iPad Air 2 Review

The iPad Air 2 is the sixth version of Apple’s 10in tablet in four years, so it’s easy to become indifferent to what is still a technical marvel. A computer, camera and camcorder in a metal casing that weighs just 437g and is connected to the internet wirelessly would have been unfeasible just a few years ago. It's also now the entry level 9.7in iPad. Thanks to the release of the iPad Pro 9.7in, the iPad Air 2 has been superceded as the top of the line iPad in this size. But, as we will see, it's still a great device and one well worth considering.


Design:



It is 1.4mm thinner  the thinnest tablet ever made at 6.1mm thick and weighs 437g, 32g lighter than the iPad Air. For comparison Samsung’s 10.5in Tab Sweighs 465g and is 6.6mm thick, while Sony’s Xperia Z2 Tablet weighs 426g and is 6.4mm thick. The Air 2 is slightly less rigid than the previous version with a little flex in the body, but the aluminium back feels svelte in the hand and will likely take a knock or two without issue, as long as the screen does not crack. The 9.7in screen is thinner, but is of the same quality and sharpness as the Air. Apple’s new anti-reflective coat does an admirable job of reducing glare from the Sun and overhead lights.

The screen’s 4:3 ratio means that videos have big black bars top and bottom, while comics and graphic novels have black bars down the sides  both are irritating and reduce the size of the media on-screen. Most competing tablets from Microsoft, Samsung, Google, Sony and even Tesco, have screens closer to the 16:9 ratio of televisions, which makes consuming video and movies more satisfying.

Display:


The new screen technology on the iPad Air 2 is one of my favorite changes here. The improvement in thinness is negligible, the camera superfluous, but the screen of a tablet is something that always needs refining. I love it when brands show ambition, whether they do it by increasing the resolution, the contrast ratio or the brightness.The iPad Air screen was pretty neat in itself, with resolution of 1,536 x 2,048. The Air 2 has kept that sharpness, but because the internal layers of the screen are laminated together, there is less air between the components which leads to deeper blacks and more vibrant colors. Pictures really come alive when viewed on the iPad Air 2, markedly so compared to its predecessor. The other benefit of that compressed screen is that it reduces reflectivity combine that with the anti reflection coating, and watching films with a light behind you isn't impossible.

Performance:


Part of the reason for the Air 2’s lengthy battery life is its power-efficient triple-core processor, the 1.4GHz A8X. It’s also very fast, excelling in our 3D graphics tests as well as our app and webpage loading benchmarks. Paired with 2GB of memory, it makes the Air 2 one of the fastest tablets we’ve seen so it should have no trouble running demanding apps for some time to come. We suspect most people will opt for the WiFi-only version of the Air 2, but if you do opt for the 4G variant then there’s a potentially handy new feature called Apple SIM. This SIM card can, in theory, be used with any mobile network so you can take advantage of the best mobile broadband deals by simply selecting the network and package you want in the Settings app instead having to order, wait for and swap SIM cards. However, for now the only UK network that works with Apple SIM is EE, whereas Americans have their choice of almost all the major nationwide mobile networks in the US. Hopefully, the other UK networks will become compatible with Apple SIM soon. You can of course use a standard nano SIM with a 4G Air 2 and the Apple SIM is still useful if you are travelling in the US. Although the new fingerprint reader isn’t as useful here as it is on an iPhone, which is more likely to be lost or stolen due to its smaller size, it’s still a useful feature to have on an iPad. Whether you are worried about data security or simply want a more convenient way to unlock your tablet, the fingerprint reader worked flawlessly. 

