Here's our breakdown of everything you need to know about the iPad Air 2.
Prices: Available in silver, space gray and gold colors, the iPad Air 2 comes in configurations of 16, 64 and 128GB and is priced at $499, $599 and $699 respectively for the Wi-Fi only models and $629, $729, $829 respectively for the Wi-Fi + Cellular models.
Deals: As usual, a little sleuthing on Amazon can yield some nice savings. There's 16GB Gold Model
going for just $415, and you can pickup the 64GB model by going here (it's the second from the right)
Pros: The iPad Air 2 is outstandingly fast with an upgraded processing speed that is comparable to that of a laptop. It's got an incredibly sleek body. Apple executives are touting the mere 6.1 mm thick phone as the thinnest tablet in the world, even thinner than iPhone 6 (6.9 mm) and iPhone 6 Plus (7.1 mm). It has a brilliant screen, quite like that of iPad Air, with added Low-reflectivity Retina HD display and lesser 'air gaps' between different elements to shed any unnecessary bulk. Front-facing Face Time HD camera and touch ID fingerprint sensor (first introduced in iPhone 5s) are other added features.
Cons: At 7340 mAh, it has a lower-capacity battery than the 2013 iPad Air's 8827 mAh. A better battery life could have been provided. There is no provision for MicroSD storage expansion. The volume silencer is gone and the sound quality and speaker placement are not impressive. Also, it isn't much different from the iPad Air in terms of overall functionality and is priced quite steeply.
Specs: The iPad Air 2 has a 9.7 inch 1536 x 2048 display with scratch-resistant glass and oleophobic coating. The phone has an 8 MP rear camera and a 1.2 MP Face Time powered front camera. It is available in variants of 16, 64, and 128GB with 2GB of RAM. The 64-bit A8X chip with M8 motion co-processor is incredibly powerful and is the fastest chip ever incorporated in an Apple mobile tablet.
Talking Points: The iPad Air 2 has amazing photo-capturing and video-recording capabilities. Recently, an episode of the popular sitcom 'Modern Family' was shot entirely with iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2, with one or two small scenes shot using MacBook Pros. The episode is titled "Connection Lost" and will be aired on February 25th on ABC.
It isn't every day that major TV shows shoot entire episodes with phones and tablets. 'Modern Family' co-creator and executive producer Steven Levitan announced that although many Apple products are featured in the episode, Apple wasn't asked to pay for product placement. When informed, the company loved the idea and provided the iPhones.
Conclusion: This is a tablet that is extremely beautiful, thin, fast and powerful. Whether it's too thin or too expensive remains debatable. That said, it is a marked improvement over its predecessor with many added tweaks and enhancements and is considered the gold standard for tablets.
