At Apple's fall new product launch on September 10, the iPad mini4 made light of it. After the launch, we knew little about its parameter configuration, but after we got the machine, we Love to play computer games It is found that the upgrade range is very large. Compared with the previous generation iPad mini 3, the screen SoC、 Memory and other aspects have been greatly improved, which can be said to be reborn.

This upgrade of Apple's iPad mini 4 configuration is a good conscience. At the same time, it has improved the processor, memory, screen, and camera. At the same time, it has also increased the thickness of the body to 6.1mm. The only problem is that the battery capacity has been reduced from 5124mAh.

In terms of specifications, the iPad mini 4 uses an overclocked A8 processor, The main frequency of the CPU is 1.51GHz, the GPU model is Power VR GX6450, the memory of 2G LPDDR3, and the 7.9-inch full-size IPS LCD screen is used. However, according to the test results of our iPlay computer, its display effect is significantly better than that of the iPad mini 3 (see below for details). In addition, the pixels of the rear camera have also been increased to 8 million. Unfortunately, there is no phase focusing technology on the iPhone 6.

Appearance comparison

Left: iPad mini 3 Right: iPad mini 4

Upper: iPad mini 4 lower: iPad mini 3

There is little difference in appearance between the two. The forehead and chin of the iPad mini 4 are slightly longer than those of the iPad mini 3, and the design of the back is almost the same. The voice outlet and lighting interface are still at the bottom, but the design of the voice outlet has been changed. The diameter of the openings is larger, the number is reduced, and near the camera, The mute key on the iPad mini 4 is cancelled, and a noise reduction microphone air outlet is added above the volume key.

Up: iPad mini 3 down: iPad mini 4

This time, the iPad mini 4 is lighter and thinner. In design, it is not so much a continuation of the design style of the mini 3 as a smaller version of the iPad Air 2. The 6.1mm thick iPad mini 4 makes it more comfortable to hold in one hand.

System UI

IOS 9 on iPad mini 4

Left: iPad mini 3 that does not support multi task split screen Right: iPad mini 4 that supports multi task split screen

Suspended video on iOS 9

In terms of system, the iPad mini 4 comes with iOS 9 from the factory, while the iPad mini 3 is upgraded to iOS 9 through OTA. Under the same iOS 9 system, it can be said that the system experience of the two computers is very similar, but the split screen multi task function has been added to iOS 9, which can only be perfectly realized on the iPad with 2GB RAM, and requires the adaptation of the App, The iPad mini 3 with only 1GB RAM cannot support true split screen, but the iPad mini 3 can achieve a false split screen mode on iOS 9 (it is not impossible to use~), that is, after split screen, the iPad mini 3 cannot operate on both sides of the App at the same time without switching tasks. If you want to operate on either side of the task, The task on the other side will be in the background state, that is, only one task can be operated, but two tasks can be displayed. The true split screen on the iPad mini 4 can realize the split screen operation of two tasks at the same time on the Galaxy Note series.

At the same time, the new support for picture in picture, that is, suspended video, also needs the cooperation of third-party apps. At present, Tencent Video HD can support this function. If you want to know more about the changes on iOS 9, you can go to see our computer enthusiasts What are the changes in the official release of iOS 9 。

Screen contrast

The iPad mini 4 has reached 99% of the sRGB color gamut, while the iPad mini 3 has only 71% of the sRGB color gamut

In terms of screen, the iPad mini 4 has greatly improved compared with the previous generation. The iPad mini 4 finally uses a full fit screen. Before this time, all iPad mini series did not use full fit technology. The small problem of color gamut that has been criticized by everyone has been improved in this generation, The iPad mini 4 has reached 99% of the sRGB color gamut, while the iPad mini 3 has only 71% of the sRGB color gamut. The average color deviation is 1.14, the highest brightness color temperature is 7000K, and the highest white dot brightness in the center of the iPad mini 4 is 404 nits in brightness, while the iPad mini 3 is 379 nits. In contrast, the static contrast of the iPad mini 4 is almost twice the value of the iPad mini 3, Both have good visual angles. The screen on the new generation iPad mini 4 finally matches its Apple logo.

