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On the face of it, the Xiaomi MiPad is irresistible. We have the most powerful mobile chipset on the planet within an iPad mini form-factor, put together by one of the few true enthusiast-friendly OEMs working today. It's available in China right now, costing the equivalent of just £140 - but good luck on getting one, in the short term at least. The initial 50,000 unit allocation sold-out mere moments after it went on sale - the mark of a highly desirable piece of technology. But specs aside, what so special about the MiPad? Well, Xiaomi specialises in cutting-edge devices, built around its own, extremely well-received iteration of the Android OS, known as MIUI - now in its 5.5 iteration, based on Android 4.4.2. On top of that, unlike many Far East manufacturers, Xiaomi is forever providing new updates to its hardware (all of which support English). And those products tend to be rather special - we reviewed the MI2 smartphone and found it to be exceptional, but there has since been numerous new phones that provide state-of-the-art specs in ultra-small form factors, plus there's the small matter of the company's 49-inch 4K SmartTV - a snip at just £400. In short, when Xiaomi debuts its first tablet, gadget fans the world over sit up and take notice.
First impressions of the MiPad can be summed up easily: it's very much akin to a Retina iPad mini, complete with rear plastics reminiscent of the iPhone 5C. The front of the device is covered with Gorilla Glass 3, under which you'll find a 7.9-inch 2048x1536 IPS display made by Sharp. It isn't quite as bright as the miniature Apple tablet, but it is better calibrated, covering 97 per cent of the sRGB gamut.
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