Google Pixel C The Google Pixel C has a slim, compact aluminum build that feels
sturdy. Its optional Bluetooth keyboard is equally solid and doubles as the
tablet's cover and it has a powerful, long-running battery. The tablet runs the
latest version of Android and its performance is lightning fast. The screen is
sharp, bright and colorful, and gaming graphics look stellar. Screen
The 10.2-inch screen is beautiful too,
at a resolution of 2560 x 1800 in a screen with an uncommon aspect ratio: 1:√2.
That’s the same ratio as a standard A4 piece of paper, which means that the
Pixel C’s screen feels capacious whether you’re using it in landscape or
portrait mode (it also has implications for multitasking, maybe, someday — more
on that later). Google has crammed in a hefty 308ppi in
its Pixel C display that pushes out a 2560 x 1800 resolution on a 10.2-inch
screen. Google also says there's 500 nits of brightness and full sRGB colour
gamut. While this sounds lovely we'd be a little worries about how much power
all those pixel and that brightness will chew through. Performance
The Pixel C sports Nvidia's Tegra X1 processor, a 64-bit,
quad-core chip which delivers a healthy blast of power into Google's
aluminium-clad slate.
That's joined by 3GB of
RAM, which means the Pixel C has more power under the hood than the iPad Air
2 and Nexus 9,
although the octa-core Samsung
Galaxy Tab S2 and Sony
Xperia Z4 Tablet technically
have greater capacity for higher loads.
Running the Pixel C through Geekbench 3 shows just how powerful it
is. With an average multi-core score of 4449, it performs better than the Nexus
9, Sony and Samsung tablets, while pretty much matching the Air 2's result.
On screen I found the Android interface to be fast and fluid. Apps
generally loaded in good time, and the Pixel C was able to run the
graphically-intensive Real Racing 3 and Asphalt 8 Airborne without any hint of
slowdown.
It's not the slickest experience I've ever had
on a tablet though, and while everything runs well, the Pixel C just lacks that
top level of polish for sublime performance and instant responses every time.
But,It's a bit heavy when attached to the keyboard (which is sold
separately). Big-name apps and games still tend to hit iOS before Android.
THE BOTTOM LINE The Google Pixel C is the
best Android tablet money can buy. Specs
Operating System: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Display: 10.2-inch LTPS LCD,2560x1800 (308 ppi)
500 nit brightness
sRGB color gamut Processor: NVIDIA Tegra X1
256 core Maxwell GPU RAM: 3GB LPDDR3
Internal storage: 32GB or 64GB
Cameras: 2MP front
8MP rear Battery: 34.2 WHr
Charging: USB-C Audio: Stereo speakers
Quad noise-cancelling microphones
3.5 mm audio out
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2x2 MIMO, dual-band
Bluetooth 4.1 + HS Sensors: Ambient Light, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Compass, Hall,
Proximity Keyboard: Optional Bluetooth wireless
keyboard Dimensions: 242 x 179 x 7 mm
Weight: 0.517 kg / 1.139 lb Price:$499.00
VS
iPad Air 2
It's even thinner
and lighter than last time around and to a noticeable extent. The screen is
better, with more vibrant colours, it's more powerful thanks to its A8X
processor and the battery life holds up just as well. It even benefits from
Touch ID and Apple Pay and while these features aren't as exciting here as they
are on phones they're still nice to have. Performance
The 64-bit A7
processor introduced on the iPhone 5S was altered to provide a power boost to
last year’s iPad Air. Called the A7X this chip was similar in performance to
the A7 – up 5-10% in our benchmark tests.
This year Apple
has gone further and designed a processor specifically for the iPad Air 2. The
A8X has a tri-core CPU running at 1.5GHz and a quad-core graphics processing
unit coupled, for the first time, to 2GB of RAM.
If we play Specs
Top Trumps the iPad Air 2 looks a shadow of top-end Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and its 2.3GHz quad-core processor.
Don’t let that fool you, though. The iPad Air 2 is the most powerful tablet
we’ve ever tested – and that’s including Nvidia’s Shield Tablet that packs the great new Tegra K1.
And while the
processor is key to that performance, Apple has also ensured that iOS 8 can
make the most of it. Metal lets developers take full advantage of the quad-core
GPU, while the new iOS programming language, Swift, means apps can hook into
certain features such as Touch ID.
Some observers have even compared the iPad Air 2's
performance to a desktop PC. In some respects they’re right. The A8X processor
performs a few tasks faster than PCs just a few years old, but the question is:
do you need all that power? If you intend to use your iPad as a productivity
device then you’ll appreciate it. Even if you don’t, you may find yourself
using it more as a laptop replacement than you anticipated.
During the launch of the Air 2, Apple showed off a
video-editing app called Replay that lets you create slick-looking videos with
ease. The iPad Air 2 powered through the edits.
There are clear benefits to be had from the extra
performance, but let’s see how it stacks up against the competition.
The iPad Air 2 scores an excellent 4,509 on Geekbench 3.
To put that in some context, the next fastest tablet we’ve reviewed, the Nvidia
Shield, scored 3220 – that’s 40% faster. That also makes the iPad Air 2 almost
70% faster than the iPad Air. That’s some impressive work in just a year.
And the wins keep coming with a 3D Mark Ice Storm
Unlimited score of 21,797. That’s 33% higher than the Shield and almost 50%
better than the first-generation iPad Air.
The iPad Air 2 is astonishingly fast – so fast, in fact,
that you might not know what to do with all that power. Not that we’re
complaining, of course. The extra grunt means that this is a tablet you can use
for more than just checking out the latest memes and Facebook. It future-proofs
the Air 2 to some degree.
There’s also been an upgrade to the co-processor, now
called the M8. This handles all the sensor data from the iPad Air 2, such as
the accelerometer and the new barometer. The reason that Apple favours a
co-processor is that it uses much less power than the main processor, helping the
battery to last longer.
In short the iPad Air 2 really is the complete package and while
you can always find things to niggle about there are no significant flaws.
In the time since the original iPad Air
launched everything else is still struggling to match it and yet Apple has
managed to raise the benchmark higher still. Everyone else really has their
work cut out if the iPad Air 2 is going to be unseated from the number one
spot. The new iPad Air gets an improved A8X
processor, better rear and front-facing cameras, an even thinner and lighter
design, an anti-reflective screen, a Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and more
built-in storage at higher configurations than last year. But The Air 2 isn't a big change from last year's iPad in terms of
overall function; battery life remains the same, although its battery life is
already pretty good. Audio playback via speakers makes the thin metal body
resonate more than before. The
Bottom Line The iPad Air 2 is a nice refinement and finesse of last year's
model, with a bevy of tweaks, enhancements, a much faster processor, and the
welcome addition of Touch ID. Simply put: it's still the gold standard for
tablets.
Weight: 437g | Dimensions:
240 x 169.5 x 6.1mm | OS: iOS 8.1 | Screen size: 9.7-inch | Resolution:
1536 x 2048 | CPU: Triple-core 1.5 GHz | RAM: 2GB | Storage:
16/64/128GB | Battery : 7340mAh | Rear
camera: 8MP | Front camera: 1.2MP
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