The iPad Air Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 29, 2013 9:00 PM ESTWiFi
The iPad Air moves to a 2-stream dual-band 802.11n solution, a sort of compromise between where the iPad was with its previous single-stream implementation and some of the newer devices shipping with 802.11ac. Moving to two spatial streams obviously helps improve performance tremendously. Peak performance on 5GHz 802.11n, assuming an equally capable AP, went as high as 180Mbps in my tests. I was able to average 168Mbps during our standard UDP WiFi test on 5GHz.
Cellular
Apple continues to use Qualcomm’s MDM9615 modem in the iPad Air, the big difference this round is there’s only a single SKU (A1475) for the cellular model covering a total of 34 countries across the Americas and EMEA. The LTE iPad Air supports a total of 14 LTE bands (1,2,3,4,5,7,8,13,17,18,19,20,25 and 26). In his usual awesome fashion, Brian speculated that the increased number of supported LTE bands was partially a function of moving to Qualcomm’s WTR1605L transceiver.
| iPad Cellular Speeds | ||||||
| Property | iPhone 3G/3GS/iPad 1 3G | iPhone 4 / iPad 2 (GSM/UMTS) | iPhone 4 / iPad 2 (CDMA) | iPad 3 | iPad 4/iPad Mini | iPad Air/iPad Mini w/Retina |
| Baseband | Infineon X-Gold 608 | Infineon X-Gold 618 | Qualcomm MDM6600 | Qualcomm MDM9600 | Qualcomm MDM9615 w/RTR8600 |
Qualcomm MDM9615 w/WTR1605L |
| Max 3GPP Release Feature | Release 5 | Release 6 | Release 7 | Release 9 | Release 9 | Release 9 |
| HSDPA Category | Cat.8 - 7.2 Mbps | Cat.8 - 7.2 Mbps | N/A | Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps | Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps | Cat. 24 - 42 Mbps |
| HSUPA Category | None - 384 Kbps WCDMA only | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps | N/A | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps | Cat.6 - 5.76 Mbps |
| EVDO | N/A | N/A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A | 1x/EVDO Rev.A |
| LTE | N/A | N/A | N/A | 100/50 UE Cat. 3 | 100/50 UE Cat. 3 | 100/50 UE Cat. 3 |
From a spec and performance standpoint, the LTE modem in the iPad Air is no different than what was in the 4th generation iPad. Consistent cellular connectivity options remains one of the staples of the iPad lineup. Although WiFi tablets still tend to be the more popular, it’s hard to argue with the productivity benefit to having LTE on a tablet. Being able to just reach for the iPad Air and know it’ll have connectivity regardless of where I am, without having to search for and log in to a WiFi network, is tremendously convenient.
Just as before, there’s no contract commitment necessary to buy an LTE iPad Air. You can manage your account directly on the device itself. Furthermore, at least in the US, the LTE iPad Air isn’t locked to any one network operator. You specify what provider you’d like to go with at the time of purchase, but afterwards you’re able to swap in any other activated nano SIM from a supported network operator. You could feasibly start out with a Sprint iPad Air and later switch to a Verizon, T-Mobile or AT&T SIM and continue using the device. The flexibility offered by a single SKU with support for a ton of bands is pretty awesome.
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ssiu - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Still, when Apple claims "up to 2x GPU of iPad 4", usually you will find some aspect of GPU performance that reaches the 2x claim. "40% to 70% better" seem below expectation compared to the claim.MadMan007 - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Apple marketing slides vague, misleading, or contrived? NO WAI!FwFred - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
With CPU power going up (eating into turbo/thermal headroom), I wonder where Apple is going to get their next 2x? TSMC/Samsung aren't moving fast enough for them. They have gone from toy CPUs to soon bumping against the limitations of physics.takeship - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
My bet is on them shifting to Intel as a fab on their 16nm, but doing so prior to the A9 (2015) may be a stretch.tipoo - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
How much does the GPU throttle? I was somewhat under the assumption that iPhones didn't have to throttle their CPUs as they never chased insane clocks like others (the infamous Nexus 4 throttling problem, also dialing back to 1GHz like here, not that the core performances are the same).errorr - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
They still throttle it just takes longer. The other big advantage is just the pure SIZE of the chip which is what allows the lower clocks.Egg - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Can someone explain the extremely cold display? Is it not true that "closer to 6504k is better" anymore?Psyside - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
Yes. Some people prefer over-saturated colors, 6500K is as closes to perfect as one can imagine, what he like or prefer is another story.For me 6500 sRGB displays are the only that matter, i can't stand 4500-5000K aka ARGB garbage.
cheinonen - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
6504K is the reference standard, which is devised from the color temperature of daylight at a certain time (and latitude). Really, it's what colors will look like if you have them outside during a sunny day. During sunrise or sunset, or under clouds, the light spectrum is different, so you see things differently then.Getting a display to do 6504K is just that: making what you see on screen be what it looked like when it was shot or designed. If you want it to be warmer (for example, incandescent light bulbs are around 2700K which is a warmer reddish light) or cooler is a personal preference, but if its closer to D65 (the actual white point) it will be more neutral and accurate.
wiz329 - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
What are your thoughts on the naming scheme @Anand?iPad Air is a pretty dumb name unless they're planning on releasing a Pro product.