Apple's iPad Mini will reign supreme in the 7-plus inch tablet class but it will not kill competitors like Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7 - the smaller iPad is way too pricey to do that.

This according to David Pogue, respected science and technology columnist for the U.S. publication The New York Times, following his advanced hands-on with the product that Apple said will begin hitting global stores on Nov 2.

Definitely, the iPad Mini was far from being a let down as Mr Pogue lauded Apple engineers for coming out with new product that virtually mirrors all the features and functions of its bigger sibling.

His only gripe is the Mini's 1024 x 768 screen resolution that detracted from the Retina display technology that is now standard even on the smaller screens that newer iPhone and iPod Touch versions were deployed with.

By deliberately excluding this cutting-edge display feature from the iPad Mini, experts have been expecting that the gadget's sticker price would be pegged much closer to that of the Kindle, Nexus and other affordable but equally capable tablets.

Apple, of course, veered away from that direction and "by pricing the Mini so high, Apple allows the $200 class of seven-inch Android tablets and readers to live, Mr Pogue argued in his review.

However, he went on to declare that the Mini will emerge as the cream of the class, insinuating that would-be buyers should be delighted that Apple has unleashed "a far classier, more attractive, thinner machine."

"It has two cameras instead of one. Its fit and finish are far more refined. And above all, it offers that colossal app catalogue, which Android tablet owners can only dream about," the NY Times tech expert was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The Mini, according to Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, will silence critics who have been bemoaning the regular iPad's heavy feel and they're getting now is a magical slate that is "53 per cent lighter and 23 per cent thinner than the standard iPad."

Mr Mossberg added that Apple again displayed engineering ingenuity "to create a tablet that's notably thinner and lighter than the leading small competitors with 7-inch screens, while squeezing in a significantly roomier 7.9-inch display."

The result was a sleek new toy characteristic of Apple's uncompromising emphasis on quality as Mr Mossberg pointed out in his blog that the tech giant "shunned the plastic construction used in its smaller rivals to retain the iPad's sturdier aluminium and glass body."

The iPad Mini is top-notched Apple device through and though as attested by Phil Schiller and Tim Cook when the product was introduced to the public last week.

And almost everything that Mr Cook and Mr Schiller had promised about the Mini is true, foremost of which was the claim that the device will last at least 10 hours on normal usage, the popular WSJ tech columnist.

Mr Mossberg said he subjected the Mini "in my harsh battery test, where I play videos back to back with the screen set at 75 per cent and the Wi-Fi on to collect email."

The result proved that Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus 7 were no match in terms of power juice as "the iPad Mini exceeded Apple's battery life claim of 10 hours and lasted 10 hours and 27 minutes."

Yet one shortfall that can be pointed out is Apple's strange decision to deny the Mini HD video rendering, the lack of it, Mr Mossberg said, "gives the Nexus and Fire HD an advantage for video fans."

He concluded that consumers not very particular in enjoying high definition videos on their tablets would likely regard the iPad Mini as a near-perfect fix for their gadget cravings.