The iPad Air Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 29, 2013 9:00 PM ESTDisplay
In building the iPad Air Apple shrunk all elements of the tablet’s design, including the thickness of the display. We’re still dealing with a 9.7-inch 4:3 2048 x 1536 IPS LCD panel with true RGB stripe rather than some weird subpixel structure. Viewing angles are still great, and overall the display remains the best you can get at this size.
The iPad Air continues Apple’s recent history of shipping color calibrated displays. Color accuracy on my iPad Air review sample is better than on any previous iPad I’ve ever tested, in fact it’s more accurate than any other tablet I’ve ever tested. The numbers are easily backed up by images that show a vibrant and, more importantly, accurate display.
The iPad Air gets pretty bright at 426 nits, although black levels aren’t all that impressive at 0.44 nits. Overall contrast ratio is in line with what we’ve seen from previous iPads. My only complaint on the display front is I would like to see Apple laminate the cover glass to the LCD display. Reducing reflections would go a long way towards improving the usability of the device, not to mention the impact that would have on improving display quality in dark movie scenes.
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algalli - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
typing error meant to say that most people have missed the IBeacon feature in IOSgrkhetan - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
dsumanik and beautyspin: you guys have no idea what you are talking about. Anand's reviews are the some of the most objective and in-depth reviews. With your mindset -- it is clear that you hate Apple and have such a strong bias that you are not fit to be a reader of this website.ekotan - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
You have listed a bunch of features which would be either impossible or pointless to implement on an ARM tablet. Apple is not a company who just adds features for the sake of ticking every box, they actually care about how the device will be used and this attention to detail is a major reason why Apple users love their Apple products.errorr - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
NFC will never be supported by Apple. They just aren't interested. Wireless charging is an interesting idea but the design would make it the hardest engineering challenge I can imagine as the aluminum makes that a non starter. Plus if or when the ipad does wireledd charging I'm sure it'll be proprietary.ClemyNX - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
I truly laughed at that.Haptic feedback?
NFC?
Someone still hasn't understood that NFC is dead.
darwiniandude - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
Why does the review mention frame rate drops and lack of ram then? There is polite negativity in the review where appropriate.steven75 - Thursday, October 31, 2013 - link
Haptic feedback and NFC? Why would they add two technologies that are already on their way out?Walkop - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
I love how everyone says NFC is dead when every single credit/debit card out there has recently adopted it for pay-and-tap, and Google Wallet has been revolutionized in that it'll work regardless of carrier through NFC now.Djasonw - Thursday, October 31, 2013 - link
Yes, I definitely see a need for NFC. <smh>whatsa - Friday, November 1, 2013 - link
I played with the surface variable stand and that works greatnot flapping around
but yeah I agree with the additions
(the outdoor screen brightness to be pumped up too)