The Apple iPad Mini retina has been put to shame by the Kindle Fire HDX and the Nexus 7 when it comes to benchmark tests. The tablets were recently given the Macro Arment image retention test by AnAndTech and it showed that the Apple iPad Mini retina didn’t have image retention along with no improvements to the colour gamut from last year.
The display of the Apple iPad Mini is indium-gallium-zinc oxide, the Nexus 7 has the low temp policy silicon display, while the Kindle Fire HDX comes with the Quantum dots. Dr Ray Soneria used the following to benchmark the tablets.
“Objective Picture Quality, Absolute Color Accuracy, Screen Reflectance, High Ambient Light Display Performance, Peak Brightness, Contrast Ratio, Image Contrast Accuracy, Viewing Angle Performance, Display Power, and Battery Running Time.” The iPad Mini retina has a high resolution and the biggest ppi, but only has a 63% colour gamut, which is woeful compared to the 100% gamut on the other two. Dr Soneria said:
“The new Google Nexus 7 has a very impressive display that uses the highest performance LCDs with Low Temperature Poly Silicon LTPS. The very high efficiency LTPS technology allows the new Nexus 7 display to provide a full 100 percent Color Gamut and at the same time produce the brightest Tablet display that we have measured so far in this Shoot-Out series.
“Most impressive of all is the Kindle fire HDX 7 – the first Tablet display to use super high technology Quantum Dots, which produce highly saturated primary colors that are similar to those produced by OLED displays. They not only significantly increase the Color Gamut to 100 percent but also improve the power efficiency at the same time. Quantum Dots are going to revolutionize LCDs for the next 5+ years.
“And finally… the iPad mini with Retina Display unfortunately comes in with a distant 3rd place finish behind the innovative displays on the Kindle Fire HDX 7 and new Nexus 7 because it still has the same small 63 percent Color Gamut as the original iPad mini and even older iPad 2. That is inexcusable for a current generation premium Tablet. The big differences in Color Gamut between the Kindle Fire HDX 7 and Nexus 7 and the much smaller 63 percent Gamut in the iPad mini Retina Display were quite obvious and easy to see in the side-by-side Viewing Tests.”
This does therefore show us that the Apple iPad Mini retina is below the other two tablets and this is a surprise given that the tablet is the most expensive of them all. Bear in mind that Apple used to be ahead for high end tech and innovative displays. However “Two innovative Tablet manufacturers, Amazon and Google, have significantly leapfrogged Apple by introducing Tablet displays using LTPS (in the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 and the new Nexus 7), and they are significantly outperforming the IGZO and a-Si displays in the current iPads. Apple was once the leader in mobile displays, unfortunately it has fallen way behind in both Tablets and Smartphones. This should be a wakeup call…” At the moment Apple are behind their rivals and are offering products that are weaker.
CNET also said that the Apple iPad Mini retina is not as good as quality as the Apple iPad Air. The Air comes with full SRGB cover and this is the same as what is found on the MacBook Pro and iMac. The Apple iPad Mini retina has issues with red, blue and magenta, plus the display is only 30% the brightness of that of the Nexus 7. Anyone who wants to watch movies on their tablet would be better off choosing the Kindle Fire HDX or the Nexus 7.
