The iPad mini isn’t set to officially launch until this Friday, but people with early access to the smaller tablets have already begun reviewing them, and seem to have come to the same consensus: it’s still an iPad, just smaller.
Reviewers agree that the iPad mini is still way better than smaller tablets from other competitors, with a better overall experience, but they also agree that the new display is awful when compared to other Apple devices.
When John Gruber from Daring Fireball first gave the iPad mini to his wife, who often uses the iPad 3, he writes that her initial reaction was, “Ew, the screen is terrible,” which was pretty much his own response to the mini device. After using the device for a week, his reaction is the same: “It’s really light and easy to hold one-handed. The hardware design […] strikes me as better, more elegant than that of the full-size iPad 3/4. But it’s disappointing to go non-retina after using the retina iPad for the last seven months.”
So according to Gruber, the actual iPad mini display may not be entirely terrible, but when you’re used to the iPad 3 with Retina display, the lower resolution screen can be a major disappointment. Regardless, Gruber also said he plans to switch to the iPad mini from the iPad 3 solely because he likes the iPad mini’s size and weight so much, even though it’ll be a hard adjustment to move away from the Retina display.
Image Credit: MacStories
