iPad mini iPad Mini 6 one month review! Amazing and Great little device!!

[BillyiPad95]

Hey everyone, I have recently bought a iPad Mini 6(64GB) Starlight to go along side and compliment my 2020 iPad Pro 11 inch 512GB as a 2nd and much more portable iPad! 😁

Have been using these amazing iPad Mini for about a month so far and now there is enough time passed, I thought I share my thoughts about this Mini 6. So this will be my 1 month review!

Right of the bat, The iPad Mini 6 is definitely one of the best tablets that I have ever used in my nearly 8 years of using tablets. I am really enjoying using the Mini 6 for things like web browsing, watching videos and playing games which it is my usage at the moment and have barely even used(only once!) my bigger iPad Pro since I got my iPad Mini 6.

Let me start of by saying the iPad Mini 6 small size and form factor in my opinion is the best size for holding it in one hand, taking it out and about the house and outside, travelling and for media consumption on the bed compared to my 11 inch iPad Pro, the Mini is definitely so much more portable and more importantly to hold for very long periods of time, the iPad Pro is quite clunky and too big at times to move around and gets uncomfortable to use sometimes.

1 big thing that definitely took me by surprise is that I don’t find the lack of a Promotion display a deal breaker, don’t find it nowhere near as bad that I thought it would and in fact I am perfectly fine with using the pretty smooth 8.3 inch 60hz display on the Mini 6 even though I do notice some really tiny bit of lag or shuttering mainly when closing and opening apps and that is a big surprise because I thought and was quite worried that i would not like using the 60hz display because I was soo use to the very buttery smooth promotion 120hz display on my iPad Pro, in all I still really like using 60hz displays and found it just more then fine on the iPad Mini 6 and that big 8.3 inch edge to edge Retina display is one of the best screens so far that I have seen it on a tablet, it is just your typical and great Apple iPad display and it has great all round colours, very sharp and goes up to 500 nits high brightness and the screen size is definitely big enough for most things.

In terms of the performance with the new A15 Bionic chip 3 words……. it is a beast!! 😁

Everything that I throw at it especially with heavy games like Rebel Racing, Score! Hero, No problems whatsoever running those games and does not get hot at all and in a way or 2, I must say that gaming is much more better on the Mini 6 due to it’s small size and you can easily reach the touch screen controls unlike on my 11 inch iPad Pro and won’t get heavy after awhile but in terms of screen estate for gaming especially when playing with a controller, the bigger iPad is obviously the better choice and for basic tasks like web browsing, watching videos and loading up apps, it is really super fast, smooth and snappy but I have not tried to do heavy intensive tasks like video, photo editing things like that because I won’t be using the Mini 6 for that, I have got my 2020 iPad Pro 11 inch for video editing but based on the user and tech reviews out there on the internet you can definitely do some video/photo editing very easy if you want too do that is.

The Battery life is awesome on the iPad Mini 6 and just as good as my iPad Pro 11 inch despite having a way smaller battery, maybe it has to due to the newer A15 chip with better power efficiency. I am getting a least 7/8 hours of screen time at about 60% brightness and that is with me using the Mini for things like surfing the interwebz, watching YouTube and playing games which it is not that demanding and charging the battery from 5-10% to 100% takes about 2 hours which it is not the fastest and it is definitely not the slowest either.

The 2 speaker set up on the Mini 6 are good, they get loud and have good bass but definitely not as good compared to my 2020 iPad Pro’s 4 speaker set up and Touch ID on the power button works perfectly fine and I do wish Apple to implement that nice feature on future iPad Pros.

Lastly with the Jelly Scrolling and the screen distortions issues that a quite a few people are having with their iPad Mini 6s, Well thankfully for me I definitely don’t have those problems on mine, I supposed that I got lucky with mine haha, maybe it is actually there but I never ever notice it and all so some iPad Mini 6 owners mainly down to iPadOS15 things like the text and apps/widgets appear to be too small on the Home Screen well for me I actually gone into settings and turn on “Use large app icons” and it is much more better in terms of seeing the text on the apps and the apps icons themselves are much more bigger on the Home Screen but even though it is better, at the same time it is not perfect by any means as there is still some wasted space on the sides.

