![]() ![]() That's good news for anyone who wants to do more than stream videos and music, browse websites and play Apple Arcade games. No matter what iPad you buy, there are ways of connecting keyboard cases, Bluetooth and otherwise, although your options will vary. Apple is supporting external monitors as an extended desktop for iPads with an M1 chip or better via a software update to iPadOS 16 that's coming later this year, but the feature, called Stage Manager, remains buggy and feels experimental. Let's just say there's a dongle involved, which is rarely a good thing. Whichever model or screen size you go with, all the current iPads support the latest version of iPadOS (a version of iOS specifically for iPads) and either the first- or second-gen Apple Pencil - though the most recently released 10th-gen model's Pencil support is less than elegant. It's a great pick if it's ever on sale, but expensive otherwise. The 10th-gen model has a better-placed front-facing camera for video chats, a larger screen, a faster processor and USB-C charging, but needs its own cases and a weird dongle for charging the first-gen Pencil. The 10th-gen iPad, released last fall, is more expensive than the ninth-gen iPad, which remains on sale. The last wave of iPads added more choice, but no clear stand-out best product. It's just that the best features are now spread out across devices, and none truly elevate the iPad into a Mac-level territory. The good news is, all of the current iPads are good. In the meantime, here's some specific shopping tips we can offer. We don't know when a new iPad will emerge this year, and there's a possibility that there won't be one for a while. This is the state of iPads in 2023: Lots of choices but no clear-cut, absolute winner. That’s clearly what Apple wants you to do.IPad shoppers, I have frustrating news for you. What about iPad mini 2 owners? Stay put or buy an iPad Air/Air 2 or iPhone Plus. Should you upgrade if you own an iPad mini? Yes, to an iPad mini 2. After all the original 16GB Air is now the same price as the 16GB iPad mini 3, which is essentially an iPad mini 2. Touch ID may be crucial to Apple’s long term strategy and therefore to get into the mini range, but otherwise the limited changes made to the iPad mini 3 feel like Apple pushing existing mini owners towards either the Air range or the iPhone 6 Plus. Whereas the original iPad mini quickly overtook the full size iPad as top seller, now it seems Apple has gotten sick of the cheaper version taking centre stage. What this does suggest, however, is a drastic change of priorities at Apple. There’s no point dancing around this: the iPad mini 3 is a major disappointment.Īpple feels like it has done the bare minimum to improve upon the iPad mini 2 and while a storage bump and Touch ID will tempt some, selling last year’s technology at the same price (at least with the 16GB entry level) is going to frustrate. Read more: iPhone 6 review, iPhone 6 Plus review Given the lack of battery improvements in the iPad Air 2 as well, it seems Apple feels it has hit a sweet spot with the iPad range and - rightly or wrongly - is happy to tread water. ![]() In fact Apple now lists the entire iPad Air and mini ranges as carrying the same battery life: 10 hours of WiFi surfing, 9 hours of cellular surfing. It won't come as any surprise at this point to learn that the iPad mini 3 has the same battery life as the iPad mini 2. Apple will be hoping the image manipulation improvements within iOS 8 paper over the cracks, because the iPad mini 3 is now distinctly behind the game. There is also no burst mode and no slow motion recording, though iOS 8 does bring support for timelapse. ![]() In a somewhat unprecedented move, the iPad mini 3 features exactly the same sensor as the last two generations of iPad mini. Apple couldn't possibly also leave the iPad mini 3 with the same ageing 5 megapixel, f2.4 iSight camera and 720p-only video as the iPad mini 2 and original iPad mini could it? Yes it could. ![]()
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