I owned the original Mini but we also had an iPad3 in the house that was there for all to use. With my old Mini, I much preferred the weight and ease of use lying in bed, for example. The iPad3, whilst reminded me that the original Mini screen was a compromise, was just too heavy and harder to hold - so the Mini became a compromise I was willing to make......
When I heard about a Retina Mini coming out, I didn't even consider the Air. This was surely what I was after. I bought the rMini sight unseen. I took it home, full of expectation, and compared some photos I had from a local flower festival on the new beast with the iPad3. I was looking for that vindication at trading in a year old device - that wow, my new rMini has fixed the compromises, and in some ways (speed, clarity) it had, but alas, it didn't deliver what I had hoped for. In terms of colour reproduction, especially with blue irises and red roses, the iPad3 still had a clearly more vibrant image. I just assumed Retina would mean Retina as I knew it. So I searched the web to see if there was some explanation, and discovered the gamut limitations of the rMini. I tried to convince myself it didn't really matter...I tried to convince myself to keep it, that the size and weight still made the rMini the one for me....but then I got to see an Air.
I hadn't realised the new full screen size Air was actually a smaller footprint over the iPad3/4. I hadn't realised the Air was an in-between size, an in-between weight....
I exchanged my rMini - got the Air, and this is the exact right iPad for me - the right screen quality, without fully trading off all of the Mini form factor. I have found I can use my Air as I did the Mini, without it feeling too heavy. And the speed, the screen - it's brilliant. I don't blame Apple in the slightest. I'm not sure why the rMini is as it is, but - Apple allowed me to swap it out for an Air, so at the end of the day, I'm very happy. The Air is without doubt the best iPad experience I have come across.