Overall, I definitely do really love the iPad Mini 6(one of the best tablets that I ever used soo far!!) and really looking forward to using the Mini 6 for a few years alongside my 2020 iPad Pro 11 inch and am so glad that I got the iPad Mini 6 because I have been wanting to get a small tablet for a long time now to complement my 2020 iPad Pro 11 inch and for travelling and was soooo close getting the previous generation IPad Mini 5 with the very dated and boring design a few times which I could live with but at the same time deep deep down I definitely really wanted the rumoured redesigned and bigger iPad Mini 6 but thankfully i just managed to wait it out and bingo fast forward to now I am back in the small tablet game with the brand new redesigned 8.3 inch iPad Mini 6 in my hands, it was definitely worth the wait and funny enough the Mini 6 is my 1st ever iPad Mini.

I would definitely recommend the iPad Mini 6 to anyone who wants a small and very portable tablet and I really hope this helps to make your decision to get the iPad Mini 6 or not for those who are on the fence and in my opinion the iPad Mini 6 is definitely a premium small tablet(the absolute best in the small tablet market!!) that has the power of a iPad Pro in a very portable and lightweight package and if you are looking to use it for media consumption and light productivity work and also for when travelling/going on holidays that then the iPad Mini 6 is absolutely the perfect tablet for you!! 👍

To think that me 6 years ago, i have actually said “I will never get a small tablet ever again after getting the 9.7 inch iPad Air 2”…….. Well never say never my man haha! 😂😂


Anyway, I would like to ask the people who got the iPad Mini 6, What do you think about it and what are the things that you like and don’t like about the iPad Mini 6?? It would definitely be great to know your thoughts! 😁

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I agree that it is a spectacular device for many reasons you share. I like much of what OP likes.

Best I can tell, the "jelly scrolling" thing is not unit dependent. In other words, there are NOT some units with it and some without. Whether one sees it or not is "eye of the beholder" not hardware-based. Since OP is happy, if OP is reading this reply, skip down to "WHAT I LIKE if you don't want to learn an easy way to see it.

To see it: open any web page in portrait mode where the page is longer than can be displayed in a single screen (so you would have to scroll to review the entire page). Touch your finger to the far right (or left) of the page to scroll it. Begin scrolling that page up and down, over and over. Look at the part of the page your finger is touching... but view the other side of the page (far left or far right, opposite your finger) with your peripheral vision. What you'll very likely see is that that edge of the page seems to be dragging a bit behind the part of the page you are shifting up and down.

Previous tablets didn't seem to do this... or not as obviously. Instead, as you scrolled a page, the whole page seemed to be moving up or down as if you were looking at a solid piece of paper and moving it up and down. Here there is definitely a lag and it bugs a chunk of the iPad Mini 6 crowd. I definitely see it but don't really care about it because- IMO- the rest of the Mini 6 makes up for this issue.

Also this is not a (lack of) "pro motion" issue as older iPads long before there was "pro motion" don't show it as obvious as this. So yes, pro motion may resolve the issue in a future update but it doesn't seem to be the only option (cheaper iPad minis sans pro motion did not exhibit this as obviously).

WHAT I LIKE
OP has well covered many likes in that very positive review

WHAT I DON'T LIKE

• Removal of the headphone jack in a device that has PLENTY of room to have retained it. To hear Apple's new lossless audio, we need a wired connection- Bluetooth can't cut it because it lacks the bandwidth for it- so wired requires a dongle and I'm 100% confident that the Apple-made DAC already inside this mini 6 is superior to the $10 retail dongle Apple sells. I'd rather use the BETTER one inside if only there was a ubiquitous way to connect to it. Apple recently demonstrating tangible effort to IMPROVE the 3.5mm jack shows that Apple cares about it. Too bad that is not here too.
• I continue to "feel" that the battery in this one is relatively weaker than a long-used iPad Mini 2 battery charged & discharged hundreds of times. It "feels" like even with modest use, I can generally expect the battery to be down 30-40% in a day... and with "normal" use, I can pretty much expect to have to re-charge approx. daily. This is not terrible but I can't shake this feeling that this battery is weaker. I intend to charge both to 100% put them in airplane mode and park them for 24-48 hours as a head-to-head test. Conceptually, Mini 2 should discharge faster than Mini 6 but we'll see. This could entirely be some kind of false perception since I haven't done an objective test yet.

