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The fifth small iPad Apple – the iPad Mini (2019) – arrived with fanfare, but thanks to the Pencil Pencil, this is the biggest change since the beginning of the series. Three and a half years after the last Mini update in 2015, nothing seems to have changed. But Apple has, in fact, deigned to bring many features and features of the iPhone and the iPad Pro to its tiny tablet.
The big news of Mini is that it now supports Apple's pencil. It's no exaggeration to say that the neat Bluetooth stylus could completely change the use you make of the iPad Mini; The experience of using this software is now even further away from something like Amazon Fire HD 8 or a classic Android tablet. It means noting things in the Notes application or reminding you just how creative custom iPad apps are – whether it's professional software like Procreate and Adobe applications or more amateur products like Pixelmator, Doodle Book or – do not judge us – Marvel Color Your Own. He is always in a class of his own.
This is also where screen updates make sense. Just like the fourth-generation iPad Mini, it's a 20.4 x 1536 7.9-inch screen with the classic iPad 4: 3 format. So there's 326ppi left, which is the highest pixel density you can get on an iPad. This time, the brightness increases by 25% to 500 nits. The iPad Mini is not as bright as an iPhone, but it is still very bright for indoor and outdoor use.
Next to the iPad 9.7 inches of last year, which has more and more pace, the screen of the Mini is very clear and when it is streaming Roma on Netflix, the contrast is also significantly improved. This is probably due to the addition of Apple True Tone technology, which uses sensors to adjust the white balance to your ambient lighting. In addition, the new laminated screen keeps the look perfectly polished. Pencil apart, the tablets are still all screens and this one remains the best.
That said, we have a bad case of The Wrong Pencil. Like the latest iPad Air, the new iPad Mini is only compatible with the first-generation Apple Pencil. It does not support the automatic magnetic loading and matching that you get with the brilliant Pencil, second generation, and an iPad Pro. Instead, the larger and rounder pencil is very usable (see above), but it looks slightly tall when paired with the Mini. It was clearly not designed for this size of device.
It also means that unlike the iPad Pro, the pencil is loose and not attached – we have almost left it home more than once. To pair and load, you remove the top and stick it in the lightning port, which is quick and painless, even if it is a little annoying. In other words, the first-generation pencil is great; second generation would have been better. Similarly, there is also no Apple Smart Keyboard for iPad Mini, but many third-party Bluetooth options are available.
Apple's A12 Bionic chip turns the Mini into true power – that's the A12X of the iPad Pro – especially compared to competitors of this size. It handles games and photo / video editing applications without any latency, which includes "multitasking" in iOS 12. This means that you can drag a second application into a floating window, which is not the case. not as essential on a 7.9-inch iPad. on larger sizes, laptop replacement, but at least as useful as on the big-screen phones.
Our only small concern – during a fairly intensive session, the lower half of the iPad Mini was pretty hot when we jumped between apps, games and taking notes with the pencil. The fact that the Mini is heating up has not really had an impact on performance.
The iPad Mini has always been extremely easy to live with – and still is. The main complaint – if you want to find – is that Apple has chosen not to rethink the Mini, despite the long interval of three and a half years between versions. Do not get me wrong, it's still the most beautiful 8-inch tablet ever, but the glasses make it look strangely retro next to an iPad Air (2019) or an iPhone XS Max.
OK, we are a little perceptive. The latter compact iPad is still easy to hold with one hand, lightweight (300.5g for the Wi-Fi model, the iPad Mini 4 is 299g) and thin, with a thickness of only 6, 1 mm. It comes in silver, gray space and gold. There is the same decent but spectacular 8MP f / 2.4 camera at the back, with auto HDR and autofocus, with an improved 7MP f / 2.2 front camera, which will allow you to make clear and crisp video calls . Even the headphone jack is still in place on the top edge.
Same as the home button, because another feature reserved for the iPad Air and the iPad Pro is the face identification. Here you get a quick Touch Touch, for unlocking and payments, via a fingerprint sensor on the main button, but we are at the stage where this is now unusual for an Apple product. According to the pencil, it is quite obvious that Cupertino retains these minor features to be able to pay more on its high-end iPads and feed them drip in the coming years.
Apple quotes ten hours of autonomy, as in the latest iPad Mini. In fact, as all iPad Mini users know, this tends to be much better, the day before is really good and it will probably only need to recharge it about two or three times a week, according to the use that you will make of it. That said, if you increase the brightness of the screen up to 500 nits maximum and you use it continuously, the battery of the new Mini can lose more than 10 to 15% in 30 minutes.
If you have a choice between an iPad and an Android tablet, this is also worth a small note on local storage. The £ 399 iPad Mini gives you 64GB of storage. If you need more, it's £ 549 for a 256GB device. It's not quite outrageous, laptop-style prices like the iPad Pro, but still expensive when you compare it to Samsung Android tablets with expandable microSD storage.
Verdict
The compatibility with the pencils is a real progress for the iPad Mini range. If you do not need screen and performance optimization, consider sticking to an older iPad Mini model. For us, the Pencil holder makes it rock. Analysts are divided on whether tablet sales (read: iPad) are still down or whether we will see growth on the sidelines in the next few years.
Whatever it is, Apple has really complicated things when it comes to choosing which iPad to choose. For small tablets, however, the choice is really between this iPad Mini and the tablets half or a third of the price – for example, Amazon Fire HD 8 or the iPad Mini 8.4-inch Huawei. You already know what we are going to say – it's worth it.
Of course, it would have been great to see a redesigned mini, with Face ID, a second-generation pencil (or even a mini-made), but maybe everything is planned for 2020? For now, this iPad Mini is a welcome fit for a winning formula.
Price: £ 399 | Check price on Apple | Very | Argos | Argos
Read our guide to the best tablets to discover all the alternatives to the new iPad mini. When you buy something using the retail links of our stories, we earn a small affiliate commission. This has no impact on the products we recommend.
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