Apple’s iPad set the standard for 10in tablets, so how does its pint-sized
mini fare against the best of the smaller-screen tablets?
Google's taken a hit on the pricing of its Nexus 7, hoping to encourage
take-up of the Android platform and content sales. We never expected
Apple to match that price with its iPad mini, which costs £110 more than
the Nexus 7 at the same 16GB capacity.
The Nexus 7 is the smaller tablet at 120x199mm versus 135x200mm, but
the mini is both thinner and lighter: the Nexus 7 is 10.5mm and 340g; the iPad
mini measures 7.2mm and weighs in at 308g.
Given this slightly larger chassis, it's no surprise to fi nd a larger 7.9in screen
on the mini. Its 1024x768 resolution and 4:3 aspect ratio matches that of the
iPad 2, whereas the 7in Google panel offers a higher resolution of 1280x800
pixels. This results in a 216ppi pixel pitch for Google's tablet; 163ppi for the mini.
In our testing the Nexus 7 was also the faster of the two tablets, with its
quad-core nVidia Tegra 3 chip able to offer more oomph than the iPad mini's
1GHz Apple A5 dual-core processor.
Neither tablet accepts removable memory cards to boost the internal
storage capacity, although the iPad mini offers a 64GB option where the
Nexus 7 maxes out at 32GB.
Google's Nexus 7 has a front-facing 1.2Mp camera; the iPad mini matches
this and gets one up with a 5Mp rear-facing iSight camera.
The iPad mini is charged through Apple's new Lightning connector, introduced
with the iPhone 5, while the Nexus 7 takes universal Micro USB. Both have Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth connectivity onboard, although Apple’s tablet is dual-band and the
fi rm is touting faster speeds via channel bonding. The Nexus 7, meanwhile, adds
NFC to the spec sheet. Mobile 3G connectivity is an option for both tablets, and
the mini also supports 4G LTE in the UK.
The major difference between these two tablets is the software they run –
that's Android 4.2 Jelly Bean for the Nexus 7, and iOS 6.0 for the mini. You can
read our reviews of each on pages 10 and 12 respectively.
With similar battery packs inside, expect both tablets to last around 10 hours
when surfi ng the web.
Source.Tablet World UK.Edition.3.2013
