I was in the market for a new tablet. The Surface 2 Pro was off my plate because of the price, but I still wanted to take a look at what’s out there just in case.
By Robert Gauna
Then, Apple finally released the iPad Air 2.
Same great looks, more power underneath!
It is stunning and light. Holding it with one hand is more bearable than my iPad 3. The Retina Display is much, much better than advertised since photos don’t do justice to it when you bring it close to your eyes.
Features
It comes with new features such as TouchID — a super cool way to unlock without the annoyingly long passwords you need to put in so that you can keep it away from other family members. It also comes with NFC, which is still anyone’s guess as to what Apple plans for it. (Mine, too.)
- It is so impossibly slim at 6.1mm and lighter than last year’s model (at 0.96 pounds).
- It also comes with a faster A8X processor that clocks 40% faster than last year’s model. Want to run Photoshop without stutter? Done. Pixelmator? Yup. GarageBank — nothing to it. This can run without the lag and holds up nicely with any upcoming apps in the near future. Oh, and upcoming games are optimized for the new iOS 8, which comes with this tablet!
- iPad Air 2 uses a similar camera from the iPhone 6, an 8MP that is a huge upgrade from last year’s model, except for the aperture.
- Video capture runs at 720p, which isn’t really 4K yet, but is watchable. The front-facing camera still has a long way to go. It’s probably because it’s limited with the FaceTime support, but Apple is holding it back for next year’s model.
- These new iPad Airs come with three colors (Gold, Space Gray, and Silver metallic), having as much variety as the new iPhones. Gold is kind of a rose-gold, which has a feminine look. Space Gray and Silver only use different faceplates (Space Gray uses black, and Silver uses white), but nonetheless, they feel the same.
Bottom line
So is it a must buy? If you are languishing with your iPad2 and iPad3, go for it and give your existing one to your kids. If you bought last year’s model, don’t buy yet and wait a couple more years before upgrading. If you like something like the Note Tab or the Surface, it’s still rumored that Apple is going to release a larger Apple iPad Pro for that market, so I’d wait.
iPad Air 2 retails starting at $499 for the 16GB model, which isn’t enough nowadays. The better buy is the 64Gb model at $599.
Leave a Reply