To paraphrase Pontius Pilate, I can find no fault with the iPad mini 3. Having said that, I can wash my hands of a proper review and allow Apple’s new half-pint tablet to be crucified in the budget-conscious court of public opinion.

Nice as it is, the iPad mini 3 truly is a gigantic ripoff when compared to its predecessor. It’s got the same specs, the same basic form factor, the same functionality and battery life.

If we were to write a review, it would read something like this: “Touch ID is a swell addition. Please read our review of the iPad mini 2 for more info. That is all.”

The iPad Air 2 is the best tablet Apple’s ever made. The iPad mini 3 is good, but it’s also a gigantic ripoff.

Phil Schiller gushed over all the new iPad Air 2 upgrades during today’s keynote, reveling in its improved camera, powerful A8X chip, anti-reflective coating and Touch ID. But when it came to the iPad mini 3, Apple tried to slide quickly past it, and for good reason – there weren’t any upgrades to brag about.

Here are the new iPad mini 3 features:

Apple devices are already wiping the floor with the competition in Japan — but things look to be getting even better on the iOS front, thanks to news that the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display are set to launch on the DoCoMo network in two week’s time.

With more than 63 million mobile subscribers, NTT DoCoMo is the largest mobile service provider in Japan.

“With the addition of iPad alongside iPhone, we now offer the complete lineup of Japan’s most popular mobile devices on the nation’s most reliable LTE network,” says NTT DoCoMo CEO Kaoru Kato.

With yet another week in the past your host Joshua Smith is here to give you a wrap-up on some of the latest and biggest news features. Touch iD coming to the iPad, Apple to buy Beats by Dre and more iPhone 6 rumors are among just some of the featured stories in today’s rundown. Take a look at the video and be sure to return next week for another.

Subscribe to CultOfMacTV on youtube.com to catch new episodes of the roundup and other great video reviews, how-to’s and more.

“We still have a lot to cover,” is Apple’s promise this time around. On October 15th, the company sent out press invitations for a media event that will be held at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco this coming Tuesday, October 22nd.

Last month we saw the unveiling of the iPhone 5s and 5c, and this second event is expected to center around new iPads. But that’s not all; the future of OS X, iOS 7, and the Mac are also rumored to be waiting in the wings.

Here’s what to expect from Apple’s October 22nd event:

The second-gen iPad mini is widely expected to get a Retina display, although the rumor mill has been going back and forth on the notion for several months. But as the release date for the tablet draws nearer, the consensus seems to be that Retina is a go.

Apple is known for aggressively slimming down its products with each new iteration, but to accommodate a Retina display, it’s very possible that the second-gen iPad mini could actually get a little thicker.

Yesterday, we saw new pictures of the silver and space gray iPad 5, and today, we see the same thing, shrunk down a spell: the iPad mini 2, in space gray and silver, natch.

So let’s say for a second that Apple doesn’t ship a Retina iPad mini this year… but still decides to release a low-res iPad mini 2. How would they update it without a Retina Display?

Touch ID, son. 64-bit support. And, of course, by spraying it gold.

Will it go Retina or won’t it?

That’s the big question everyone has been asking about the upcoming iPad mini 2. We’ve heard conflicting reports, such as that it will only be available in 2014 instead of October of this year, when the iPad 5 is expected to show up. Other sources — like KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo — say that it will be out before Christmas.

A new report might dash the hopes of anyone expecting a Retina iPad mini this year, though. Instead, they say it’s coming next year.

A new rear shell for the second-generation iPad mini has appared online, and yup, it comes in one of Apple’s new favored iDevice colors: space gray.