One of the biggest criticisms lobbed at the iPad Mini in the first round of reviews was the tablet's lack of high-resolution Retina display found in other Apple devices.
Compared to other top-tier smaller tablets like the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD, the iPad Mini's display resolution is much lower.
Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate, an expert on displays, pitted the iPad Mini against the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD. His conclusion? Apple made a mistake not including a better display in the iPad Mini. And yes, the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD have better screens than the iPad Mini.
Here's the killer paragraph from Soneira's assessment:
The iPad mini is certainly a very capable small Tablet, but it does not follow in Apple’s tradition of providing the best display, or at least a great display – it has just a very capable display. What’s more, the displays on existing mini Tablets from Amazon and Google outperform the iPad mini in most of our Lab tests as documented below in the Shoot-Out Comparison Table. Some of this results from constraints within the iPad product line, and some to realistic constraints on display technology and costs, but much of it is due to a number of poor choices and compromises.
After spending a few days with the iPad Mini, we're inclined to agree. We've tested the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD and have used the third-generation iPad with Retina display for several months. Compared to those devices, the iPad Mini feels like a step backward.
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