Build quality is great, as could be expected, but the display is definitely sub-par for late 2012 expectations. I'd hesitate to give the iPad Mini as a gift to anyone (including myself) because of that -- I'd just feel bad about not giving the best that today's technology can offer at iPad Mini's price point. Apple can certainly do better, and I expect that they will, in 2013.
Jakob Nielsen, in
today's column, calls any new displays below 200 ppi "lousy", and I agree. iPad Mini only has 163 ppi, while iPads 3, 4 have 264 ppi, and iPhones 4, 5 are at the delightfully crisp 326 ppi. (The Retina MacBook Pros are at "only" 220/227 ppi.)