There aren’t any major design changes if you compare the new iPad Air 2 to the original Air. The new iPad weighs just 437g, compared to 469g of the older one. Apple also says that the new iPad Air 2 is 18 per cent thinner than its predecessor. However, you won’t be able to notice these fine changes right away. If measured in millimetres, it’s just marginally thinner.

The iPad Air 2 is also made from a premium metal chassis and has a smooth finish on the back. Corners are rounded with a steel rim running along the edges, and a diamond cut finish as seen in the original iPad Air and the iPad mini. We like the metal construction of the iPad and the feel of it when you hold the device in hand.

Buttons and ports placement is the same as the earlier iPads. The new addition here is the TouchID fingerprint scanner on the home button, which adds a level of security to your device. The buttons, both volume rocker and power are made from metal. They are easily accessible and have a nice click to it. Overall, the iPad Air 2 is very well designed, which offers a premium and luxurious feel.

The Apple iPad Air 2 is equipped with 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD display running at a resolution of 1536 x 2048 pixels (264ppi), which has been the same on the iPad 4 and iPad Air. To avoid smudging on the screen and to offer protection from scratches, the screen is treated with scratch-resistant glass with an oleophobic coating.  

The device is powered by a fast and efficient Apple A8X triple core processor clocked at 1.5GHz. It’s designed with the same 64-bit architecture and comes with a M8 motion coprocessor to record data, which works with health focussed apps such as Pedometer, etc. The RAM has also been bumped to 2GB. The new iPad Air 2 is available in 16, 64 and 128GB models. Apple has also bumped the primary camera to 8MP, which is capable of recording 1080p videos (30fps) and 720p videos (120fps). The secondary camera is still 1.2MP HD module, which you can use for making Facetime video calls and for taking selfies.

Other features such as Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS and GLONASS are also present. The iPad Air 2 is equipped with a 23.7 Wh Li-Po non-removable, which Apple claims to offer multimedia usage of up to 10 hours. You get to choose between three different colour options – Space Grey, Silver and Gold.

Operating System The iPad Air 2 is shipped with iOS 8 out of the box. While iOS 7 was a big update in terms of design change and features, the iOS 8 is more polished version that brings a host of features, both for app developers and consumers. We recently did an article around the new features of iOS 8, which you can read here. A slightly modified user interface, toast notifications, better multi-tasking and new camera app interface are some of the new features to expect in iOS 8. Screen quality and touch All thanks to the Retina display, content looks quite lively on the screen. The colour reproduction is very good and the display is bright enough to offer good readability under direct sunlight. Text appears pretty sharp, due to which reading ebooks and surfing websites is good fun. Colours look punchy, vibrant and viewing angles are good, so watching movies and photos on the iPad Air 2 is a visual treat.  

Touch response of the screen is very accurate. The UI is fluid and we did not notice any lag or delay. Whether you are playing games, surfing the internet or using productivity apps, the overall user experience is very fluid. Multimedia and Gaming The multimedia experience on Apple devices has never been bad and the iPad Air 2 doesn’t disappoint either. The music player supports playback of popular audio formats. The audio output is very loud, clear and detailed. There are also a host of equalizer presets that let you tweak around with the music experience. When playing music on speakers, we noticed that the device vibrates a lot, even when at the half volume mark. We transferred some full HD music videos and movie clips to the device, which it was able to play flawlessly. However, we are still left a little disappointed as most tablets out there, support playback for popular formats such as MKV and AVI, whereas Apple still doesn’t. However, you can download third party apps such as the VLC player from the app store to play those files.

Gaming experience on the iPad Air 2 was amazing. We played games from Subway Surfers to Temple Run and also the Asphalt 8: Airborne, which is a graphics intensive game. We had no issues whatsoever while playing these games. Camera The camera capabilities of the iPad Air 2 has massively improved compared to its predecessor. The new 8MP module is perfect for taking photos and videos in most lighting conditions. You get the same revamped camera app as seen on the iPhone 6 and other devices running on iOS 8. The interface is slick, minimalist and easy to use.