Samsung's flagship interchangeable-lens camera, the NX300, is by far the company's most impressive shooter to date. It offers stellar hybrid-autofocus capabilities, excellent image quality and integrated WiFi, and it retails for a hair over $550. For all intents and purposes, it's a very competitive option, if not one of the best deals on the market today. It's frustrating, then, that Samsung opted to price the Galaxy NX -- an Android-powered camera based on the NX300 -- at an obscene $1,700, lens included. If you're not a deep-pocketed early adopter, it's absolutely a dealbreaker. But I still enjoyed my two-week test with the Galaxy NX, and if you manage to overlook the MSRP, you might just fall in love.

Samsung Galaxy NX review

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HARDWARE

There are two systems to consider when evaluating the Galaxy NX's hardware: the 20.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and DRIMe IV image processor, and the 1.6GHz quad-core Pega-Q chipset that keeps the Jelly Bean (4.2.2) operating system purring at an entirely usable pace. The NX is first and foremost a camera, and it's a powerful one at that, and smartphone chips, like WiFi, LTE and HSPA+ radios, and a virtually unlimited array of apps, transform this otherwise ordinary mirrorless model into a robust connected beast.

Shape and size aside, the NX is aesthetically more akin to a smartphone or tablet. There are far fewer buttons and dials than you'd expect to find on a camera -- instead, all settings are adjusted from within the Android camera app, which you'll access through the 4.8-inch, 720p, touch-enabled LCD. There's also a 0.46-inch SVGA electronic viewfinder, which outputs a more traditional preview screen, with information like aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

From the front, the Galaxy NX looks like any other EVF-equipped mirrorless camera. It's taller, wider and heavier than most similarly specced models on the market today, but not uncomfortably so. There's a lens release and focus-assist light flanking the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit optic around front, then a pop-up flash (with release), hot shoe, microphone, power button, control dial, video record button and shutter release up top. On the left side, you'll find a standard headphone jack, a micro-USB port (which you'll use to charge the camera) and an HDMI port. The bottom contains a tripod mount and a large door covering the micro-SIM, microSD and battery compartments. All three components, including the relatively massive 4,360mAh cell, slide in behind the large extended grip.

SOFTWARE AND USER INTERFACE

You've got the full power of Android at your disposal, which means thousands of compatible photo apps to play with. You can install applications to add funky effects to your photos, organize stills and video clips or share your shots with friends. And if you're considering the NX as a newsgathering tool, it is theoretically possible to instantly upload full-res frames directly to the cloud from anywhere in the world. And unlike other Android-powered cameras, like theGalaxy S4 Zoom, the NX features a manual zoom lens, so you can zoom in and focus in any app.

I shot exclusively with the Galaxy NX during a two-week journey around the world. I lugged the camera through Zurich, Tokyo, Taipei and Shanghai every day of the trip, staying online with anunlimited global SIM from KeepGo. That latter bit of technology enabled flawless connectivity everywhere I traveled, letting me use the device dangling around my neck to navigate city streets, respond to email and, of course, share dozens of high-quality photos and videos on Instagram seconds after they were shot. Most of the time I left my smartphone at the hotel, relying on the NX and its fantastic battery to help me navigate each city as I uploaded photos in real time and kept in touch with the office while 8,000 miles from home.

But the moment I returned to New York, the Galaxy NX went into a drawer and didn't re-emerge until I began working on this review. While the NX was a great fit for that two-week tour, it's just not very practical at home. And that makes sense. Snapping a casual photo every other day was much easier to accomplish with a traditional smartphone, and if I'm not exploring a new city, there's really no need to capture images with a fantastic camera.

Worse yet, however, is the fact that Android ultimately serves to complicate the shooting process here. There's a hardware dial up top, but you need to unlock the NX and launch the camera app to tweak any settings. The interface is nearly identical to what you'll find on the GS4 Zoom, and it's not great. You can select from "expert" options like aperture and shutter priority, or a full manual mode, but the process of tweaking ISO and exposure is far more cumbersome than on a traditional mirrorless camera or DSLR, where dedicated dials and immediately accessible options make on-the-fly adjustments more straightforward.

