Pros
- Sleek design
- Powerful innards
- Great suite of free apps
Cons
- No TouchID
- Camera features lacking
- 16GB version is too small
1. Introduction and design
Apple's new approach to tablets is to make everything easier to carry - and with a 43% thinner bezel and a 28% lighter device, the iPad Air is championing that drive.
If you haven't seen a picture yet, then imagine an iPad mini that you've just held a little closer to your face, and you're largely there with the Air.
It's got the same smooth back design, thinner bezel and more attractive speakers at the bottom of the phone to make it look like more of a family with the cut down tablet from Apple's stables.
While it's a clear copy, we're not going to get upset about that as the mini already had a stunning design, and the Air takes that message and brings it to the big leagues.
It also has machined buttons that don't feel loose when shaking, bringing up the premium feel to the device.
On top of the new design, it's also rocking Apple's A7 chip, bringing with it 64-bit processing power and reams of battery saving techniques to keep your tablet going even longer in day to day use.
And the greatest thing about the iPad range in our eyes is the price - Apple is starting the 16GB Wi-Fi-only model at the same cost as its rivals, and while that outlay does spiral up as capacity and connectivity increase, for an Apple device to not charge an (unnecessary) premium is something we're really happy to see.
We're looking at a price range of £399 - £739 ($499 - $929 or AU$598 - AU1049), starting from the 16GB version (Wi-Fi only) to the 64GB cellular option.
-580-90.JPG)
Add to that the fact Apple is
lobbing in a lot of useful free software, as well as bringing a more refined experience with iOS 7, and you can see that it's put a lot of effort into making the iPad Air the tablet that shows it's not losing its relevancy in the market.
The keynote for the launch of the iPad Air talked a lot about Apple's dominance in terms of tablet usage, but it's no secret that a number of users are starting to warm to the idea of an Android model as their main device - the Sony Xperia Tablet Z is one of the best around at the moment, and offers expandable storage as well as a waterproof casing to trump Apple in that respect.
-580-90.JPG)
However, it's still good to see options being offered when it comes to storage, as some Android devices (albeit mostly phones) are starting to eschew expandability and not really upping the internal space.
So you can see that Apple has covered its bases in nearly every area when it comes to the iPad Air - but how does it actually perform in the hand when subjected to rigorous daily use?
Design
The iPad Air is an odd device when you pick it up for the first time. When you hear all the numbers being bandied about you'd rightly assume that you'd feel something that was almost ghost-like in the hand, a tablet that could almost get blown away.
And we're utterly not disputing that - the iPad Air is the most balanced tablet on the market, with great precision going into the engineering throughout. However, if you've touched an iPad mini or just haven't held an older iPad for a while (and with some people we tested with, even those that had) you won't feel as much of a step up as you'd be expecting.
We've added that caveat to brace you should you be excited to purchase the new iPad, as it's not something that affects the general usage in any way, with one-handed holding very easy, and something that puts the Air into a new product category.
-580-90.JPG)
The design of the iPad Air is, as we've mentioned, very impressive. Yes, it's totally based on the iPad mini, and the smooth aluminium back is really great to feel in the hand. It's a shame that most people feel the need to slap a cover on an iPad as soon as it's bought - while we get the notion of protection, it hides away some cracking design.
That said, at least it keeps the fingers away from the chassis, and the iPad Air is a real magnet for prints. The back cover isn't too bad, but the mirrored Apple logo sucks down finger oil and is loathe to give it back even with hard scrubbing with a cloth.
-580-90.JPG)
It might not sound like a big deal, but it makes your premium new tablet look a bit unkempt right from the start.
But in actual operation, the design of the iPad Air complements the impressive innards superbly. It's unsurprisingly not possible to hold your hand the entire way around the edge of the Air, but then again it's so light (and comes with the ability to disregard erroneous thumbs entering the screen, again like the iPad mini) that it doesn't really make a big difference.
