Review of iPad mini 6 - Apple tablet with an unusual aspect ratio

The iPad mini 6 is the most niche and mysterious product in Apple's current lineup. Compromise dimensions - and a controversial aspect ratio, many drawbacks - and a breathtaking price tag. Who will like the little tablet and why they invented it at all, let's figure it out in this review.

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Design and ergonomics
• Screen
• Performance
• Sound
• Camera
• Battery
• Outcomes

Specifications

Design and ergonomics

IPad mini 6 looks like a design latest iPhones 12th and 13th series. It has a rectangular body with slightly rounded corners and flat metal ends. This is the first Apple tablet with a 3: 2 aspect ratio. The device is sold in four colors: gray, pink, purple and white.

Compared to the fifth generation iPad mini, which was released in 2019, the length of the sixth generation model has decreased by almost 8 mm, while the width remains the same.

A person of large build will calmly put the new tablet in his palm, but the owner of a small hand is unlikely to be comfortable holding the device in this way.

The screen diagonal has increased from 7.9 to 8.3 inches. This became possible mainly due to the fact that the Home button was removed from the bottom panel, and the fingerprint scanner was built into the power key. It is located on the right side of the conditional top edge.

The scanner works well, but it is inconvenient to use it. The point here is not only the elongated rectangular shape and the small area of ​​the sensor. To find this key, you need to navigate where the front camera lens is. And it is not easy to find it - on the switched off display, the "eye" is almost indistinguishable.

The easiest way to unlock the device is to knock on the off screen, determine the top, and only then search for the sensor with your finger. It would be logical at this stage to use Face ID recognition of the owner, but it is not in the iPad mini 6.

On the right side of the tablet there is a slot for a nano-SIM card if it is a Wi-Fi + Cellular version, as well as a magnetic pad for attaching the stylus Apple Pencil second generation (you have to buy it separately).

A power connector is traditionally located on the conditional bottom edge. IPad mini 6 uses USB-C, so you won't be able to charge a new tablet with a Lightning to USB cable from your old iPad or iPhone.

There is no physical headphone jack either.

Screen

The 6th generation iPad Mini features a 2,266 x 1,488 Liquid Retina display with a brightness of 500 cd / m². Its corners and, accordingly, the image display area have a slightly rounded shape. The thickness of the bezels around the screen is small, about 8 mm.

On the display of the new iPad It was many complaints: the first owners scolded it for "jelly" and the appearance of strange discolored circles when pressed.

We specially tested our specimen under different conditions, but did not find the "jelly" effect. But there really is a problem with discoloration. If you turn the tablet vertically and click on the top of the screen, whitish circles appear on it.

There are no more complaints about the iPad mini 6 display: the picture is bright, the color rendition is good, and the viewing angles are wide.

But there are many questions about the new aspect ratio and how applications get along with it. For example, in Yandex. Navigator ”, the frames look gigantic, especially when the tablet is in a horizontal position.

And in text editors "Google Docs»And Apple Pages, when iPad is in landscape orientation, the virtual keyboard takes up almost two-thirds of the screen.

It's even worse with the YouTube app. When you try to rewind the beginning of a video in 9 out of 10 cases, you either turn the screen or get to the bottom quick launch bar.

Display coverage declaredIPad mini / Apple datasheet as anti-glare and oleophobicand the tablet does well with the directional light test. Fingerprints are worse: the screen gets dirty quickly and is not easily wiped off even with a special napkin.

Performance

One thing the iPad mini 6 has to offer is power. Its supply will definitely last for several years. The tablet is powered by the latest 64-bit A15 Bionic chip with a 6-core CPU and five graphics cores. There are no problems with running "heavy" applications for photo and video processing, or with games.

The synthetic benchmarks Antutu and 3DMark are expected to perform well. Our tests also did not reveal a noticeable drop in performance during long-term operation with maximum processor load.

The temperature of the iPad mini 6 remains moderate during prolonged loading. The main heating falls on the end from the side of the magnetic pad for attaching the stylus.

The tablet is offered with 64 or 256 GB drives, an intermediate version of 128 GB is not available. And this is also a minus, since the initial storage option Photo and video will not be enough, and the version with the maximum memory capacity is much more expensive.

Sound

IPad mini 6 has four speakers located in pairs at the top and bottom. When the tablet is rotated horizontally, they go into stereo sound. The presence of four speakers in the corners of the case is convenient, while playing or watching a movie, you will not be able to close everything with your fingers at the same time.

On the conditionally top edge there are two volume keys, which change roles if you turn the tablet 180 degrees. The volume up button will always be on top when holding the device horizontally, and on the right when vertically.

The sound is detailed in the high frequency range and mediocre in volume and bass.

Camera

Both cameras on the iPad Mini 6 are 12 megapixels. The main one received an aperture of f / 1.8, a lens with five lenses and a True Tone flash. With the main camera, you can not only take photos, but also shoot videos in slow motion and in 4K resolution.

The front camera has an f / 2.4 aperture and a 122 ° ultra wide-angle lens. One of its main features is its support for the Spotlight feature. During video calls, the "eye" automatically focuses on the person and moves behind him so that he always remains in the center. This option works only with the application. Facetime and is not supported in normal video shooting mode.

The photo capabilities of the iPad mini 6 cameras are modest: the portrait mode is not available, the maximum zoom is 5x, and even with it the photos come out very noisy.

The shots taken in auto mode without zoom, we liked the pleasant natural color reproduction and the absence of yellowness during night shooting. They look good on a tablet or smartphone screen, although noise and low detail become noticeable when zoomed in.

Battery

The iPad mini 6's built-in lithium-polymer battery has a capacity of 19.3 Wh. Based on our own measurements, the battery loses about 8% of battery power per hour of streaming YouTube videos in full screen mode with wireless headphones connected. And declaredIPad mini / Apple datasheet the manufacturer can withstand 10 hours of battery life in normal boot mode. When transferring data over a cellular network, this figure is reduced by an hour.

It is unpleasant that with a strong discharge of the battery, the indicator begins to lie, jumping sharply from 15 to 10% and further when running resource-intensive applications.

The set with the tablet comes not only with a cable, but also with a 20 W power supply. With it, in the first 45 minutes, the battery is replenished by 57%. Further, the pace gradually decreases. It takes 1 hour and 15 minutes to reach 85%, and the battery fully charges in about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Outcomes

You don't have to be Steve Jobs to confidently assume the 6th generation iPad mini is going to be a very niche product. And it is difficult to unambiguously imagine its future owner.

A creative person who has to work a lot with graphics programs? For this, the screen diagonal is too small. A specialist whose day is on the road, where a full-size iPad is inconvenient to use? The new aspect ratio will cause problems with applications.

The price of a mini-tablet from Apple is also not attractive. In the minimum configuration (without LTE and with 64 GB of memory) it costs 48 thousand rubles, and in the maximum - almost 76 thousand. Considering how many disadvantages we counted in it, the offer is not the most profitable.

Buy

The author thanks Apple for the device provided for testing. The company had no opportunity to influence its result.