“Starting at $499 and climbing to an incredible $929 for a fully loaded model with mobile broadband and 128GB of storage, the Air is a complete redesign of the familiar 9.7-inch iPad into a package that’s smaller, thinner, and lighter than ever before, with far more powerful internals and the same industry-leading 10-hour battery life,” Nilay Patel writes for The Verge. “It’s also Apple’s first tablet to be released with iOS 7, the company’s complete rethinking of its mobile operating system.”
“Visually, the iPad Air is a larger iPad mini,” Patel writes. “That doesn’t mean the iPad Air isn’t stunning — it is. It’s nearly a half-pound lighter than the outgoing model and .07 inches thinner, and the difference is astonishing in person: you can hold it comfortably in almost any orientation or position, and it feels far more tossable and casual than any other large tablet I’ve used. Compared to the fake plastic leather of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 or the chunky heft of the Microsoft Surface 2, the Air is in an entirely different league. There’s an element of braggadocio about the entire thing, really: anyone paying even the slightest bit of attention saw this hardware design coming a mile away, and now here it is, with hardly a real competitor in sight.”
Patel writes, “The iPad Air is the best large tablet ever made, and its only real competition will be the forthcoming Retina iPad mini, which will offer the same experience in a smaller form factor for a lower price.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Ars Technica reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Very impressive – November 4, 2013
Bloomberg News reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Hands-down the best tablet on the market – October 30, 2013
CNET reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: The best full-size tablet, Editors’ Choice – October 30, 2013
AnandTech reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: In a completely different league – October 30, 2013
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Best of breed, superior to each and every rival – October 30, 2013
Mossberg reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: ‘The best tablet I’ve ever reviewed’ – October 29, 2013
Fox News reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Best in class – October 29, 2013
The Independent reviews Apple’s 64-bit iPad Air: Super-light and most powerful – October 29, 2013
Ordered mine Friday afternoon; after the successful experiment that was my 16 GB iPad Wi-Fi (1st generation), I went whole hog : 128 GB Wi-Fi & cellular. Can’t wait to get it.
Also, First?.. 😉
I have an original too and was thinking this was the time to upgrade. Any other comparatives to your original that you can share?
This mutha is blazing fast
Planning on getting a Space Gray 128GB WiFi iPad Air the day after Thanksgiving. I’ve held out this long because I really don’t need an iPad but I’ll be traveling more next year so might as well join the club.
Just finished setting up my new one. Sliver, 64Gb. I can’t believe the incredible different between this and my one year old iPad. Incredible.
Agree entirely. Have upgraded from 2 to the air. This is a whole new ball game. The handling factor, light, thin etc is a leap forward. I upgraded because I use some fairly intense sailing navigation software that makes demards in the graphics dept. 2 compared to Air is chalk and cheese. This thing flys. I’m not one for hyperbole but I’m impressed. This is innovation. I think as more people use it even the media will agree that the Air has taken us a lot closer to the the Jobs vision of the ultimate portable computing device. No aching wrist after 30 mins in one hand, serious performance, remarkable resolution, and simple ease of use. I can only imagine that the next major iteration will be flexable, virtually indestructible, powered by the sun or something and with even more extraordinary storage capacity. We’ll see…. Anyone considering the upgrade or first purchase of an iPad should try to get their hands on an Air beforehand. The experience will make it clear how much of a significant change this is.
The Dr.
I got to trade in my iPad 1, and walked out with a white iPad Air LTE 64 gig. Love Love Love it.
Lots of the early posters seem to be upgrading from the iPad 1. I think this will hold fairly true since ios 7 runs quite nicely on my iPad 2. I certainly see no need to upgrade yet! As usual, apple built to last.
That one pound barrier is extremely important. Kudos to Apple for getting there first.