This comparison of 7'' tablets is ancillary documentation for the ALA article Vexing Viewports. It compares the factual CSS pixel density and em-width of these tablets.
The em-width is the most important bit of data. It tells you how many characters fit on the screen by default. (OK, it’s more complicated than that, but this definition will serve for now.)
The iPad Mini’s em-width is far too high; 48 instead of the 36-37 that the other tablets use. Thus fonts are distinctly smaller on an iPad Mini than on comparable tablets.
In order to get the iPad Mini in line with the rest, it would have to have a device-width of about 600px or a default font size of about 20px.
The first generation Samsung Galaxy 7'' had a too low em-width, resulting in huge text, but that was corrected in the second generation. Apple should do the same.
| Tablet | dimension | device-width | px/inch | Font size | em-width |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nexus 7 | 3.75 | 603 | ~ 160 | 16px | 37.7 |
| Kindle Fire | 3.5 | 600 | ~ 170 | 16.6px | 36.1 |
| iPad Mini | 4.75 | 768 | ~ 160 | 16px | 48 |
| PlayBook | 3.54 | 600 | ~ 170 | 16px | 37.5 |
| Galaxy 7'' (1st gen) | 3.5 | 400 | ~ 115 | 16.6px | 24.1 |
| Galaxy 7'' (2nd gen) | 3.31 | 600 | ~ 180 | 16px | 37.5 |
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">