The iPad miniskirt does n’t get in in stores until November 2 , but we got to spend some time with one on Tuesday after Apple ’s medium event at the California Theater in San Jose . Our finish : Yes , it ’s a modest iPad — but there ’s more ( and less ) to it than that . Here are our hands - on impressions .
As Apple ’s executive made a dot of stress , the iPad miniisfirst and foremost an iPad . Sure , when you pick it up , it ’s imposingly small and light . But most if not all of the feature that you ’ve come to know on the iPad — the headphone sea dog , the on / off clit , the volume controls , the Home button , and so on — are present on the smaller variation as well .
But despite those similarity , it ’s voiceless to carry how different the experience of using the iPad mini is compared with using the full - size model . It ’s hard to believe , just a couple of days after we first marvel at Apple ’s tab , that a full iPad experience fits into a package that ’s this much small and lighter .
And it ’s no less dressed or well design than its larger brethren . This is not a equipment that find garish ; all metal and glass , it ’s passing attractive . As with the iPhone 5 , it feels like an objective that was extruded , not get together .
The colour scheme reinforces that finger . Like the iPhone 5 , the iPad miniskirt come in black ( with a sour back and sides ) or white ( with a flatware back and sides ) ; these are n’t the multicolored hues of the iPod nano or iPod touch .
Fits in your hand
Apple made a trade - off when it designed the original iPad with a 10 - inch display : That handsome screen ( and its weight ) made the original model too bulky to hold in one hand . It was and is a great two - handed twist ( or a one - mitt - and - propped - on - your - circle gadget ) , but it is n’t palmable .
The iPad mini most definitely is . If you have small hands and you require to accommodate it in landscape painting orientation , you may regain it a bit of a stretch . For portrait way , however , you could easily grapple the bottom bezel between quarter round and finger , the way you might support a Holy Writ . The iPad miniskirt is so weak that have it this way feels perfectly natural . It ’s so little and brightness that we recall kids will have it off it .
In a difference from previous iPads , the iPad mini ’s bezel is n’t the same size all the agency around : In portrait orientation , the left and right bezels are considerably thin , as on an iPhone . Putting your pollex on the machine signify bear on the touchscreen . We mistrust that Apple believed slimming down the bezel was an acceptable option , given that the iPad miniskirt is light enough to hold in one hand .
In landscape orientation , the bombastic bezels are on the side , yield you muckle of way to snap up on with those apposable thumb of yours .
However , although the iPad miniskirt is small and light enough to hold in one hand , we do marvel how easy it ’ll be tousesinglehandedly . Swiping and tapping with a thumb , as you might on an iPhone , is possible but clumsy .
( We also wonder whether the more limited range of gesture on a one - handed iPad miniskirt might lead app developers to redesign their interfaces ; an Apple representative we talked to suggested that the unexampled uninterrupted - scrolling musical mode in Apple ’s own iBooks app may have been introduced specifically to make it prosperous for iPad mini user to interpret without have to debase their thumbs to make a page - flip motion . )
The iPad mini is narrow enough that thumb - typing on its software keyboard in portrait preference is easy — it ’s kind of like a giant iPhone . Thumb - typing on a full - size iPad is a lot less comfortable unless you have the manus of an NBA player . We did n’t have much time to test ten - digit typing , but commit the smaller size of the iPad mini ’s covert , we ’d imagine it ’s going to be a small harder to touch on - case on this machine than on a full - size iPad . Even if you ’ve already mastered iPad typing , you may have trouble doing it on the iPad mini .
A smaller screen
Anyone accustomed to using an iOS equipment with a Retina video display will immediately notice that the iPad mini does n’t have one : Pixels are clear visible . The look is very much like looking at an iPhone 3GS . It ’s a good , bright blind , but if you ’re a Retina convert , you will not be pleased .
We viewed photos and textbook on the screen , and both looked good . By keep the same issue of pixel as found in the iPad 2 while minify the physical size of it of the filmdom , Apple has bring on a high - resolution display ; as a result , everything look a scrap better than on the iPad 2 . We try a variety of apps , and had no trouble hitting what we require to pink on , despite the fact that every interface component on the iPad miniskirt is slightly smaller than on a full - size iPad .
What ’s really amazing about the iPad mini — perhaps its most surprising trait — is that although it has a much larger screen than its 7 - column inch Android - based competitors , it’slighterthan they are . That ’s a big deal , because it means this twist wins in two dimensions : Apple has somehow bring off to suit a big screen that can accommodate powerful tablet apps into a package that weighs less . ( The iPad miniskirt is $ 80 more expensive than the like Nexus 7 and $ 115 more than the comparable Kindle Fire HD , though — you ca n’t win ’em all . )
Smart Cover mini
The iPad mini we tried descend with an additional product : an iPad mini Smart Cover . In general , this accoutrement cultivate more or less like the full - size iPad Smart Cover . Apple has supervene upon the metallic element flexible joint with one that ’s twine in the same textile as the book binding , so the excogitation is a bit more cohesive . We discover it easy to snap on and off , and it ’s so small that it adds very small bulk or weight to the already - small iPad miniskirt .
In general , we ’re somewhat sceptical about cases for gadget as little and Light Within as the iPad mini , but the Smart Cover seems to be a good match for its gimmick . With the two paired together , it feels like you ’re post a humble paper notebook in your hand . A bulky fount would mask the spareness and legerity of the gadget .
And now, we wait
If you think the iPad miniskirt is just a small iPad , well , you ’re right . But it really needs to be seen to be translate . It ’s tiny and light , and it has great tantrum and finish . Its screen is good , but most by all odds not of Retina quality . When you see one , and hold one , you ’ll know whether you desire one . We ’d direct you to your nearest Apple Store to check one out for yourself … but until November 2 , you wo n’t be capable to .
