The new thin and sleek iPad Air
Unboxing and first glimpse of the silver iPad Air.
November 13, 2013
The fifth generation iPad has many new improvements in overall design and performance, but most of the features remain the same. Officially termed the iPad Air, the new iPad is a lot lighter and thinner than the previous generation.
The iPad Air weighs only one-pound, it is 28 percent lighter than the previous model and 20 percent thinner. The iPad is very comfortable to hold in one hand and it is more portable than ever. Perhaps the biggest change to iPad Air is the design, with a more slate like look, the overall design is very sleek and thin. Also, the bezels are smaller, so it is easier to type in portrait orientation. The new iPad comes in two variations, space grey and silver.
The iPad Air comes with the same Retina display that has been on the previous two generations of the iPad. With 3.1 million pixels and a 2048 by 1536 resolution on a 9.7 inch display, the individual pixels are not even visible to the naked eye. Apple’s Retina display is still one of the best displays on the market, providing very vivid and bright colors for watching videos, or even doing everyday tasks emailing and text messaging.
A big change to the new iPad is the A7 chip which is twice as fast as the last generation. Also, the chip is based on a 64-bit architecture which is a first for Apple on a tablet. The 64-bit architecture allows for faster graphics and a more efficient gaming experience. Even though the iPad is said to be twice as fast, it is not that noticeable when performing everyday tasks like opening apps and browsing the web. Even while increasing the performance, Apple was still able to maintain a 10 hour battery life on the iPad Air.
The iPad Air comes with a FaceTime HD camera and a five megapixel iSight camera that has 1080p video recording. The picture quality is decent for a tablet, but not amazing. In addition, it comes equipped with dual microphones, so there is better voice recording while recording videos.
The iPad Air has the same price range as the previous generation with $499 for the 16GB model and $100 more for each storage upgrade. The 4G model costs $629 for the 16GB and costs $100 more for each storage upgrade. The 4G model is available with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint.
The iPad Air is an amazing tablet and I would recommend it for anyone who loves Apple’s user friendly software, iOS7. I believe that the iPad Air is not a significant enough upgrade from the third and fourth generation iPads, but it is a great buy for anyone who wants to upgrade from the first and second generation iPads. The new iPad is a revolutionary change and is not evolutionary in any way, but the new processor and design changes make this one of the best tablets on the market.
