Gadgetory

this is Nilay with a verge in this is the iPad air 2 there's not very much to say about the iPad air 2 but that's because there's not very much of it the only noticeable design change in the iPad air 2 is the removal of the side switch which makes it slightly harder to either lock rotation or mute the volume it's 18% thinner and weighs less than pound it's kind of like holding a screen and nothing else that screen is actually the biggest and best change in the new iPad air 2 previous iPads had an air gap between the display and the cover glass but the new air 2 has a laminated display like every iPhone since the iPhone 4 that laminated display is a big reason the new iPad is so much thinner but most importantly it looks gorgeous it's like you're touching the pixels directly I did notice that the screen seems a little bit Pinker than my older air but only when I really held them side by side or pretty much off axis otherwise the whole display just looks great Apple says the new anti reflective coating reduces glare by 56% but to be honest I didn't notice it at all it's a little bit better if you look for it but you still can't really use the air to outside and bright sunlight the other big change to the iPad air 2 is the back camera which is now an 8 megapixel sensor up from 5 like it or not people love to use their iPads as cameras and Apple's really excited about it the photos themselves aren't quite as good as the iPhone 6 or 6 plus particularly in low light but they're certainly on par with older iPhones and most other smart phones I'm never going to be a tablet photographer but I'm curious to see how app developers use this new camera maybe they'll change my mind the air 2 also has apple's touch ID sensor which works just like you'd expect which is to say seamlessly you can unlock the iPad and pay for things and apps that use Apple pay but it's not so much of an upgrade that it's worth getting a whole new iPad for it keep in mind that your fingerprints don't transfer between devices so I have to set up touch ID from scratch even if you've already set it up on your iPhone inside the new air has an 8 X chip the same chip is the iPhone 6 but with beefed up graphics it's fast really fast I never notice any slowdowns and games around just fine especially newer games to take advantage of iOS 8 and there's no real trade-off between power and battery life my review unit ran all weekend without a charge it would also be nice if Apple took advantage the iPads increase power and bigger screen in a more useful way there's nothing about iOS 8 on the iPad that really changes the experience of using the it's a little bit easier to switch from phone to tablet to laptop with features like continuity and handoff that let you seamlessly move between apps and devices but using the iPad itself is still mostly the same I still wouldn't pick an iPad to be my only computer over a laptop and I definitely wouldn't leave the house with an iPad instead of my phone the new air 2 is a much more powerful computer than the laptop I had just a couple years ago but even something as simple as browsing the web isn't as full featured or flexible in sharing an iPad with multiple people and a family is still a clunky experience because iOS 8 doesn't support multiple users the iPad is Apple's most shareable computer and the iPad air 2 is so thin and friendly that it just begs to be passed around but everything about iOS 8 feels like it belongs to just one person it's a huge opportunity that Apple's just leaving on the table and that's really the story of the iPad air 2 it's very much the best iPad ever made but Apple is leaving so much left undone these are all iterative updates there's no must-have reason to upgrade if you already have an iPad you're happy with holding an iPad air 2 feels like the future it's so thin and light it's almost impossible but Apple has to push harder against the limits of what's possible with an iPad if it wants to finish the tablet revolution it started