iPad Mini 4G Hits EE's LTE From £50

Apple's 4G-blessed iPad mini has gone on sale with UK carrier EE today, with the 7.9-inch tablet subsidized down to £50 ($80) if you're willing to commit to two years of LTE. The iPad mini WiFi + Cellular is offered with 3GB, 5GB, or 8GB of LTE data per month, priced at £25.99, £30.99, or £35.99 per month respectively. Alternatively, there's a cheaper way to get online at LTE speeds if you're willing to pay full-whack for the tablet.

EE offers a 4G SIM-only tablet plan, based on a rolling 30-day contract with no two-year commitment. It's priced at £15.99 per month with 5GB of data, and includes the first month of data free as well. Eventually, it'll offer inclusive WiFi through BT's network of hotspots.

If you can foot the upfront bill, it's worth your while. Pay for a full-price iPad mini 16GB 4G (£269 £369 in the UK) and two years of LTE service on the 5GB plan will come to £736.77 in all; in comparison, EE's subsidized device and the same 5GB plan will cost £793.75 over the same 24-month period.

As we found with the Verizon iPad mini 4G, the tablet makes for a very usable mobile hotspot. We saw runtimes in wireless sharing mode far in excess of what any traditional mobile hotspot would offer, with the added reassurance that it's not your phone getting drained.

More on the iPad mini in our full review.