Apple iPad mini 7th Gen review: Perfect companion for fun and productivity

Apple launched iPad mini (6th gen) way back in February 2022. Now, after almost three years, Apple has introduced the new generation iPad mini with meaningful upgrades.

The new iPad mini comes in Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + Cellular variants with a base model (128GB) starting at Rs 46,900 in India. I have been using the iPad mini for a little over two weeks and here are my thoughts on the latest tablet from the house of Apple.

Design, build quality and display

Looks-wise, the new iPad mini (7th Gen) retains most of the design elements of the predecessor. It has the lone primary camera on the top left corner and the front, it has a 12MP FaceTime camera in portrait orientation.

At the top, it houses a wake button, which also doubles up as the TouchID to unlock the iPad. There, you will also find the volume rockers on the left along with two speakers.

. At the base, it features two more speakers with a type-C port in the middle. This iPad mini review unit is a Cellular version, but the owner has to get e-SIM, as there is no provision for a physical SIM.

On the right side, there is a magnetic dock for Apple Pencil to easily carry around with the iPad. On the left side, the panel has no physical buttons except for a couple of antenna bands. You will also find them on all sides, perfectly blending with the metallic enclosure.

Besides speakers, the iPad mini features two microphones. Like on the iPhones, the speakers are amazingly good and produce pure audio without much distortion even when the volume is put to the max.

. Though the iPad is made of premium and sturdy materials to survive daily wear and tear, and scratches on the screen, I still recommend getting a protective cover, preferably a smart folio case.

. It protects the device's front and backside from getting physically damaged during an accidental drop. The foldable flaps of the case can be used as support to put the iPad mini (in landscape orientation) on the table and watch movies/TV series or answer video calls hands-free.

. Apple offers colourful folio cases in sage (light green), charcoal grey, denim (light blue) and light purple for Rs 6,500.

The new iPad mini features an 8.33-inch LED-backlit liquid retina (2266x1488p) display with IPS technology, anti-reflective coating technology and full-screen lamination coating to repel fingerprints. It comes with a pixel density of 326 ppi (pixels per inch).

. The iPad mini display is perfect for multimedia consumption, reading e-books, browse the internet. It has a thick uniform bezel on all sides and this is perfect for the fingers to rest on the device while watching movies/TV series or playing games while travelling in bus or car or a flight.

The type-c port supports up to 10Gbps wired data transfer and charging speeds up to 20W. And, the TouchID worked perfectly without any issues at all.

Eco-friendly iPad mini

The enclosure is made of 100 per cent recycled aluminium, and 100 per cent repurposed rare earth materials for the magnets.

Further, the Gold and tungsten used in the printed circuit board of the iPad mini is also 100 per cent recycled.

Also, the iPad mini is free of dangerous chemicals including mercury, brominated flame retardants and PVC.

And, the retail packaging is made of 100 per cent fibre-based materials. This initiative is part of Apple's effort to completely rid of plastics in all its products by 2025. It has set an ambitious target to turn the company's operations and corporate business fully carbon-neutral by 2030.

Performance

Under the hood, it houses an Apple A17 Pro chipset, which comes with a 6-core CPU and 5-core GPU. It also comes with an all-new 16-core Neural Engine that can deliver 2X performance over the previous-generation iPad mini.

It is the same chipset used for the iPhone 15 Pro series models. Whatever the task, the device performed smoothly without any issue of lag-ness.

. It should be noted the iPad mini (7th gen) boasts of hardware-accelerated ray tracing. It is 4x times faster than software-based ray tracing.

It also supports Dynamic Caching and hardware-accelerated mesh shading, which ensures the gaming graphics come off as close as real and deliver an immersive gaming experience on the iPad mini's display panel.

As advertised, it did perform well. Also, the device managed to remain cool during the long gaming session and didn't overheat much.

Apple Intelligence

With the new iPadOS 18.1 update, the company introduced the first batch of Apple Intelligence.

The audio transcription feature of the Notes app works fine. It was able to transcribe the words of my audio of the Hare and the Tortoise story reading. However, it does mistakes here and there in understanding the Indian English accent. But, overall, is really good to work in its first attempt.

Like on the iPhone, the clean-up tool in the Photos app is kind of a hit-and-miss. It is the same in all branded devices including Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy series, there is room for improvement.

. I am sure, this clean-up feature will only get better with future updates.

