Apple iPad Air: What's new

Finally, the new iPad is here. Apple has decided to call it the iPad Air instead of the expected iPad 5 name. The iPad Air hasn’t just got a facelift but has undergone a lot of changes under the hood too. Apple says it’s “thinner, lighter and more powerful.” Apple has literally re-invented the new iPad which now comes with some nifty changes on the outside as well as inside. Find out what’s new.

Apple hasn’t made any changes to the display size as it ropes in the similar 9.7-inch Retina display seen in the previous version. Though the display is same, Apple has managed to squeeze it into a smaller, lighter body. The iPad Air is lighter at less than 450 grams, pencil-thin and smaller compared to its predecessor. In fact, it’s more like a large iPad mini and 20 percent less wide than the iPad 4, making it easier to hold. It has undergone some cosmetic changes like the tapered edges on its back are squarer now. The front side looks more polished, refined and overall the device looks quite pretty. The iPad Air will be made available in two finishes—grey/black and white/silver. Sadly enough, there isn’t a gold option, here.

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Pencil-thin iPad Air

On the display front, you won’t find any major changes. It sports the 9.7-inch Retina display with the same 264ppi pixel density. So, one can be rest assured that the display won’t disappoint.

The new iPad has lots of nifty changes under the hood. Firstly, one can expect a massive performance boost as the iPad Air packs the same Apple A7 CPU as the iPhone 5s, bringing 64-bit architecture to the tablet. Moreover, it is believed that the chip could be clocked a little higher compared to the iPhone 5s. Another big change is the inclusion of the same M7 motion coprocessor as the iPhone 5s. The M7 is a very low-power motion sensor processor that helps keep the energy use low when the iPad needs to do little more than monitoring the output of the accelerometer and gyroscope. The A7/M7 motion chip combo ensures twice the speed and improves battery efficiency.

You can use the iPad Air with one hand

The iPad Air gets apple’s latest OS flavour—iOS 7. Click here to read our review of the iOS 7. It also packs in reworked versions of the iLife and iWork suites. The apps in these suites have been designed to harness the power of the 64-bit chip included in the iPad Air. The app store has over 4.5 lakh apps that have been optimised to be used with the iPad. The long list of built-in apps includes Safari, Mail, iBooks, GarageBand, Newsstand, iMovies, Pages, Numbers and more.

On the camera front, the iPad Air gets some small changes. It comes with a 5 megapixel rear iSight and 1.2 megapixel front-facing FaceTime HD cameras as seen in the previous iPad, but Apple claims some improvements in the camera too. However, not much is known yet. Just like most of the tablets, Apple gives flash a miss. But it has included dual microphones for improved audio capture.
With the new iPad Air, Apple promises the same rated battery life of about 10 hours as seen in the iPad 4. It gets a built-in 2.4-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery, and the lightening port. It has added a slew of connectivity options including 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, GLONASS.

Faster, thinner and lighter

The iPad Air will be up for grabs from November 1 starting at $499 (Rs 30,760 approx)  for the 16 GB Wi-Fi-only model. LTE models will start at $629 for the same 16 GB option. The 16GB cellular version will be priced at $629 (Rs 38,770 approx).