Name: iPad mini with Retina display
Brand: Apple

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Camera

The camera interface on the iPad mini 2 is something of a confusing one, as just like the iPad Air it's got a stripped-down version of the app you find in Apple's iPhones.

This means that instead of the ability to take Slo-Mo videos and make them look amazing on the larger screen, you've instead got the option to take a photo, a video, or a square photo for portrait shots. At least iOS 9 has added a timelapse feature.

There's also an HDR mode, but even the filters, which have similar options available in the separate Photobooth app out of the box, aren't available.

Given that the architecture is almost identical from the iPhone 5S to the iPad Air and mini 2, I can't see why the options aren't the same across the board.

I'm not going to get that upset, as this might minimize the amount of people using their iPad to take a picture. It's not a good look, and you shouldn't be doing it.

I'm more tolerant of this on a smaller iPad, and I have to say that despite only taking 5MP stills the output is very impressive.

The ability to lock the autofocus and exposure is still very handy, and in portrait mode especially it was very easy to actually take pictures thanks to the even weight of the device.

Flicking between the modes was no hassle with one hand, and while I noted a couple of times when the autofocus took too long to kick in, when it got it right I was really pleased with the results.

Being able to edit them on the device with the new-look Photos app was brilliant too, although you're more limited with what you can do with the smaller screen. I kept wishing I could edit them on the iPad Air 2 instead, which has a much larger capacity for editing thanks to the increase in size, if not pixel count.

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Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grew with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.

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