6 Be.ez LE Littoral Folio
Price: US$58.50 (£34.90/AU$62.10)
If you're the sort that sports canvas shorts all summer long, the LE Littoral might be for you. Softening the iPad Mini's harsh aluminium styling with an all-over padded cotton canvas treatment, LE Littoral from French designer Be.ez has a light, easy going look to it but it's highly functional, too.
Its slightly irregular asymmetric pattern and rust-coloured canvas are inspired by the traditional blouse worn by seamen in Normandy in France, but inside it's more exacting; silicon corner grips keep an iPad Mini Retina firmly in place.
Adding 236g to an iPad Air Retina, LE Littoral's cream-coloured canvas on the inside has stitched ridges that hold its host in three upright positions and one typing positions, with magnets shutting-off and waking the tablet when the case is opened and closed. There's a camera cutout, and a notebook-style elastic strap for securing it shut, too.
Perfect for lazying around and reading in the sunshine, LE Littoral is also available for the iPad Air.
7 Covert Suki
Price: US$50 (£29.99/AUS$54)
Ever wanted a pony but never got one? How about some pony skin instead? It's not real – thankfully – but the cow hide on this glamorous iPad Mini 2 Retina case has been fluffed-up to feel like small horses. That only applies to the flanks, but the presence of ostrich style-leather and regular, smooth leather lends the Suki an unusual look.
Too many cases for the iPad Mini Retina are business-like and a tad conservative, but not the Suki – no way. Though it's also available in a more muted black it's ships in orange and crimson, too.
Designed as a kind of clutch but probably best carried around in a tote or handbag, the Suki looks like en envelope. It acts like one, too, taking an iPad Mini 2 retina inside its soft velvet-like lining. It closes magnetically.
8 Proporta Quiksilver Premium Edition Canvas Sleeve
Price: US$39.95 (£29.95/AUS$42)
Made by Proporta for surf brand Quiksilver, this two-tone canvas sleeve makes waves with its simplicity.
The tan leather-look edging and a double zip enclosure around the top are well made and tough, but our favourite feature is a pocket on the front that's idea for stuffing bits of paper. It's actually ideally sized to hide an iPhone.
Though it's designed for 'devices measuring up to 140x205mm so isn't specific to the iPad Mini Retina, in practice it's a perfect fit and keeps Apple's smallest snug – and with plenty of built-in padding to protect it, too.
Weighing a mere 63g, this canvas sleeve is simple but surprisingly functional. For Quiksilver fans, there's a raised but otherwise subtle logo on the front.
9 Expert Shield Anti-glare Screen Protector
Price: US$20 (£11.95/AUS$22)
For those who like to keep their tablet au natural and think that adding a bulky case ruins the aesthetics, we say 'take care'. You may not have scratched your tablet, but we have (even once suffering from a smashed iPad screen when a ceramic model of a zebra fell off a shelf – true story). It happens, which is why there are a plethora of screen protectors around one of the best being the Expert Shield.
We've applied quite a few of these products in the past, with most suffering from trapped dust that cause permanent air bubbles. The Expert Shield is unusual in that it's designed both to allow the pushing-out of air bubbles with a finger (most use an annoying plastic card) and that it can be lifted-off and re-applied many times without losing its stick.
Best of all, once it's on it doesn't take the edge off the Retina screen of the latest iPad Mini.
10 Tech 21 Impact Mesh
Price: US$67 (£39.99/AUS$63)
For those who want tough but almost invisible protection for an iPad Mini but don't want to chuck away their Apple Smart Cover, look no further than this minimalist three-sided bumper. Adding about 70g to the weight of the iPad Mini 2 Retina, the Impact Mesh is hewed from clear plastic that wraps around three sides and the entire rear of the tablet.
Don't be fooled by its transparent, slim-line look; inside that rim is shock absorbing D3O material that's designed to absorb and dissipate impact. It's flexible, too, allowing easy application to an iPad Mini, and a snug fit.
There are cutouts in the plastic for the camera, mic, headphones jack, on/off switch, speakers and Apple Lightning, with a pass-through rocker for the volume controls.
Although the Impact Mesh is left open on the left-hand side for attaching the popular Apple Smart Cover that only protects the screen, it does just foul the bottom of the Logitech Ultra Thin Keyboard Cover also featured here.
- Here's what we want to see in the iPad Mini 3