Of course, if you're shooting through a third-party app, you'll need to depend on that UI for any exposure adjustments. Generally you'll be limited to automatic mode, without an option to change ISO or take advantage of any of the "Smart" options, like Rich Tone or Action Freeze. You can theoretically shoot from the native camera application, save images to the gallery and access them later through another app like Twitter or Instagram, but a bug in the software version I reviewed made sharing full-res images from the gallery impossible. Samsung is looking into the issue, however, and I imagine a fix is in the works. As a workaround, I used a generic Android app called "Images easy resizer" to scale down images and save a copy, at which point I was able to access them through Instagram and Gmail.

Samsung Galaxy NX screenshots

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PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE

Settings adjustments aside, the Galaxy NX did a fantastic job in camera mode. It was also very reliable when it came to accessing email, uploading and viewing images, sharing social media updates and even helping me wake up in the morning (there's a speaker and vibration mechanism, which pair nicely with the alarm clock app, just like on a smartphone). It served me well during this vacation, but to take full advantage of Android, you'll need to use the camera daily, even at home. After having it powered off for a couple days, I returned to find dozens of Twitter, Instagram, Hangouts and Google Voice notifications. While they're easy enough to dismiss, it's still a process that I'd prefer to avoid.

Of course, one of the biggest issues with using a camera that runs Android is a delayed start-up. When it's completely powered down, the NX takes a reasonable 28 seconds to boot up before you're ready to snap your first shot. Fortunately, a short press of the power button simply turns off the display, just as it would on a phone, and launching back into the camera from standby takes less than five seconds. In this regard, it's certainly not as speedy as a traditional ILC, but depending on your subject, it should do the trick. You can also configure the NX to jump right into the camera app whenever you press the shutter button, so if you see something you'd like to shoot, but you're currently sending an email or reading a webpage, it's easy enough to switch modes for a moment.

Just like the NX300, the Galaxy can snap continuous shots at eight frames per second. It also sports an identical hybrid-autofocus system, and adjustments there are consistently speedy and accurate, even in low light. Nighttime shooters will also be pleased to know that the NX can snap stills with a sensitivity of ISO 25,600 -- we'll speak to those results a bit more in the section below, but it's definitely a possibility, especially when you're capturing images to share on the web. You can also shoot stills in RAW. On the video front, expect 1080p video at 30 frames per second or 720p at 60 fps, with generally solid audio capture, too.

Battery life is phenomenal. After deplorable performance with last year's Galaxy Camera, I was definitely concerned about the NX making it through a full day. In practice, however, I had nothing to worry about, as long as I charged the battery overnight. While shooting on Halloween, I spent the day exploring Shanghai, returning to the hotel nine hours later with a 32 percent charge remaining. When you factor in the Google Maps browsing, emailing, Instagram sharing, Foursquare check-ins, 128 photos and nearly three minutes of 1080p video I was able to capture along the way, that's solid performance. Of course, I'd expect nothing less from a 4,360mAh battery pack, but it's great to see that Samsung planned ahead here.

IMAGE QUALITY

IQ-wise, the Galaxy NX is an NX300 through and through. That means image quality is top-notch, and more than adequate for the casual shooting you'll probably be doing. In fact, if the interface wasn't so cumbersome and the camera body so large, I wouldn't hesitate to switch to the NX for all of my important shoots at trade shows and launch events. It's really that great. Let's take a look at some samples.

This shot of the Grand Hotel in Taipei was captured just before landing at Songshan Airport. The camera was set to auto mode, and opted for a perfect exposure of 1/250 second at f/6.3 and a sensitivity of ISO 100. The image looks perfectly sharp until you zoom all the way in, as you can tell from the 100 percent view in the top-right corner. Even so, while perfectionists may have opted for a higher-quality lens in order to capture even more detail, this frame is perfectly adequate for prints or sharing on the web.

Food can always present a challenge for even the most capable camera, but the Galaxy NX did a fair job exposing for the uneven lighting on this EVA Air flight between Tokyo and Taipei. Colors and sharpness look great in this 1/50-second, f/4 shot, captured with a sensitivity of ISO 400.

It was a rainy day in Zurich, but the NX didn't seem to mind. Colors are vibrant and details are fantastically sharp in this 1/80-second, f/5.6 exposure at ISO 800. There is some mild blooming around the text in the 100-percent inset, but you'll only notice it with a 1:1-pixel view on a computer monitor.

The Galaxy NX had quite a night in Tokyo, as you'll probably gather from the slideshow below (and the full-res samples at the source link way down at the bottom). This group shot was captured at 1/50 second with an aperture of f/3.5 and a sensitivity of ISO 3200, but it looks fantastic, even when viewed at 100 percent.

