Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
I’m no stranger to iPads. I won the iPad Mini 2 in a contest in 2014, bought the Air 4 in 2020, and used both extensively over several years. But my favorite tablets have and will always be Android tablets. From my Acer Iconia A100 to my Nexus Tablet 7, HUAWEI MediaPad M5 Pro 10.8, and finally, the Google Pixel Tablet, I have seen first-hand Android’s progression on larger screens, and I appreciate where we are now.
So when the latest iPad Mini — a.k.a. iPad Mini 7, iPad Mini A17 Pro, or iPad Mini (2024) — landed in my hands, I almost had my mind made up. Prejudice is funny like that. I knew I’d like the hardware and I predicted the A17 Pro processor would be a bit much for my daily needs, but a welcome bonus when editing batches of photos in Lightroom. I would’ve also signed and notarized a document telling you that none of that mattered for my personal use because I still prefer Android over iPadOS. Yes, the iPad has more high-quality apps, more polish, more gestures — just more of everything — but I feel at home with Android, and you can’t easily manufacture or buy that.