WISHES

• pro-camera pack in the iPad Pro and iPhone MAX. Camera here is great and all but I would love to have the better one, even at a "pro" price.
• headphone jack revival. Include it and those in love with bluetooth or dongles are entirely unaffected. They can still use it as they do now. But the rest of us would get what we want too. The "no room for it" excuse can't possibly apply here.
• Better battery
• More on-board storage tiers (above 256GB).

Basically, I would be willing to pay a "pro" price for an iPad Mini Pro to get these features. But as is, I think nearly as highly of Mini 6 as OP does. Apple did an incredible job with this one.

Before someone asks why I would want iPhone MAX hardware features on an iPad Mini, I do the odd thing of using my iPad Mini as my phone (with buds/headphones, just like many use with their iPhones) too. One AMAZING thing available with this iPad is the T-mobile 5GB or 5 Months for $10 plan. Since most of my data consumption is via wifi, that gives me plenty of always-connected 5G cellular for only about $25 PER YEAR. VOIP app covers phone and texting to/from non-Apple people, else Messages app works with Apple people. Absolutely great benefit IMO that many don't know about or don't think about because they make the "iPhone too" assumption in all thoughts about iPads.

 

[sparksd]

Hey everyone, I have recently bought a iPad Mini 6(64GB) Starlight to go along side and compliment my 2020 iPad Pro 11 inch 512GB as a 2nd and much more portable iPad! ?

Have been using these amazing iPad Mini for about a month so far and now there is enough time passed, I thought I share my thoughts about this Mini 6. So this will be my 1 month review!

Right of the bat, The iPad Mini 6 is definitely one of the best tablets that I have ever used in my nearly 8 years of using tablets. I am really enjoying using the Mini 6 for things like web browsing, watching videos and playing games which it is my usage at the moment and have barely even used(only once!) my bigger iPad Pro since I got my iPad Mini 6.

Let me start of by saying the iPad Mini 6 small size and form factor in my opinion is the best size for holding it in one hand, taking it out and about the house and outside, travelling and for media consumption on the bed compared to my 11 inch iPad Pro, the Mini is definitely so much more portable and more importantly to hold for very long periods of time, the iPad Pro is quite clunky and too big at times to move around and gets uncomfortable to use sometimes.

1 big thing that definitely took me by surprise is that I don’t find the lack of a Promotion display a deal breaker, don’t find it nowhere near as bad that I thought it would and in fact I am perfectly fine with using the pretty smooth 8.3 inch 60hz display on the Mini 6 even though I do notice some really tiny bit of lag or shuttering mainly when closing and opening apps and that is a big surprise because I thought and was quite worried that i would not like using the 60hz display because I was soo use to the very buttery smooth promotion 120hz display on my iPad Pro, in all I still really like using 60hz displays and found it just more then fine on the iPad Mini 6 and that big 8.3 inch edge to edge Retina display is one of the best screens so far that I have seen it on a tablet, it is just your typical and great Apple iPad display and it has great all round colours, very sharp and goes up to 500 nits high brightness and the screen size is definitely big enough for most things.

In terms of the performance with the new A15 Bionic chip 3 words……. it is a beast!! ?

