Today, I buck trends. Everyone who seems to have their hands on an iPad mini loves it. I don’t, and it all boils down to one thing, the screen.

My desk lineup – iPad mini is 2nd from left. Yes, I should clean my keyboard. GET OFF ME!

In 2010, Apple came out with what they call the Retina display. The gist of it is a display that has such a high-resolution that the human eye cannot discern pixels at a typical viewing distance. As viewing distance is relative to the device in use, this varies, but it’s been a feature in every portable product the company has released since its introduction. I own many of these devices, and therefore am used to having such a high quality display.

When Apple first announced the mini, the fact that they’d be releasing it with a “standard” screen stuck out like a sore thumb. There are a couple of reasons why they’d do this, but they all boil down to keeping weight and cost down. While they did manage a lightweight and svelte device, the cost isn’t all that low and I find the screen wholly unacceptable. Fonts are rough-looking, any game other than one using pixel art looks bad… It’s just… not good. I’d have to think if Steve Jobs were around (this is a dangerous can of worms for me to open), they wouldn’t have released this device. It feels like a step backward. Steve Jobs would not have approved a step backward regardless of the timing or nature of the ~7″ tablet market. This worries me for the future of Apple.

Ok, so overall I don’t really care for the device and it all boils down to the screen. Surely, within the next year, Apple will release a mini with Retina. What will I think of that?

It will be the perfect tablet. Previously skeptical of a smaller tablet, the mini really is the perfect size. What they’ve done in such a small package, as opposed to other manufacturers, is really maximize the real estate. Browsing a page on both this and the competition with them sitting next to each other is like the difference between browsing on a smart phone and an old java-based web browser in a flip phone. It’s night and day.

And then there’s iOS. The same great, familiar, uncustomized-by-a-vendor OS that we’re all used to. I was able to tap one button (“Restore from iCloud backup”) and everything from my full-sized iPad was magically on the mini.

The build quality of the device is unrivaled. Not the plasticky, cheap feel of the competition. Granted, it’s $130 more, but if you want to play with toys, you only have to pay for toys. It’s thin, solid feeling, incredibly lightweight, and the size really just seems perfect; in portrait mode, the on-screen keyboard is the perfect size for thumb typing. The full iPad is awkward in portrait and requires hands in landscape lest you risk pulling your thumbs out of their sockets. The competition is never comfortable, but I think that’s more due to how the keyboard is being presented on the screen than the hardware.

Did I mention the weight? I’m really, really surprised by it. There is no fatigue when holding it, which makes it a much better reading device than its big brother.

It uses the new Lightning connector, which I’m a little less salty over… After $100, I’ve got all the new cables I need, but… bah humbug. It turns out it is a pretty nice new connector, but… bah humbug.

So… Should you buy one? I can’t recommend it. Apple is hiding an ace up its sleeve and it’s called Retina, and I’d wager we’ll see it sometime next year. I want to love this device as it is proving to be the perfect form factor, but no Retina? No thank you.

Related article: Happy iPhone 5 day to you too! – September 21, 2012
Related article: On the Nexus 7 and Android – September 18, 2012