The Apple iPad Air: A Stunning 10-Inch Tablet with Retina Display

Apple's iPad Air still sports the same gorgeous 2048x1536 native resolution in its 9.7-inch Retina Display, which is one of the best you'll see in any tablet on the market currently. Hands down. The iPad Air's display is a beauty to behold and a pleasure to use, with a whopping 264 PPI and 3.1 million pixels total. This display is arguably one of the most important aspects of any tablet, and Apple has truly outdone themselves in this regard.

There are a few 10-inch 1080p tablet displays from Microsoft and Samsung that will measure up to the iPad Air currently, but none surpass its quality and fidelity. The iPad Air's display is simply unmatched by its competitors. Apple rolled out its iOS 7 software update at the same time as it rolled out the iPad Air, and Visually iOS 7 brings a cleaner and brighter look to Apple's mobile UI. It's similar to what Google did with Android 4.4 KitKat, with fewer tabs to access features and flatter graphical elements free of heavy chrome accents and stylings. This new design is cleaner, neater, and more modern.

In addition to its improved display and iOS 7 software update, the iPad Air also features a new device control center that we like as well. You can bring this up by swiping up from any screen or app inside the control center, where you'll find sliders and dials for Wi-Fi, airplane mode, media player controls, screen brightness, and more. The App Store on the iPad Air is bustling with thousands of useful and fun high-quality apps, although not all are optimized perfectly for larger high-resolution screens like this one. However, virtually anything you could want to run on a tablet is offered in some representation on the App Store.

The camera app on the iPad Air is pretty stripped down and basic, but it gets the job done. There's an HDR setting for still shots, but image quality is just okay – images can look a little grainy in low-light settings especially. However, 1080p HD video image quality produced by Apple's iSight camera was sharp, vibrant, and well-balanced performance-wise.

Performance-wise, the iPad Air holds its own pretty well, with fast application switching and decent load times. You can see the iPad Air boots up in about 20 seconds, which is still pretty darn quick. Adding another gig of RAM to the equation for a total of 2 gigs would likely speed things up even more, especially given the available real estate on this larger tablet. We're sort of baffled why Apple doesn't offer this.

In terms of raw horsepower, the iPad Air's A7 processor offers plenty of muscle and gaming on the device is fast, furious, and fun. Here's a look at Asphalt 8, which I picked up for free in the App Store – as you can see, I'm not exactly the best driver, but frame rates are solid and graphics are reasonably impressive. However, titles like Infinity Blade and Epic's Citadel demo that you see here showcase the tablet's graphics muscle much better in benchmarks.

The iPad Air proves itself to be one of the fastest tablets on the market currently in virtually all metrics. In the 3D Mark Ice Storm benchmark suite, the iPad Air is the fastest 10-inch slate we've tested overall to date. When it comes to battery life, even with all this power, Apple notes that the iPad Air will muster 10 hours of web surfing, HD video playback, or music listening in our measurements – we were able to eke out 12 and a half hours from the iPad Air streaming Netflix HD video content.

All told, the iPad Air is a more than worthy successor to the previous generation iPad and a great overall choice in the 10-inch tablet form factor. However, if you already own a fourth-generation iPad, depending on your perspective, you might not see the motivation to upgrade – and if you consider many of the other 10-inch Android and Windows 8 device options on the market currently, Apple's premium price point for the iPad Air might be a little bit harder to digest comparatively. Regardless, we can't help but be impressed with the iPad Air for its stunning design, ultra-lightweight, gorgeous display, and robust performance.

