iPad Mini (2021) Review - It's not about size, it's how you use it!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys i'm tom the techchap and apple have just launched these two we've got the new ipad and also its little brother the new ipad mini and it's made what was probably my least favorite ipad or at least the hardest to recommend into what i think will be the most popular ipad ever and it fits in your pocket well just you might get a few looks walking down the street like this in fact here's a list of everything that's new from the refresh design and bigger screen to our faster a15 chip with an extra gig of ram so all in it's roughly twice as fast we get this new ultra wide selfie camera with center stage just like the ipad pro's as well as support for the 2nd gen apple pencil it's usb-c now rather than lightning we get optional 5g better speakers and of course there's these four very snazzy new colors including this purple one which i have here the purple apple if you will purple is a fruit so a pretty major upgrade although there are a couple of compromises with this new version for instance we've lost that three and a half mil headphone jack which is a bit disappointing uh and also the screen while lovely is still a 60 hertz ips there's no oled amoled mini led or high refresh promotion in sight don't get me wrong this rest in the screen still looks great and viewing angles are noticeably improved but you're not getting those inky blacks that you'd see on a recent oled iphone or android tablet and 60 hertz does well in 2021 feel a bit slow especially considering the fact that this is packing the a15 chip which is the same one used in the new iphone 13s it is kind of surprising that they didn't mention the a15 at the apple event because that makes this the most powerful ipad outside of the pro models with the m1 chip and is actually slightly faster than the ipad air which historically would have been a sort of higher end tablet in fact side by side with the outgoing mini with its a12 bionic chip and three gigs of ram we're looking at an average 80 boost in performance across the board so this thing is nearly twice as fast but while that 60 hertz screen means that swiping between home screens and general stuff doesn't necessarily feel that much smoother when it comes to launching games video editing more demanding tasks are significantly faster with this but without a doubt the most obvious change here is this new updated design with its flat edges thinner bezels bigger camera module and usb c port which brings the mini in line with the other ipad air and pros so now only the basic ipad still retains that older design although i will be reviewing that in a separate video so make sure you have subscribed so because we no longer have space for a home button with touch id they've moved it up here into the power button at the top of the ipad and they've also moved the volume buttons which apple say makes it easier to reach when using in landscape mode like this although to be fair it's small enough that it never really felt out of reach but i do find myself running my finger all the way around to find where they are as aside from the camera bump on the back it's kind of hard to tell which way is up with this thing so not only have apple squeezed in a bigger 8.3 inch screen up from 7.9 while maintaining a similar overall size but actually the aspect ratio is a little bit taller it's less square so when you're watching videos on movies that ugly black letter boxing is actually a little bit smaller which is a nice bonus i've got to be honest i really do love the size of this thing for anyone from you know kids students professionals in the office or at a shop or maybe using it as a properly good e-reader with the kindle app anyone who wants a good portable tablet that can be held and actually even used one-handed this is perfect but at the same time it does raise the age-old argument of aren't ipads just big iphones and so if you do have one of the pro max iphones from the last couple of years you'd probably be better off with an air or pro and the bigger screens although having said that this ipad mini is still bigger and it's also about half the price but it is kind of funny when you put this next to its biggest brother the ipad pro 12.9 that is definitely a different ipad experience and also the pro with its mini led 120 hertz screen which i wish the mini had we also get the m1 chip which itself is actually between 50 and 100 faster than the a15 in the mini but whichever ipad phone tablet or pc you're using you're pretty much guaranteed there's a surf shark vpn app for it and who are very kindly sponsoring today's video the best bit is you can use just one account on an unlimited number of devices and it's just so easy to use and i do recommend using a vpn especially one like surf shock with their clean web feature as it lets you browse the web more safely with fewer ads less tracking and you're better protected against dodgy malware so whether you're online banking or you just simply want to watch the us or uk versions of netflix there's a bunch of reasons you might want to use surfshark and if you use the code techchap at the checkout or you just click the link below you can get 83 off and three months extra for free and since there's a 30-day money-back guarantee if you're not super duper satisfied then well you can get your money back so why not give surf shark vpn a try i've got to say it is still quite frustrating for me that apple yet again on the iphone 13s are still sticking with the lightning port because as one of the features of the new ipad mini we've had this transition to usbc coming from lightning on the older one and actually now every apple product bar the cheapest ipad and the iphones now use usbc which is about a million times more convenient for plugging in hard drives maybe sd cards via adapters and of course charging any usbc laptop or android phone charger will uh top this up although we do get a reasonably fast for apple 20 watt charger in the box with this thing now despite its petite size battery life is actually very good on the mini and after three hours of gaming youtube and using social media apps i still had 71 of my battery left of course it all depends on how you use it but i've only charged this once in the past week now the mini also supports the second generation apple pencil which isn't actually any more responsive or sort of lower latency than the first gen but it's a bit more comfortable because we've got this sort of hard edge to it so it doesn't fall off your table although it does if you throw it on the floor