Who's the iPad mini for? That's going to color a lot of my judgment from here on out. I'll say that it's not for people who want a cheap iPad or a cheap tablet. There is a better cheap iPad for your kids to play Toca Boca games on—the $329, sixth-generation, 9.7-inch iPad—and much cheaper tablets for basic use. But if you look around, there are a lot of iPad minis in business. Smaller tablets work well on vehicle mounts, as point-of-sale systems, for taking your restaurant order, for writing a prescription by a bedside, for getting your signature for that FedEx package, or for augmented-reality-lensing a house on the market to check its Zillow status. The iPad mini is for people who are standing up a lot while holding their tablet, and for businesses that don't want to pay for an iPhone and service plan for every device. It also fits well in purses.
-- pcmag.com