Re-inventing the wheel is one of Apple’s strongest suites and the upcoming iPad Air is the equivalent of upgrading Fred Flintstone’s car with actual premium tires. Yes, both are wheels in the general sense of the word, but the difference between rubber and stone is monumental. The iPad Air is a beauty to behold that weighs a single pound; it’s the lightest, thinnest and sleekest iPad to date.
iPad Air measures 9.45 by 6.67 by 0.30 inches
External design.
The fifth generation iPad exhibits the first design overhaul since the iPad 2. With a 7.5mm thickness, Air is 25 percent thinner than its predecessor yet supports the same 9.7 inch display. The exterior design borrows from the iPad mini, with deep curves along the side rather than the gradual slope of the previous generations of iPad, resulting in a 43 percent thinner bezel.
Hardware
The iPad Air is equipped with the same 64-bit architecture A7 processor native to iPhone 5s. Recall that A7 is a dual core processor that clocks in at 1300 MHz. By contrast, the CPU of the iPad 4 runs at the slightly increased amount of 1,400 MHz but is 32-bit. Both chips feature one billion transistors.
An upgraded PowerVR G6430 graphics processing unit makes its debut inside each iPad Air and is described by marketing lingo as having graphics that are “72 times faster than the first generation iPad.” This is the same GPU found in the iPhone 5s.
Furthermore, iPad Air does not compromise color or pixels. The retina display of iPad 4 returns in the iPad Air, condensing a 2048 x 1536 resolution with 264 pixel’s per inch into the 9.7 inch screen. Other similarities between iPad Air and iPad 4 includes the same Li-Polymer battery; it is unclear at this time if the battery will be user replaceable in the iPad Air – I sure hope so.
Camera
Apple chose to upgrade the iPad Air’s rear-facing camera with a 5-megapixel variety and a 1080p “FaceTime” camera in the front. A 1080p front facing camera makes video chatting significantly more tolerable, but the 5-megapixel rear camera is basic in comparison to cameras found on most modern smartphones. Apple’s own iPhone 5s and 5c use 8-megapixels cameras, meanwhile Samsung Galaxy 4’s cameras are a whopping 13-megapixels.
Pricing
Ipad Air’s is being publicly on November 1st in white, silver, space gray, and black color schemes. Pricing starts at $499 for the most basic model and ranges up to $629 for a WiFi + Celluar. The price model for varying storage capacities is presently undisclosed.
Story via Techcrunch
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