Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
Android phones are wonderful gadgets that can do pretty much anything, but their screens are too small for some tasks. That’s why tablets make for great secondary devices, but choosing the right one can be a challenge. For years, I’ve been on the “bigger is better” train, using Android tablets with 11-inch or larger screens. But after recently trying a smaller, iPad Mini-sized Android tablet, I’ve started to question why I ever liked the larger models in the first place.
The appeal of larger Android tablets is obvious: their large, vibrant screens make watching videos and playing games incredibly immersive. Media consumption is their forte, and no other product category does it better. However, few people want to spend hundreds of dollars on a device just for media, which is why so many companies try to position their tablets as laptop replacements.
The problem, though, is that Android tablets all suck at doing laptop-like things.
The problem, though, is that Android tablets all suck at doing laptop-like things. While they’ve gotten much better at multitasking in recent years, they still don’t hold a candle to my Windows laptop. Whenever I tried to be productive on one of my larger Android tablets, the experience felt forced and inefficient. Sure, my laptop is bulkier, but not by that much, and its own large, vibrant OLED display means it’s no slouch for media and gaming either. When it came to choosing a device to bring with me for a trip, my laptop always won. That was until I got the new Xiaomi Pad Mini.
Don’t call the Xiaomi Pad Mini a clone From its looks to its specs, the Xiaomi Pad Mini doesn’t particularly stand out. There’s nothing about it that makes me go “wow,” like the thinness of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 or the size of the OnePlus Pad 3. Sometimes, though, a device is so solid all-around that I’m willing to overlook its lack of standout features. Xiaomi is particularly good at this; it often releases products with similar specs to competitors but at a lower price, which leads some to call them “cheap knockoffs.”
But the Xiaomi Pad Mini is anything but a cheap imitation of the iPad Mini. It’s a fantastically well-thought-out device sitting in a product segment that desperately needs more competition. It’s an Android-powered alternative to the iPad Mini that finally made me understand why people love small tablets.
With an 8.8-inch screen, the Xiaomi Pad Mini certainly isn’t the smallest tablet you can buy. The iPad Mini has a smaller 8.3-inch display, and a foldable like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 offers an 8-inch screen when opened. The key difference, though, is the Pad Mini’s aspect ratio, which is much better suited for media consumption. Its 16:10 screen results in smaller black bars (letterboxing) when watching videos, which are typically produced in a 16:9 format.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
In contrast, the iPad Mini’s squarer 3:2 display and the Z Fold 7’s nearly 1:1 screen both produce significant letterboxing with 16:9 content. While the Pad Mini’s display might not be as ideal for productivity as a taller screen, it strikes a fantastic balance. It’s about as optimized for media as a tablet can get without becoming too wide to hold comfortably. It’s also tall enough to run most phone apps without awkward stretching, and you can even run two side-by-side. Essentially, it’s like a blown-up phone screen, making it perfect for consuming all kinds of content.
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