Gadgetory

how does Apple's latest iPad compared to older iPads I'm Taylor Martin this is PocketNow and this is the iPad air versus the iPad 3 while the competition is rapidly closing the gap Apple is still very much the dominant force in the tablet market last week it launched the fifth generation of its incredibly popular tablet series the iPad air lighter thinner and more powerful than all before it how does it compare to iPads from yesteryear let's find out for this comparison we're actually using an iPad 3 not an iPad 4 the major differences between them however are fairly minimal they support the same exact design but the iPad 3 features the a5x chip set instead of the a6x the old 30 pin connector instead of lightning and a 0.3 megapixel front camera to the iPad 4 is 1.2 megapixel front shooter the differences between the previous two iPad models and the newer iPad air are much more exaggerated and notable first design the second through fourth generation iPads all featured the same design tapered edges by bezels and a speaker grille located on the lower left corner of the back side with the relatively large size all older iPads had one unfortunate quality in common weight the iPad three and four for example hit the scales at 652 grams the iPad 2 at 601 as the name suggests the iPad air is much lighter it weighs only one pound or 469 grams meaning it's 28% lighter than before this weight reduction is due in large part to the smaller physical footprint it's nearly two millimeters thinner and sixteen point two millimeters narrower than the iPad 3 and it's casing is effectively a scaled up iPad Mini chassis sporting the same lower radius edges speakers along the bottom and separated volume buttons instead of a combined rocker thus narrower design also gives the iPad air a shape that's more like into a sheet of paper or a 16:9 aspect Android tablet versus the more squared nature of older iPads while these smaller dimensions may seem miniscule on a nine point seven inch tablet they're quite impossible to overlook with both tablets in hand the iPad air is unbelievably thin and light for such a large tablet it's lighter and physically smaller than any comparably sized Empowered and for that Apple deserves a lot of credit also like the mini the air comes in two color options space gray and silver the older iPads also come in two colors white or black the difference however is that both color options on the older iPads still sported the matte aluminum finish on the back only the Front's for different colors when talking specifications the changes are far less dramatic at 9.7 diagonal inches both the iPad 3 and air feature 2048 by 1536 pixel resolution displays with density ratings of 264 pixels per inch both come with 1 gigabyte of RAM and both are rated at 10 hours of use time though the iPad 3 has a 40 2.5 watt hour battery in the air has a 32 point 4 watt hour cell both rear cameras capturing maximum of 5 megapixel images but like the iPad 4 the air comes with a 1.2 megapixel front camera to the iPad 3s 0.3 megapixel shooter internally the biggest difference between the iPad 3 and air is their respective chipsets the iPad 3 ship of the a 5x with a 1 gigahertz dual-core CPU the iPad Air's 64-bit a7 chip comes with a 1.4 gigahertz dual-core CPU both displays look equally fantastic producing vibrant yet realistic and accurate colors as well as offering wide viewing angles great contrast and deep blacks at 264 PPI they're both incredibly crisp and put simply both displays or gorgeous in terms of build quality neither tablet is better than the other but obviously we favor the lighter more slim and narrower design of the iPad air fortunately none of these dimension changes come at the expense of usability or ease of use they in fact make the tablet easier to hold particularly for extended periods of time as it typically goes with Apple devices there are practically no differences in the software between these two so we won't waste too much time on the software aspect of this comparison both tablets run iOS 7 taking full advantage of the new refined interface control center and the numerous tiny improvements such as task switching Notification Center or limitless folders on the software side of things there are only two notable differences between the iPad 3 and iPad air airdrop support and 64-bit architecture unfortunately the iPad 3 dozen come with airdrop capabilities though the iPad 4 and air do in the a7 chip inside the iPad air is a 64-bit processor meaning it can take full advantage of apps with 64-bit support and the associated performance improvements that said it could also lead to apps which are more susceptible to crashing the area that separates these two tablets the most however is performance by no means is the a5 X in the iPad 3 bad in standard usage opening apps composing emails web browsing etc the iPad 3 is perfectly snappy and smooth the iPad air powered by the new a7 chip is an entirely different ballgame it's a split second faster at just about everything you can throw at the tablets opening switching and closing apps but where the iPad air begins to leave the iPad 3 in the dust is game performance the iPad 3 is no slouch but in graphic intensive games such as asphalt 8 it begins dropping frame rates quite regularly providing a less than desirable experience the iPad air doesn't even begin to bat an eyelash at asphalt 8 or anything else we've thrown at it thus far performance is absolutely stellar still the iPad 3 holds its own especially for a tablet that's over a year and a half old the loudspeaker however is something we're far more fond of on the iPad 3 located on the lower left corner of the back of the tablet the speaker on the iPad 3 is much more difficult to cover up on accident then the dual speakers on the iPad air which is separated by the Lightning port in the middle of the bottom edge the iPad 3 speaker may be rear-facing and not quite as loud but it's certainly more out of the way and more difficult to cover up or muffle with the palm of your hand it's also more bassy and things are once again much more level when talking about battery life and camera performance like every full-sized iPad to date Apple rated both the iPad 3 and air at 10 hours of usage we haven't had a chance to fully put the iPad air to the test quite yet we're saving that for the full review but suffice it to say these two are on par with one another in the stamina Department and let's just say they don't disappoint finally cameras both come with the 5 megapixel sensor fixed to their backsides and unsurprisingly both of those image sensors capture comparable images for tablets their image quality is passable even impressive in some cases at five megapixels other cameras will undoubtedly supply far more detail but the color reproduction is accurate vibrant contrast is passable and the images simply aren't dull like we've experienced with other tablet cameras this still does nothing to fight the stigma or awkwardness around snapping photos with a 10-inch device so should you turn in that old iPad for the latest and greatest model should you search around for a cheaper used iPad or splurge for a brand new iPad air depending on the circumstances we might offer different answers but there's a definite cause to spend extra cash this time around the internal upgrades might be miniscule but the performance benefits of the a7 chip paired with the extra slim and lightweight chassis is more than enough to sway us in the direction of the iPad air the weight difference may only sound like a small plus but trust us after you've held both you won't want to go back to an older iPad is the weight difference game-changing no is it noticeable and significant absolutely and for a device built for portability a huge difference in weight shouldn't be taken well lightly so for us it's the iPad air through and through that's all for now if you enjoyed this video and found it helpful be sure to click the thumbs up button below and subscribe to the channel to see more videos like this one in the future comment if you have any questions or suggestions and follow us on all the usual places twitter google+ and facebook at pocket now I'm Taylor Martin you can find me on twitter at casper tech and i will see you next time