When I concluded our iPad Air review I assumed the iPad mini with Retina Display was a true no-compromise, smaller alternative to the iPad Air. In many senses that's true. Wireless connectivity is identical between the models, battery life is pretty much the same as well.

At ￡319 for the 16GB, cellular-free, model, the iPad Mini Retina isn't cheap, especially compared to its rivals. Things get almost MacBook-like at the top-end, with the 128GB/4G model setting you back ￡659.

Stunning Retina display; Speed performance; Size and weight for daily use

Price; No Touch ID

Apple has taken its landmark tablet and made it significantly better. There's no doubt this is the best small tablet on the market, and should budget not be a primary factor in a buying decision then it's the device to go for whether it's for screen quality, range of apps, battery life, physical...

The Air and Mini are almost exact mirrors of each other when it comes to the overall hardware. The resolution is 2,048 x 1,536 on both models, the Air has 264 ppi while the Mini has 326 ppi. They have the same 1.3 GHZ Dual Core processor and 1 GB of RAM.

Small doesn't have to mean second-rate, we've seen the future of tablets and it looks like the Retina iPad Mini

Gorgeous build; stunning Retina screen; All day battery life; Much faster than the original Mini

Very expensive compared to 7/8in tablets; No expandable storage; Marginally inferior colours compared to Air's screen

Review Last year's iPad Mini really was playing second fiddle to the regular iPad. Not merely smaller than its sibling, the Mini had a much lower resolution display. It had a less powerful processor too. It felt like a product Apple was obliged to make rather than one it actually wanted to.

The iPad mini with Retina screen is everything the little tablet deserved to be - a more compact equal of the bigger iPad with no compromises made. And unfortunately, it's just one thing short of what we all thought a compact tablet should be - cheap.

7.9" LED-backlit IPS LCD touchscreen; 1536 x 2048 pixels; ~ 324 ppi; oleophobic coating; Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity with MIMO dual antennas; Optional 2G/3G GSM; CDMA; LTE connectivity (data only; separate models; Optional GPS with A-GPS support (for the Wi-Fi+Cellular model only; Dual-core A7...

Expensive for a compact tablet; Non expandable memory; extra storage is largely overpriced; Tied into iTunes for uploading most of the content; No standard USB port; No GPS receiver in the Wi-Fi-only version

The iPad mini Retina is here and it clears up one of the biggest complaints about the original iPad mini: the screen. With the original it wasn't as good as the iPad or the iPhone, but with the Retina display now on board the iPad mini 2 looks to be an incredible tablet device.

Portable; powerful; great screen; as a tablet should be

No Touch ID; not 802.11ac; no microSD

In our review of Apple's original iPad mini last year, we remarked that its exceptional iOS app catalogue, outstanding build quality and super light weight were only let down by a mediocre screen.

Excellent battery life; Retina screen a big upgrade; Fast; snappy performance

More expensive than predecessor; Screen can't match iPad Air

In our review of Apple's original iPad mini last year, we remarked that its exceptional iOS app catalogue, outstanding build quality and super light...

Excellent battery life; Retina screen a big upgrade; Fast; snappy performance

More expensive than predecessor; Screen can't match iPad Air