“While not a radical shift from the iPad Air, the differences in design and the even thinner build helps to set the iPad Air 2 apart,” Joshua Ho writes for AnandTech. “The next item of note is the A8X, which represents a return to dedicated SoCs for the iPad line. This is presumably done to preserve performance parity at native resolution for the iPhone and iPad line, and the extra CPU core is intriguing as it represents a shift away from the two CPU core system that Apple has stuck with for a while. In practice, this makes the iPad Air 2 one of the fastest ARM-based tablets on the market.”
“The display is now laminated to the cover lens, which dramatically improves interactions with the device as the display feels much closer to the glass than before. The iPad Air 2 also has a custom anti-reflective coating on the display is really unlike anything else I’ve seen before as the frequencies reflected make the glass appear to be producing purple reflections,” Ho writes. “Despite keeping the tablet at 200 nits, I found that it was still fully possible to read the display outdoors during the day.”
“Overall, the iPad Air 2 is likely to be one of the only tablets worth buying on the market today,” Ho writes. “While iOS isn’t perfect, it’s definitely delivering the best tablet experience as its app support is second to none. While other OEMs may have more features, iOS manages to hold on by virtue of its superior polish and integration with Apple hardware.”
Tons more in the full review – recommended – here.
Related articles:
Fortune reviews Apple’s new iPad Air 2: Best for work, not play; shines as a PC replacement – November 5, 2014
Gruber: High performance iPad Air 2 marks a turning point – October 22, 2014
T-Mobile to offer $0 down on iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3; pre-orders start October 22nd – October 21, 2014
Sales prospects for Apple’s iPad Air 2 look good – October 17, 2014
Apple’s new iPad Air 2 is 13% thinner than a pencil; Touch ID a boon for enterprise users – October 16, 2014
Apple unveils iPad Air 2 – the thinnest, most powerful iPad ever – and iPad mini 3, both with Touch ID – October 16, 2014