Everything that I throw at it especially with heavy games like Rebel Racing, Score! Hero, No problems whatsoever running those games and does not get hot at all and in a way or 2, I must say that gaming is much more better on the Mini 6 due to it’s small size and you can easily reach the touch screen controls unlike on my 11 inch iPad Pro and won’t get heavy after awhile but in terms of screen estate for gaming especially when playing with a controller, the bigger iPad is obviously the better choice and for basic tasks like web browsing, watching videos and loading up apps, it is really super fast, smooth and snappy but I have not tried to do heavy intensive tasks like video, photo editing things like that because I won’t be using the Mini 6 for that, I have got my 2020 iPad Pro 11 inch for video editing but based on the user and tech reviews out there on the internet you can definitely do some video/photo editing very easy if you want too do that is.

The Battery life is awesome on the iPad Mini 6 and just as good as my iPad Pro 11 inch despite having a way smaller battery, maybe it has to due to the newer A15 chip with better power efficiency. I am getting a least 7/8 hours of screen time at about 60% brightness and that is with me using the Mini for things like surfing the interwebz, watching YouTube and playing games which it is not that demanding and charging the battery from 5-10% to 100% takes about 2 hours which it is not the fastest and it is definitely not the slowest either.

The 2 speaker set up on the Mini 6 are good, they get loud and have good bass but definitely not as good compared to my 2020 iPad Pro’s 4 speaker set up and Touch ID on the power button works perfectly fine and I do wish Apple to implement that nice feature on future iPad Pros.

Lastly with the Jelly Scrolling and the screen distortions issues that a quite a few people are having with their iPad Mini 6s, Well thankfully for me I definitely don’t have those problems on mine, I supposed that I got lucky with mine haha, maybe it is actually there but I never ever notice it and all so some iPad Mini 6 owners mainly down to iPadOS15 things like the text and apps/widgets appear to be too small on the Home Screen well for me I actually gone into settings and turn on “Use large app icons” and it is much more better in terms of seeing the text on the apps and the apps icons themselves are much more bigger on the Home Screen but even though it is better, at the same time it is not perfect by any means as there is still some wasted space on the sides.

Overall, I definitely do really love the iPad Mini 6(one of the best tablets that I ever used soo far!!) and really looking forward to using the Mini 6 for a few years alongside my 2020 iPad Pro 11 inch and am so glad that I got the iPad Mini 6 because I have been wanting to get a small tablet for a long time now to complement my 2020 iPad Pro 11 inch and for travelling and was soooo close getting the previous generation IPad Mini 5 with the very dated and boring design a few times which I could live with but at the same time deep deep down I definitely really wanted the rumoured redesigned and bigger iPad Mini 6 but thankfully i just managed to wait it out and bingo fast forward to now I am back in the small tablet game with the brand new redesigned 8.3 inch iPad Mini 6 in my hands, it was definitely worth the wait and funny enough the Mini 6 is my 1st ever iPad Mini.

I would definitely recommend the iPad Mini 6 to anyone who wants a small and very portable tablet and I really hope this helps to make your decision to get the iPad Mini 6 or not for those who are on the fence and in my opinion the iPad Mini 6 is definitely a premium small tablet(the absolute best in the small tablet market!!) that has the power of a iPad Pro in a very portable and lightweight package and if you are looking to use it for media consumption and light productivity work and also for when travelling/going on holidays that then the iPad Mini 6 is absolutely the perfect tablet for you!! ?

To think that me 6 years ago, i have actually said “I will never get a small tablet ever again after getting the 9.7 inch iPad Air 2”…….. Well never say never my man haha! ??


Anyway, I would like to ask the people who got the iPad Mini 6, What do you think about it and what are the things that you like and don’t like about the iPad Mini 6?? It would definitely be great to know your thoughts! ?

I love the form factor as a portable complement to my 2021 12.9. I would have liked a better display with 120Hz but it is fine as is with me. I'm one of the lucky that isn't bothered by the jelly scroll; it definitely is there but I just don't notice it in use.

 

[evorc]

Love mine as well and it’s a big upgrade over the 5 for me.

 

[Macrumorsss]

I agree with the comment regarding the battery. For me it seems like it drains super quickly. 1 he of using the kindle app and it goes down at least 10%.

 

[chanerz]

I love the form factor for watching videos and just surfing the web. Not too small, not too big

 

[lezmace]

Is the display from the mini 6 superior to the mini 5?
I got an iPad Pro with ProMotion and every time I use my mini 5, I got eye strains after some time. May it's the 60 hz display?

