I noticed that the iPad Air has better color saturation and deeper blacks than the retina iPad mini in the store. It's a still a good looking display, just not as good as it could be. Maybe it's a LG issue and once Samsung panels get in the pipeline, better screens will appear. I think for most people, it won't be an issue. It will only be an issue for picky people, like those who frequent this site.
For the price being paid, I think people have a right to be picky. If this was handed out for free or waaaaay below cost, then that sentiment would be correct
I have a 5S and the first app I ran on my rMini, I completely noticed the color saturation issues / gamut issues, and it turned me off right away. Maybe it is a technological limitation, but given that Apple has decided to do away with specs for a single branded title ("Retina display") to reduce consumer confusion and streamline products, I have come to expect that all currently sold "Retina" displays are in fact the same in terms of display and user perception. But that is my fault for assuming that, and perhaps we need to go back to displays with "specs". These issues are the same sort of conning that TV manufacturers perform with their display advertisements ("1M:1 contrast ratio!") BS, and consumers have widened up to the fact that that doesn't mean crap. This issue ruins the brand of "Retina" display, and consumers will think twice in the future when apple uses the term.
Thirdly, given how technology gets cheaper over time, my biggest gripe about the rMini is the price increase over the previous generation. Not to say that I'm not willing to pay more money for a new iPad Mini, but that in order for me to pay MORE money for a 2nd generation device, it has to be WAAAY better than the previous generation. Every iPhone and large iPad has stayed the same price while getting better specs with each generation; saying the price on the Mini has to increase means that it has to be exponentially better than the previous generation and anything else on the market.
An extrapolation from current gen Apple products and year over year improvements reveal that a hypothetical "$329 iPad Mini" should have an A7 chip as all their other products that stayed the same price have (Apple is already having them made - better to just mass produce one chip, and logic board stays roughly the same), and a retina display (as all their other products have as well) with same color gamut as the previous generation - if this device was $329, I wouldn't have issues keeping this product. The iPad 3 was kept the same price even though it touted the same advances over the iPad 2 at the time it was released, and I think that is a good comparable when attempting to justify this purchase.
But it is $70 MORE expensive, so I would demand more things for justifying an extra $70. If the rMini had a high quality screen with significant dpi increase and high color gamut, that price increase is worth it. Without these things though, it's very hard for me to justify the $70 price increase.
Therefore, I'm planning on returning mine and wait till the color gamut issues are resolved. I think the Air is a better value proposition for consumers, and may pick one of those up to replace my iPad 2. A "Retina" screen that only enhances sharpness and not color quality is not worth the additional cost in my humble opinion.
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