like that but crucially it has this magnetic attachment where it also wirelessly charges so it is just like usb-c about a million times more convenient than the first gen apple pencil so that is a really good upgrade although of course it does cost you an extra 120 pounds or 130 or so although while this is great for note-taking e-signing or bits of doodling the bigger screen on the air or the pros is still probably a better idea if you are gonna really invest in the apple pencil also while the mini is too small to have the option for a smart keyboard case from apple although separate bluetooth keyboards will work the apple pencil 2 along with one of the smart folio cases which protects it and also acts as a stand it just feels like a really well put together setup and if you want the ultimate portable experience you can pay another 140 credit if you want to for the cellular option which now supports 5g although most of the time i just hotspot for my phone or use public wi-fi if i'm out and about but it is good to have the option now just a quick word on these cameras because while you still may be judged a little bit for using your tablet's camera out in public the smaller size does make it less obvious and to be fair with the quality of the cameras on these ipads with this 12 megapixel f 1.8 wide lens and also apple's smart hdr 3 tech for photos although of course there's no ultra wide telephoto or lidar but really it's this front camera you'll be using most and we get the same 12 megapixel ultrawide that you get on the flagship ipad pro well minus the true depth face unlocking you only have the touch id option with this but we do get center stage which adjusts to keep you in frame and then pulls out if it detects other people it is very clever and actually it works with all major video calling apps and for me as someone who does a ton of web calls this is a really big reason to upgrade i love this thing it's not very often when i say i love a tech product but i genuinely do i don't think anyone needs an ipad but if you want a really good portable travel companion tablet then this is the one to go for it kind of reminds me of how good the google nexus 7 was back in the day a good all-round handheld tablet this feels like the new one of those but obviously from apple and running ipad os i do just wish apple didn't do their usual upsell technique on storage as the base model of the mini gets 64 gigs which is okay but really 128 would be what you want but apple being apple that's not an option you have to pay 140 more to get 256 gigs which is probably more than you need it's the exact same situation with the ipad air as well and it is a bit frustrating so for the new 6th gen ipad mini it's an easy recommendation from me but stay tuned for my base ipad review and also i'm working on a big buying guide with all them to figure out which ipad is best but what do you reckon would you be tempted to buy this or do you think it's just a bit too small let me know what you think of the mini in the comments below and if you did enjoy this video then a cheeky like and subscribe would be lovely thank you so much for watching guys and i'll see you next time right here on the tech chat oh and don't forget to check out surfsharkvpn and use that code techchap to get 83 off and three months extra for free do it now or you know whenever it's convenient for youhey guys i'm tom the techchap and apple have just launched these two we've got the new ipad and also its little brother the new ipad mini and it's made what was probably my least favorite ipad or at least the hardest to recommend into what i think will be the most popular ipad ever and it fits in your pocket well just you might get a few looks walking down the street like this in fact here's a list of everything that's new from the refresh design and bigger screen to our faster a15 chip with an extra gig of ram so all in it's roughly twice as fast we get this new ultra wide selfie camera with center stage just like the ipad pro's as well as support for the 2nd gen apple pencil it's usb-c now rather than lightning we get optional 5g better speakers and of course there's these four very snazzy new colors including this purple one which i have here the purple apple if you will purple is a fruit so a pretty major upgrade although there are a couple of compromises with this new version for instance we've lost that three and a half mil headphone jack which is a bit disappointing uh and also the screen while lovely is still a 60 hertz ips there's no oled amoled mini led or high refresh promotion in sight don't get me wrong this rest in the screen still looks great and viewing angles are noticeably improved but you're not getting those inky blacks that you'd see on a recent oled iphone or android tablet and 60 hertz does well in 2021 feel a bit slow especially considering the fact that this is packing the a15 chip which is the same one used in the new iphone 13s it is kind of surprising that they didn't mention the a15 at the apple event because that makes this the most powerful ipad outside of the pro models with the m1 chip and is actually slightly faster than the ipad air which historically would have been a sort of higher end tablet in fact side by side with the outgoing mini with its a12 bionic chip and three gigs of ram we're looking at an average 80 boost in performance across the board so this thing is nearly twice as fast but while that 60 hertz screen means that swiping between home screens and general stuff doesn't necessarily feel that much smoother when it comes to launching games video editing more demanding tasks are significantly faster with this but without a doubt the most obvious change here is this new updated design with its flat edges thinner bezels bigger camera module and usb c port which brings the mini in line with the other ipad air and pros so now only the basic ipad still retains that older design although i will be reviewing that in a separate video so make sure you have subscribed so because we no longer have space for a home button with touch id they've moved it up here into the power button at the top of the ipad and they've also moved the volume buttons which apple say makes it easier to reach when using in landscape mode like this although to be fair it's small enough that it never really felt out of reach but i do find myself running my finger all the way around to find where they are as aside from the camera bump on the back it's kind of hard to tell which way is up with this thing so not only have apple squeezed in a bigger 8.3 inch screen up from 7.9 while maintaining a similar overall size but