 

[Shanghaichica]

I love mine. I agree with the OP’s review.

 

[mrdeluxe]

Thanks for the write up, OP. One question: if you could only have one: 11-inch iPad Pro, or iPad Mini, which would you choose?

 

[wilberforce]

Thanks for the write up, OP. One question: if you could only have one: 11-inch iPad Pro, or iPad Mini, which would you choose?

I have both, and definitely the 11". Have had both sizes, various models, since they first came out. Unless you want the smallest possible iPad and portability is your #1 priority, the 11" is a better experience and size, IMO. There is a reason the majority of the iPad models are 10" to 11": The UI and text are sized for a 10" to 11" iPad. The Mini is kind of a niche iPad. IMO.

 

[rui no onna]

I have both, and definitely the 11". Have had both sizes, various models, since they first came out. Unless you want the smallest possible iPad and portability is your #1 priority, the 11" is a better experience and size, IMO. There is a reason the majority of the iPad models are 10" to 11": The UI and text are sized for a 10" to 11" iPad. The Mini is kind of a niche iPad. IMO.

Agree. I've got a mini 6, Air 4, Pro 11 and Pro 12.9. The Air 4 and Pro 11 are my go-to sizes.

 

[mashinhead]

Agree. I've got a mini 6, Air 4, Pro 11 and Pro 12.9. The Air 4 and Pro 11 are my go-to sizes.

Why do you have an air pro and 11, I'm curious to know what you use them for esp having all 4. I'm asking because I got a mini and a 12.9. I find the mini a bit to small but want something smaller. But think the 11 will be redundant. I love the 12.9 screen and speakers. But find the rest of the lineup, which I think those features will trickle down to, a terrible buy because they will eventually get them

 

[rui no onna]

Why do you have an air pro and 11, I'm curious to know what you use them for esp having all 4. I'm asking because I got a mini and a 12.9. I find the mini a bit to small but want something smaller. But think the 11 will be redundant. I love the 12.9 screen and speakers. But find the rest of the lineup, which I think those features will trickle down to, a terrible buy because they will eventually get them

9.7-11" is my "Goldilocks size" and I do marathon reading sessions a lot. Hence, I wanted a spare when one is charging. Also, with mandatory masking at the office and most other places, I can't give up TouchID just yet so currently, the Air is my purse iPad. Plus, I was just really tempted by the Sky Blue color.

Mind, I was originally going to wait until next year to upgrade from the Pro 10.5 to the Pro 11. Alas, not a fan on iOS 15 and I didn't want to lose my window to still have 11" 1TB with iOS 14 so I ended up buying when Best Buy was running a $150 off sale.

The mini 6 was going to be my "phablet" (iPhone 13 Pro Max is still too small). However, I'm finding it just a wee bit too heavy and bulky to constantly carry in the jacket pocket (I'm short: 5'2") so that's a bit of a fail.

The 12.9" is the desk/PDF/magazine/American comics iPad.

 

[Rafterman]

The headphone jack is dead. In fact, I'm surpised they still had it on the new Macbooks.

 

[Shanghaichica]

The headphone jack is dead. In fact, I'm surpised they still had it on the new Macbooks.

I think it's still useful for those in sound production/music/Radio or podcasts.

 

[geta]

The Mini 6 is such a powerful little device! Love everything about it except the camera bump and the missing headphone jack. Its perfect for media consumption, reading and day to day tasks, and if i need more then that and /or bigger screen ill use the mbp.

 

[rukind2]

I have the mini 6 and 11" ipad Pro (202) and they serve different needs. I use the mini primarily for reading through the Kindle app, and plane travel streaming content, watch download videos. I use the 11 for those times when I need a larger screen (work related).

 

[davcole]

Can't wait to get my funds together and order mine!

 

[Barsal]

I've tested it several times at store and I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a HUGE improvement since my last iPad 3, can't wait to get it in my hands! ?