Judging from the 100-percent inset, ISO 25,600 presented some challenges for the Galaxy NX, but even the most capable of smartphones wouldn't have been able to snap a shot with this level of sharpness and detail. A 1/30-second exposure at f/3.5 helped to minimize blur, and all things considered, this is a perfectly respectable performance.

I opted for the NX's "Rich Tone" (HDR) mode when photographing the Shanghai skyline. There was plenty of haze in Pudong, but the camera still did a decent job capturing detail. You can even make out some hotel names in the distance, such as Kempinski in the inset above. Since this was an auto-HDR shot, we don't have exposure information to share, but the NX performed well given the circumstances.

One advantage of shooting with a touchscreen-equipped camera is that you can take full advantage of Samsung's "Beauty Face" mode, which blurs skin and shrinks heads to make your subject CoverGirl-ready. It struggled a bit with my unshaven face, but it's still a fun tool to play with -- especially when you've put on a few pounds after a week of street noodles and buffet breakfasts in Asia.

Samsung Galaxy NX sample shots

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THE COMPETITION

It's safe to say that there's no other Android-powered interchangeable-lens camera, so if that's what you're after, you can look no further than the Samsung Galaxy NX. On that note, if you're here for Android, but you're concerned about the NX's size, you might consider the Galaxy S4 Zoom. But be warned: The Zoom is based on a sluggish chipset, so if you're planning to multitask and use that device as your daily driver, it's not a fantastic fit, either.

On the traditional mirrorless-camera front, you can do a heck of a lot better for only $300 more. Sony's brand-new Alpha 7 packs a full-frame sensor and a decent kit lens, and it's shipping soon for $2,000. Of course, Samsung's NX300 is an obvious pick, too, and at just $550 with a 20-50mm lens, you'll have enough cash left over to pick up just about any smartphone on the market, without a two-year contract, and treat your family to a night on the town to celebrate your fiscal responsibility. Or you can use the leftover dough to fund a flight to China for you and your brand-new (and reasonably priced) ILC.

WRAP-UP

For a first-generation product, Samsung's Galaxy NX really isn't half bad. It's an excellent photo- and video-capture machine, and it even works well as a portable Android device. Sadly, it misses the mark when it comes to integration -- even if sharing photos between apps worked as advertised, it's ultimately nothing you can't do with a WiFi-enabled ILC or point-and-shoot, or even an add-on lens camera like Sony's compact and cheap QX10. If you're curious about the Galaxy NX, head over to a camera store and try one out for yourself, but we can't in good faith recommend that you spend $1,700 on this overpriced hybrid, even if you have the cash to spare

via engadget
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Last year Apple introduced the iPad mini, a second size option for its tablet lineup. In addition to being, well, miniature, it featured a beautiful design -- so beautiful, in fact, that the iPad Air now mimics it. More importantly, with a starting price of $329, consumers at last got an iPad at a more mid-range price point. As you can imagine, it appealed to folks who couldn't afford the full-sized model, and it was also intriguing for people who craved something a little more portable. By the same token, it was also panned by power users who thought the mini should have the same high-end specs and Retina display as the 10-inch model. In short, Apple had two iPads that were capable of attracting two different groups of people.

This year Apple stirred the pot. The new iPad mini not only features nicer hardware than its predecessor; it's also equipped with the same specs as its larger sibling, the iPad Air. For starters, the 2013 mini adds a Retina display, along with Apple's top-of-the-line A7 processor and a larger battery. But, it also comes at a higher cost. We know, we know: It's a premium tablet, but is $399 too much to pay for a brand-new 8-inch slate? Is there anything else in the mid-sized tablet market that would work at a lower price? And since the two iPads are no very similar, are there any factors to consider outside of size?

iPad mini with Retina display review

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HARDWARE

We can explain the hardware of the new iPad mini in one sentence: It's an iPad Air hit by a shrink ray. In many ways, the new mini appears to be a modest, iterative update. Dive a little deeper, however, and the new iPad mini represents an apparent shift in Apple's product strategy. How so? To answer this question, let's go back to last year, when Apple made it clear at its fall event that the iPad mini shouldn't be regarded as a scaled-down iPad. This smaller tablet should have its very own personality, Apple said, and should be viewed in a different light than its larger sibling. It even featured a beautiful design that more closely resembled an iPhone 5 or fifth-generation iPod touch than the fourth-gen iPad, with its chamfered edges and rounded back. Unfortunately, it didn't have a Retina display, nor was it as powerful as the 10-inch version. It was a great tablet in terms of size and portability, but it seemed like Apple was reserving its latest and greatest features for the full-sized model.

