isn't bad?

The original android g1 had greater PPI (180) than this thing.

Smartphone versus tablet is not really a fair comparison.

The pixel density for the new iPad mini sits between the iPad 2 and iPad 3 with Retina display. As far as I'm aware, no one was complaining about the iPad 2 display.

In any case, I suspect the choice of resolution was driven more by compatibility concerns (i.e. it can run iPad 2 apps unscaled), and this paves the way for a 'Retina display' iPad mini at some point in the future.

I ask since when are apple products judge by "isn't bad"?

And yes, it is this resolution solely to support legacy applications, possibly to reduce costs. But i can only speculate on the latter.

It certainly isn't great, but it's positively, definitely the best alternative. I'm one of the biggest retina fans - I just love Retina displays. But having two choises (retina screen, no piggybacked app - non-retina screen, run every single app without modification) I'd definitely choose non-retina.