My iPad Air Review

[srinivas1015]

Review of the 128GB iPad Air (Wi-Fi model)

Pros:
1)The build quality is impeccable as always, and is incredibly comfortable to hold with one hand, not only because of the reduction in weight but also due to the reduction in bezel width.

2)The retina display makes text and HD video look razor sharp.

3)Apple’s ecosystem : I understand that Android is a step ahead in terms of the number of features and customizable options but if you have a Mac, an iPhone, an iPod and an iPad and all your content is in iTunes, there’s nothing quite like Apple’s ecosystem. The difference between Google Drive and iCloud comes down to the fact that iCloud is not only used as a data storage facility but is also integrated into every part of the OS. My iPhone is my primary organizing tool, be it setting reminders, taking quick notes, setting up events in my calendar, etc. Once that’s done, I’ll not only have access to them on my Mac and iPad but the notifications sync as well so that one doesn’t have to deal with the same notification messages on every device. If I’m working on my Mac and I green-tick a reminder after completing it, the notification syncs across all my devices so that it doesn’t keep repeating. The same for email. iCloud integration carries over to Apps as well such as games where your save data is synced and also to Safari where not only your bookmarks and history are synced but your open tabs as well. With iWork in the cloud, the same syncing applies to Word, Excel and Powerpoint files as well. I do video editing as a hobby and it’s nice to have my projects sync between my iPad and Macbook Air. I have been using iTunes for my music since the past 7 years and it has expanded to iTunes University lessons (with free lectures from professors from MIT & Harvard), my app purchases and lots of Podcasts, all of which sync across all my devices. Same goes for my music history, my playlists, my Radio Stations and music in the cloud.
With Photostream, any photo you take with with the iPhone syncs to the Photostream in the cloud and is pushed to all your Apple devices. (I use iPhoto on my Macbook to organize all of them into albums, tag people, etc which are then pushed back to my portable Apple devices.)
iTunes Radio is another truly amazing feature where you can create customizable Radio stations and is a lot like Pandora but with the added benefit of being integrated into your iTunes Music library. And with iTunes Match, all your music (even mp3 files) on your computer are matched to the iTunes store and are validated as purchases so that you’ll have access to them on all your devices from the cloud.

4)Both hardware and software are created by Apple : The main problem with Windows and Android in my opinion is that they’re made to run on a variety of different hardware and that’s where the coding becomes clumsy. That’s usually why Quad-Core processors are useless because the application isn’t designed to take advantage of parallel processing and ends up dumping the load on a single core and this why even a 3000$ PC ends up lagging. iOS may be restrictive but the sandbox design where software developers and users don't have access to the system processes is the only way to ensure maximum security.

5)Incredibly fast, especially when upgrading from a first-gen iPad.

6)Completely clutter-free and comes with no bloatware : Be it iMessage, the iOS homescreen, the mail app, the Notification Center or even the Calendar - What I love about iOS and Mac OS X Mavericks is that they’re completely clutter-free and have a very clean look with only the important operations present. The devices also don’t come with unnecessary software that take up HDD space.

7)With iBooks and Comixology apps, being light weight, and a retina display it makes a great e-reader.

8)No Fingerprint Scanner - This is a major pro as I’m highly uncomfortable with Apple storing my fingerprints. It’s stored on the M7 chip but it IS accessible by the OS and that alone is cause for worry. Apple said it doesn’t store it in the cloud but it didn’t say anything about not sending it over to the NSA. Besides, once the device is jailbroken and the walls are broken down, app developers WILL have access to system processes, including the the fingerprint data.




Cons:
1)The screen - While the text and HD video are razor sharp, the colors are incredibly disappointing. The color gamut is quite narrow and almost feels like 16bit. The full RGB spectrum doesn’t seem to be present. The 2012 Macbook Air and the first-gen iPad don’t suffer from this. Another problem is that there are many apps that are not optimized for the Retina Display and they look WORSE than on a 720p iPad. The glossy display is very reflective too and although it is slightly less reflective than the first gen iPad, it’s still quite bad and I feel Apple should have gone with a matte-finish like the Macbook Air.






