The Apple iPad Mini 4 Review

Software

iOS 9 released roughly one month ago. I released my review of it on the day it launched, and my impressions of the OS were mostly positive. In particular, I felt that the additions Apple had made to enable various forms of multitasking possible on the iPad were much needed improvements to the iPad experience. However, I also voiced my frustration at the fact that Apple's history of shipping as little RAM as possible had led to the new split view feature being excluded from every tablet except the iPad Air 2, which includes the iPad Mini 3 that was still the flagship iPad Mini almost right up until release.

Shortly before iOS 9 was released, the iPad Mini 4 was unveiled, and it was confirmed to have all the multitasking features of the iPad Air 2. Of course, while the iPad Mini does use the same application layouts as the larger iPad, the physically smaller screen size has an impact on how you use the device, and during my time testing the Mini 4 I tried to make note of how my behavior differed from when I was testing multitasking on the larger iPad Air 2. 

The first thing I noticed about my usage patterns is that I used the 50/50 split in landscape mode very infrequently, while on the Air 2 I use it roughly as much as the ~70/30 mode. This is simply due to the smaller size of the display. While the 50/50 view is drawn using the name number of pixels on the Air 2 and the Mini 4, the smaller screen size of the Mini 4 means each side is physically pretty small. That isn't to say that it's unusable by any means, but I felt far less comfortable doing a 50/50 split between Safari and an Office document than I did when using the Air 2. My usage tended more toward the ~70/30 split, although I didn't use it as often as on the Air 2 where I almost always have Skype or Tweetbot on the right side.

My reduced usage of split screen mode on the Mini 4 was in line with my predictions. I'm confident it will also be true that iPad Pro users spend almost all of their time with two active applications, and so the Air 2 will be to the iPad Pro what the Mini 4 is to the Air 2. It's simply easier to work in a split view when your screen is physically larger in size. What also fell in line with my prediction is an increased utilization of the slide over feature. Slide over is a good way to check an application quickly and return to what you were doing without having to sacrifice horizontal space in the active application, and I found myself using it to check Skype and Tweetbot instead of keeping the apps pinned to the side constantly. 

As for the performance of multitasking, there are a few things to keep in mind. Since the iPad Mini's A8 SoC is paired with 2GB of RAM I don't think users will run into any issues that the iPad Air 2 doesn't as far as memory is concerned. In fact, I would say that because the Mini 4 does tend more toward content consumption than heavy productivity apps you're unlikely to ever run into significant memory pressure unless you simply have a lot of Safari tabs open, and in that case some will just eventually be evicted from memory. I have noticed a few things that suggest Apple is pushing the SoC to its limits though.

iPad Air 2 top, iPad Mini 4 bottom

The first change I noticed going from the Air 2 to the Mini 4 is the removal of the blur effect in the multitasking app switcher. You can see above how this looks on the Air 2 and how the Mini 4 changes it. Essentially Apple has removed the blur effect, and so the menu looks like how the OS generally looks with the reduce transparency option on. While it's not a big deal, it's a clear indicator that Apple doesn't feel A8's GPU performance is fast enough to achieve a high level of performance with this menu overlay active while also blurring part of the open application below it. This isn't surprising when one considers the GPU results earlier in the review and how the A8X SoC in the Air 2 has what is really the best GPU in an ARM tablet.

One other performance-related observation I made while using the Mini 4 in split screen mode is that there is sometimes a pause before applications become usable again after enabling split screen or changing the ratio of the split between applications. I knew this couldn't be related to loading assets from RAM because the issue doesn't happen on the Air 2, and examining CPU performance at those times revealed no reason to suspect that the CPU was the culprit. Ultimately I think this is actually due to the GPU being slower than A8X as well. When switching the split between apps the interface of both applications needs to be re-rendered to suit the new layout, and I think this is just a point where the GPU can't always do all the necessary work in only a few frames. The issue definitely wasn't that bothersome, and I only picked up on the fact that it was slower because I have experience with the Air 2. Nonetheless, I felt it was important to point it out, if only because it's interesting to see cases where even really good mobile GPUs can have some trouble keeping up with the demands being made of them.

While the iPad Mini 4 may not have the sheer power of the iPad Air 2, the multitasking experience on it is still great. I think the way most users will use the features differs from owners of larger iPads simply due to the difference in screen real estate, but the features are all there and fully functional on the iPad Mini 4 for anyone who needs them. The 2GB of RAM certainly helps to prevent apps from being evicted from memory as well, which was a serious issue on iPads that shipped with 1GB of RAM.

As far as the rest of the OS goes, you're really getting the same iOS 9 experience as all of the other iOS devices. If you're looking for a more in depth look at iOS 9 I recommend my review, as it goes into more detail on the workings and performance of iPad multitasking. If you're a fan of iOS then I think you'll find iOS 9 is the best release to date, and a very big release for the iPad. If you're not a fan of iOS then iOS 9 probably won't sway your feelings. The iPad still has a clear platform advantage over Android tablets as far as tablet-specific features and third party apps goes, and that's always something to keep in mind and to weigh against parts of the OS that you may not be fond of.