The iPad Air is a must-see tablet that truly sets the bar high for any device in its class. With its impressive hardware, software, and build quality, it's no wonder Apple has made it one of the most highly anticipated devices of 2014.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi there it's Dave altavilla for hot hardware and this is Apple's fifth generation super thin 10-in iPad otherwise known as the iPad Air how thin is it well it's about. 29 in thin to be exact and though we weren't quite able to make it disappear behind a pencil like the Apple folks do in their TV and web commercials we were almost able to hide it behind our trusty number two Dixon tyon deroga as you can see here almost the new iPad Air is powered by Apple's 64-bit A7 processor and M7 motion co-processor combination with the A7 clocked at 1.3 to 1.4 GHz exactly as you'll find it in the new iPhone 5s on board is a power vrg 6430 quad core Graphics engine only 1 gig of RAM and storage options at 16 32 64 or 28 GB the new iPad Air weighs in at 1 pound and measures 9.4 in High by 6.6 in wide and. 29 in thick Apple also incorporates 80211 BG and Wi-Fi and optional 4G LTE connectivity as well as Bluetooth 4 a 1.2 megapixel front-facing FaceTime 720P HD camera and a rear-facing 5 megapixel 1080p HD eyesight camera you also get a standard AC adapter and cable with a USB connector on one end and the lightning connector on the other for charging the iPad Air or connecting it to a Mac or PC today we're specifically looking at the 64 gig Wi-Fi only version which retails for 6.99 though the 16 gig version can be had for as low as $4.99 with the top end iPad Air weighing in at a hefty $929 for 128 gig LTE enabled variants a quick walk around here shows us the onoff sleep wake button on the top left edge of the iPad Air as well as the audio silent combination screen rotation lock switch and volume up and down buttons on the top edge of the device are dual microphones and a 3 and half mm headphone jack and along the bottom is where you'll find the iPad Air's stereo speakers and its lightning connector Port incidentally these speakers do put out reasonably good sound at least as far as tablet size speak speakers go on the back top left corner is the 5 megapixel eyesight camera and on the bottom front of the tablet is the home button incidentally this is unfortunately not an Apple touch ID sensor and unlocking the iPad Air still requires a swipe gesture on its touch display and finally on the top edge of the display you'll find the 1.2 megapixel FaceTime camera comparatively though the iPad Air is 28 % lighter 20% thinner and occupies 24% less volume versus Apple's previous generation iPad the device still Sports the same gorgeous 2048x 1536 native resolution in its 9.7 in Retina Display Apple's iPad Retina display is still one of the best you'll see in any tablet on the market currently hands down at 264 PPI and 3.1 million pixels total the iPad Airs display which is by the way arguably one of the most if not the most important aspects of any tablet is simply a beauty to behold and a pleasure to use there are a few 10-in 1080p tablet displays from Microsoft and Samsung that will measure up to the iPad Air currently but none surpass its quality and Fidelity Apple rolled out its iOS 7 software update at the same time as it rolled out the iPad Air and Visually iOS 7 brings a cleaner and brighter look to Apple's mobile UI it's similar to what Google did with Android 4.4 KitKat with fewer tabs to access features and flatter graphical elements free of heavy chromed accents and stylings it's cleaner it's neater we like that there are plenty of new features with iOS 7 as well including better multitasking support when you double tap the home button you can scroll through a list of open applications and either tap one to switch back into it or swipe it upwards to close it down Iowa 7 also has Universal search just swipe down from the top and the search bar rolls down and a new device control center that we like as well which you can bring up by swiping up from any screen or app inside the control center are sliders and dials for Wi-Fi airplane mode media player controls screen brightness Etc and of course there's the App Store at this point in the game Apple's app store is bustling with thousands of useful and fun highquality apps though not all are optimized perfectly for larger high resolution screens like you get with the iPad Air however virtually anything you could want to run on a tablet is offered in some representation on the App Store and along with iTunes Apple's software media and developer ecosystem is The Watermark by which all of the platforms are ultimately measured against these days the iPad Airs camera app is pretty stripped down and basic but it gets the job done there's an HDR setting for still shots but image quality is just okay images