Users who are in the market for tablets that have a display of 7.9 inches may find themselves torn between the Mi Pad 2 of Xiaomi and the iPad Mini 4 of Apple.
Interestingly, both tablets have the same display resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 at 326 pixels per inch. Other notable features found in both tablets include an 8 MP rear camera, 2 GB RAM and support for 1080p video.
Let us try to look closer at each tablet.
Xiaomi Mi Pad 2
The Mi Pad 2 has just been announced and is expected to launch on the Nov. 27. In terms of dimensions, it measures 7.89 x 5.22 x 0.28 inches and has the weight of 11.36 ounces or 0.71 pounds. The tablet's display comes with an IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with multitouch. It runs on Android OS and has a quad-core 2.2 GHz for CPU. Internal storage comes in either 16 or 64 GB.
The Mi Pad 2's 6,190 mAh Li-Po battery promises to deliver up to 12 hours of talk time. Stand by time can reach up to 649 hours, while music play can be up to 100 hours.
Apple iPad Mini 4
Announced back in September, the new iPad Mini tablet from Apple has the dimensions of 8.0 x 5.31 x 0.24 inches and the weight of 10.55 ounces (WiFi version). It features an LED-backlit IPS LCD display that has a capacitive touchscreen and 16M colors. It also boasts a scratch-resistant glass that comes with oleophobic coating.
The battery is a non-removable 5,124 mAh Li-Ion type that offers talk time of up to 10 hours.
Which tablet is better?
For the spec geeks, the Mi Pad 2's 5 MP front camera may look more appealing than the iPad Mini 4's 1.2 MP snapper. Xiaomi said that the tablet has a huge f/2.0 aperture which allows for more background blur and bokeh out of one's images.
Apple, on the other hand, touts its 1.2 MP front camera as being equipped with an improved face detection feature along with exposure control and tap to focus. There is also a backside illumination feature that makes the tablet perfect for taking images in low-light conditions.
The Mi Pad 2, which is lighter and thinner than the first generation Mi Pad, retails at around $155.
The iPad Mini 4 of Apple, which features an enhanced Bluetooth 4.2 version compared to the iPad Mini 3's Bluetooth 4.0, starts at $399 to $599 for the Wi-Fi-only version. Models that come with both Wi-Fi and Cellular retail starting at $529 all the way up to $729.
If storage is one's biggest concern, then Apple's tablet is the better option as it offers a version that has as much as 128 GB storage out of the box. Xiaomi can also reach up to 128 GB, but only through an added microSD card.
If all these specs are only secondary to price, then the tablet from Xiaomi is absolutely a wiser choice. At such a notably cheaper price, one can even get two tablets and still be able to save a couple of bucks compared to purchasing the iPad Mini 4 tablet from Apple.