iPad mini with Retina display vs. the iPad mini (2012)

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iPad mini with Retina display vs. the iPad Air

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This year is a different story. Not only did the iPad (now called the iPad Air) get redesigned to look just like the mini, but it also offers virtually the same specs as the smaller model. In many respects, the smaller tablet is now a scaled-down iPad Air -- precisely what Apple seemed to be avoiding last year when it debuted the original mini with inferior specs. Now, the company wants its tablets to be equal in everything but screen size, so you don't have to feel like you're making any sacrifices by choosing the mini. (We also can't help but wonder if Apple plans to extend this philosophy to iPhones by offering more than one size.)

Well, they're almost equal; you will notice a few minor variations. For instance, the Air's battery is larger, mainly thanks to its bigger size, but Apple's 10-hour battery life claims apply to both regardless. The mini's processor also doesn't run quite as fast, but we'll discuss that more in just a moment. What's more, there are also a few differences between this year's mini and last year's model, one of which is size and weight. At 200 x 134.7 x 7.5mm, the 2013 edition offers the same width and length as the original, but it's 0.3mm thicker. And whereas the iPad Air is much lighter than its predecessor, the new mini gains 29 grams from last year's model. This may seem odd if little else has changed under the hood, but the new mini features a much larger battery (23.8Whr versus 16.3Whr), which was probably necessary to compensate for that power-draining Retina display. Don't let the dimensions fool you, though -- unless you're playing with them side by side and actively looking for differences, you won't be able to tell.

The unibody aluminum enclosure has also remained unchanged, which means it's as solidly built as ever. That said, we've noticed that the back doesn't heat up as much during gaming and other activities as it used to. That means the mini is even more comfortable to use -- and it was pretty easy to handle even the first time around. It's worth noting that we also noticed this drop-off in heat dissipation on the iPad Air, so this may very well be a by-product of the A7 chip that's present in both devices.

Under the hood, WiFi performance has been dramatically improved thanks to multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology, which is a fancy way of saying that your WiFi can now take advantage of two antennas instead of one. The theoretical max is 300 Mbps, although few people will have the means or need to take advantage of speeds that fast. This tech is quickly becoming popular in flagship phones and tablets, so it's good to see Apple adopt it now. The company also inserted a second mic for noise canceling, which is ideal for videos, FaceTime calls and Siri voice recognition.

The review unit provided to us by Apple was a cellular model, which features much better compatibility with global LTE providers than the original. In years past, iOS devices were spread out across several different SKUs, each one carrying a specific set of frequencies to ensure compatibility with hundreds of operators around the globe. This is no longer the case, as Apple now uses a baseband that offers support for 14 LTE bands (1/2/3/4/5/7/8/13/17/18/19/20/25/26), DC-HSPA+, UMTS, GSM/EDGE, CDMA and EVDO (Rev. A and B). If you're not sure of a carrier's network settings, don't fret: The mini will detect which network you're using and download the proper settings for you.

Just like with the iPad Air, the home button looks the same as on earlier models. Normally this might not be worth pointing out, but in this case it's significant because it means Touch ID (aka the iPhone fingerprint sensor) remains exclusive to the iPhone 5s. Whether this is due to supply constraints or it's something Apple doesn't think iPad users want, the company isn't saying. Still, we've enjoyed Touch ID on the 5s and can't wait to see it eventually implemented in iPads.

DISPLAY

High-resolution displays are a must-have on premium tablets these days -- since inexpensive devices like the Nexus 7 offer beautiful panels with 1,920 x 1,200 resolution, we're happy to see the mini's screen get a much-needed bump to Retina status. By the numbers, the mini features a 2,048 x 1,536 display and boasts a pixel density of 324 pixels per inch. In comparison, this is twice the density of the original mini's 163 ppi. What's more, the new mini has the same exact resolution as the iPad Air, but because the Air's screen is larger, it has a lower pixel density of 264 ppi. The mini also matches the Nexus 7's pixel density, even with a screen that's an inch larger.