-580-90.JPG)
The rest of the buttonry - the top-mounted power key and the silencing rocker switch and volume buttons at the side - haven't moved far, but protrude nicely to make them very easy to hit no matter when you're holding the device - being able to find such things without looking is often sacrificed in the quest to make tablets look sleeker, so we're happy Apple has gone the other way here.
There is one note of criticism in terms of design for such a decent (and still expensive, despite costing the same as many of its peers) piece of kit: the screen has a plastic thud to it when tapping, thanks to the smaller and lighter innards.
It's most noticeable when grazed with a fingernail, although in a case the effect is lessened. We're surprised Apple let this feature go unchallenged, but it seems in making the design thinner and removing part of the inner cage the overall strength of the chassis is somewhat reduced.
It's not a major issue by any means, and certainly one that you'll only pick up on sporadically, but it's still enough to irk at times when you're expecting a truly premium experience.
Many of you will also be wondering why there's no TouchID onboard the iPad AIr when it's such a large selling point for the iPhone 5S.
-580-90.JPG)
We're in the same boat. The architecture is there. It surely can't be an issue of space seeing as the technology fitted into the iPhone 5S.
So what could it be? Apple surely isn't holding it back as the 'big upgrade' for the iPad Air 2, is it? That would be such an anti-climax... plus we're waiting for the bendable iPad in 2014 anyway.
2. Camera and Video
-580-90.JPG)
What's better than an 8MP iSight camera on the iPhone 5S? Well, it's not what you can find on the iPad Air, that's for sure. Apple has kept the same 5MP iSight camera from previous iterations of the tablet, which does at least have half-decent backside illumination and acceptable low-light performance.
We're not sure what Apple is doing with the camera interface though - it's like a completely bare version of that seen on the iPhone 5S, with fewer options to choose from. Want to take a photo or video? That's fine. You can even take a square snap for those moments when you need a portrait pic too.
However, there's no filter option in sight, nor the ability to change to a Slo-Mo camera as we've seen on other recent Apple hardware. Given that the Air is running the necessary A7 64-bit chip to enable the enhanced video mode, we've no idea why you can't do the same here.
Even the filters would make sense, as the iPhone 5C can use these, and that's hardly as powerful a beast. This is probably the biggest criticism of the iPad Air we can throw at the new tablet from Apple, as the decision is slightly perplexing.
But in a way, that's wonderful. You might have noticed that we're hardly fans of the cameras on tablets at the best of times, and if there was one thing that we'd happily sacrifice for a thinner tablet, it's this functionality.
That Apple has put anything in there at all is testament to some clever engineering, so while the performance isn't that good (although shutter speed was very impressive as we'd expected) it's more than adequate for something that shouldn't be replacing a smartphone or dedicated camera anyway.
The darkness on the normally bright indoor scene is less impressive than expected.
Zoomed in and the noise level is surprisingly well-processed.
Text on the ipad is acceptable.
3. Battery life and Apps
Battery life on the iPad Air is quoted at "Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music". We would say that's actually not a bad estimate, although the drain was closer to 2% every 10 minutes in general use, which equates to around nine hours' use.
Standby time is much, much better though. We found that we could stick the iPad Air in a bag, taking it out for the commute and messing about with on the sofa at home, for at least three days before it began to get low on battery.
In fact, the only real task that killed it was connecting to our amplifier via Wi-Fi while simultaneously streaming music to the same device through Bluetooth. It's doing things like this that make you realise that this is the kind of thing that we envisaged at the turn of the century, a tablet that has the brains and connectivity to do all the tasks we could want.
In terms of connectivity, we've already mentioned the excellent Wi-Fi performance (in terms of distance from router, rather than improved speed) through the Multiple In, Multiple Out (MIMO) technology.
4G bands are now covered throughout the globe, and low power Bluetooth is also on board as well, making it an incredibly well-connected device.
