The first reviews of Apple's iPad Mini have hit the web and overall the reaction appears to be positive. Unsurprisingly however reviews haven't ignored the iPad Mini's lower resolution display or the considerable price hike over the Google Nexus 7 or Amazon Kindle Fire HD.

The Verge's Joshua Topolsky gives the iPad Mini a glowing review calling it the "best small tablet" in the market and suggests that with the iPad Mini Apple are aiming to "raise the floor" saying "There's no tablet in this size range that's as beautifully constructed, works as flawlessly, or has such an incredible software selection."

Walter S. Mossberg from The Wall Street Journal was impressed saying "it brings the iPad experience to a smaller device. Every app that ran on my larger iPad ran perfectly on the Mini." He goes on however to mention that "the lack of true HD gives the Nexus and Fire HD an advantage for video fans. In my tests, video looked just fine, but not as good as on the regular iPad."

Engadget were abundently clear on their iPad Mini verdict stating "This is, in many ways, Apple's best tablet yet". Tim Stevens then went on to compare it to the competition summarising that "the overall package as it sits in your hand -- is much nicer than the Nexus 7." Finally Stevens believes that "access to the best selection of tablet-optimized apps on the market" could seal the deal.

The Telegraph's review agree's that the iPad Mini's real selling point is the ecosystem that Apple has created with Shane Richmond saying "whether it's worth it depends on how much of a premium you put on great design and a vast ecosystem of apps." He does however cite the low-res screen as a deal-breaker for many saying "With a retina display this would be a knock-out device but its unlikely that Apple could put one in a tablet this size at this point."

Charles Arthur from The Guardian takes a more matter of fact approach citing "excellent build quality" and "a huge selection of apps" as key selling points. He does however criticise the keyboard and points out that there is as much letterboxing of videos as you would find on the Nexus 7 despite the larger screen. He sums it up saying "The only way Apple could improve on this product would be (as some people are already agitating) to give it a retina screen and somehow make it lighter."

In our very own Apple iPad Mini hands-on editor Luke Peters gave the iPad Mini a glowing review pointing out that despite the drop in screen resolution "The LED-backlit screen looks fantastic on the 7.9-inch display. Colours are vivid, text is pin sharp, web pages render quickly". The praise doesn't stop there concluding that "We'd go as far as saying that the iPad Mini is our favourite iPad yet.". He does however finish on a word of warning pointing out that "The main sticking point, however, is price."