Jason / Published on October 19, 2014
The second reveal from Apple in a single month saw the announcement of the newest version of its tablet, the iPad Air 2. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, described the tablet as the perfect combination of simplicity and capability by saying “Beautifully simple on the outside, but packed with tech inside”.
So what changes should we anticipate from the iPad Air 2?
Well we’re here to give you a simple breakdown of what you can expect from the latest addition to the Apple family from alterations in design to advancements in technology.
Design
At just 6.1mm in thickness the iPad Air 2 is said to be the world’s thinnest tablet making it around 18 percent thinner than the previous model. This is largely due to the screen having been optically bonded, removing the air gap and ultimately making the device even thinner. Similar to preceding versions, the iPad Air 2 exhibits a 9.7-inch display with a Retina, 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution and has also been improved with an anti-reflection coating. This enhancement is the first of it’s kind on a tablet and enables reflections to be reduced by 56-percent. The iPad Air 2 will be available in three colours, white, grey and gold.
Technology
The iPad Air 2 has been upgraded with a new A8x chip (2nd generation), an M8 co-processor and offers 180 times faster graphic performance, confused? Well put simply, all this new technology means is that the iPad Air 2 is now much faster, in fact it is an astonishing 12 times faster than the original iPad.
Camera
Fitted with a rear-mounted iSight camera, the iPad 2 offers quality images with 8 megapixels, a speedy f2.4 aperture and the ability to shoot 1080p video. The reason for the production of far superior images is said to be down to the inclusion of the new A8x chip as previously mentioned which bears a quality image signal processor. The camera will also have the ability to take large scaled panorama photos, slow motion video and the new Time-lapse feature which was introduced along with the iOS 8 upgrade.
New Features
What else can we expect to see? Well, in addition to its advancements the iPad Air 2 will also see the introduction of new features such as faster Wi-Fi, an update FaceTime camera and just like on the iPhone the Touch ID fingerprint scanning has been added to the Home button. The tablet will also be compatible with Apple Pay.
Cost
The iPad Air 2 will be available with three storage options. The 16GB model starts at £399 (WiFI only) and adds £80 for each upgrade, for example the 64GB would cost £479 and the 128GB £559. The 4G version will add an extra£100 to each of those prices, with the cost of your mobile service contract or bill in addition to this.
So there we have it, all you need to know about the latest release from Apple, the revolutionary iPad Air 2.
With an abundance of enhancements and additional features this latest instalment puts all other tablets to shame but do the advancements go far enough to make you part with your hard earned cash? Will you be purchasing the iPad Air 2?