Even though numbers don't always match up with user experience, they're quite telling here. The 1,024 x 768 display on last year's model wasn't horrible, but our tired eyes were yearning for a nicer experience for consuming photos and video, and reading text. As you might expect, doubling up the pixel density is not only easily noticeable; it's also refreshing. High-definition videos look glorious; fonts have never looked sharper; and images that show fantastic details on the new mini simply look fuzzy on the old mini. There's very little difference in color reproduction however, but then again, it was already pretty good on last year's model, so we're quite happy with the results. All told, this is one of the best displays we've seen on a tablet.

SOFTWARE

Though our unit came with iOS 7.0.3 preloaded, Apple pushed an update to version 7.0.4 while we were working on this review. Since it's a simple bug fix, the user interface remains unchanged. In general, though, you'll notice slight improvements in the overall user experience thanks to the faster A7 chip and M7 coprocessor. We'll discuss those points later in the review.

CAMERA

Imaging is another area where the new iPad mini and the iPad Air share identical components. Heck, the 5-megapixel f/2.4 rear-facing camera was used on the previous-gen mini as well, which tells us that Apple doesn't believe people care about taking professional-quality photos with their tablets. Even if people aren't swapping out their point-and-shoots in favor of a tablet, however, Apple has a knack for making its picture-taking experience a relatively stress-free one. No worrying about tweaking manual settings or waiting several seconds to take the shot; the user interface is simple and the shutter lag is quite minimal compared to most other devices. Most importantly, the results are surprisingly good for a tablet -- pictures are reasonably detailed with accurate colors, and they look fantastic on the mini's Retina display. The camera doesn't handle low-light conditions particularly well, and there's no LED flash to rescue you either, but still, it meets our expectations.

iPad mini with Retina display sample shots

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Videos are recorded at 1080p resolution and a bit rate of 17.3 Mbps, and as we expected, the footage looks pretty good. Moving objects are perfectly smooth and the colors are fairly accurate. Audio was a mixed bag, because the secondary mic for noise cancellation works well for FaceTime video chatting. In other words, our selfie videos sounded great, but my voice wasn't very loud when taking home movies of my kids or anything else. The FaceTime camera, which records at 720p and 10.6 Mbps, also fares pretty nicely (for a front-facing camera, anyway). Still, there were times my hand accidentally covered the mic and muffled my voice.

PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE

Apple's new A7 chip first debuted on the iPhone 5s and quickly showed up on the iPad Air too, albeit with a slightly higher clock speed (the Air runs at 1.4GHz; the 5s, 1.3GHz). Now the same dual-core 64-bit chip is being used in the new mini, but it has the same 1.3GHz clock speed as the 5s. Yes, this means the benchmarks may not be quite as fast on the mini as they are on the Air (see the table below), but we're not looking at a drastic difference. In fact, the only times you might notice a discrepancy is in side-by-side comparisons, and even then the performance gap is rather subtle.

More importantly, the differences between this mini and last year's model are actually quite significant, since the tablet made a two-generation jump from Apple's A5 chip to the A7. Everything loads faster; there are fewer frame skips when playing games; and we had a great experience with both 32- and 64-bit apps. And if you don't think there's enough of a difference between the A5 and A7, we recommend you play with an original mini for a few minutes and then repeat the same tasks on the new version. The improvement is immediately obvious. On both devices, we played some of the usual games -- Infinity Blade III and Asphalt 8 come to mind -- and new games like Epoch 2 and Lego LOTR, and it's really hard to go back.

	IPAD MINI (2013)	IPAD AIR	IPAD MINI (2012)	IPHONE 5S
SunSpider (ms)	423	388	1,651	418
GXFBench 2.7 T-Rex HD Offscreen (fps)	25	25	CNR	23
Basemark X (onscreen / offscreen)	13.2/15.6	13.3 / 15.5	11.0/CNR	27.7/16.7
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited	14,171	14,631	2,392	13,729
Geekbench 3.0 (multi-thread)	2,509	2,682	496	2,562
Linpack	870	950	116	795
SunSpider: lower scores are better. Linpack scores taken on average. CNR = could not run

As you can see, the new mini ranks just slightly below the Air thanks to the lower clock speed, but again, unless you're playing graphics-intensive games, you won't have much of a reason to pick the larger tablet over the smaller one. The differences between the two minis, on the other hand, are simply astounding; the A5 on the original doesn't come close to any of the A7 devices we've tested.