can look a little grainy in low light settings especially however 1080p HD video image quality produced by Apple's eyesight camera was sharp vibrant and well balanced performance-wise the iPad Air holds its own pretty well in general usage with fast application switching there are times however when application load time and startup time feels a little slower than some higher-end tablets on the market here you can see the iPad Air boots in about 20 seconds which is still pretty darn quick but adding another gig of RAM to the equation for a total of 2 gig would likely speed things up even more and we're sort of baffled why Apple doesn't offer this especially in a 10-in slate where there is available real estate that said in terms of raw horsepower the iPad Airs A7 processor offers plenty of muscle and gaming on the device is fast Furious and and fun here's a look at Asphalt 8 which I picked up a free trial of in the App Store I can't drive as you can see but frame rates are solid and the graphics are reasonably impressive though titles like Infinity Blade and epic's Citadel demo that you see here showcase the tablets Graphics muscle much better in the benchmarks the iPad Air proves itself to be one of the fastest tablets on the market currently in virtually all metrics here in the 3D Mark ice storm bench Mark Suite the iPad Air is the fastest 10-in slate we've tested overall to date in terms of battery life even with all this horow Apple notes the iPad Air will muster 10 hours of web surfing HD video or music listening in our measurements we were able to eek out 12 1 half hours from the iPad Air streaming Netflix HD video content which is pretty darn impressive for such a lightweight device all told the iPad Air is a more than worthy successor to the previous generation iPad and a great overall choice in the 10-in tablet form factor however if you already own a fourth generation iPad depending on your perspective you might not see the motivation to upgrade and if you consider many of the other 10-in Android and Windows 8 device options on the market currently Apple's premium price point for the iPad Air might be a little bit harder to digest comparatively regardless we can't help but be impressed with the iPad Air for its super thin design Ultra lightweight gorgeous display and robust performance make sure you stop by H hardware.com for the full review with all of our Benchmark data and hit that subscribe buttton here for our latest videos webcasts and event coverage I'm Dave altavilla for hot Hardware with the Apple iPad Air thanks for stopping byhi there it's Dave altavilla for hot hardware and this is Apple's fifth generation super thin 10-in iPad otherwise known as the iPad Air how thin is it well it's about. 29 in thin to be exact and though we weren't quite able to make it disappear behind a pencil like the Apple folks do in their TV and web commercials we were almost able to hide it behind our trusty number two Dixon tyon deroga as you can see here almost the new iPad Air is powered by Apple's 64-bit A7 processor and M7 motion co-processor combination with the A7 clocked at 1.3 to 1.4 GHz exactly as you'll find it in the new iPhone 5s on board is a power vrg 6430 quad core Graphics engine only 1 gig of RAM and storage options at 16 32 64 or 28 GB the new iPad Air weighs in at 1 pound and measures 9.4 in High by 6.6 in wide and. 29 in thick Apple also incorporates 80211 BG and Wi-Fi and optional 4G LTE connectivity as well as Bluetooth 4 a 1.2 megapixel front-facing FaceTime 720P HD camera and a rear-facing 5 megapixel 1080p HD eyesight camera you also get a standard AC adapter and cable with a USB connector on one end and the lightning connector on the other for charging the iPad Air or connecting it to a Mac or PC today we're specifically looking at the 64 gig Wi-Fi only version which retails for 6.99 though the 16 gig version can be had for as low as $4.99 with the top end iPad Air weighing in at a hefty $929 for 128 gig LTE enabled variants a quick walk around here shows us the onoff sleep wake button on the top left edge of the iPad Air as well as the audio silent combination screen rotation lock switch and volume up and down buttons on the top edge of the device are dual microphones and a 3 and half mm headphone jack and along the bottom is where you'll find the iPad Air's stereo speakers and its lightning connector Port incidentally these speakers do put out reasonably good sound at least as far as tablet size speak speakers go on the back top left corner is the 5 megapixel eyesight camera and on the bottom front of the tablet is the home button incidentally this is unfortunately not an Apple touch ID sensor and unlocking the iPad Air still requires a swipe gesture on its touch display and finally on the top edge of the display you'll find the 1.2 megapixel FaceTime camera comparatively though the