iPad mini 6 - Well, that was unexpected!

Well, there’s one I didn’t see coming! Sometime in Fall 2021, Apple released their new sixth generation of the iPad mini, a release so far outside of my requirements for a tablet that I did not even remember it, despite the fact that I actually watched the release keynote. Alas, January 2022 brought about a massive change of perspective. As they’d done the previous year, my employer opened up a “gift store” for its employees to coincide with our annual sales kickoff. The offering wasn’t quite as generous as it had been in 2021, which had netted amongst other things a DJI mini 2 and some Apple AirPods Pro. However, my 6th generation iPad from 2018 was getting a bit long in the tooth and as much as I like the Surface concept from Microsoft, the Surface Go 2 was proving to be just a bit too underpowered for me, as well as being too much of a Windows laptop and not enough of a tablet. So, when I saw the iPad mini 6 available in the store, that was pretty much that. That was in mid-January. Given the ongoing supply chain issues affecting pretty much every country and industry at that point, it took what seemed like ages for the iPad to actually arrive, finally showing up at my door in late March. 

First Impressions

Well, it’s an iPad! Not sure how much more I can say? Okay, to be fair, that is a bit callous. After long seeming like the ugly stepchild of the iPad family, the redesign really has done the device a whole lot of good. It’s lost the “chin” and “forehead" and now sports a single bezel thickness all the way around, with round display corners following the rounded corners of the body, whilst the generally more angular chassis echoes the mini’s larger cousins, the iPad Air and iPad Pro. Having had the 4th Generation iPad mini as my first iPad, the 6th Generation model fits into the hand just as easily and can be pocketed equally easily, making it a tablet that just begs to be used on the road. Now, the fact that Apple has decided to kill the headphone jack on this device is quite a disappointment for me, given that I still use wired headphones like my beloved Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8, but on the plus side, Apple has equipped the new iPad mini with a USB-C port. What’s more they’ve also included a 20 watt USB-C charger in the box, something that is really quite extraordinary in this day and age.

What's in the Box: Good to see that Apple still includes chargers with their iPads, especially since the iPad mini 6 uses USB-C rather than Lightning as the charging port.

Tech Specs

Despite what the diminutive size might make you believe, the iPad mini is quite a powerhouse. Measuring 195.4 x 134.8 x 6.3 mm, it sports an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina Display and weighs in at 293 grams, at least in my Wi-Fi only configuration Into this frame it not only fits stereo speakers but also the same A15 Bionic chipset that drives the current generation of iPhones, clocking in at 2.9Ghz and sporting 4GB of RAM. Storage-wise, the device can be ordered with either 64 or 265 GB of storage, with my model being the former. The home button has been eliminated, replaced by a Touch ID sensor in the power button on the top right of the device, whilst the volume buttons have been moved to the top right, making way for a new charging & docking area for the 2nd Generation Apple Pencil on the right side of the device. Lastly, the device, like all current iPads, is available either as a Wi-Fi only configuration, or as a cellular model.

Setup and First Use

As you would expect from an Apple device, especially one that you’re integrating into an existing Apple ecosystem, setup is extremely easy at this point. All you need to do is to put the iPad next to another Apple device, and the system will guide you through the rest. It really is just a matter of minutes before you’re ready to go. Downloading and logging into all your apps might take a little longer than that but once again, you’ll be good to go in a surprisingly short amount of time. 

The new iPad mini 6 is really meant to be used on the go. 

As to first use, we’ll, it’s an iPad. Once you’ve used an iPhone or another iPad, you’ll easily find your way through the system. Its compact size and low weight make it easy to hold, whilst the relatively thick bezels make it easy to grab a hold of the device, whether you’re using it in landscape or portrait orientation. Holding it with one hand is equally easy and has actually become my favourite way to hold the device. Touch ID works reliably and relatively quickly, though the position of the home button takes a bit of getting used to, especially when you’re using the device with the optional, but highly recommended Smart Folio. All in all though, the device is as rock-solid as you’d expect from an Apple device.

