iPad Air 2 has arrived to pre-order customers today. I didn’t upgrade my tablet this year, but a good friend of mine allowed me to visit his house and played around with his new toy for few hours. And here’s my review on Apple’s latest iPad.
My first impression: iPad Air 2 is a gorgeous device. The first thing I notice is how thin and light it is. According to Apple’s specs, iPad Air 2 is 6.1 mm thin, compared to 7.5 mm “thickness” of iPad Air 1. This tablet is really really thin, and that’s noticeable right from the first second I tried to hold it. Does the “thinner” form factor really makes a difference in our actual usage? Maybe not. But the weight difference certainly will. iPad Air 2 weighs 437 gr. It’s actually not much different from 469 gr of iPad Air 1. However, it felt significantly lighter on my hand. I pulled out my iPad mini 2 out of its case and compare the weight using my hands. They feel almost the same. I asked my friend to do the same and he admitted he felt the same weight too. Strange. By technical specs, iPad mini 2 (WiFi + cellular version) weighs 341 gr, so it should have noticeable weight difference. After asking few other friends to do the weight comparison, we concluded that it might have something to do with weight distribution across the device.
Next is the display. I compared iPad Air 2 with its older brother (iPad Air 1) side by side. At the first glance, I could tell that their displays are different, but I couldn’t really tell what makes the difference. After making few observations from different angles, I finally noticed that the display of iPad Air 2 looks closer to the display surface. Most probably this is due to Apple’s zero gap display introduced for this year’s update. To be honest, I can’t really notice the impact from the so-called new “anti reflective coating”.
Thanks to A8X processor with triple core and 2 GB RAM, iPad Air 2 is blazing fast. Well, as most high-end tablets are already equipped with overkill specs now, we probably won’t notice much of the speed difference in casual usage like browsing the home screen or reading email. However, the speed difference (from iPad Air 1) becomes easily noticeable once I tried opening few games or other “heavy” apps.
The sound of iPad Air 2’s built-in speaker is rather soft. iPad Air 1 can produce noticeably louder sound. When playing sound on built-in speaker, sometimes I could notice soft vibration on the iPad body. This is not to an alarming level, but certainly worth to mention. Perhaps this is caused by the process of slimming down every component inside.
Speaking about thin device, rest assured that iPad Air 2 will NOT fit into your back pocket, therefore it is highly unlikely to have it bent accidentally while we sit.
The WiFi connection of iPad Air 2 is supposedly blazing fast, with 802.11ac and MIMO (Multiple Input and Multiple Output) support. This should bring (theoretically) more than twice the transfer speed. The addition of Touch ID sensor on the home button enables access using fingerprint. This is particularly useful in public places as the large screen of iPad makes it easier for people nearby to “peek” on our passcode, whether intentional or not. This Touch ID will be useful when Apple Pay finally reaches Australia, hopefully sometime in 2015.
The super thin body does come with a sacrifice: the rotation/mute switch is gone. I love that switch to control my screen rotation lock. I guess iPad Air 2 users will have to develop new habit to actually use the Command Center. The small silver ring around iPad Air 1 back-camera is gone. There are 2 new holes, one is right next to the back-camera and the other one is on top of volume buttons. This new 8 MP back-camera will bring more people taking photos using their iPads. Personally I’m not a fan of taking photos using such a huge device, but well, everyone has different choice.
Lastly, the battery. As the form factor keeps getting thinner, this naturally leaves less room for battery. And indeed the battery of iPad Air 2 is smaller than iPad Air 1’s. However, Apple promises the same 10-hours battery life, achieved through better optimization. Once again proofing that the mAh battery capacity does not always translate to end user’s battery life. Of course, there are a lot of factors playing here. Some apps use more battery power than others. Notifications, background process and location services might also drain our battery faster. Even if the end result does reduce the battery life a little bit, I don’t actually mind. To me, an iPad already have enough battery life and if a little sacrifice in battery life can get me a thinner and lighter device, I’m all for it. It’s much more important for me.
In conclusion, iPad Air 2 is another improvement on Apple’s flagship tablet. For most people without an iPad, this tablet will surely impress them, and make life easier. For current owners of any iPad before iPad Air 1, this is a worthy upgrade. For iPad Air 1 owners, honestly this might not be the best time for you to upgrade. Especially if you’re not going to use heavy apps on a daily basis, or having a Touch ID is an absolute must for you. For me, personally, iPad Air 2 still fail to make me change to the full-sized iPad. My iPad mini 2 is still my favorite tablet.
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