There comes a time when you decide to buy something and you'll end up picking something out of the two options - and frankly, the iPad Air and the iPad Mini 2 is no exception.
Screen
When you first set your eyes on an iPad, your gaze will surely be drawn to the Retina display that dominates the front of the device. The 7.9-inch Mini and the 9.7-inch Air sports the same resolution of 2048 x 1536. Both screens will look awesome, but they will offer different experiences.
The iPad Mini will embody a whopping 326 pixels-per-inch (PPI), which is incredibly high for a tablet. In comparison, only the 2013 Nexus 7 is in the same ballpark as the Mini when it comes to pixel density. The iPad Air still packs a nice display at 9.7-inches - equivalent to 263 PPI.
Verdict: The iPad Mini 2 provides sharper images - but you can't go wrong with the Air. The Air's display is more saturated and has deeper blacks than the Mini 2.
Applications
There's no competition here. The applications available since the original iPad is compatible with both the iPad Air, and the iPad Mini 2. The stunning Retina display provides you with a curated apps that takes advantage of every pixel possible.
The App Store has more than 500,000 specifically tailored for the iPad.
Verdict: In this category, there's no wrong in choosing one over the other.
Horsepower
On the inside, both the iPad Mini 2 and the iPad Air are running the latest Apple A7 chip, which was just announced recently with the iPhone 5S. This SOC (System-on-a-chip) uses a new custom ARMv8 architecture from Apple that offers the first 64-bit computing experience on a mobile device.
However, there aren't any software that takes advantage of the advance mobile technology, but ARMv8 includes a number of important optimization and tweaks.
Verdict: If you are planning on future-proofing your device specs-wise, you won't go wrong with any of these, there are no competition here either. Both sports the same desktop-class architecture with 0.1GHz difference. (The average layman wouldn't see the difference anyways, so don't bother)
Ease of Use
Both are running the latest iteration of Apple's own software, the iOS 7. This version improved much better than the previous ones. Between this Operating System and Android, iOS wins hands down.
Verdict: Tie. Both runs iOS 7
Customization
There's really no battle here. iOS provides little tweaking and customization over Android.
Verdict: If you really want to go customizing, then you'll gonna want something more worth your money. (i.e Nexus 7 2013)
Price
 |
| iPad Air iPad 2 iPad Mini 2 iPad Mini |
Verdict: The iPad Mini 2 starts off at $399 Wi-Fi only for 16GB, and the iPad Air starts at $499. It's a matter of choosing between screen sizes. Both have the same specifications. Portability aside, the iPad Air is worth the buy.
Bottom Line
In conclusion, if you are willing to wait for the iPad Air 2, then it's going to be worth it. However if you're going to get out there now and pick between the two, you should consider the portability aspect. Do you want to have it anywhere and not bog you down? Choose the iPad Mini 2. Do you want to have a larger screen real estate for gaming and movie-watching? The iPad Air is a better buy. Nonetheless, the Nexus 7 2013 edition could even work out for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment