The previous Air model and the new Apple iPad Air 2 tablet are similar to each other only in their appearance, otherwise the differences are very significant: better screen, excellent performance, good camera, in general, almost everything has improved. Although the brand’s prices are high, by and large they look acceptable against the background of the technical characteristics and capabilities of the gadget.
So, the hero of today's review is the Apple iPad Air 2 tablet. Let's try to identify all the strengths of the device along with the shortcomings, taking into account the opinions of experts and reviews of ordinary users.
Design
The second generation of Air, as mentioned above, looks almost the same as the first. The company very often uses successful developments in terms of design, as they say, to the last - but why give up what still works great?
Apple iPad Air 2 has a new Touch ID module, a microphone hole on the end near the camera and a new color variant - golden, in addition to the traditional gray and white shades.
The company is very fond of comparing the new and the old at the presentations of its lines, so we will not deviate from the usual indicators for the brand. The first Air weighed almost 700 grams with a thickness of 13.5 mm, the new Apple iPad Air 2 has a mass of 440 g with a thickness of 6 mm. Agree, the difference is enormous, and if you take both tablets in hand, you will immediately feel where what.
You should not expect any revolutionary or original design steps from the company. The real revolution is when, year after year, the device improves, and there is no need to pay attention to criticism or the situation on the market. Let the same Samsung make a four-fold folding gadget, while the apple company will release a model familiar to the eye, but a little lighter, thinner and more productive - thanks to her for stability.
Design features
The case of the Apple iPad Air 2 is made of a single piece of aluminum, and the Touch ID sensor is assembled from several parts. Sapphire is used as additional protection measures. On the back of the model there is an insert of very high quality plastic, under which the antenna is located.
Dimensions of the device are 240x169.5x6.1 mm and weighs 437 grams. Modification with the LTE module weighs a little more - 444 grams. Immediately it is worth noting that, due to the technical characteristics and design, it is not worth using the Apple iPad Air 2 in cold weather (<-20⁰), take a battery.
Display
The diagonal of the display of the gadget is 9.7 inches with a resolution of 2048 by 1536 pixels. There is an anti-reflective coating that looks and acts very effectively on the matte screen: less glare - less nerves.
The screen itself of the new Apple iPad Air 2 Cellular is fully assembled and completely revised: the engineers abandoned the air gap, the upper layer is a protective glass, then the touch sensor, and then the matrix itself. Testing showed that image quality has improved markedly compared to the previous generation, and judging by user reviews, it is, and anti-glare coating is just a great find.
Modifications
In total there are several basic modifications in which a person unaware of the "apple" technique can easily get confused. Immediately it is worth clarifying that the standard variation of the gadget - Apple iPad Air 2 64Gb WiFi Cellular - will cost about 50,000 rubles.
Prices also vary depending on the options: from 40,000 for 16 GB of memory and 60,000 for 128 GB. The cost may also vary due to additionally installed modules. For example, an Apple iPad Air 2 Wi Fi Cellular with an installed LTE adapter will cost 1,500-2,000 more than without it.
Surely someone would think that 50,000 rubles is a high price for a tablet, but it is worth noting that the model, in terms of its totality of characteristics, simply has no competitors in the market, so the money invested will be more than justified. If you do not want to overpay for a large amount, then stop at the middle version - the Apple iPad Air 2 64Gb Cellular - a little cheaper, but it's still angry.
Even looking at the market statistics for gadgets, you can see that devices from Samsung or Sony in the secondary market instantly depreciate, while Apple products always hold both brand and price. Over the many years that the “apple” company has been on the market, it has grown into a huge number of branded service centers, which are located literally at every step, which can not be said about other brands.
Performance
Performance characteristics were tested on the Apple iPad Air 2 64Gb, and, according to AnTuTu, the increase in capacity compared to the previous generation Air is quite significant, about one and a half times. This is especially noticeable during simultaneous work with several different applications: the browser, camera, maps, and similar programs load quickly.
The filling consists of an A8X chip in synchronization with the M8 processor operating under a 64-bit architecture. The whole process is quite economical in terms of energy saving, so the user received improved performance with the same battery life.
Battery
The device has a built-in lithium battery with a polymer electrolyte with a total capacity of 27.3 Wh. This is enough for a 10-hour playback of high-definition video such as HD or for surfing the web. Performance compared to similar devices is very good, especially since the company is going to improve them in the following lines.
Camera
It’s worth mentioning right away that Air 2’s 8-megapixel camera is excellent, and the image quality is close to the level of the iPhone of the sixth version. It is equipped with five lenses, automatic and fast autofocus, a light saturation sensor on the rear panel. The camera supports panoramic shooting, spatial geometries and has a timer mode.
Video recording is available in HD, which is already pretty good. The quality itself is also on the level: there are no twitching, blurring, artifacts or other ripples, even at high magnification, and there is a slow motion as an auxiliary tool for creating clips.
Summarizing
The new gadget from a venerable company is very good, both by itself and by the internal filling. Although many will not see the visual difference between the two generations, in fact, "Air" and "Air 2" differ in both heaven and earth. The new model has an improved display, the body is lighter and smaller, a significant increase in performance, the new Touch ID module, a different color and an excellent camera.
Generally speaking, the tablet is worth the money invested in it, but does it make sense to change past generations to new ones - this is another question, it seems like good, they are not looking for good. It all depends on the goals you are counting on and the financial condition: you can afford it - buy, you won’t regret it for sure. In any case, if you do not have Apple devices, Air 2 is an excellent option in order to get acquainted with the company's products.
The only thing worth warning the future owner of the device is fakes, which have flooded the premium gadget market, and sometimes it’s very difficult to figure out where the original is and where the Chinese consumer goods are. Therefore, try to give preference to solid Internet sites or branded communication salons, which are pleasing for their reputation.