Just when you thought you had all the Apple products you could possibly need, along comes the iPad mini – a 7.9-inch version of Apple’s iPad. The iPad mini bundles a lot of tablet into this smaller package. However, there are some features that don’t quite match up to its competitors – and being £100 more than its competitors, the similarly sized Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD (both £159), we feel this is one Apple iOS device that may not fly out the door like its larger (iPad) and smaller (iPhone) stable mates.

The look and feel is pure Apple design genius; once it is in your hand you are wondering how you could live another day without one. The glass display and the small, round home button, dominate the front of the iPad mini. Style cues are taken from the iPod Touch and iPhone 5 with the white model having an aluminium back, whilst the black version has a slate-coloured aluminum back. Unfortunately it is just too big to fit in a coat pocket, and is better suited to a purse or shoulder bag.

Looking at practicalities, to type on the new device you can have it as portrait and bash away with your thumbs or going landscape, you can type like a computer keyboard – which left the team at Mobile Free Sim surprised at how well it went. The iPad mini comes with 2 cameras. On the front is the lower-res HD camera can be used for FaceTime whilst on the back is a 5-megapixel lense for hi res photos and video in 1080p.

Mobile Plans for iPad mini

There are two options for connectivity for the iPad mini,Wi-Fi only and 4G versions. Unfortunately for us in the UK, the iPad Mini uses the 1,800MHz, which is currently only offered by EE.

Mobile Free Sim will keep readers updated with news as other networks announce their plans for 4Gand if the spectrum they choose are suitable for the iPad Mini.

Overall we are not sure the iPad mini is worth the dosh.. but, I am asking the big guy in the red suit and his elves for one come Christmas.