Apple iPad mini 3 Price, Specifications, Reviews, features and Comparisons

2013 saw the introduction of the Retina display to the iPad Mini 2; with the 2014 model keeping the same screen, with a gloriously crisp resolution of 2,048×1,536; which can also be found on the iPad Air 2. It’s worth mentioning that with just a narrowly smaller screen, the iPad Mini 3 actually has a higher pixel density (326ppi vs 264ppi).If I’m honest, it’s actually very hard to tell the two apart. If you stare hard enough you get slightly sharper text on the Mini, but it’s a close-run thing and you won’t really be able to tell the difference in general day-to-day use. Image quality is obviously where it’s most important and the iPad Mini 3 is generally pretty good. Thanks to its IPS panel, viewing angles are almost perfect, easily able to see the screen, even from those extreme viewing angles.

Using our colour calibrator to measure the screen quality showed that the screen’s measured black luminance was a dark 0.45CD/m2 and its contrast ratio was a decent 798:1, while brightness was a respectable 365.62cm/m2. Colour reproduction wasn’t so good, though, with the screen only producing just about 67.1% of the sRGB colour gamut. This final measurement doesn’t exactly tell the whole truth, however, as coverage isn’t really the only important thing: it obviously depends on which part of the colour spectrum is causing the problem, as to how noticeable it is in general. With that in mind then, in day-to-day use the Mini produces rich and vibrant colours and is Perfect for browsing the web thanks to its clean and bright whites. That being said, it’s not really the best tablet screen that you can buy, and for detailed photos, the high-quality iPad Air 2 and the more recent iPad Mini 4has a significantly better display.

As was the case with the iPad Mini 2, the Mini 3 has a respectably sized 6,471mAh battery. In our video playback battery test set to 170cd/m2 screen brightness, the tablet lasted for just over 11 hours on a single charge. That’s still pretty impressive and means that you’ve got a typical day’s worth of heavy use and around a week’s worth of light use in-between charges. While we have seen small tablets from other manufacturers last that few hours longer, it’s fair to say that the iPad Mini 3’s battery still lasts long enough, and isn’t really anything to be laughed at.You still charge the tablet via the Lightning port located on the bottom of the tablet. Apple does provide a 2.4A USB charger in the box, which you’ll want to use; as the 1A charger you get with the iPhone and pretty much any other devices will definitely take a very long time to charge this tablet.

Although the iPad Air 2 got a new camera, upgrading sensor resolution and to a larger aperture lens, the iPad Mini 3 sadly didn’t, sticking with the same 5-megapixel sensor and f/2.4 aperture lens as is also found on its predecessor. This is starting to show its age now, with some decidedly low-resolution shots.Quality isn’t too bad in bright light, with the camera producing well-exposed and detailed shots, although slightly lacking in detail if you zoom in, as you can see from the sample shots below (click to view the full-res images).In low light, you start getting a lot more noise, while the lack of detail is still an issue. You can see this in the shot below (click to view the full-res photo).With no new chip or sensor, you don’t really get any of the modes that the iPad Air 2 got, such as the fantastic burst mode.

Video also lacks the larger tablet’s 120fps Slo-Mo mode, so you can shoot at 30fps 1080p only. It’s good to see that the Timelapse mode is available here though, as you can capture some cool documentary-style footage with ease. Image quality is good enough outside, although the comparatively small sensor starts to struggle with noise in low-light. Overall, the camera’s decent enough for the odd snap and for shooting video outside, but it’s outclassed by the higher quality model in the iPad Air 2.On the front is the same 1.2 megapixel FaceTime HD camera, which can shoot video at 720p. Quality is a way behind that produced by the newer camera in the iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2, but footage is still sharp and clear enough to have a decent video chat.