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Apple Announces iPad Air 2 with Thinner Profile, Touch ID, and A8X Processor

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At today's media event, Apple introduced the all new iPad Air 2. The second-generation tablet features an ultra thin profile that's just 6.1mm thick, much thinner than the 7.5mm original iPad Air. The significantly thinner design was enabled through the use of a gapless laminated display panel that also produces sharper images. In addition to a thinner chassis, the new iPad Air also includes a Touch ID fingerprint sensor, a faster A8X processor, a new 8-megapixel iSight camera, and an anti-reflective coating that reduces glare by up to 56 percent.

ipadair21.jpg

According to Apple, the iPad Air 2 is 18 percent thinner than the first-generation iPad Air and its A8X chip features a 2nd-generation 64-bit architecture which is 40% faster than the A7 used in the first iPad Air in terms of CPU performance up to 2.5x faster when it comes to GPU performance. Like its predecessors, the iPad Air 2 gets 10 hours of battery life and it also includes an M8 motion coprocessor that gathers data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and an all-new barometer that senses air pressure to determine relative elevation.

ipadair22.jpg

Apple has added a Touch ID fingerprint sensor to the iPad Air 2, which was said to be the "most requested feature from customers." With Touch ID, iPad Air 2 owners can use their tablets to make Apple Pay purchases within apps that support the Apple Pay API. The iPad Air 2 does not have NFC support and thus cannot be used to make purchases in retail stores.

The iPad Air 2 has gained 802.11ac Wi-Fi with multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) capabilities. Apple states that the iPad Air 2 contains 2.8x faster performance with support for speeds up to 866 Mbps on Wi-Fi and now contains 20 LTE bands for faster LTE with support for speeds up to 150 Mbps via LTE Advanced.

ipadair24.jpg

Apple has also included a new 8-megapixel iSight camera on the iPad Air 2, which features an f/2.4 aperture and can record 1080p HD video. For the first time, the camera can take 43 megapixel panoramas and burst mode photos, and it is also able to shoot time lapse and 120 FPS Slo-Mo video. The front-facing FaceTime camera on the iPad Air 2 has also been improved, with an f/2.2 aperture that lets in 81 percent more light. It lets users take burst mode selfies, single-shot HDR photos, and HDR videos.

Pre-orders for the iPad Air 2 will begin on Friday, October 17, and the tablet will begin shipping at the end of next week. Available in gold, silver, and space gray, the iPad Air 2 is available with 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB storage capacities, priced at $499, $599, and $699, respectively, for the Wi-Fi models. Cellular models are also available and are priced $130 higher, at $529, $629, and $729.

Article Link: Apple Announces iPad Air 2 with Thinner Profile, Touch ID, and A8X Processor
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/16/apple-announces-ipad-air-2/
To buy this or wait and see if the iPad Pro rumors are true in the spring. Hmmm.
 
"We're tripling down on secrecy"

Gosh, I love this company. :D (And hey, the stream today was flawless)
 
Anything that gets the iPad closer to a piece of paper you can hold up in one hand and barely feel is good progress to me.

But I hope a split-multitasking OS feature is still in the works.
 
Solid update (Air, not mini). Not happy about removal of mute switch though - I use it all the time and I like that it is physical - that you can put your iPad next to bed and see (without waking it up) that it won't disturb you. :(
 
For the Wi-Fi only models, the iPad Air 2 will sell for $399, $499, and $599 for the 16GB, 64GB and 128GB variants...
Click to expand...
That's wrong... The iPad Air 2 starts at $499.

The iPad Air starts at $399.
 
Boring presentation, boring iPad... It didn't add anything new! It's about time some multitasking, and yet, the great new iPad air 2 is... Thinner...
 
This most likely has the PowerVR GX6650 GPU in it, which either matches Tegra K1 GPU or even beats it, this thing is a absolute beast in everyway and that, I don't think anyone will ever be complaining about graphics or lag on the tablet due to the new GPU and possible 2 GB of RAM(according to leaks), even 2 years down the road it will still perform like brand new , unlike the iPad 3 situation
 
Absolutely upgrading to this from an iPad 3.
Anti-reflective coating, I think, along with TouchID, will coerce others also.
 
Wasn't the iPhone 6 only a 50% increase in GPU? But the iPad Air with the A8X gets 2.5X performance in GPU? I'd really like to know what chip is in this thing. That seems more of a jump than going from the quad-core PowerVR core in the 6 to the hex-core of that same chip.

I bet the thing only has 1GB of RAM though.
 
And yet, they've decided to make it stupidly thinner and less resistant instead of increasing the battery life.
 
Oh my god the gold one looks so amazing with the touch ID home button:eek:I wish I didn't upgrade from my iPad 2 to the Air 1:(#
 
bpeeps said:
To buy this or wait and see if the iPad Pro rumors are true in the spring. Hmmm.
Click to expand...

I was thinking that.

But my ipad 1 is creeking now, and I really need a new ipad.. so I think i'll take the plunge.

Cant imagine the ipad pro being particularly in my price range anyhow.
 
Get James Burke on the case

It got to 6.1
Then into minus figures
Though nobody could understand why
 
I'm absolutely glad that now Apple has achieved it's thinness goals.
Since now there's no more room left to get even thinner, unless Jon's thinking of diet pills.

The products next year onwards will be much more performance oriented and probably the best ones by far. Yay! :D
 
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No MUTE Switch!

I thought for sure more people would be mentioning the mute switch disappearing. I didn't watch the keynote so i don't know if it was mentioned specifically but i would imagine is wasn't.

I wonder if they will ever bring it back. Likely they wont, when apple heads in a direction, it rarely changes it's path.

I am guessing that most people don't use the switch as much as i do. If they ever take it off the phone, it will be a much bigger deal. But still, why would they remove it? I wonder if you will have to wake and unlock the ipad in order to use the volume keys on the side? I know some people used it for the rotation lock but i never did. Someone should setup a little poll. I'm curious what the users think and if they used it much.
 
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