Apps
Apple has thrown on reams of free software with the iPad Air (and other new iOS 7 devices too), so you now get access to the likes of Pages, Numbers, Keynote from the iWork tribe as well as iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband for free.
These are incredibly powerful tools for what is still essentially a cut-down mobile device – we can't say that we'd recommend using them regularly without a keyboard (in the case of iWork) but elements such as iPhoto and Garageband really give you the chance to express yourself fluidly.
When you consider that the iPad Air will be appearing under the Christmas tree for a few lucky (and wealthy) people, having software right out of the box (well, you do have to download it actually, and it's a fairly hefty download) is a big plus for a shiny new toy.
On top of that, we still feel the need to laud the Apple App Store for its ability to offer the best apps around. We're talking about things like BBC iPlayer and Sky Go, both of which offer improved user interfaces and allowed downloads first before the Android hop came.
The gap between Apple and Google's app portals is narrowing, but there's no doubt that users will still feel far more secure in the app experience they'll get on an Apple tablet compared to an Android one for now, and that's a big reason to purchase.
Maps should also gain something of a special mention, as while it was a PR disaster for Apple, it's slowly clawing its way back to usable thanks to constant upgrades.
It's still far from the best out there, and we'd recommend you download the excellent Google Maps as soon as possible, but we rarely find that Apple Maps is offering an inaccurate course for us to navigate down to the shops – just don't ask it to find obscure towns whose names appear in multiple places.
4. Verdict
The iPad Air is a big step forward for Apple in so many ways – not least through design and setting a precedent for the future.
It's 28% lighter and 20% thinner, taking up 24% less volume overall. We can see that Apple has really pushed the envelope when it comes to design, and the result is pretty phenomenal.
liked
Reading the iPad 4 review, we see that the issues we came across before have largely been resolved. The design is better. The bezel is smaller. The price is palatable in comparison to the competition.
The speaker output is immensely impressive, the overall look and feel of iOS 7 more intuitive (although a long way from perfect, granted) and the general speed of operation is unsurpassed.
The range of accessories, the ecosystem and the general speed with which the iPad works, especially when it comes to the heavy lifting, is massively impressive. Nothing is a huge leap forward, more a set of constant steps towards the perfect tablet that make everything that little more slicker to use.
disliked
As we mentioned, there's very little that Apple hasn't addressed here for us to really criticise. The 16GB option of the tablet simply isn't enough storage for most to be able to get the best out of their iPad.
iOS 7 doesn't feel like a completed operating system for this advanced device, and while we're not that bothered, the absence of TouchID is strange given it was so widely expected.
The camera is no great shakes, but we wouldn't be complaining if Apple had got rid of it altogether - however, to not offer the software that's found on the iPhone 5S is odd.
And here's an odd one: the iPad Air is lighter, but it's not light. It's not got the same feel we found when we first picked up the iPad mini, or the iPhone 5, or the Sony Xperia Tablet Z. It's not too heavy or anything, but it didn't wow us the first time we held it.
Verdict
Make no mistake - Apple has finally nailed the tablet with a great combination of specs, power and a decent OS.
It's a joy to hold the iPad Air. From the clever construction to the fast processor to the improved user interface, Apple has found an answer to every criticism we had of the device and then some.
The fact it's not even more expensive than its large-screen brethren is really impressive for an Apple product, and the suite of apps that are now free, coupled with the excellent App Store and premium build, make this a no brainer for anyone looking to enter the tablet market.
We'd advise that you get the largest capacity your budget can manage - although at the top end you're verging on Macbook territory, so make sure you're ready to use a tablet and think about getting an external keyboard to make full use of the extra apps you've now got.
You've seen the score, and for those keeping tabs you'll realise this is TechRadar's first five-star tablet. It's a device with almost no flaws - it's not just Apple's best tablet, it's the only tablet you should be considering this Christmas if you're keen on a larger screen.
No comments:
Post a Comment