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Three Recent Arrivals Are Welcome Additions To The Market (Part 2)

4/12/2013 8:57:08 AM

If you’re looking for a more portable and affordable iPad, the iPad Mini delivers, our preliminary tests found. Apple has managed to shrink most of what’s good about the 9.7-inch iPad into a smaller package.

 
The iPad Mini is the thinnest tablet we’ve seen.

The iPad Mini is the thinnest tablet we’ve seen.

It’s midsized, yet thin and light.

With a 7.8-inch screen, the Mini offers more real estate than 7-inch Android tablets. But bigger doesn’t mean heavier. In fact, it weighs just under 0.7 pounds, the same as the lightest 7-inch tablets and roughly half as much as a full-sized iPad. It’s also the thinnest tablet we’ve seen.

The screen is good enough.

Resolution is much lower than on the newest full-sized iPad or Nook HD. But the crisp text holds its own against the best 7-inch tablets and the non-Retina iPad 2. Colors and viewing angles actually match those of the Retina display.

It’s fine for media.

When you’re viewing photos on the Mini, each image fills the entire screen, without the black bars around the photo that waste screen space on other tablets. The Mini’s cameras -720p video in the front and 5MP in the rear- are the same as on the latest full-sized iPad. The audio is less rich than the full-sized iPad’s but just as loud. The Mini even one-ups the larger iPad’s mono speaker with its own pair of stereo speakers, though you must be really close to  hear the stereo effect.

The Mini’s cameras -720p video in the front and 5MP in the rear- are the same as on the latest full-sized iPad.

The Mini’s cameras -720p video in the front and 5MP in the rear- are the same as on the latest full-sized iPad.

It feels like an iPad.

Apple maintained the iPad experience for reading or using apps. Magazines look great, book text is fine, and with the Mini’s size and weight, reading won’t tire you quickly. A game that ran on a full-sized iPad worked the same on the Mini.

A 16GB, Wi-Fi Mini costs $330; with 3G/4G capability, $460. Models with 32GB and 64GB are also available at higher prices.

Bottom line.

In shrinking the iPad, Apple didn’t compromise much. Instead, it produced a tablet that’s better suited, in important ways, for reading.

Windows finds its touch in Surface tablet

Microsoft’s new 10.6-inch Surface tablet with Windows RT arrived as we went to press. Here’s what our testers found:

 
Microsoft’s tablet (shown with optional keyboard) is strong on design.

Microsoft’s tablet (shown with optional keyboard) is strong on design.

An excellent display.

The screen rivals that of the iPad in some ways but falls short in others. Viewing angles were as good as those on the full-sized iPad. Colors also looked great. The display was as bright as those on the best tablets we’ve tested, making it quite readable in a brightly lit envionmnent.

Microsoft says the technology the Surface uses produces sharp text and very detailed photos. Text did look good, but it wasn’t’ as sharp as on the iPad ad Nook. Photos had less detail than on an iPad. Videos looked good, but the speakers sounded weaker and more muffled than on an iPad. Volume controls were easy to access when the Surface was on its stand.

It’s not a PC.

Windows RT, a version of Windows 8 designed for tablets, can run apps from the Windows Store and special versions of Microsoft Word Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

Even though it’s Windows-based, the Surface doesn’t run traditional computer applications, such as Quicken or Photoshop. To use those on a Microsoft tablet, you need the more powerful Surface with Windows 9 Pro, which can also run the apps from the Windows Store. That Surface model wasn’t available at press time.

Apps are limited.

The shelves at the Windows Store looked somewhat bare. There was no Facebook or Twitter app, for example, both of which are available for iPad and Android tablets. Microsoft says new apps are coming daily. As with other app stores, the Windows Store lets you install any app that you buy on multiple devices- five in this case. You can buy movies and music from Xbox services.

Thin but heavy.

The Surface with Windows RT is as a thin as the thinnest 10-inch tablets. But at 1.5 pounds, it’s heavy. It’s also longer than the smaller, squarer iPad. Its weight and shape work against the Surface when you hold it for an extended period.

The Surface with Windows RT is as a thin as the thinnest 10-inch tablets.

The Surface with Windows RT is as a thin as the thinnest 10-inch tablets.

A stand and keyboards help.

A built-in stand helps support it at a comfortable angle on a desk or table. Two optional, well-designed Microsoft keyboards – the Touch Cover and the Type Cover – help, too.

The Touch Cover is thin but full-sized. Its flat surface requires more pressure when typing than you might be used to, but its audible feedback helps. An oddity we found: when we folded it under the tablet and laid it on a metal surface, the tablet went to sleep. The Type Cover is thin, too, but more like a traditional keyboard. Both models attach to the Surface using magnets.

A flexible interface

Windows RT uses the same “live” tile interface that the Windows 8 computers and phones run. The Mail tile, for example, continuously displays your most recent e-mail. The Photo tile cycles through your photo library. There’s also a tile on the screen for each app you install, which you tap to launch the app. The interface is customizable. You can change the size of many tiles and rearrange them.

The 32 GB Wi-Fi Surface costs $500 without the Touch Cover. You can save $20 off the cost of buying a Touch Cover separately by bundling the pair for $600. A 64GB version of the Surface with the Touch Cover costs $700.

You can save $20 off the cost of buying a Touch Cover separately by bundling the pair for $600

You can save $20 off the cost of buying a Touch Cover separately by bundling the pair for $600

Bottom line.

The Surface has a lot going for it, including an excellent display. But if you’re a serious online user, you’ll find the software selection limited, even with apps such as Word and Excel. Xbox content may keep you entertained, but Microsoft has a long way to go before its store compares with the stores for iPads and Android tablets.

 

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