Apple's iPad mini has always been a firm favourite tablet in the Wired.co.uk office. With the iPad mini 3 Apple has kept almost everything from the previous Retina display iPad mini 2 , but added a TouchID fingerprint sensor and now offers a gold finish.

Amazing display; excellent battery life; fast processor; great 3D graphics; easy to use; app store still number one for quality and variety

The addition of TouchID and gold colour option just doesn't seem to justify such a premium over the iPad mini 2; cameras and processor not improved in line with other iPads

The yearly upgrade cycle is now an accepted – if occasionally frustrating – part of being a technophile in today's constantly moving market. Once a year (or sometimes even sooner – yes, we're looking at you Sony), a product line will undoubtedly get refreshed or replaced; some updated specs, maybe...

Superb screen; Good colour balance; Rhythmic sound; Strong app selection; Premium design; ‘Touch ID

Very similar spec to last year

Excellent

We give our expert verdict on the iPad mini 3, with its super-compact design, powerful 64-bit processor and 7.9-inch screen, and find out if this miniature tablet delivers a big impact.

Fantastic build quality; iOS 8 operating system; Touch ID fingerprint reader

Price is high compared to some rivals; The iPad mini 2 is still available for much less

When the iPad mini with Retina display launched alongside the iPad Air in 2013 the biggest choice you had to worry about was whether or not you wanted a 7.9-inch or a 9.7-inch screen. The message from Apple was clear: you get the same power either way.

Great size; good screen; TouchID integrated

Same as last year; iPad mini 2 offers far better value for money

Hiding in the shadows of Apple's iPad Air 2 announcement was the smaller iPad Mini 3, neglected, with the only improvement made to the year-old tablet being Touch ID.

Powerful and yet small tablet; High resolution 'retina display; Touch ID

Hardware is a year old; Expensive

As we said at the start, this review is one that's largely positive, but with the price overshadowing the tablet. This is largely because Apple has left the iPad Mini 2 on sale, which is identical, bar TouchID, the Apple SIM, Gold colour and storage sizes.

The iPad Air 2 may have stolen all the spotlight, but that's not because of poor marketing planning. Apple did little to change the third generation of the iPad mini so it got little stage time. But it's not our job to decide which product gets the most fanfare.

Metal unibody, 7.5mm slim, 331g of weight, Optional LTE connectivity (Cat; 4, 150Mbps downlink, 7.9" 1,536 x 2,048 LED-backlit IPS LCD with 324 ppi pixel density, Apple iOS 8, Dual-core 1.3 GHz Apple A7 chipset, M7 motion co-processor, PowerVR GX6430 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 5MP autofocus camera,...

No microSD slot; Pricey memory upgrades; 32GB version should have been standard; No NFC connectivity; Apple Pay has limited functionality; Apple iOS 8 still relies on iTunes for music and file transfers

How does Apple's latest mini tablet fair? We take a look in our video review.....

Following a couple of weeks of use, the iPad Mini 3 performs mostly as expected. (See Notes)1. For my use, I prefer the smaller size. My wife has the iPad Air that I used for a while to compare. 2. I like how the Unit communicates with my iPhone 5.