The Apple iPad Air 2 Review
by Joshua Ho on November 7, 2014 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Apple
- Mobile
- iOS
- ipad Air 2
CPU Performance
Now that we’ve managed to take a good look at the changes between the A8 and A8X, we can get a good idea of what those differences translate to in some real world performance. While we’ve already seen pure CPU performance, such differences can be small when viewed from real applications. To this end, we use a few browser benchmarks and similar benchmarks. I definitely want to caution against comparing SoCs across platforms though, as rendering engines have a significant effect upon the performance of the device.
There's really not too much that needs to be said here, as the extra core and minor clock speed bump make for ridiculous amounts of performance. The A8X is class-leading here despite generally having fewer cores and lower clocks than the rest of the competition. However, in comparison to A8 we don't see a massive jump in performance. This seems to suggest that even a third core will invoke diminishing returns in general, although these changes mean that it's enough for the iPad Air 2 to be one of the fastest ARM-based devices on the market. One can see an odd regression in the Basemark OS II storage test, but this is likely to be production variances in NAND quality rather than anything notable.
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IUU - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Like what?lucastbosa - Saturday, November 8, 2014 - link
Like Paper, by 53. Or iMovie, Garage Band, and many others.carloshehe - Sunday, November 9, 2014 - link
Yes. Actually just the apps that come with iPad for free from Apple there's nothing like it on Android.Then you actually open the App Store and it is game over for Android.
Like I said. Some games. Email, video, web browsing and light work you can do on an Android tablet, but for anything heavier forget it. The iPad is still the very best.
carloshehe - Sunday, November 9, 2014 - link
Like iDraw (vector design program like illustrator)Pixelmator
There are so many I could go on forever.
Android tablet apps are exactly 0. It sucks for tablets.
NEDM64 - Sunday, November 9, 2014 - link
My favorite latex editor: TexPad.Mendley, etc...
tralalalalalala40 - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link
Check out pythonista, grafio, and get console :)tralalalalalala40 - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Android isn't perfect either. It's more closed source every day.In the tablet space, you have to be a hardcore fanboy to get the nexus 9. There is an order of magnitude more apps custom built for the iPad.
But if you just want a portable TV, get android tablets, they are much cheaper.
Guspaz - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Considering the Nexus 9's reviews (pretty much every review I've seen is negative), you'd probably be better off with a tablet from Samsung or something.steven75 - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
The Nexus 9 could be a third of the price of the iPad and I'd still pick it because:-My data isn't being mined by the world's largest advertising company
-iPad app ecosystem is *still* >>>>>>> Android tablet ecosystem
-Resale value through the roof
-After sale support in person. Imagine that!
steven75 - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Pick the ipad, obviously.