(...)The iPad mini can only be described as the perpetual Runt of the litter… Originally spurned, then introduced (in haste) in 2012, it was a mini version of the older 2011 iPad 2 with a 1024x768 resolution display and a reduced 62 percent Color Gamut, when the full size iPads already had a 2048x1536 Retina display with a 100 percent Color Gamut. In 2013 the mini was given a Retina display, but remained with a reduced 62 percent Color Gamut – the only current iPad or iPhone without a full Color Gamut. Now, in 2014 the new iPad mini 3 still only has a 62 percent Color Gamut, plus it was denied the new enhanced anti-reflection coating and bonded cover glass of the iPad Air 2. So in addition to washed out, under saturated and distorted colors (red tomatoes, fire trucks, and Coke cans look a bit orange rather than deep red, for example) it continues with a moderately high screen Reflectance of 6.5 percent, almost triple that of its favored littermate, which further washes out its image colors in ambient light…
The mini size Tablets from other manufacturers like Amazon, Google, and Samsung that we have tested (see below) have excellent and significantly better mini displays. On top of that Apple charges a premium $399 for the mini 3, just $100 less than the much larger and higher performance iPad Air 2, and considerably more than other competing mini Tablets. For a company like Apple that prides itself on producing great products, the iPad mini 3 is embarrassingly mediocre and way overpriced…
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