It should be noted that the Apple Intelligence-enabled Siri and Writing Tools for Indian English, will be rolled out in early 2025.

Also, Apple will offer the option to integrate Siri and other Apple Intelligence-supported apps to integrate with OpenAI's ChatGPT-4o, to offer an enhanced user experience.

Writing Tool will work systemwide seamlessly, including native apps such as Notes, Keynotes, iMessage, Mail, and even third-party apps installed across all Apple devices.

I am keenly waiting for the iOS 18.2 update, which is said to bring the Image Playground. With this, the device can dish out synthetic images with text prompts. It will be available as a standalone app and will also baked into the iMessage app. Initially, it will offer three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch.

.Apple Pencil (USB-C) Review: Reliable handy tool for fun and work. Apple Pencil support

Also, the new iPad mini supports Apple's latest Pencil Pro stylus and regular Pencil (with type-C port).

The Pencil Pro comes with a new sensor that can sense a user’s squeeze, bringing up a tool palette to quickly switch tools, line weights, and colours.

Pencil Pro houses a new custom haptic engine that can detect finger squeeze and tap gestures to perform functions. A light tap or squeeze registers as confirmation of an operation.

. A gyroscope sensor allows users to roll the Apple Pencil Pro for precise control of the tool (such as pen and brush-like effect options) they’re using on the iPad. Rotating the barrel changes the orientation of the shaped pen and brush tools, just like pen and paper.

And with Apple Pencil hover, users can visualise the exact orientation of a tool before making a mark.

Camera hardware

On the back, the iPad mini (7th gen) houses a 12MP wide camera. It supports Smart HDR 4 to deliver natural-looking photos with increased dynamic range. With machine learning technology, it can detect and scan documents right in the native Camera app.

The camera is good for scanning documents and turn the jpeg images into PDFs with converter apps available on the Apple App Store.

On the front, it features a 12MP ultra-wide FaceTime camera in portrait orientation. With support for Center Stage, it ensures the user is centred in the frame, even if he/she moves.

. The video streaming quality is top-class. Very few can match Apple device's stable video recording quality.

The iPad mini's back camera can record 4K videos at 24/25/30/60 frames per second(fps). The front camera can record full HD 1080p at 25/30/60 fps.

But, I wished the selfie camera was positioned horizontally (landscape orientation) instead of vertically orientation.

During video calls, if I am viewing the centre of the screen, the iPad mini's portrait-oriented camera makes me appear as if I am looking to the left side.

It supports Wi-Fi 6E, which can support wireless internet speeds up to 5.4 Gbps; this is twice as fast as Wi-Fi 6. The achieve such feat, Wi-Fi 6E uses a third frequency band, 6 GHz, in addition to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. But, in India, it has no use, as the 6Ghz spectrum is not yet made available to use for devices.

It also comes with Bluetooth 5.3 and also supports 5G connectivity via e-SIM.

. Battery life

With a full charge, it can deliver a full day of battery life. One can watch at least one season of 10 episodes (each having a runtime of 45-50 minutes) of TV series via Wi-Fi streaming.

I am most impressed with standby battery life. The battery level barely reduces during idle time. It supports a 20W charger.

Final thoughts

The compact 8.33-inch iPad is perfect to carry around in hand and in the backpack. The display is amazing for watching movies/TV series, playing games, read e-books for hours without any issues of eye strain as such.

. With Apple Pencil Pro supports, users can work on digital art. For productivity too, it supports short video editing through feature-rich iMovie apps and with the Notes app, users can just write endlessly, as there is no shortage of storage space.

And, thanks to A17 Pro silicon, it supports several Apple Intelligence, which further makes the device a compelling buy. Apple is expected to bring more smart features including Image Playground, which will make iPad mini even more addictive.

The new iPad mini will be available in three storages (Wi-Fi only)-- 128GB, 256GB and 512GB -- with prices of Rs 49,900, Rs 59,900 and Rs 79,900, respectively. For Wi-Fi+ Cellular models, the prices are Rs 64,900, Rs 74,900 and Rs 94,900, respectively.

Students, parents and teachers can purchase the new iPad mini for as low as Rs 44,900 via education plans.

The new iPad mini comes in four colours--space grey, blue, purple, and starlight. The folio cases are priced at Rs 6,500.

.Apple iPad Air M2 review: Solid all-rounder tablet. Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech .

Apple iPad mini 7th Gen review: Perfect companion for fun and productivity

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