Little big pad
Apple iPad mini, £269, apple.com
even by its own standards
,
Apple’s latest gadget – and our pick
as the Christmas must-have – was a rather badly kept secret. It
hit stores last month, but geeks had already been salivating for
some time – and they weren’t disappointed.
With its swish 7.9in (20cm) screen, the iPad mini brings much
of Apple’s design kudos to the party, plus the promise that it can
now be held easily with one hand, though you wouldn’t want to
do that for long too close to a bowl of punch. Children will, of
course, love receiving one of these.
The mini is what may termed a ‘phablet’ (somewhere
between a phone and a tablet), which has been a big trend in
technology this year. Rivals include the swish Google Nexus
7,
which at the time of going to press was due for a revamp,
and a Kindle Fire HD, which offers a stripped-down Android
experience most suited to ardent Amazon fans.
So how does the Apple fare? Pretty well, actually. The specs
may be similar, but the mini has 4G compatibility (the others are
WiFi only) and benefits from Apple’s famed operating system.
It may be a pricier proposition – especially if you opt to max out
its memory or plump for a 4G data connection – but this wee
beast delivers a genuinely credible tablet experience in a teeny,
shiny package and opens the door to a vast library of awesome
apps. Not bad for a device this company famously insisted it
would never make.
WORDS
ALEX PELL
T E C H
T A L K
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