ISSUE389|COMPUTER SHOPPER|JULY2020 91
TABLETS
CONSIDERINGFOURYEARSpassedbetween
the launchofthepreviousiPadMiniandthis,
the latest model, not much appears to have
changed at all. Thecase designisthe same,
down to the last millimetre; the buttons are in
the samepositions; and the screenisthe same
size and resolution.However,that doesn’t mean
there haven’tbeeninternalimprovements:
besides an upgraded processor,the iPad Mini
now supports the first-generation Apple Pencil
stylus formore natural note-taking.
ON REPEAT
Besides, if Apple is going to re-useadesign, it
might as well be one as good as this.At300g
and just 6.1mm thick, it’s asupremely portable
tablet;itcould have beenevensmaller,too,
had thethick bezels beentrimmed.
With thetablet held in portrait orientation,
you’llfind the volume buttons on the right
edge at the top, the powerbutton on thetop
edge at the right, the3.5mm headphone jack
on the topedge at the left, and the charger
and speakergrilles on the bottomedge.
Eventhings you might have expected to
changehaven’t. The iPad Ministill uses a
Lightning cable to charge andtransfer files,
not USB Type-C like the neweriPadPro
models, anditdoesn’t have the Apple’s Face
ID security system,either. Forquick unlocking
and payments via Apple Pay, theiPadMini is
stuck with TouchID. That’s notaproblem:
TouchIDworks as well as it alwaysdid:it’s
quick, reliable and very rarely fails.
The Apple Pencil worksbrilliantly,
capturing strokes as accurately as if it werea
real pencil. Beware,however,that only the
first-generation stylus will work; the newer,
second-genApple Pencil will not. That means
you’llhavetoput up with charging it, rather
awkwardly,byremoving the capand plugging
it into the Lightning port at the base of the
tablet.Third-party styluses such as the
Logitech Crayon are compatible,however.
That’s it formajor new features,but there
are plenty of improvements,and one of them
is the 7.9indisplay.Ithas aresolutionof
2,048x1,536for apixel density of 326ppi, uses
IPS technology and, impressively, supports
bothHDR 10 and Dolby Visionplayback.
In asense, at least; whilethe iPad Mini can
playbackHDR andDolby Vision titles via
Netflix and iTunes, the peak brightnessofthe
displayisn’t high enough to givethe fullHDR
effect. We measureditat530cd/m2, whichis
morethan enough foreverydayuse (including
outdoors),but short of the700cd/m2 required
fortrue HDR 10 playback. Dolby Vision is even
moredemanding, requiring at least 1,000cd/m2.
APPLE iPadMini(2019)
★★★★★
£399•Fromwww.apple.com/uk
VERDICT
Itmightlookjustliketheoldmodel,butthe
newiPadMiniisavastlymorepowerfultablet
Nonetheless,this is ahigh-qualitydisplay. It
covers 91.3% of the sRGB colour gamut, which
is excellent, and colour accuracyissuperb. We
also noticedthe glass is fully laminated to the
IPS panel beneath it,unlikethe standard iPad,
eliminating any glare-inducing airgap.FAST BURN
The Apple A12BionicSoC also makesthe iPad
Miniabeast of atablet on performance.In
Geekbench 4’s single-core test, it breezed to a
scoreof4,814, andits multitasking prowess is
even better: its 11,551inGeekbench’s multicore
test is morethan 11 times higher than that of
theVankyo MatrixPadZ4.
There is atrade-offfor allthis power,
however. Battery life has taken abit of adip
from theprevious, fourth-generation iPad
Mini: that lasted for10h 43m in our video
loop test, but this newmodel fell to 8h 21m.
That’sstill adequate,but the standard iPad
can pullout afew additional hours.
Tabletsnever make the mostergonomically
friendly cameraalternativeswhen you want
to grab aquick snap,especially when most
peoplehaveasmartphone in their pocket
as well, butthen the larger screencan make
forabetter viewfinder,soit’s notterribly
surprising when it does happen.
If youdoprefertouse atabletover your
phone, theiPadMini’s camerawon’t
disappoint; likewise,itwon’t astound with
itsquality.The main camera at therearis
an 8-megapixelsensor withanaperture off/2.4, which shoots 1080pvideo at up to
120fps forslow-motionfootage.
This is fineifthe light is good –alittle
down on detail comparedwithadecent
smartphone camera, perhaps –but it struggles
to produce sharp shotsindarkersituations.
At thefront –perhaps the more important
camera foratablet –you have a7-megapixel
FaceTime HD camera, which delivers
superlative qualityfor video callsatupto
1080p in HDR.Ifyou’re lookingfor adevice to
improvethe quality of yourvideo calls, the
iPad Mini is worth considering forthat alone.
The cameraismuchbetter thanyou get on
many modern Windowslaptops.SMALLAMBITIONS
Besides some exterior design stagnation, there
isn’t much wrongwiththe 2019iPadMini. It
takesapopular recipe and updates it, adding
more performance andApple Pencil support
alongthe way. Still, there’s anaggingsense
that morecouldhavebeendone.
Those hoping foramoreaffordable price
will be disappointed,too.Although£399isn’t
ahugeoutlaythese days –compared to the
Samsung Galaxy TabS6, it’sabargain–it’s
more than Apple is asking forthe larger,
longer-lasting standardiPad.
Still, it’s hardtocriticisethe iPad Mini too
much whenit’ssosuperior to itsrivals at this
size.Despite its slightly old-fashioned looks,
it’s still agreat tablet. It’s fast,has awonderful
display, and is neat and pocketable.