To anyone who didn't get to see our gameplay update at Playstation Experience,burbbrry, A lot of great matches were had; one where one person.. a Retina iMac, there’s less need for a small tablet.
The iPad Air 2 is thinner and slightly lighter so it’s easier to use one-handed than previous full-sized iPads Photo by Seamus Bellamy
The most immediately obvious change to the iPad Air 2 is its size A reduction of 14 millimeters of thickness and 32 grams of weight doesn’t sound like a lot After trying them in person though the Air 2 is noticeably lighter and thinner in the hand making it more comfortable to hold than the original And now the Air is now only 02 pounds heavier than the iPad mini If you like the Air’s larger screen but preferred the mini for its lighter weight and easier one-handed use the new Air may be more appealing
The iPad Air 2 (right) has an anti-reflective coating whereas the iPad mini 3 (left) does not Photo by Dan Frakes
The key to the new Air’s thinness is a redesigned screen with no air gaps between the layers Apple claims that this also makes the display sharper They’ve also added an anti-reflective coating to the glass to make it easier to read Screen glare has been one of the big criticisms of the iPad for reading and outdoor use so this is a welcome improvement The image above shows the same ceiling light reflected off the screens of the iPad mini 3 (left) and iPad Air 2 (right) On the mini the glare is very bright and completely obscures whatever is on the screen On the Air there’s still a glare but it’s much more muted and you can still see the screen through it It’s not a matte anti-glare treatment—which usually affects colors and brightness—but rather a more-subtle reduction of reflections
The camera’s resolution is now 8 megapixels instead of 5 MP and adds burst mode and slo-mo video shooting That’s similar to the camera on the iPhone 5s though the pixels on the sensor are a bit smaller than those on the 5s so low-light performance might not be as good Still it’s not bad for a tablet
The insides have been upgraded too Apple says the new A8X processor makes graphics up to 25 times better and apps will run faster and more efficiently The Air 2 has two-stream 80211ac Wi-Fi so you’ll get faster internet and file transfers if you use it with an ac-capable router like our pick It also has the same M8 motion coprocessor as the iPhone 6—not that you should use your tablet for fitness tracking Like the iPads that came before it the Air 2 should have an impressive 10-hour battery life
Pricing starts at $500 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model There’s a 64GB model for $600 and 128GB for $700 As with the iPhone Apple eliminated the 32GB model entirely
LTE still costs $130 extra but in a surprising move the LTE Air 2 comes pre-installed with a SIM card that lets you switch freely between AT&T T-Mobile and Sprint without changing SIM cards (Verizon is conspicuously absent) That means you can pick whichever carrier works best for you and just buy data from them as needed Apple didn’t make a big deal out of this but it’s actually a pretty big win for customers since you can switch networks without needing to buy a new iPad
The new iPad mini 3 has the same pricing structure but starts at $400 for the 16GB version Pre-orders for both start on the 17th and they’ll ship starting late next week
Should I get one
If you bought an iPad a while back and find that it’s now gathering dust buying a new one probably won’t change that But if you’re using yours less because it’s getting slow and annoying now’s a good time to upgrade Touch ID alone will greatly improve your tablet experience Games will have better graphics apps will load faster and of course everything willbe a tiny bit easier to travel with
However if you have a perfectly functional iPad that isn’t laggy you should first consider your use patterns The improved portability won’t really matter if you’re just watching TV in bed or reading the news on the couch But if you use the iPad a lot for traveling you’ll appreciate that the new ones are light enough to operate one-handed It’s also easy to justify upgrading if you like taking photos with a tablet The upgraded 8MP camera should be a huge improvement over those of past iPads We have more advice on this in our full guide
How about that Retina iMac
The Retina iMac is as gorgeous as you’d expect from an iMac with a 5120×2880 147-megapixel display It has the same design as the normal 27-inch i
