Apple iPad Air
The
Air is a tangible upgrade over the previous, fourth-generation iPad, no longer
in production and so banished to the annals of history. The new iPad slots
right in where its predecessor left off, priced at $499 for a lowly 16GB, $599
for 32GB, $699 for 64GB, and $799 for the maximum 128GB configuration. The iPad
Air delivers more performance and comparable battery life in an attractive and
impossibly thin-and-light package. An improved front-facing camera makes
FaceTiming look better, and the Retina Display still looks great.
But, The Touch ID fingerprint
scanner, introduced on the iPhone 5S, is sadly absent here, meaning you’ll
still have to type in a passcode with every unlock and a password with every
purchase. Starting at $499 for 16GB, it’s still expensive compared with the
competition.
Performance: The
iPad Air shares the same processor with Apple’s flagship phone, albeit with a
slight bump in clock speed. While the 5S runs at 1.3GHz the Air runs at
1.39GHz. It can achieve this because of the increased space and improved heat
dissipation of the Air compared to the much smaller iPhone 5S.
Indeed, before we go into the detail
about performance it’s worth noting that the iPad Air manages to keep its cool
with consummate ease. Even when running intensive 3D games and apps for hours
it barely breaks a sweat and, therefore, neither do your hands.
In practice, the iPad Air is
blisteringly fast. Apps open instantly and games like Infinity Blade 3 look
sumptuous and run smoothly. The benefits of having a SoC means that the GPU can
be used to tackle compute tasks, which makes video editing and compute
intensive apps, like AutoCAD, show no hint of slowdown.
The iPad Air performs 59% faster
than the iPad 4 in the 3D Mark Ice Storm Unlimited CPU and GPU test and 91%
faster in Geekbench 3 tests. The Peacekeeper browser test, which assesses web
browsing performance, shows that the Air trounces its predecessor by being more
than twice as fast. It's also faster than the stonking Snapdragon 800 processor
on the likes of the Sony Xperia Z Ultra and Google Nexus 5. We're talking
matter of degrees here, but the difference is there all the same.
Battery life:
Battery life on the iPad Air is quoted at "Up to 10
hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music".
We would say that's actually not a bad estimate, although the drain was closer
to 2% every 10 minutes in general use, which equates to around nine hours' use.
Standby time is much, much better
though. We found that we could stick the iPad Air in a bag, taking it out for
the commute and messing about with on the sofa at home, for at least three days
before it began to get low on battery.
In fact, the only real task that
killed it was connecting to our amplifier via Wi-Fi while simultaneously
streaming music to the same device through Bluetooth. It's doing things like
this that make you realise that this is the kind of thing that we envisaged at
the turn of the century, a tablet that has the brains and connectivity to do
all the tasks we could want.In terms of connectivity, we've already mentioned
the excellent Wi-Fi performance (in terms of distance from router, rather than
improved speed) through the Multiple In, Multiple Out (MIMO) technology.
4G bands are now covered throughout
the globe, and low power Bluetooth is also on board as well, making it an
incredibly well-connected device.
The bottom line: Functionally, the
iPad Air is nearly identical to last year’s model, offering only faster
performance and better video chatting. But factor in design and aesthetics, and
the iPad Air is on another planet. It’s the best full-size consumer tablet on
the market. Specifications
Release date11/1/13
Display type9.7 in
OSApple iOS
ProcessorApple
Wireless connectivityWi-Fi
Dimensions (WxDxH)6.6 in x 0.29 in x
9.4 in
Weight1 lbs Price:$479.00 VS
Sony
Xperia Z2 Tablet
Sony's
previous Xperia Tablet Z was an incredibly slender piece of kit, measuring only
6.9mm thick, but the new model has managed to slice off even more, coming in at
only 6.4mm. Its slimness is immediately noticeable when you pick the slate up
as it feels like a thin pamphlet. At 426g it's very light as well, which should
help make it comfortable to use for longer periods.Design-wise, not much has
changed since the previous model. The front is a button-free, all glass design,
while the back panel is a wide expanse of matte black plastic, with the minimal
Sony branding in the middle. Like its predecessor, the Z2 Tablet is completely
waterproof, allowing it to shrug off an errant spilled drink or let you dunk it
in the sink to rinse off smeary fingerprint marks.The 10.1-inch display boasts
a Full HD resolution, making it well equipped to tackle glossy, high definition
shows on Netflix. It's not quite matching the iPad Air's whopping
2048x1536-pixel resolution, although side-by-side, I doubt you'd notice much
difference.On the back of the tablet is an 8-megapixel camera which should be
at least good enough for some Instagram shots of whatever you've cooked that
evening.Stuffed into that skinny frame is a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
processor, clocked at an impressive 2.3GHz, backed up by 3GB of RAM. Specifications
Display type10.1 in
RAM3 GB
ProcessorQualcomm Snapdragon 2.3 GHz
Dimensions (WxDxH)0.25 in
Weight15.03 oz
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