS - in all these tasks iPad mini Retina easily handle. Applications for this in the App Store - a great variety. I'll tell you what I use.

As RSS-Reader I use digg Reader. I used to prefer Feedly, Digg but seemed to me more convenient. Actually, the functionality it is standard - you can subscribe to streams directly from the app, share subscriptions into folders, quickly share articles on social networks, or to postpone them "for later". To me this is enough.

To keep track of news on topics that interest me, I use Zite. In contrast to the same Flipboard, it is much better guess with my preference, though, of course, lost in their design. Adds one time in Zite all the interesting topics and you enjoy online delivered the news.

For pending read articles I use Pocket. Still, nothing better for iOS has not yet come up, despite the fact that Readability and Instapaper is also very bad services. But there are 3 fatty Pocket Plus: it is supported by hundreds of applications, it is possible to "procrastinate" not only text articles, but also videos, links. And the third, of course - tags. They help distribute all the articles by categories and to maintain order in the store.

Books and magazines

On the iPad, you can without any problems to read electronic books and magazines. Emphasizing that the iPad has many interactive magazines that Made specifically for the tablet. For example, I read magazines Slon.ru and Esquire. Unlike paper versions, they have all kinds of interactive elements: graphics, animation, video, and in some places even a mini-game. That is, if not turns everything upside down, but it certainly transforms the experience of reading periodicals.

iPad mini Retina is quite suitable for reading PDF-magazines and books. In most cases, it is the optimal font size so as not to squint or zoom.

But not so simple with regular e-books. I admit that buying iPad mini Retina, I even thought that he could replace my Kindle reader. But this did not happen. E-ink remains for me the best aspect ratio for reading a large book. But then someone like that anymore.

I can not remember, and iPad mini Retina dimensions. On the one hand, the diagonal of the screen is higher than the Kindle, which means that the screen can hold more content. But here the difference is not so critical.

But hold in one hand Kindle reader is much more convenient and it played a decisive role for me. Amazon was able to strike a balance between the amount of text on the screen and ease of use. Not surprising, because for the iPad mini - reading books, only one of the tasks, but for Kindle - in fact the only one. But for small publications and iPad mini Retina quite a fit.

In the reading room as I use Marvin electronic books. It has everything that you need to read a book comfortably.

Working with text and notes

iPad mini Retina well suited for recording short text notes and a document viewer. Do not forget that the iPad is a set of applications for handwritten notes, such as INKredible or Skitch, which can help you when writing ideas at the workshop or educational event.

To work with the text, I use Pages, iAWriter and SimpleNote. Despite the difference in functionality, are using these programs on the iPad for me is exactly the same - write a short text. In order to work with the text on the iPad I do not have nerves, as I describe below :-)

Fun - time

iPad mini Retina I took largely with the expectation that this will be my main gadget for gaming. I must say that in my choice I'm not lost, despite the problems with some games.

As I said, the same GTA: San Andreas on the iPad mini Retina behaves strangely: the frame rate is low, all the unpleasant retarding. At the same time, on the iPhone 5 a game I hardly zavsiala.

But my favorite Modern Combat 4 behaves very well in 95% of cases. Even when you are playing over the network with a large number of players, MD4 virtually no brakes, only occasionally the case of small "lag". In this case, the tablet is almost not heated.

Unpretentious games like Flappy Bird, Dungeon Highway, Angry Birds iPad mini Retina «eats" with a bang, which, in general, and to be expected.

Business - hour

I do not take the tablet as a device to complete the work, but despite that it was still interesting to see the iPad mini Retina in action. At work I have a lot of fumbling with texts constantly scan the e-mail, social networks, work with the admin WordPress.

The miracle did not happen - iPad mini Retina, in my opinion, it is not suitable for continuous operation. But in order to write a quick post to correct the text or sketch plan for the post he is fine.

Firstly, it is not enough of a physical keyboard, with which typing much easier. Secondly, there is no normal WordPress app for iOS, which will not confuse the time of publication and accidentally post the article on the website (which has happened to me more than once). Well, and, thirdly, the very iOS simply not suited for such things. On the MacBook, you can both write the text and an eye on his English original, iPad also constantly switch between applications, and this is, again, the discomfort.

This idea was discussed all who either laziness, it is banal and obvious, but it is worth mentioning again: iPad mini - it is an ideal device for content consumption rather than to create it. Although, if you really want, and then we can dodge by buying an external keyboard. But the software is not the problem it solves.

iPad mini - it is an ideal device for content consumption rather than to create it

On the iPad conveniently edit your photos, create simple videos, write short texts, keep a personal diary. But count on the fact that the iPad will greatly help you in your work, it is not necessary. I have many people ask - can better buy an iPad instead of a laptop to work? No, not better. each device created for their own purposesSo better take a look, for example, MacBook Air or Other notebooks from Apple.

Air or mini?

In spite of some difference in the characteristics, the only significant difference between Air and mini Retina is the size of the tablet. INYou should clearly answer the question - what size more preferable for you? Because the difference in the rest of the tablets is practically no opportunities there. If you like full-size tablets - take the iPad Air, if the compact - iPad mini Retina. The right choice will help our infographics.

conclusions

In spite of all the disadvantages and shortcomings of iPad mini Retina, your purchase, I was more than satisfied. iPad mini Retina - nice and easy-to-use tablet, which in most cases, to cope with their tasks with enthusiasm. Many of the shortcomings associated with instability of most iOS 7 that very soon be corrected in the final version of iOS 7.1.

iPad is still an excellent device for content consumption and not very suitable for its creation. But as I said above, it is able to solve simple work tasks.