Much to our satisfaction, Apple's official battery life claims on the iPad Air appeared to be rather conservative, and fortunately the iPad mini also beats the company's estimates. Both devices are supposed to get 10 hours of video playback, and in our standard video rundown test, which consists of playing a 720p movie on an eternal loop with LTE connected and at a fixed display brightness, our unit managed 11 hours and 55 minutes of life. This isn't quite as good as the Air's 13:45 or the original mini's 12:43, but when you consider we achieved that latter result on the WiFi-only model, the gap in battery life isn't really surprising: LTE naturally causes a small dip in battery life. When all was said and done, we were able to get through almost two days of normal use, including web browsing, email, social media, video playback and the occasional game.

Tablet	Battery Life
iPad mini (2013)	11:55 (LTE)
Microsoft Surface 2	14:22
Apple iPad Air	12:45 (LTE)
Apple iPad mini	12:43 (WiFi)
Apple iPad (late 2012)	11:08 (WiFi)
Apple iPad 2	10:26
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime	10:17
Apple iPad (2012)	9:52 (HSPA) / 9:37 (LTE)
Nexus 7 (2012)	9:49
Microsoft Surface for Windows RT	9:36
Apple iPad	9:33
ASUS Transformer Prime Infinity TF700	9:25
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1	8:56
Sony Xperia Tablet Z	8:40
Hisense Sero 7 Pro	8:28
Galaxy Tab 2 7.0	7:38
HP Slate 7	7:36
LG G Pad 8.3	7:19
Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0	7:18
Nexus 7 (2013)	7:15
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook	7:01

CONFIGURATION OPTIONS AND THE COMPETITION

The new iPad mini with Retina display comes in "space gray" and silver colors, both of which look the same as on the Air. You'll also be able to choose one of four storage options ranging from 16GB to 128GB (the latter option is new for the iPad mini, since the original maxed out at 64GB). Finally, there's also the matter of picking WiFi-only or WiFi+Cellular. The cellular model is decked out just like the Air, combining GSM/EDGE, UMTS/DC-HSPA+, EVDO and 14-band LTE and covering most networks around the world. The least-expensive WiFi-only model is $399, while its cellular-enabled counterpart starts at $529; if you want more storage, you'll need to pay an extra $100 for each higher tier, which means the 128GB WiFi-only version goes for $699 and WiFi+Cellular is $829.

Sadly, the new mini costs $70 more than last year's model at the time of launch, which is a head-scratching move. Sure, it's a nicer tablet than the previous model, but all next-gen iOS products are nicer than their predecessors, and rarely have we seen a price increase associated with those improvements. After all, even after the full-sized iPad got a Retina display, the starting price stayed the same at $499.

Those who need a larger screen will still get a great experience with the iPad Air, which features the same configuration options as the mini and a 9.7-inch display starting at $499 for the baseline model. If you don't care to spend extra for the top-of-the-line iPads, Apple now offers the original 7.9-inch iPad mini for $299, a $30 discount from its launch price. The 16GB iPad 2 is also still available for $399 (WiFi-only) and $529 (WiFi+Cellular).

There are also plenty of possibilities on the Android side, especially in the mid-sized category. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 is available for the same base price of $399, and it comes with an active digitizer and S Pen stylus. The LG G Pad 8.3 is another decent option for $350. The Google Nexus 7 (2013) is one of our favorite Android tablets and comes in at $229, which is an incredible price for the features it offers; we'd say this is one of the strongest competitors stepping up to challenge the iPad mini. The Tegra Note 7 is a well-performing Tegra 4 gaming tablet that's launching this week for $199. And let's not count Amazon out with the Kindle Fire HDX line, which starts at $229 for the 7-inch model and $379 for the 8.9-inch. Of course, this also means that you don't get the same Google Play access as other Android devices, and it features "Special Offers" (read: ads).

WRAP-UP

But, let's face it: Plenty of potential buyers won't have a problem paying up, especially those of you who've been eagerly awaiting a mini with Retina display. And we can't blame anyone for being tempted, either, because the mini seems to have finally reached its full potential. We say, two high-quality iPads are better than one, even if it does make it harder to decide which to buy.In the course of a year, the iPad mini has hit puberty, and matured quite a bit. It's an iterative update, for sure, but one that makes it vastly better than the original. Because it now offers a Retina display, fast connectivity and a powerful processor, the mini now shares top-tier product status with the iPad Air. This is precisely the iPad mini we've been waiting for, but it comes with a price hike of $70 over last year's model. Despite its wondrous feature set, some budget-minded buyers may look toward less expensive tablets like the Nexus 7, which also offers a brilliant display and top-notch specs, but for significantly less money.

via Engadget