The
iPad mini was announced today
as expected, and it is a super impressive piece of hardware, judging by
my brief hands-on experience. The smaller iPad retains much of the
charm of its larger sibling, thanks to design decisions that make the
most out of a much smaller physical footprint, and you’ll be amazed at
how light and easy to hold it is.
The finish of the device is matte on the back, making for a very nice
feeling in the hand. The weight is really the most impressive part,
though – as with the iPhone 5, but to an even greater degree, the iPad
mini feels almost weightless when compared to its predecessors. It’s so
thin and light as to feel almost like a prop, rather than a functional
device.
But functional it is. The 1024×768 display looks great, and seems
larger than its 7.9 inches thanks to the narrower bezels on either side
of the screen itself. And while it’s slightly trickier to hold as a
result of that thinner strip, the screen seems to have a certain amount
of false touch detection built-in, so that you won’t accidentally open
apps or page through things while simply holding it.
Using apps on the mini is what you’d expect from an iOS device: fast,
smooth and overall a pleasant experience. But the best part is that
there won’t be an update curve as there was for the iPhone 5 or iPad
with Retina display, since it retains the same resolution of the
original iPad, meaning apps designed to work on that device work out of
the box. I tried out a number of native and non-native apps, and all
worked flawlessly. The camera is also completely usable for walkaround
casual shooting, something that will please the growing number of folks
who seem to want to use a tablet as their camera.
I’ve long been a believer that smaller form factor tablets have a
real place in the market, but I’ve been consistently disappointed by the
experience on competing platforms, including BlackBerry and Android.
But the iPad mini feels like a revelation: proof that
a diminutive tablet works, and works well.
Check out the gallery below for plenty of pics of both the white and
black versions of Apple’s newest tablet, which I’m fairly sure will be
yet another home run for the electronics maker, judging by my
experience.
What is The Price of iPad Mini in Nigeria?
In the US, prices for the Wi-Fi iPad Mini start at $329, and
continue through $429 to $529 for the 32GB and 64 GB versions,
respectively. If we are to convert this to Nigerian currency, it means
the Wi-Fi iPad mini will cost around N55, 000, N70, 000, N85,000 for the
16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions respectively.
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remarks and, regardless of your politics, it's hard to disagree. She's
pretty darn cool and fun.