Wireless performance should be much improved, thanks to a move not only to 802.11ac Wi-Fi, but an implementation that again uses two internal aerials to provide a 2x2 MIMO configuration. Be aware that smartphones sporting 11ac Wi-Fi that we’ve seen are currently using a single antenna, with 433 Mb/s maximum sync speed. A two-stream setup benefits from better reception and multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) radio as well as a theoretical sync speed of 867 MB/s. This will yield improved range besides simply faster data connections.


camera and iOS 8.1:


The Air 2’s camera coped well in brightly lit conditions, capturing surprisingly sharp and detailed photos. It’s not as good as the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus for low light photography where its photos aren’t as sharp or well-lit and have more noise, but the Air 2 is still a respectable camera to fall back on. There are lots of new features on the Air 2 that came embedded at launch with iOS 8, Apple’s latest mobile operating system at the time of release, and one of our favourites is Continuity. This lets you use different iOS devices together more efficiently and now work with Macs too. For example, you can now instantly share the Air 2’s 4G connection with your Mac without fiddling about with settings and you can reply to iMessages using your Mac’s keyboard.

You can even start tasks on your iPad, such as writing a long document or working on a spreadsheet, and finish them on your Mac picking up right where you left off. It’s a shame but unsurprising that these useful features aren’t available for Windows, but even if you do have a Mac most of the Continuity features rely on your Mac having built-in Bluetooth 4.0 or require apps to specifically support them. One feature which does work with Windows is iCloud Drive, Apple’s equivalent to online storage services such as Dropbox and is used for sharing files between the Air 2 and your other computers. You get 5GB free, but this is shared with any other iCloud services you use such as iCloud email. Extra storage is reasonably priced starting at 79p per month for an extra 20GB. 

However, iCloud Drive does have some odd limitations. While it works with Windows 7 and 8, it only works with Mac OS X Yosemite and not any older versions of Apple’s own desktop operating system. Plus, there’s no currently no way to share a large file with non-iCloud Drive users by creating a link as you can with Dropbox. In any case there’s little reason to use it if you already use other storage services as apps updated for iOS 8 can now access other storage services more easily than ever before. Plus, if you want to share files between your iOS 8 devices and Macs without using the internet you can do so using the revamped AirDrop wireless file sharing feature. 

Battery:


There’s a smaller capacity battery inside the Air 2  27.3 Wh compared to 32.4 Wh in the Air 1 although Apple specifies the same overall battery life of 10 hours of web surfing, video playback or music listening. We tried a more stressful test than browsing, using looped gameplay from GFXBench to play the T-Rex sequence, 30 times over. This gave an estimated total runtime of 3 hour 53 minutes. For reference we tried the same test on a year-old iPad Air 1. Both tablets were running the same build of the current latest iOS 8.1 software. Here the first Air posted an estimated total runtime of 4 hour 6 min. But it’s vital to also look at the performance of both products. Over the length of the test, the first Air could play at an average framerate of 22.9 fps. Meanwhile the Air 2 played at more than twice that speed, recording 48.3 fps. This one test comes close to validating Apple’s claims for 2.5x graphics performance.

Verdict:


If you want a big tablet it's very hard to find fault with the iPad Pro. It looks stunning, has a fabulous screen, is powerful and allows you to multitask like never before. The device also has some market-leading speakers and is reasonably light for such a big lump of tech. And Apple’s Pencil and keyboard accessories make this device a lot more than a basic tablet.Sadly, there is one problem we can’t overlook on the iPad Pro and that’s its price. The basic model will set you back a hefty ₹30,790, whilst the top-end machine has an eye-watering  price tag and that doesn't include the 5000 Pencil or 5000 Smart Keyboard. This price might be justified if the Pro could replace your laptop, but by Apple's own admission, it won’t. However, if you have the cash in the bank and want the best tablet money can buy, the iPad Pro is it. It’s fast, feature-packed and is the proof that bigger really is better.

Specifications:


  • Screen: 9.7in 2048x1536 retina display (264 pixels per inch)
  • Processor: Apple 64-bit A8X with M8 coprocessor
  • RAM: 2GB
  • Storage: 16/64/128 GB
  • Operating system: iOS 8.1
  • Camera: 8MP rear camera, 1.2MP front-facing camera
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi (4G optional), Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
  • Dimensions: 240 x 169.5 x 6.1mm for both Wi-Fi and 4G versions

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