Apple iPad Mini is a One-Handed Wonder

As much as I love my new iPad — and it is the device I gravitate towards during non-work hours — there’s always been one nagging problem. Whether reading iBooks at a cafe or watching videos on the couch, you just can’t hold the 10-inch tablet in one hand.
Well, you can, but you’re going to notice the weight of it. Keep holding it that way, and you’ll either develop a pretty muscular forearm or a serious case of RSI. But you probably won’t ever be comfortable.
That’s the main reason why the iPad Mini, launched Tuesday in San Jose, is a big deal. Hold it in one hand, as I did, and your forearm relaxes. It may not simply be a large smartphone, but it certainly feels as light as one. It’s 53% lighter than its new cousin, the 4th generation iPad.

And the trade-off is a smaller screen than the regular iPad, right? True, but Apple really has done everything in its power to increase the screen size. The screen extends so far width-ways that there’s very little daylight between it and the edge of the device.

That may potentially result in a few accidental thumb-to-touchscreen moments. It didn’t in my case. Apple’s expectation is that you’ll hold the iPad Mini around the back or by its “chin” — the name for the strip of black with the home button at the bottom of the device. This does in fact feel quite natural
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Small Can be Beautiful

So the screen has roughly a third more real-estate than comparable 7-inch tablets. Is it enough?
Not for me, personally. I’ll stick with the larger 10-inch iPad size, even at the cost of two-handed discomfort. As I’ve often said, there’s just something magical in that screen size, where it fills just enough of your field of vision to take it over entirely.
But I knew that going in.

After spending some time with the iPad mini, I was impressed with just how much of your field of vision the 7.9-inch tablet can fill. For those looking for a lighter, cheaper tablet, this will be the right device.
My first impression of the screen, visually speaking, was that I was holding an iPad 2 — just holding it a little further away than usual.
It turns out that’s an apt comparison. The iPad mini has exactly the same number of pixels as the iPad 2. That means it isn’t technically a retina display — but when you squeeze that many pixels into a smaller space, it comes damn close.
You have to wonder if Apple could have gone the extra mile and made the iPad mini a full-on Retina device. It wouldn’t have taken that many more pixels to push it over the edge. But that’s a common behavior for this company — leave the next level just out of reach, ready for the upgrade (likely next year, around the same time as the fifth-generation iPad).

In all other respects, the iPad mini beats the iPad 2 hands down. Browsing, loading apps, playing games, all seemed significantly faster with the Mini’s chip and “twice as fast” (according to the Apple boast) Wifi. And those apps and sites don’t suffer from being on a small width screen, as they do on an Android tablet; they’re simply scaled down.

About That Price

Is it worth $329 for the basic 16GB model? That’s going to depend entirely on your budget. It’s certainly not a price tag to wow the average consumer, considering its Android competitors are heading in the $100 to $200 range.
But it does give you an entree into the iPad world. If you’re going to be spending a lot of time with your tablet, then to my mind, it’s worth paying a $129 premium for significantly more real estate. You will feel the difference on just about every website.
If you chose the iPad mini over the regular iPad and get the iPad mini’s special smart cover, you’ll have something over regular iPad owners. The smaller smart cover is a thing of beauty, with no annoying hinges or metal strap that twists the wrong way as it does in the regular model. The magnets are built straight into the cover.
And of course, you’ll be able to tote your iPad mini around in one hand, with nary a twinge in your forearm.
Will you be opting for the iPad mini when it arrives later this month? Let us know in the comments.
More from Apple’s iPad Mini event:

• Apple Unveils iPad Mini
• Apple Surprises With Fourth-Gen iPad
• Apple Unveils New, Ultra-Thin iMac
• Apple Reveals iBooks 3 With Continuous Scrolling
• Apple Unveils 13″ Retina MacBook Pro, Starts at $1699
• Live From Apple’s iPad Mini Event
• The iPad Mini Is the Most Interesting Apple Launch in Years
• There Are Now 200 Million Devices Running iOS 6

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