5/23/2023: Apple’s best iPad is its least-loved
In praise of the iPad Mini
Plus: Verizon’s shake-up, a better touchscreen keyboard, and cheap music streaming
Hey there! I’m Jared Newman, a veteran tech journalist, and this is Advisorator, my weekly tech advice newsletter. If someone shared this newsletter with you, consider signing up to get it every Tuesday.
When you’re considering which iPad to buy, the iPad Mini is easy to overlook.
Apple’s own iPad product page lists it dead-last, and its small screen doesn’t fit with the idea of iPads as laptop replacements. At one point, Apple even had a three-and-a-half-year gap between new iPad Mini models, giving the impression of a neglected product.
But having recently purchased an iPad Mini for the first time in nearly a decade, I’m back to thinking that it’s Apple’s best tablet. While it’s less capable than its larger siblings—as evidenced in my iPad Decision Flowchart from last fall—it’s also the purest expression of what an iPad ought to be.
Not a laptop
One reason I strayed from the iPad Mini in the first place was my interest in using a tablet in place of a laptop, at least some of the time. The iPad’s combination of light weight, long battery life, and fun apps made the idea seem intriguing, and over the years Apple has tried to accommodate laptop-like uses with trackpad support and more multitasking modes.
But despite my best efforts, I just couldn’t get the iPad-as-laptop habit to stick. The iPad’s software and app support is just too limited for me, and trying to accomplish the same work I’d otherwise do on a Windows PC or Mac always led to frustration.
The iPad Mini is very much not trying to be a laptop replacement. It lacks the keyboard accessories that Apple offers for its larger iPads, and it doesn’t support the (much-maligned) Stage Manager multitasking feature in iPad OS 16.
The iPad was compelling in the first place because it was basically a giant phone, giving you a bigger surface for the apps you already enjoy using. Without the temptation to use the iPad Mini like a laptop, I can appreciate what it truly does best.
Just big enough
The other reason I avoided the iPad Mini over the years was the increasing size of smartphones.
My iPhone 13 Pro Max, for instance, has about 60% of the iPad Mini’s screen real estate, and it has the advantage of always being in my pocket. I’ve done plenty of reading, browsing, gaming, and watching on my iPhone without pining for something marginally bigger.
And yet, for all those things, the iPad Mini is admittedly just nicer. Books are easier to read, videos are easier to see, and web browsing gives you a proper tab row instead of a separate tab screen. The iPad Mini also multitasks better than an iPhone, with a swipe-up app dock and split-screen support. I’ve been using the latter a lot, not for work, but to watch baseball while scrolling through Mastodon.
At the same time, the iPad Mini feels less cumbersome than a full-sized iPad. I can reach the entire screen with just my thumbs, and find myself carrying it around the house more often because of how light it is. Weird as this may sound, you can curl up with an iPad Mini like a book, whereas a regular iPad forces some extra distance.
The perfect notepad
None of this explains the real reason I reconsidered the iPad Mini in the first place: I wanted to use it like a notebook.
With my old iPad Pro, the main thing I used it for was taking notes during interviews, using the Notability app and an Apple Pencil to write things down while capturing audio. My return to CES this year was a reminder of how tiresome this could be, as I had to awkwardly cradle the tablet in my forearm while perusing the show floor.
The iPad Mini is more akin to the slim reporter’s notebooks I used to rely on, and being able to magnetically snap an Apple Pencil 2 to the side is pretty convenient. In addition to taking interview notes, I now find myself using the Pencil for other things, like writing down my thoughts before bed as a way to unwind.
Some caveats
Like any other tech product, the iPad Mini has trade-offs. Most notably, all of its on-screen elements are iPhone-size, whereas regular iPads make everything larger. While you can use accessibility settings increase text size, some apps will ignore this setting, so you might struggle with an iPad Mini if your vision isn’t great.
Having launched in the fall of 2021, the sixth-gen iPad Mini is also showing its age in some ways. The 60 Hz screen doesn’t scroll as smoothly as Pro-level iPads, and the lack of an M-series processor renders it incompatible with the new iPad version of Final Cut Pro. The rumor mill seems uncertain about when a 7th-gen model might happen or what upgrades it might offer.
What I’d really love to see from Apple would be a foldable iPhone that unfurled to iPad Mini proportions and worked with the Apple Pencil, but that’s a whole other story. For now, I’m happy to tote the iPad Mini around with me as well.
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Until next week,
Jared