2)Speakers - This is the first iPad to have stereo speakers but for some reason they’re placed on the same side next to each other! The sound quality is also worse than the first-gen iPad and sounds like it’s coming out of a tin box. But I guess that’s the price one pays for a thinner device.

3)Heat - While the iPad Air remains cool for extended periods of use even when watching an HD movie, it becomes to get quite warm when performing a Hardware-extensive activity such as playing a game. It’s still not too hot but is on the warm side (around 36deg Celsius). Another negative due to the thinner body.

4)Volume buttons - The separate buttons for decreasing and increasing volume are quite rigid and difficult to repeatedly operate. I prefer the singular button on the first-gen iPad.

5)iOS (version 7.0.4 at the time of this review) is still buggy on the iPad and is not as smooth as on the iPhone. An app may crash occasionally and if you have too many tabs open in Safari, the least used tab refreshes when you switch to it. If you have a game running, you can’t have more than two tabs open in Safari because they keep refreshing when you switch from one to another. This isn’t an issue on the iPhone and I hope Apple fixes the way Apps utilize the available RAM on the iPad. This issue has plagued Apple’s tablets since iOS 4 and I’m quite disappointed that Apple still hasn’t fixed it.

6)The wi-fi only model doesn’t have GPS meaning you won’t be able to use location services unless the MAC address of your router is in Apple’s database (which has little chance of happening since you can’t manually add it nor can you submit a request.). If location services are important, get the Cellular version.

7)The camera, while decent, doesn’t have flash. I don’t take pictures using a tablet and even when I do, I never use flash but I do use it as a temporary flashlight when the power goes out. The FaceTime front-facing camera could have been of better quality, especially since that’s the one that is going to be used more in a tablet than the rear facing one.



A couple of things -
I understand that Apple’s native Video app is quite restrictive in terms of acceptable video formats and if this is a problem, I recommend downloading the free VLC app which can play almost any file. The only downside is that all your files are dumped together in one place whereas with the official Video app you get to organize your files into Movies, TV Shows and Seasons. Once ‘Manually Manage Music & Videos’ is selected in iTunes, you can simply drag-and-drop files into your tablet via iTunes without worrying about syncing the files between the PC/Mac and iPad. In other words, a movie won’t be deleted from your iPad automatically if you delete it from your iTunes PC/Mac Library.
Air Video is another great app to stream any video file from your PC/Mac Hard Disk to your Apple device.
iWork and iLife are both free and Pages is a great app to work with .doc files and the best part is that it syncs your work to your Mac and other Apple devices. You can login to iCloud.com from any computer and have access to all your document files, notes, reminders, contacts and even work on the website without having any software installed.
Apple offers a lot of free services and one of them is music lessons. I’m currently taking Piano lessons via Garageband and practicing on the iPad which syncs to the Mac which gives back feedback based on how well I play. It also includes downloadable lessons from famous artists such as John Legend, Sting, and Norah Jones to name a few.
ITunes University allows offers lots of free lectures on a variety of topics by professors in top Universities such as MIT. Not to mention the countless number of Podcasts.



Bottom line -
Get the iPad only if you plan on using Apple services and if you’re already into the ecosystem. If you’re invested in Google having already bought tons of apps on the Android platform, have all your files in Google Drive, and already use an Android phone, it doesn’t make much sense in getting an iPad. You’d be better off with an Android tablet. A Microsoft Surface Pro doesn’t really count as a tablet due to the thickness and weight of the device. I see it as more of a laptop with a detachable screen rather than a tablet with an attachable keyboard.

The iPad Air is LIGHTER (not LIGHT), performs well and Apple’s ecosystem is quite commendable. I also recommend atleast a 32GB model as 16GB is way too little to actually do anything, with the OS and essential utility apps taking a major chunk of the space. I also highly recommend a Smart Cover rather than traditional cases which are quite heavy and end up negating the benefit of having a lighter tablet.

I give the iPad Air a solid 8.5/10.