I've seen some people here claiming they got a perfect screen on the Air 2. I'm just curious. If you feel you have a perfect screen on your Air 2, is this by any chance your first iPad? If not, which iPad did you upgrade from? How was the screen on that? How are they in comparison? Do you see any indication of a shadow running along the left side (in portrait mode) on your Air 2?
Now that my 2GB RAM honeymoon is over, I'm starting to question my purchase. I pulled out my old iPad 4 and the screen is just so much nicer on that one. I wouldn't say the screen on my Air 2 is terrible, but I've definitely noticed some backlight uniformity issues along the left side (in portrat mode). On a red, blue or green screen, there's a faintly visible line of shadow running along the entire lefthand side about 3/4 of an inch from the edge itself. On a white background, the top and bottom of that line is barely perceptible, but a faint shadow around the center of the line remains. Basically around the center of the spacebar when using it in landscape mode. It kinda looks like a permanent fingerprint smudge even after polishing the screen. The bottom edge and the left edge also looks a bit dim compared to the right edge which looks perfect. The bottem left corner is even noticeably dimmer than that. When holding it in front of my Eizo Foris FS2333 IPS monitor, these flaws become much more obvious. I've attached a photo to help illustrate the issue. It doesn't look anywhere near as bad to my naked eye as it does in the photo. If it did, I would obviously have noticed right away and returned it for an exchange instantly.
The thing is, if this was my first iPad, I'd probably think this is to be expected or if I was upgrading from the Air 1, which to my understanding has similar issues, it may not seem so bad when comparing the two. But compared to my iPad 4, the screen feels like a downgrade. That's despite the anti-reflective coating which isn't such a big deal to me because I always used my iPad inside in a fixed position, where there is not a whole lot of light reflection going on. Switching back and forth between the two, I've also realized that the only major difference I'm feeling between the two is the 2GB RAM. I don't really pick my iPad up. It sits on my desk. So weight and thinness doesn't matter a whole lot to me. In short, it feels like I've traded a pro for a con and paid a premium for it in the process. That makes me question my purchase. Now, if the screen wasn't an issue, if it was just as good as on my iPad 4, I'd probably feel okay about my purchase.
So bottomline is, do I exchange this and hope to get a better screen or do I simply return it and continue using my iPad 4, tab reloads and all? It seems pointless to me to go through numerous exchanges if what I'm seeing is to be expected with the Air 2 (keep in mind that it's more subtle in RL than on the photo). So if you happen to own an Air 2 without these flaws (and no tinting, dead pixels atc.), please speak up. Likewise, if you've gone through numerous exchanges and all of them had these or similar flaws, please speak up as well. It'll give me an idea about which odds I'm up against.
Now that my 2GB RAM honeymoon is over, I'm starting to question my purchase. I pulled out my old iPad 4 and the screen is just so much nicer on that one. I wouldn't say the screen on my Air 2 is terrible, but I've definitely noticed some backlight uniformity issues along the left side (in portrat mode). On a red, blue or green screen, there's a faintly visible line of shadow running along the entire lefthand side about 3/4 of an inch from the edge itself. On a white background, the top and bottom of that line is barely perceptible, but a faint shadow around the center of the line remains. Basically around the center of the spacebar when using it in landscape mode. It kinda looks like a permanent fingerprint smudge even after polishing the screen. The bottom edge and the left edge also looks a bit dim compared to the right edge which looks perfect. The bottem left corner is even noticeably dimmer than that. When holding it in front of my Eizo Foris FS2333 IPS monitor, these flaws become much more obvious. I've attached a photo to help illustrate the issue. It doesn't look anywhere near as bad to my naked eye as it does in the photo. If it did, I would obviously have noticed right away and returned it for an exchange instantly.
The thing is, if this was my first iPad, I'd probably think this is to be expected or if I was upgrading from the Air 1, which to my understanding has similar issues, it may not seem so bad when comparing the two. But compared to my iPad 4, the screen feels like a downgrade. That's despite the anti-reflective coating which isn't such a big deal to me because I always used my iPad inside in a fixed position, where there is not a whole lot of light reflection going on. Switching back and forth between the two, I've also realized that the only major difference I'm feeling between the two is the 2GB RAM. I don't really pick my iPad up. It sits on my desk. So weight and thinness doesn't matter a whole lot to me. In short, it feels like I've traded a pro for a con and paid a premium for it in the process. That makes me question my purchase. Now, if the screen wasn't an issue, if it was just as good as on my iPad 4, I'd probably feel okay about my purchase.
So bottomline is, do I exchange this and hope to get a better screen or do I simply return it and continue using my iPad 4, tab reloads and all? It seems pointless to me to go through numerous exchanges if what I'm seeing is to be expected with the Air 2 (keep in mind that it's more subtle in RL than on the photo). So if you happen to own an Air 2 without these flaws (and no tinting, dead pixels atc.), please speak up. Likewise, if you've gone through numerous exchanges and all of them had these or similar flaws, please speak up as well. It'll give me an idea about which odds I'm up against.