Apple unveils new iPad Air 2 and newish Mini 3
Apple has just revealed the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 at its press event last night stating that they feature “technology jam packed” in to an “incredibly thin and light package”. Do they live up to the hype? Well, I’m not too convinced.
iPad Air 2
Starting off with the iPad Air 2, this year’s model comes in at just 6.1mm thick. That’s pretty impressive – basically you could stack a pair of iPad Air 2s and they would still be thinner than the original iPad.
The iPad Air 2 now features a laminated screen, the LCD glass and Touch ID sensor are optically bonded, leaving no room for air gaps. The anti-reflective coating on the display supposedly reduces reflections by around 58%. Powering the iPad Air 2 is the A8X processor, which is 64-bit and 40% faster than last year’s chip.
Not much headway has been made in terms of battery life though. The iPad Air 2 still lasts the standard 10 hours.
In an effort to try and get people to start taking photos with tablets (why would you want to do that?) Apple has made some improvements to the iPad’s camera and viewfinder tools. The camera has 8 megapixels, f/2.4 aperture and can shoot 1080p video, and you’ll also be able to take 43MP panoramas. All that still won’t prevent you from looking silly by holding up a tablet to take a snap though.
The iPad Air 2 also comes with up to 866 Mbps WiFi support, making for super fast transfers thanks to the 802.11AC compatibility. Additionally, more LTE bands will be supported for the 4G model in the US, also resulting in an increase in speed.
iPad Mini 3 (aka – Mini 2 in Gold)
The iPad Mini 3 also made a short appearance and for good reason. The iPad Mini 3 is pretty much exactly the same as the iPad Mini 2 but it will obviously cost you more.
Well, what’s different? You go get TouchID as well as the Mini 3 has an option of packing 128GB of storage. Oooo.. and it comes in that blingtastic gold colouring.
Other than that… it’s the exact same device. Same shape, same weight, same everything. Just check out the official chart below:
So, basically, if you don’t mind paying an extra £80 for a gold iPad Mini that has a fingerprint scanner then you’ll be no doubt stoked by this new arrival.
From a personal viewpoint, however, I’d rather opt for a Mini 2 while stocks last as, chances are, the Mini 2 won’t be around for that much longer.
It makes even more sense now that it’s just had a £100 price cut.
Alternatively you could just pay £80 extra and get yourself an iPad Air 2 and the actual upgrade it comes with. If you were thinking of updating your phone as well as your tablet then the bendy iPhone 6 Plus might actually make sense.
