What's good
- Reduced weight and thickness
- Incredibly fast performance
- Beautiful display with vibrant colors and deep blacks
What's bad
- Potential issues with bending
- 16GB base model not worth the price
- No real improvement in battery life
When the iPad first arrived on the scene it took the world by storm and basically brought the idea of tablets into the mainstream. Now, Apple is facing tough competition from other manufacturers and has seen their sales flatten out in the past couple years. Apple is hoping to regain some of their lost momentum with the release of the iPad Air 2. At first glance, the iPad Air 2 doesn't look much different from the iPad Air. It has the same proportions, polished beveled edges and layout of ports, speakers and buttons. The biggest physical change is its incredible thinness. It is 18 percent thinner than the original Air and lighter. The Verge states, "If there is anything magical about this new iPad it is this, this feeling of impossibility." Still, there is one disadvantage of Apple's push to thinness and that’s the Air 2's build quality. While it does come with the same aluminum chassis as its predecessor, reviewers were able to bend it very easily though they add that it bended back into place afterwards.
Apple was able to achieve this thinness primarily from the new optically-bonded display that eliminates the air gap between the actual display and the top glass. This technology isn't new for Apple as it has been on every iPhone since the iPhone 4 and the iMac has had one for some time. Still, experts praise the incredibly vibrant colors, deep blacks and excellent viewing angles. TechRadar adds, "Pictures really come alive when viewing on the iPad Air 2, markedly so compared to its predecessor." Apple also boasts that the bonded display combined with an anti-reflection coating reduces glare by 56 percent. While critics were able to view it in bright light situations, they still had noticeable glare when reading in the sunlight.
The biggest update is to the Air 2's internal hardware. It comes equipped with Apple's latest A8X triple core 1.5GHz chip and 2GB of RAM. Experts call it "screamingly fast" and state that it is able to handle a number of processor intensive tasks and games. Unsurprisingly, benchmark tests place it above even the iPhone 6. Battery life is equally impressive considering how thin the device is. Critics were able to get almost two days of light to moderate usage before needing to charge and around 11 hours during battery draining tests. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the 16GB internal storage for base models. Most reviewers suggest foregoing the base and spending the extra for the 64GB model as many apps take up a lot of space. As with previous iPads, the Air 2 comes with a WiFi only and WiFi and Cellular options.
Apple has also boosted the Air 2's camera from 5MP to 8MP. While it doesn't have the same optical image stabilization technology of the iPhone 6 Plus, the specs still match up closely. When experts tested out the camera they noticed that it is able to pick out colors quite well and can compensate for a dark room without enabling HDR mode. It also comes with a new burst mode, which allows users to snap photos in rapid succession and pick the best one from the gallery. Still, they note that while the resolution and pictures are slightly better than previous iPads, it wasn't much better than the original Air.
Although the iPad Air 2 might not necessarily be revolutionary, it still is an improvement over Apple's other tablets. Engadget states, "It may not be a brand-new design, per se, but its thin frame helps keep the tablet looking sleek and exciting..." Ars Technica was a bit more pointed in its assessment stating, "...it can juggle more tabs, load more Facebook…But this could have been the statement device for a productivity-minded iOS, and we're left wondering when Apple will make that specific statement."
What the Critics Are Saying...
- Josh Smith, GottaBeMobileAfter years of revisions and refinements the iPad Air 2 is the best iPad yet and remains one of the best tablets you can buy. Even with increased competition from the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9, Nexus 9 and Samsung tablets it is a top pick that is worth the price.The iPad Air is tempting at $100 less, but...
- Chris Thomas, ReviewedWith last year's iPad Air still very much alive and kicking, Apple didn't have to change much to turn out a successful update. True to form, Apple stuck with what worked, including a few hardware advancements that enhance the overall experience in key ways. This year's iPad took an already great tab...
- Josh Ginter, Tools & ToysI’m more convinced than ever that I’ll be upgrading to the latest Air 2. It’s easier to hold, easier to type with, and easier to look at thanks to its laminated display. It’s also noticeably quicker than any previous iPad and it has Touch ID to boot.For some people, these dif...
- Daniel Schmidt, NotebookcheckThe Apple iPad Air 2 is still a really good tablet that is pleasing with its even slimmer construction and high-quality materials. Unfortunately, the slim construction also results in some drawbacks since the tablet is more sensitive to pressure compared to its predecessor. The display is still one...
- Sanjiv Sathiah, ElectronistaThe iPad Air 2 represents a full generational leap over the 2013 iPad Air, even though that model is still more than a match for the latest 2014 models from the competition. Apple is simply blitzing its tablet competitors by making the absolute best flagship iPad it is capable making, each and every...
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Resources
Manuals / User Guides
- Apple iPad Air 2 Manual (PDF)
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