Yes this is the brand new apple ipad mini version 6 new generation just shipped this week still
smells new actually just smells like an ipad i don't even know why i did the ipad mini has always
been my preferred choice in the cockpit i find the regular ipad just a little bit too big and it's so
synonymous with aviation now that apple actually used that when they announced it last week
so here's an honest pilot's review on the ipad mini 6 should you buy it should
you upgrade if you've got an existing ipad mini 5 let's start with what's in the box
price will generally lead most decisions so let's start with how much it costs
the version five you can still get this the older version for 599 dollars for the 64 gig
the base version the same base version 64 gig and wi-fi in the ipad mini version 6
starts at 749 now that price goes up if you choose cellular if you get extra storage i'll
talk about that in a second so what's changed well first of all the processor apple have got the new
a15 processor inside the version 6 ipad mini compared to the a12 which was in the version 5.
basically means you've got a faster processor so apps should run faster calculations should happen
quicker as well and as electronic flight bags get more and more complex that's only a good thing
i'm trying to do this kind of very unscientific which is faster it's hard for you to see another
camera but trust me the faster chip it just things load a bit quicker on the new one
in terms of size there is a difference between the two but it's not actually what you would think
when you put them side by side you can actually see the new version 6 ipad mini is slightly
smaller it's not quite as long but that doesn't mean you've got less screen real estate you've
actually got more screen size because the screen goes closer to the edges of the frame itself you
don't have those big black bars across the top and bottom in terms of storage options between
the two they're exactly the same you can get the base 64 gig version or you can pay more to get
the 256 gigabyte version my recommendation and i'll talk about which one you should buy towards
the end of the video but i've never this is 64 gig the version 5 and i've also bought a 64 gig
version 6 as well i've never filled this ipad up mainly because i only use it for
flying i haven't got all my other apps on there really all i've got on here is what i'm gonna
need for planning a flight and in the cockpit but if you're gonna that's my door one second
For a future video... Was i talking about? Storage! If you're just going to be using
this for flying i've found over the last couple of years using version 5 and version 4 before
that i've never needed more than 64 gig also a ram upgrade two gigabytes used to get in version five
that's gone up to three gigabytes for version six there's also a weight difference between
the two but as with the size difference the weight difference may surprise you
sounds like a bad advert the results may shock you so the version 5 comes in at 10.8 ounces but
the version 6 ipad mini just 10.5 it's lighter oh there's a plane going a bit who's flying right now
sorry i know i'm recording a video but you've got to do that thing you hear a plane you've
got to jump on flight radar it's the role flying doctor service i guess they're allowed to fly
there's some changes to the outside the physical functionality of this as well the big thing is the
home button has gone if you've been using apple iphones or other ipads in the past you'll be
pretty used to that kind of swipe multitasking functionality rather than using the home button i
don't think that's a big deal but let's talk about the pencil because that has changed a bit now the
version five ipad you could use the apple pencil with but you had to use version one of the apple
pencil now that was a little bit fiddly and a bit of a pain in the ass because the version five had
the usb connector that was under the lead and if you have to charge it when you're flying it kind
of sticks out and it's quite easy to you know to speed yourself in the ipad version 6 uses the new
version of the apple pencil which is magnetic and sticks to the side of the ipad now not only is
that handy because it holds on to the side of the ipad but that's how it charges as well and i will
say this is the first time i've used one of these magnetic pencils i thought this would be quite
like quite a loose connection and it might fall off no no this thing's solid i tried
shaking the ipad quite a bit to see if i could get the pencil to fly off you know simulating
turbulence in the cockpit but this thing holds solid with the new operating system
ios 15 on the ipad mini 6 as well you do get a couple of really cool features my favorite by
far though is something called quick note let me film this view on my iphone so your ipad's
off you're sitting in the cockpit you've got your pen and air traffic control come on and
they give you a new frequency all you need to do is just swipe up from the bottom corner
and your notes app appears and then when you're done stick your pen on the side
go back to flying the aircraft i just think that's a really cool quick feature to be able to write
notes another reason why i'm really not going to have my ipad and a pad with a pen sitting next to
me at the same time i really only just need this one device now don't feel that you have to get the
apple case to protect it they start at 99 on the apple website i didn't i bought a case for it just
on another website i think it was ebay the apple cases are nice but you're already spending about
a grand on this thing all um don't spend another hundred dollars on a case did you buy it should
you upgrade if you already have the apple version 5 ipad mini that's not what it's called couple of
scenarios first of all if you don't have an ipad mini at all you're getting into your flying or
you're looking to upgrade to an electronic flight bag in the cockpit and you're looking to buy
a device yes buy the new ipad mini version 6. it's great if you have an existing ipad should
you upgrade to the version 6 well probably but not yet i'd actually recommend waiting probably
about three to six months for a couple reasons let the operating system bugs get ironed out in ios
15. secondly let the manufacturers of the electronic flight bags just get up to speed
with the new hardware and the new software on the operating system that's people like garmin pilot
for flight sky demon av plan efb oz runways get a really stable version on a stable operating system
and at that point move across to the new hardware and if you're going to buy the ipad mini version
6 which one should you get well if you can just afford the base version the 64 gig wi-fi only
version you want to get that fantastic you're not going to be disappointed it's a great machine if
you can afford a little bit more than that here's the order in which i would recommend you do all
the add-ons because there's quite a few options get the wi-fi plus cellular version the reason for
that is i actually find i can get pretty good 3g sometimes 4g coverage in the cockpit to download
things like weather no tams radar imagery in the cockpit and i find that really useful on the
longer flights if you get the wi-fi plus cellular version you've still got money to spare then i
would suggest add on the apple pencil just the ability to take notes on your ipad to be able to
annotate maps to be able to write down frequencies without having a separate pad and pencil sitting
next to you saves you space and i think gives you a more efficient cockpit and if you've done all
that and you've still got money to spare well money bags then get the 256 gigabyte version
that's fine i didn't i don't think it's necessary but if you want it and you want to put on fortnite
and play that at cruise fair play to you it's your ipad let me know in the comments what hardware and
what efb you're using i genuinely love to hear what you guys use in the cockpit as well and also
thanks thanks for putting up with this lock down here in this video this is man i haven't had a
haircut for i think it's been about three months i can almost do a top knot again remember that?
I won't subject you to that