2019 iPad Mini Hands On: A long-awaited update By Engadget

Three and a half years, that's how long fans of the iPad Mini have had to wait for an upgrade, and in those three and a half years we've seen Apple launched a new Pro line of iPads, make an aggressively cheap, iPad, kill the iPad Air and bring it back again. That's that's a long time to wait, and I was honestly starting to wonder if Apple would ever get around to updating the mini. Well, it did, and I've been living with the updated model for a few days now, I'm not ready to call this a review just yet, but one thing has become very clear already: the 2019 iPad Mini feels like a love letter to people who adored Apple, the smallest tablet and I, should know, because I was one of them. If you've ever picked up an old-school iPad, maybe you know basically exactly what to expect here. There is a 7.9 inch, Retina display up front and the runs at the same resolution as those old mini screens. There is an 8 megapixel camera around back, and it's still mostly just fine for taking photos.

Your phone is going to do almost. Certainly much better and just look at this design for a second look at this forehead and this chin and this home button with a touch ID sensor, this body came straight out of 2015, throw in a battery that's rated for about 10 hours of continued use of a single charge, and you basically have the iPad Mini Apple has been describing for years. There are some big changes under the hood, though, for example, this version of the mini packs, one of Apple's, 812, Bionic chipsets, and that's the same- is what you'll find in the iPhone 10s family in general. That means we're looking at excellent performance, whether you're trying to get some work done or if you've been kicking back with Sid 6 or fortnight, a lot like I have, if you want serious horsepower for I, don't know editing, 4k videos or something the iPad Pro is the obvious choice for just about everything else, though, including all of those new augmented reality. Apps Apple is so fond of the new iPad Mini has more than enough power.

That's that's not bad at all, especially when you consider the last a new iPad Mini we tested share brains, the iPhone 6, and about that 10 hour. Battery I haven't put this thing through our complete set of battery tests yet, but it seems like Apple's promise.10 hours has been a bit of a lowball. Also, new here is support for the Apple, pencil or sorry should I say the first Apple Pencil. It works just as well as it always has, and if you're in any way serious about our history or handwriting, then the pencil kind of feels like I must have I am serious about neither of those things because I'm terrible at them, so I would personally skip the Apple Pencil here altogether and maybe that it applies to you too. I will say, though, that the very act of using an Apple Pencil with an iPad Mini feels way more natural, as I would have expected running down.

Notes on something big like the new iPad Pro always felt. A little cumbersome like I was writing on an easel or something, but the mini to me at least that feels like I'm jotting things down in a small notebook and I found myself writing with the pencil more than I thought. As a result, now I still have a lot of testing to do, but after all of this I'm honestly still glad the iPad Mini still exists, the thing is I would argue it's just not as important to apples product line as it used to be. For me, at least, the years have taken some shine off the iPad minis design and there's also the fact that the iPhone 10s max I use daily, isn't that much smaller than the mini back in the day. The knees appeal was that you had all the niceties of the iPad experience in a body that was just a little more convenient to carry around or use on the subway or whatever, since it seemed like Apple had more or less given up on improving its smaller tablet, though I found myself starting to embrace bigger phones, and I'm sure I'm, not alone.

The meanies $400 price tag is pretty interesting too. When the Mini 4 was released three and a half years ago, it was among the cheapest of the new iPads you could buy at the time. This time, though, the basic no-frills 10-inch iPad costs noticeably less than the mini and the technically superior iPad Air costs $100 more when it comes down to pure bang for your buck. There are arguably better options like I said, maybe more than anything new iPad Mini feels like a love letter to the form-factor spans stick around for a four of you to see. If that's really true.

Source : Engadget