Apple just unveiled the anticipated iPad mini that aims to target the budget 7-inch tablet eco-system where Nexus 7 currently holds the crown. Now that we know everything about the newly released gadget, the question arises if the iPad Mini really stands out to the Google’s Nexus 7 ?. To make it easy for you to understand, we have compared every major aspects of the tablets below right after the jump!.
Display – Size :-
Probably the most important aspect of a tablet is its display upon which the users mainly relies on to make the buying decision.
The newly released iPad Mini contains a 7.9-inch IPS display running at a 1024 by 768 pixel resolution (4:3 aspect ratio – 162 ppi) as opposed to Nexus 7′s 7-inch display running at a 1280 by 800 resolution (16:10 aspect ratio – 216 ppi).
Verdict :- Nexus 7 manages to deliver bright and crisp quality display (thanks to its HD screen with latest standard of aspect ratio) whereas the iPad mini fails to impress by its non-retina display and providing almost the ancient iPad 2′s resolution display. However when it comes to size, iPad mini does have a little more room for its screen (35% more than Nexus 7) but it kinda defeats the purpose of having a small tablet that easily fits in your pocket. (See how easily Nexus 7 fits in your pockets)
Hardware :-
The second most important factor of a tablet is its specs, so let’s dive in.
Processor/Ram/GPU
iPad mini uses the Apple A5 (SoC) which is the same CPU / GPU combination that was used by the Apple iPad 2 and the Apple iPhone 4S. This translates into a 1 GHz dual-core Cortex A9 CPU and a PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU. Also it’s said to have 512 MB of RAM.
Whereas the Google Nexus 7 uses a slightly underclocked version of the Nvidia Tegra 3 SoC: a 1.3 GHz quad-core Cortex A9 CPU, and an Nvidia ULP (Ultra Low Power) GPU. Also it has 1 GB of RAM.
It’s no surprise that Nvidia Tegra 3 is faster than A5 CPU, whereas both iPad mini’s and Nexus 7′s GPU power is the same. However iPad Mini’s graphical performance should be minutely better than that of Nexus 7 since iPad mini has to power up less pixels (33% less pixels to be accurate).
Verdict : Consiering that Nexus 7 will provide more details than iPad Mini’s few extra Frame per seconds, Nexus 7 is a clear winner thanks to its HD resolution screen. Also, thanks to Tegra Zone you’ll get optimized gaming experience.
Storage :-
Google Nexus 7 comes in 8GB and 16GB variants, while the Apple iPad mini comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants. Neither of these two tablets feature a microSD card reader, meaning you can only turn to cloud storage for expanding the internal storage.
Camera :-
the Google Nexus 7 uses a 1.2 MP front-facing camera for video-calls which is the same resolution used by the sensor on the Apple iPad mini’s front facing camera. Also, the iPAd Mini includes a 5-MP rear camera as well but considering that tablet devices aren’t used much for taking pictures, it’s isn’t that big of a deal.
NFC :-
Nexus 7 has NFC while Apple’s iPad mini does not use an NFC chip. However, considering that this tech is still new and has very limited use, it really doesn’t matter if iPad mini has it or not.
Battery Life :-
Nexus 7 has a 4325 mAh battery, while the Apple iPad mini uses a battery of currently undisclosed capacity. However, we should expect the two tablets to have similar battery life spans: roughly around 10 hours.
iOS 6 Vs Android 4.1
Maps : Apple’s Map are useless at this time whereas Google Maps are light years ahead of them.
Siri Vs Google Now : Google Now yields more adaptive results as it gets to know your surroundings whereas Siri has lot of personality.
Apps : All iOS apps are optimized for tablets (sold-separately) whereas many apps for Android tablets aren’t optimized.
Flexibility : iOS sucks when it comes to performing simple operations, Jailbreak is seriously required if one doesn’t want to live in Apple’s useless restrictions whereas Android truly delivers a peace of mind (thanks to it being open-sourced).
Pricing :-
Finally the last most important things to consider before buying a budget-oriented tablet is price.
The cheapest iPad mini (16 GB) costs $329 whereas the cheapest Nexus 7 (8GB) costs just $199. In the same range as with iPad mini, Nexus 7 (16 GB) costs $249.
Final Verdict :-
While the iPad Mini doesn’t stands upto Google’s Nexus 7 in so many ways, the Cupertino giant hasn’t done a decent job when it comes to pricing as the cheapest iPad Mini (which looks like a trimmed iPad 2) costs $130 more than Nexus 7 .
Even though the cheapest variant of iPad mini has 16 GB of storage as opposed to Nexus 7′s 8GB (16 GB costs $249), more space in a tablet doesn’t matter much as these budget-oriented tab devices aren’t used much for storage purposes. Instead they are generally used for surfing and even if users use them for multimedia purposes, the 16 GB variant of Nexus 7 still costs $80 less than iPad mini.
With Nexus 7, Google followed the business model first introduced to the tablet market by the Amazon Kindle Fire: sell tablet devices at no profit to increase your customer base, then make money by selling content (and ads). On the other hand Apple just wants you to pay a premium price just so you can buy a device with an Apple logo. While this seems to work very well with high-end devices, it defeats the purpose of an inexpensive/budget-oriented tablet device.
Considering all of the facts above, Nexus 7 stands out the clear winner as it’s cheap, more portable (fits in your pockets), flexible, better display than non-retina iPad-Mini and powerful.
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