Performance comparison

In terms of performance, the iPad mini 4 uses an overclocking version of Apple A8 processor, with dual cores, the main frequency is 1.5GHz, and the GPU is PowerVR GX6450. The iPad mini 3 uses a standard Apple A7 processor, with dual cores, the main frequency is 1.3GHz, and the GPU is PowerVR G6430. Due to the advantages of the main frequency, The iPad mini 4 is also better than the iPhone 6 Plus, which uses Apple A8 processors, and the iPad mini 3 is not its competitor. In actual use, we upgraded the iPad mini 3 to iOS 9 and compared it with the iPad mini 4, which has been using iOS 9 since birth. Because of personal reasons, it is more sensitive to the smoothness of operation, In some applications, the iPad mini 3 has obvious frame drop, while the iPad mini 4 is much better, especially when switching between card based multi tasks, The frame number of the iPad mini 3 is significantly lower than that of the iPad mini 4, but the performance of this overclocked Apple A8 is also limited. If you can accept the system fluency of the iPhone 6 Plus after upgrading iOS 9, you can certainly accept the flow degree of the iPad mini 4.

photograph

Left: mini 3 iso32 shutter 1/752 Right: mini 4 ios25 shutter 1/691

Click the upper right corner to see the 100% enlarged screenshot

Left: mini 3 iso32 shutter 1/3185 Right: mini 4 ios25 shutter 1/2551

Click the upper right corner to see the 100% enlarged screenshot

In these two sets of samples in the daytime, the analytical power of the iPad mini 4 using the 8 megapixel camera is significantly higher than that of the iPad mini 3. In terms of white balance, the white balance of both is very close, and both can carry out true color restoration for outdoor scenes. In the second set of samples, for leaves at the edge, Both samples show different degrees of decline in analytical power, but the iPad mini 4 can still guarantee the most basic texture and color of the image, while the iPad mini 3 has already seen a flood of light in the color of leaves.

Left: mini 3 iso32 shutter 1/108 Right: mini 4 ios40 shutter 1/100

Click the upper right corner to see the 100% enlarged screenshot

In terms of indoor macro distance, we see that the iso and shutter parameters of both are very similar, but the iPad mini 4 sample is darker, After 100% magnification, the analytical power of the sample of the iPad mini 4 is obviously higher than that of the iPad mini 3. In the process of shooting macro focusing, the focusing speed of both of them is good. Although both are contrast focusing, their focusing speed is good and will not be lost to some mobile phones in the market that use phase focusing, while the focusing speed of the iPad mini 4 is faster than that of the iPad mini 3.

Left: mini 3 iso640 shutter 1/17 Right: mini 4 ios800 shutter 1/17

Click the upper right corner to see the 100% enlarged screenshot

In terms of night view, from the parameters of both, The iso 640 shutter of iPad mini 3 is 1/17, while the iso 800 shutter of iPad mini 4 is 1/17, and the iso of iPad mini 3 is lower, but it has more noise points in the sample, which is very obvious at the edge of the sample. At the same time, the advantage of the high resolution of iPad mini 4 in night photography is more obvious, and the noise point of the night photography of iPad mini 4 is obviously lower than that of iPad mini 3.

In terms of photographing, the iPad mini 4 beat the iPad mini 3 completely this time, improving in almost all aspects, which is also a rare upgrade of camera conscience in the mini series.

Endurance

As the tablet is not a mobile phone, it is unable to make calls and 4G Internet access (WIFI At the same time, most of the time when we use the tablet, we may be surfing the Internet, so this endurance test is different from the previous mobile phone endurance test. This time, we pay more attention to the experience of surfing the Internet. We conducted a 180 minute online test, including 60 minutes for microblog, post bar, and Chrome surfing, and 30 minutes for games and videos.

The battery capacity of the iPad mini 4 is 5124mAh, and the battery capacity of the iPad mini 3 is 6471mAh. Although the battery capacity has decreased by 1347mAh, the description we see on the official website shows that the endurance level of the two is the same, and we found that the endurance of the two is indeed different in our tests, In almost all tests, the power consumption of the iPad mini 4 is greater than that of the iPad mini 3. In the whole test, the endurance of the iPad mini 4 is 7% less than that of the iPad mini 3. But fortunately, 4% of the gap is caused by the operation of games. So if you don't play games, you won't feel the endurance gap between it and the previous generation.

summary

This iPad mini 4 has really surprised us. It can be said that except for the slight decline in the endurance compared with the previous generation, other aspects have been greatly improved, 2G RAM can ensure that we can prevent background programs from committing suicide when multitasking is started. The overclocked Apple A8 processor can make it only slightly stuck on iOS 9, and the more excellent screen can comprehensively improve the visual perception during use. If you are considering getting a 7.9-inch tablet, The iPad mini 4 should be your first choice.