iPad Mini, what iPad always should have been.

Photo: Niklas Munck

Friday I had the opportunity to briefly use an iPad Mini for the first time and I have to say that I am very impressed. Apple has taken a lot of flack recently, for anything from disappointing specs to releasing the iPad Mini at all, but my guess is that the Mini will go on to be the first choice for most of the new iPad customers.

Here is why:


1. Size. The iPad Mini is perfectly designed to be held with one hand. It feels so natural to hold your iPad this way that I begin to wonder if it shouldn't have been this way all along. Just from a handling perspective it is so much more convenient than the larger iPad.

2. Weight. The Mini feels very light. Maybe not as light as the Kindle e-readers but pretty close. It is easy to bring, and easy to hold onto because of the significantly lower weight.

3. Screen. OK. The Mini clearly does not have a Retina display but my impression was that it is both sharper and brighter than the iPad2. If you expect to be able to read the entire front page of NYT without zooming you might be disappointed. Because of the smaller screen size that might not work out but I wonder how much of a problem that really is because of how easy it is to zoom.


If I were in the market for an iPad today I would clearly go for the Mini even if I didn't have the larger iPad before. It just feels right and it fits perfectly in size between my iPhone and MacBookAir. I might even shell out for a 4G compatible model because of its increased mobility which I really never felt I had to do with the larger one which tend to be anchored to the couch table at home.