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The iPad mini is here, with a 7.9-inch screen, 4G and the same chip and resolution as the old iPad 2. You can find out everything it does have here — but what’s missing? Read on for the list of stuff we’d hoped to see in the newest and smallest iPad.
A price to match the Nexus 7
The Google Nexus 7 has the tablet market all in a tizzy, with a
wallet-friendly price tag of £160. Google has deliberately underpriced
the Nexus to lure in lots of tablet fans so as to make more money in the
long run on apps, games, movies and music bought in the Google Play
online store.
Apple isn’t given to underpricing anything, but it must be
aware of the stiff competition the Nexus 7 provides on both price and
quality. Starting at £269 will turn many people off.
Fair UK pricing
To add insult to injury, the iPad mini starts at $329. That equates to £206, which when you add 20 per cent VAT means we should be paying £248 for this tablet. Apple is charging us £21 for the inestimable privilege of living in rip-off Great Britain.
Retina display
We had all our fingers and all our toes crossed for a retina Display on the sawn-off iPad, but we’ve had to make do with a still eye-popping 1,024×768 pixels. That’s a density of 163 pixels per inch — far less than the rival Nexus 7 or the retina standard of 320ppi.
16:9 screen
Much fuss was made about the iPhone 5 switching to 16:9 from the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio of previous iPhones and iPads. 16:9 does away with black bars around your movies and TV shows when you watch on your new iPhone — but it seems you’re stuck with them on the iPad mini.
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt is the ultra-fast cable that connects new Mac computers to peripherals such as printers. While it would be nice to wire up your iPad mini to other devices, it’s not necessary. We’ll stick with Lightning for charging and syncing, and Wi-Fi for everything else.
A quick release
With the Nexus 7 making waves at the smaller end of the market and the fast-approaching Microsoft Surface breathing down the full-sized iPad’s neck, it seemed essential that the newest iPad would hit shops mucho pronto — before Google and Microsoft can carve their way into Apple’s grip on the tablet market. We’ll have to wait until late November for the 4G version of the iPad mini, by which time many people may have lost patience and jumped ship to HMS Android.
Colours
We were looking forward to a little colour splashed on the mini. After all, the invitation to Apple’s unveiling was very colourful, and Apple has recently introduced more colour to its line-up with the first multi-hued iPod touch. Alas, there’s no hue for you.
What do you miss in the iPad mini — or is it tablet perfection? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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