Small or big? iPad mini 2 vs iPad Air
Thinking about which Apple tablet to buy? The new contenders for 2013 are the iPad mini 2 and the iPad 5, officially called the iPad Air. Let’s find out which is right for you.
These are both great tablets, but they are quite different in a number of ways. Here are the most important ones.
SEE ALSO: iPad Air vs iPad 4
Size – iPad Air is bigger, but...
The iPad Air is – as you might guess – a good deal larger than the iPad mini 2. It has a 9.7-inch screen where the iPad mini has a 7.9-inch screen. These are the same-size displays as their predecessors.
However, in terms of generational change, the iPad Air is much more impressive. Where the iPad 4 was a big chunky tablet, the iPad Air is lighter, thinner and less wide. It has shed some serious poundage. Now it’s not all that much thicker than the iPad mini, and just about light enough to use one-handed. It weighs around 454g and is just 7.5mm thick.
The iPad mini 2 is just about the same size as its predecessor. That’s around 7.2mm thick and 13.5cm wide.
The point to take from this is that if you’ve compared the iPad 4 with the iPad mini and thought the full-size iPad was a bit too big, it’s time to take a second look.
Screen – Both are top-notch, both have advantages
All iPads use 4:3 aspect screens. These are less widescreen in aspect than the majority of Android tablets, meaning that when you watch a movie there’ll be black bars at the top and bottom of the screen.
For this reason, the iPad Air is definitely better to watch films on – it can produce a significantly larger widescreen image, although neither can quite match a 16:10 10.1-inch Android tablet display like the Xperia Tablet Z's.
Quality-wise, the screens are pretty similar. Both are top-notch, with great quality panels for top contrast, brightness and black levels.
It’s the iPad mini that’s had by far the biggest upgrade in this field. The original iPad mini’s screen was acceptable, but not all that much more than that (by Apple’s standards).
Contrast and colour reproduction are both much better this time around. But it’s the resolution that gets the most significant upgrade.
This is the first ‘Retina’ iPad mini, and it has the same screen resolution as the iPad Air – a bit mad when you think about it.
However, this is more an excess on the mini 2’s part than a failing on the part of the iPad 5. Both are sharp screens
Power – evenly matched
Apple has finally given up the idea that the full-size iPad is the ‘flagship’ Apple tablet – seen in the processor of the iPad Air. It has the same Apple A7 super-powered processor seen in the iPad mini 2 with Retina Display.
The Apple A7 chip is new, 64-bit and fast as anything. The iPad mini is finally up to speed.
As pixels are crammed in tighter in the iPad mini 2, the smaller tablet may even have the slight visual edghe in person for high-end 3D games.
Camera – level-pegging
Many of you may laugh at the idea of taking a photo with your tablet, but Apple has upgraded the main camera in both the iPad mini 2 and iPad Air. They have 5-megapixel cameras with upgraded sensors and processing engines. We'll see if there's actually much of an improvement when we get our units in to review.
Neither has a flash, so they’re pretty useless for late-night party shots. But in good lighting they will be able to produce some Facebook-worthy snaps.
Impressions
With last year’s models the reasons to buy either an iPad mini or full-size iPad were pretty clear. The iPad mini was thin and light, the iPad 4 was fairly thin, but not all that light in comparison. Apple has closed the gap this time around, and we think it’ll win the full-size iPad back a few fans.
Apple has improved the design of the iPad Air significantly, so unless you really want a super-portable tablet, there are few downsides to going ‘full size’ this time.
Next, read our look at what's missing from the iPad mini 2