Everyday Use

At the time of writing this, I’ve had the iPad mini 6 for a little over a month. In this time, I’ve been using it as my daily driver for note-taking, writing, video streaming, mostly on YouTube and Netflix, and the odd bit of gaming, mostly XCOM: Enemy Within. It’s also been my daily companion at work, acting as a music player on my desk, since I refuse to install any privately used software on my work machine, so yeah, it’s getting quite the workout. It's also accompanied me on a rather strenuous business trip to Germany, the first one since the end of the pandemic. Performance-wise, I didn’t really expect any problems and indeed, the iPad has taken everything I’ve thrown at it and then some without breaking a sweat.

One of the few downsides of the iPad is that the display is hard to read in direct sunlight.

Having said that, it’s not all sunshine and roses, despite the fact that the iPad mini 6 is as polished of an experience as you would expect from an Apple device. A particular bugbear of mine has been the position of the TouchID-enabled power button. Whilst it may be a space-saving solution in an undoubtedly compact device, it is somewhat awkward to use it when the iPad is being used in landscape mode, especially when propped up on the Smart Folio, which is an absolute must-have accessory, by the way. Oh, and the less said about the lack of an actual 3.5mm headphone jack, the better. Does Apple really expect me to throw out my 400€ Bang & Olufsen Headphones that I got a few years ago? I mean, come on!

It is possible to use the iPad for writing without a keyboard, but the on-screen keyboard takes up an ungodly amount of display space!

Another issue, especially for a text hound like me, is the lack of on-screen real estate that is inherent with a small device. Whilst this is generally not an issue, it does become one when trying to type with the on-screen keyboard, at which point, half of the screen suddenly gets taken over by said keyboard. This also makes side-by-side pretty much unusable, unless you’re working with an external keyboard. Well, any excuse to buy some extra hardware,  I suppose? And to be fair, the foldable bluetooth keyboard I use with my iPad these days is simply excellent, especially given its low price.

The iPad mini 6 in its natural environment, on the road. Well, technically at an airport in this case, but you get the point.

Of course, there’s another text input method on the iPad mini 6, Apple Pencil. Thankfully, this new iPad uses the 2nd generation Apple Pencil, which now docks to the iPad magnetically and charges via induction, rather than flying around alongside the iPad and having to be awkwardly charged via Lightning, something that always limited my use of the original Apple Pencil. That’s not to say that the original Pencil was bad, but it was very much a 1st generation product. The Apple Pencil 2 takes everything that was good about the original, which is a lot, and packages it all in a much more practical package. Even with my bluetooth keyboard, I find myself regularly reaching for the pencil when journaling, or when I don’t have a table nearby that I can use for the keyboard. Given how much I used to loathe handwriting, I can’t really think of a higher praise I can give. Having said that, the pencil is held back by the fact that Apple’s excellent handwriting recognition is not integrated into third party apps such as OneNote, Notion, or Microsoft Word, which I use so as to not be tied into Apple’s ecosystem too much.

iPad OS multitasking has really come a long way in recent years. To really take advantage of it on the iPad mini 6, you need an external keyboard though.

The screen definitely needs no third party solution, as it is excellent. Whilst it may “only” have a 60Hz refresh rate, the image quality is as excellent as I’ve come to expect from Apple devices. The display could be a bit brighter though, as it is hard to read in bright sunlight. To be fair though, that’s something we here in Ireland don’t have to worry about too much, given the tender administration of our prevailing North Atlantic weather pattern. Seriously though, the display really hits all the right notes for my usage. Oh, and as for that supposed “jelly scrolling”, I haven’t seen a trace of that in the time I’ve had the device.

Conclusion

Even after a month of usage, it feels kinda early to draw a conclusion under my experience with the iPad mini 6. It’s biggest test, a business trip to Germany, is right around the corner as I’m writing this, and that will be the real test for this little powerhouse of a tablet. However, even with it’s little idiosyncrasies and the limitations imposed by its somewhat diminutive size, the iPad mini 6 is an excellent device and in many ways, it seems like the distillation of all the things that made the original run of iPads great all those many years ago. It works great as a gaming device, is an excellent e-reader, works great as an easily portable “surfboard” and for streaming, and requires only a few relatively cheap accessories to make it into a powerful on-the-go productivity setup. If only they’d kept the headphone jack!