Apple’s usual routine is to introduce a new iPad every October. In the 2014 model, here’s what’s new:
• Thinner. That’s really the biggest feature: The Air 2 is less than a quarter of an inch thick (6.1 millimeters). Any thinner, and you could fold it into a paper airplane. A tablet is something you have to hold all the time you’re using it, so thinness and lightness matter.
• Faster. There’s a new processor inside: Apple’s own chip, the A8X. Apple says it’s 40 percent faster than before, and it does feel faster. Yet the iPad’s 10-hour battery life hasn’t suffered as a result.
• Camera. The camera’s been improved, too. It has a new, 8-megapixel sensor that brings to the iPad most of the tricks of the iPhone 6, like time-lapse video, slow motion, burst mode, self-timer, and panorama mode. It still lacks some of the iPhone camera’s awesomeness, though—like superfast autofocus (what Apple calls “focus pixels”), optical stabilization, hypersmooth 60 frames-per-second video, and a tap-to-focus feature.
• Fingerprint sensor. The iPad Air 2 has a fingerprint sensor embedded into the Home button (what Apple calls Touch ID), just as the last couple of iPhones have. It’s smooth, fast, and reliable; it doesn’t care what angle your finger is at. In many cases, it spares you having to remember passwords.
You can use your fingerprint to unlock the iPad Air 2, or to make purchases from Apple’s online stores (music, movies, apps), or, now, to buy stuff online with just a touch of your finger.
This doesn’t mean that you can buy things in physical stores by wielding your iPad, as you can with the iPhone 6 models. You can, however, use your fingerprint for the other part of Apple Pay: shopping online from within shopping apps like Houzz (housewares), Fancy.com; Target; Panera Bread; Uber, and so on.
• Faster WiFi. WiFi is much faster on the iPad Air 2—and you really feel it when you’re opening Web pages. The cellular iPad models ($130 extra) are 50 percent faster than before, too.
• Better screen. Apple reduced the number of layers between your eye and the image, so that the image seems slightly closer to your fingers. Apple also says the screen is less reflective than before.
• Universal SIM card. Apple now sells a single cellular iPad model that can hop onto any of three U.S. cellular networks: AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you can freely flit between those companies; there’s a lot of fine print.
The iPad comes in 16-, 64-, or 128-gigabyte models these days, with black or white fronts and black, white, or gold backs. The model with a cellular connection always costs $130 more.
