We just swung by Best Buy in New York City and picked up the iPad mini to put it through its paces. The store was already out of the 16GB model, so we picked up a 32GB iPad mini in black and just had a chance to unbox it. We’re immediately impressed by the beautiful design; it’s one of the most gorgeous tablets we’ve ever held in our hand. While competing devices, such as the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD and Barnes & Noble Nook HD have plastic edges, the iPad mini has a cool aluminum enclosure that was literally cold to the touch.
Sure, it doesn’t have a Retina display, in fact it has a 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, totaling 163 pixels per inch. But the 7.9-inch display is still perfectly suitable to my tastes. I know there have been reports that you can “see” pixels. Yes, that’s the case; it’s far from a deal breaker but it’s very noticeable while using Siri, browsing iTunes and reading text. I thought I would be turned off by the larger screen, since I usually carry a Nexus 7, but I actually love the viewable area and find that it’s just as easy to hold.
I absolutely love how thin the iPad mini is, at just 0.28-inches. The stereo speakers on the bottom are quite loud, although they’re definitely a bit hollow sounding, too. One thing that kills me about iOS, however, is that there’s so much wasted space on the home screen. The icons appear to just be drifting around and I can’t imagine how much better the UI would be if Apple decided to follow in Android’s footsteps with widgets. The larger screens beg for them.
The TechnoBuffalo team will be bringing you a full review of the iPad mini and the fourth generation iPad in the coming days. Also stay tuned for unboxing videos! In the meantime, enjoy the gallery below.
iPad mini First Impressions And Hands-On Gallery
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