iPad Air is 28 % lighter 20% thinner and occupies 24% less volume versus Apple's previous generation iPad the device still Sports the same gorgeous 2048x 1536 native resolution in its 9.7 in Retina Display Apple's iPad Retina display is still one of the best you'll see in any tablet on the market currently hands down at 264 PPI and 3.1 million pixels total the iPad Airs display which is by the way arguably one of the most if not the most important aspects of any tablet is simply a beauty to behold and a pleasure to use there are a few 10-in 1080p tablet displays from Microsoft and Samsung that will measure up to the iPad Air currently but none surpass its quality and Fidelity Apple rolled out its iOS 7 software update at the same time as it rolled out the iPad Air and Visually iOS 7 brings a cleaner and brighter look to Apple's mobile UI it's similar to what Google did with Android 4.4 KitKat with fewer tabs to access features and flatter graphical elements free of heavy chromed accents and stylings it's cleaner it's neater we like that there are plenty of new features with iOS 7 as well including better multitasking support when you double tap the home button you can scroll through a list of open applications and either tap one to switch back into it or swipe it upwards to close it down Iowa 7 also has Universal search just swipe down from the top and the search bar rolls down and a new device control center that we like as well which you can bring up by swiping up from any screen or app inside the control center are sliders and dials for Wi-Fi airplane mode media player controls screen brightness Etc and of course there's the App Store at this point in the game Apple's app store is bustling with thousands of useful and fun highquality apps though not all are optimized perfectly for larger high resolution screens like you get with the iPad Air however virtually anything you could want to run on a tablet is offered in some representation on the App Store and along with iTunes Apple's software media and developer ecosystem is The Watermark by which all of the platforms are ultimately measured against these days the iPad Airs camera app is pretty stripped down and basic but it gets the job done there's an HDR setting for still shots but image quality is just okay images can look a little grainy in low light settings especially however 1080p HD video image quality produced by Apple's eyesight camera was sharp vibrant and well balanced performance-wise the iPad Air holds its own pretty well in general usage with fast application switching there are times however when application load time and startup time feels a little slower than some higher-end tablets on the market here you can see the iPad Air boots in about 20 seconds which is still pretty darn quick but adding another gig of RAM to the equation for a total of 2 gig would likely speed things up even more and we're sort of baffled why Apple doesn't offer this especially in a 10-in slate where there is available real estate that said in terms of raw horsepower the iPad Airs A7 processor offers plenty of muscle and gaming on the device is fast Furious and and fun here's a look at Asphalt 8 which I picked up a free trial of in the App Store I can't drive as you can see but frame rates are solid and the graphics are reasonably impressive though titles like Infinity Blade and epic's Citadel demo that you see here showcase the tablets Graphics muscle much better in the benchmarks the iPad Air proves itself to be one of the fastest tablets on the market currently in virtually all metrics here in the 3D Mark ice storm bench Mark Suite the iPad Air is the fastest 10-in slate we've tested overall to date in terms of battery life even with all this horow Apple notes the iPad Air will muster 10 hours of web surfing HD video or music listening in our measurements we were able to eek out 12 1 half hours from the iPad Air streaming Netflix HD video content which is pretty darn impressive for such a lightweight device all told the iPad Air is a more than worthy successor to the previous generation iPad and a great overall choice in the 10-in tablet form factor however if you already own a fourth generation iPad depending on your perspective you might not see the motivation to upgrade and if you consider many of the other 10-in Android and Windows 8 device options on the market currently Apple's premium price point for the iPad Air might be a little bit harder to digest comparatively regardless we can't help but be impressed with the iPad Air for its super thin design Ultra lightweight gorgeous display and robust performance make sure you stop by H hardware.com for the full review with all of our Benchmark data and hit that subscribe buttton here for our latest videos webcasts and event coverage I'm Dave altavilla for hot Hardware with the Apple iPad Air thanks for stopping by\n"