iPad mini: the best, despite without its Retina screen - I

The iPad mini will be available at all Apple retail stores and many other retailers Friday. In the meantime, this new tablet tests have multiplied across the Atlantic, which give a good idea about the product. In total, the balance is very positive: The Verge does not hesitate to say it is the best tablet in its class, even if it is not flawless. And as we shall see, the main one is its screen which is not Retina ...

IPad a smaller and more convenient

The iPad mini is very different from the standard iPad and this is obvious as soon as one sees it. It is logically smaller with its 7.9 inches screen, but the edges are thinner which are noticed first. Apple wanted its new tablet can be held with one hand and took it to reduce the frame around the screen. Majority of tests underlines the success of Apple in this field. The iPad is too heavy and too big to be held in one hand for a while, but the iPad mini will leave quite bear in this case. Even if, as Engadget notes, small hands will find it difficult to keep it as the first picture of this article. All testers praised the more rounded edges that help grip the tablet. The contours of this model are indeed very close to those of the new iPod touch, while the general appearance evokes the iPhone 5, writes The Verge:

In fact, the iPhone 5 and iPad mini have much in common. They share the same type of metal casing [...] with the same contour chamfered and reflecting around the screen. Painting the iPad mini is similar to the iPhone, but softer and, on the model black, shades of blue and purple in some light.

The biggest difference, however, comes the weight of the iPad mini. With 308 grams on the scale is less than half the weight of the iPad is 9.7 inches and also lighter than most of its competitors. As suggested test TechCrunch found with this product the same impression of almost excessive finesse with the iPhone 5:

The first thing you notice is the lightness of the iPad mini. The effect is similar to that which occurs when the iPhone 5 is for the first time, even if it's not too destabilizing.

The iPad mini is not only smaller and lighter, it is also thinner. Not only thinner than the iPad, but the iPhone 5: it is in fact at an iPod touch and finesse impresses all testers except perhaps The Verge has even tried this tablet too thin ! To Cnet, we are dealing with enlarged iPod touch, iPad, rather than reduced:

The iPad mini looks really great iPod touch, which is what we already said in 2010 to the iPad. It is much more appropriate today.

Interesting comment, Daring Fireball notes that the iPad mini with its Smart Cover is about as thick as the standard iPad alone. In everyday life, the difference is clear, according to John Gruber and other testers. Generally, all hail the manufacturing quality of this new tablet. Apple has accustomed us to a realization impeccable, but the difference with other tablets on the market is even more impressive with the iPad mini if ​​you believe all these opinions. At its first grip, Joshua Topolsky of The Verge expressed his feelings by saying that other tablets gave the impression of being as toys by comparison.

Jim Dalrymple of The Loop took this test to try other competing tablets, including the recent Microsoft Surface and its conclusion is clear:

    The difference is immediately clear. The quality of other tablets is so inferior to what Apple product they look like plastic toys in your hands. All these tablets all, fold when you hold them. They are made of plastic parts and poor quality shelled leave the impression that they will break.

The manufacturing quality is even better on the iPad than the iPad mini traditional as Daring Fireball:

Design - chamfered sides, rear and less tapered metal buttons rather than plastic - seems better, more elegant than iPad 3 and 4.

As the iPhone 5 and iPod touch last generation, the iPad mini buttons are built of metal and not plastic, as was the case until now on the shelves of Apple. Rendering is better and this tablet is unanimous on this point, although Engadget criticized the absence of a third button that controlled the play, like the new iPod nano.

 
The iPad mini does not lose any important despite its small size. There is always the same buttons (sleep, reception, silent and volume or orientation), a camera on the back and one at the front mini-jack port on the top and bottom connector lightning. In this regard, Apple has taken the gates of the iPhone 5 on both sides of the connector and the grids hidden stereo speakers for the first time on an iOS device.

The Verge talks about good sound quality, but it is still not a panacea and the manufacturer does not always earphones with the tablet, as noted by Engadget. As for the cameras, they do a good job as the first opinion, often better than competing tablets. The Wall Street Journal's test evokes meanwhile the quality of cameras:

 I found that the camera did a very good job. I conducted several video chats using the front camera of 1.2 megapixel and rear 5-megapixel camera produced very good photos and videos.