actually the aspect ratio is a little bit taller it's less square so when you're watching videos on movies that ugly black letter boxing is actually a little bit smaller which is a nice bonus i've got to be honest i really do love the size of this thing for anyone from you know kids students professionals in the office or at a shop or maybe using it as a properly good e-reader with the kindle app anyone who wants a good portable tablet that can be held and actually even used one-handed this is perfect but at the same time it does raise the age-old argument of aren't ipads just big iphones and so if you do have one of the pro max iphones from the last couple of years you'd probably be better off with an air or pro and the bigger screens although having said that this ipad mini is still bigger and it's also about half the price but it is kind of funny when you put this next to its biggest brother the ipad pro 12.9 that is definitely a different ipad experience and also the pro with its mini led 120 hertz screen which i wish the mini had we also get the m1 chip which itself is actually between 50 and 100 faster than the a15 in the mini but whichever ipad phone tablet or pc you're using you're pretty much guaranteed there's a surf shark vpn app for it and who are very kindly sponsoring today's video the best bit is you can use just one account on an unlimited number of devices and it's just so easy to use and i do recommend using a vpn especially one like surf shock with their clean web feature as it lets you browse the web more safely with fewer ads less tracking and you're better protected against dodgy malware so whether you're online banking or you just simply want to watch the us or uk versions of netflix there's a bunch of reasons you might want to use surfshark and if you use the code techchap at the checkout or you just click the link below you can get 83 off and three months extra for free and since there's a 30-day money-back guarantee if you're not super duper satisfied then well you can get your money back so why not give surf shark vpn a try i've got to say it is still quite frustrating for me that apple yet again on the iphone 13s are still sticking with the lightning port because as one of the features of the new ipad mini we've had this transition to usbc coming from lightning on the older one and actually now every apple product bar the cheapest ipad and the iphones now use usbc which is about a million times more convenient for plugging in hard drives maybe sd cards via adapters and of course charging any usbc laptop or android phone charger will uh top this up although we do get a reasonably fast for apple 20 watt charger in the box with this thing now despite its petite size battery life is actually very good on the mini and after three hours of gaming youtube and using social media apps i still had 71 of my battery left of course it all depends on how you use it but i've only charged this once in the past week now the mini also supports the second generation apple pencil which isn't actually any more responsive or sort of lower latency than the first gen but it's a bit more comfortable because we've got this sort of hard edge to it so it doesn't fall off your table although it does if you throw it on the floor like that but crucially it has this magnetic attachment where it also wirelessly charges so it is just like usb-c about a million times more convenient than the first gen apple pencil so that is a really good upgrade although of course it does cost you an extra 120 pounds or 130 or so although while this is great for note-taking e-signing or bits of doodling the bigger screen on the air or the pros is still probably a better idea if you are gonna really invest in the apple pencil also while the mini is too small to have the option for a smart keyboard case from apple although separate bluetooth keyboards will work the apple pencil 2 along with one of the smart folio cases which protects it and also acts as a stand it just feels like a really well put together setup and if you want the ultimate portable experience you can pay another 140 credit if you want to for the cellular option which now supports 5g although most of the time i just hotspot for my phone or use public wi-fi if i'm out and about but it is good to have the option now just a quick word on these cameras because while you still may be judged a little bit for using your tablet's camera out in public the smaller size does make it less obvious and to be fair with the quality of the cameras on these ipads with this 12 megapixel f 1.8 wide lens and also apple's smart hdr 3 tech for photos although of course there's no ultra wide telephoto or lidar but really it's this front camera you'll be using most and we get the same 12 megapixel ultrawide that you get on the flagship ipad pro well minus the true depth face unlocking you only have the touch id option with this but we do get center stage which adjusts to keep you in frame and then pulls out if it detects other people it is very clever and actually it works with all major video calling apps and for me as someone who does a ton of web calls this is a really big reason to upgrade i love this thing it's not very often when i say i love a tech product but i genuinely do i don't think anyone needs an ipad but if you want a really good portable travel companion tablet then this is the one to go for it kind of reminds me of how good the google nexus 7 was back in the day a good all-round handheld tablet this feels like the new one of those but obviously from apple and running ipad os i do just wish apple didn't do their usual upsell technique on storage as the base model of the mini gets 64 gigs which is okay but really 128 would be what you want but apple being apple that's not an option you have to pay 140 more to get 256 gigs which is probably more than you need it's the exact same situation with the ipad air as well and it is a bit frustrating so for the new 6th gen ipad mini it's an easy recommendation from me but stay tuned for my base ipad review and also i'm working on a big buying guide with all them to figure out which ipad is best but what do you reckon would you be tempted to buy this or do you think it's just a bit too small let me know what you think of the mini in the comments below and if you did enjoy this video then a cheeky like and subscribe would be lovely thank you so much for watching guys and i'll see you next time right here on the tech chat oh and don't forget to check out surfsharkvpn and use that code techchap to get 83 off and three months extra for free do it now or you know whenever it's convenient for you\n"