Gadgetory

we've already reviewed both of Apple's new tablets but which one should you buy I'm Taylor Martin this is PocketNow and this is the iPad Mini with Retina Display versus the iPad air last month Apple took the stage to unveil all its latest products among the new releases were two brand new iPads the iPad air and I've had mini with retina display we have now successfully reviewed both models and compared them extensively but we have yet to compare them to one another which is the better offer should you get the full-sized iPad air or scaled-down mini this holiday season let's take a closer look last year's full-sized fourth generation iPad and iPad Mini had their fair share of differences both internally and externally this year Apple brought uniformity to the iPad lineup consolidating the design and internals the iPad Mini with Retina display for all intents and purposes looks exactly like the original iPad Mini the only external differences are slight discrepancies in thickness weight and the addition of a microphone on the back side near the top edge on the new mini the iPad air underwent quite a few changes however it now features the exact same design as the iPad Mini only on a larger scale the edges are rounded not tapered the speakers are separated by the Lightning port along the bottom edge not a single rear-facing speaker in the lower left corner and the front trim has the same chamfered edge the iPad Mini with Retina display and iPad air are clearly very closely related since the major difference externally is sighs how much disparity is there between the two the iPad air is 40 millimeters taller 34.8 millimeters wider and it's 138 grams more than the iPad Mini with Retina display both surprisingly are 7.5 millimeters thick the insides of these two tablets is much of the same story both come with 1 gigabyte of RAM 5 megapixel rear cameras 1.2 megapixel front cameras and the same storage capacity options 16 32 64 and 128 gigabytes both have 8 7 chips inside as well the only notable difference is the battery ratings the air has a 32.4 watt hour battery while the iPad Mini has a 23-point 8 watt hour cell both come with Retina displays with pixel resolutions of 2048 by 1536 pixels at 7.9 inches the iPad Mini retina display has notably higher density of 324 pixels per inch compared to 264 PPI on the nine point seven inch iPad air that increased density comes at a cost however the iPad Air's display is incredible color gamut contrast black levels and brightness are fantastic simply put it's one of the best tablet displays out there the iPad minis display isn't bad by any means despite what you've heard its saturation unfortunately isn't nearly as high as the Ayers is the difference noticeable yes if you're looking for it and it's one of those things that's sort of difficult to unsee but we feel the reports that the iPad minis display appears washed out and substandard are a tad sensationalist yes it's obviously less saturated than the full sized iPad air but if Apple had to make a choice between clarity and color reproduction it made the right decision to say one of these tablets is better than the other at least in terms of hardware is a bit silly one has a larger display the other is much smaller and lighter and those sort of things appeal to different buyers and users more on that in a bit we'll save the discussion of the software in this video both tablets are currently running the same exact versions of software iOS 7 version 7 0.4 there are literally no differences in the software for more detailed look at io s 7 and what it has to offer check out our iOS 7 walkthrough video linked below the a7 chip set in the iPad air and iPad Mini is a monster at performance and despite the minor difference in clock speed performance is virtually indistinguishable between these two tablets both open applications in the blink of an eye task switching is snappy pinch zooming within the browser is effortless and blazing fast in our time with both tablets we have yet to truly bog down the a7 chip and performance is stellar on both tablets the only hint of a boost thanks to the 100 megahertz faster clock speed of the iPad air is found when benchmarking the iPad air scores marginally better than the mini in various tests such as the SunSpider JavaScript test where the air typically scores between 370 and 395 milliseconds and the new iPad Mini generally scores just over 400 we'd be surprised if this were enough to sway anyone toward the air it's negligible at best both are great for gaming multimedia playback and even much simpler tasks the speakers inside the iPad air are ever so slightly larger than those found inside the iPad Mini with Retina display as such they provide a little more kick in the form of both more full sound with more emphasis on the low-end and more volume being larger it's also more difficult to fully cover the speakers on accident but let us be very clear here we're not happy with the placement on either tablet the stereo separation is practically non-existent and the sound is only ever coming from one side of the tablet though the audio isn't bad we recommend using headphones when possible both tablets are rated at 10 hours of usage and despite the significant difference in battery size they both seem to withstand a fair amount of abuse before begging to be plugged in the iPad minis battery at 23 point 8 watt hours is much smaller but so is the display the full-size iPad has an edge in this category but only just both provide above-average stamina typically lasting upwards of a full day and even sometimes stretching three or four days on lighter usage camera quality is neck and neck between these two tablets the 5 megapixel shooters aren't the best both would leave you with dull poorly saturated images with low contrast and detail they're both comparable in basically every way except one comfort the I have had mini as far less awkward to hold and shoot Stills and video with but it still looks just as ridiculous at the end of the day there are truly only a few things between these two tablets size weight display quality and price if you're even remotely worried about the display quality shoot for the iPad air though we're certain most will have few if any complaints about the iPad minis Retina display as for price the iPad Mini with Retina display starts at 399 dollars jumping $100 per increase in storage the iPad air is $100 more per model if you want more storage for less money the iPad Mini is the way to go after having used every iPad to date we can leave you with one major takeaway the iPad Mini is an ultra portable tablet something you won't notice in your bag one you won't mind carrying with you often the iPad air is larger slightly heavier and is in our experience at least more suitable for a couch tablet some use at home or for more productivity based tasks there's virtually nothing between these two but at the end of the day for us it's the iPad Mini with Retina display for having the same power similar performance and stamina and a great display all for $100 less than the iPad air that's going to do it for this comparison if you enjoyed the video be sure to click the thumbs up button below and subscribe to the channel to see more videos like this one in the future be sure to leave the comment if you have any questions or suggestions and follow us in all the usual places twitter google+ and facebook at pocket now I'm Taylor Martin you can find me on twitter at casper tech and i will see you next time