For
- Sleek design
- Powerful innards
Against
- No TouchID
As well as improvements to its innards, in a new A7 chip and camera upgrades, the decrease in thickness and weight in the new iPad Air is very welcome, making what could have been an incremental upgrade hugely significant.
The iPad Air weighs in at just 1lb (or 453g) and 7.5mm thick - a significant step up from its predecessor, and in the hand that difference is genuinely startling.
Chipping it in
Under the hood, the iPad 5 has the 64-bit architecture of the A7 chip that debuted in the flagship iPhone 5S, but as a bigger device that power is even more important here, described by Phil Schiller on stage as 'screamingly fast'The gap between tablets and laptops has not just narrowed but all but disappeared, and the advancements made by Apple in this area are key to its success.
The cameras appeared to function pretty well in the low light of the hands-on room, but we need to get it out into the wild to give you a proper opinion.
They are certainly an improvement on the iPad 4, but beyond that it's really too early to say. Although it doesn't matter as you shouldn't use the rear one. Have we mentioned that?
Past wins
Sometimes in the wash of new technology it's easy to forget what the iPad already brings so it's important to note that the arrival of iOS 7 just a few weeks ago have made significant improvements to the iPad universe already, bringing a welcome step away from skeuomorphism and a more modern and fresh design.And that Retina screen that has been wowing us from last year is still present and correct - and, as you would expect from a tablet - central to everything that is great about the iPad.
There's no Touch ID - which is a surprise given that it's quickly become a nice feature of the iPhone 5S and the A7 chip can handle it - but it's not by any means critical, and we'll merrily take the reduction in size and weight.
As you would expect with this level of power, the apps run superbly and we were flicking in and out of things like the App Store and iWorks apps without any sign of slowdown or hesitance.
More than a name
The iPad Air is much, much more than just a name change - the reduction in the size and weight of the device improve it on a fundamental level.The biggest criticism you could level at the iPad 4 was its size and weight, and the Air's biggest difference is that it's simply more of a pleasure to hold.
It's now down to less than the Sony Xperia Tablet Z, and we were amazed at how easy that was to hold - but Apple has taken things to another level now.
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