iPad Considering the iPad Air 2 Celullar...

[thecore762]

Hi guys, I am considering the iPad Air 2 Cellular from AT&T since I have the 30GB Mobile Share plan with them...

I have a few questions, is the cellular band on the back white on the silver iPad Air 2? Does it match with the color of the tablet or does it look awkward.

Right now I am somewhat undecided between the Space Grey and the Silver one, its going to be a tough choice...

The speakers, I got to test the iPad Air 2 at best buy and boy the iPad vibrates a lot...does it bother you when watching movies? Are there any problems when cranking up the volume?

I don't see myself traveling a lot with my iPad, so the cellular is not really needed, but its nice to have it there incase...and probably the resale value is going to be much greater than the WIFI one.
I am going for the 64GB version.

Lastly, should I wait for Black Friday? Do AT&T or any other providers offer any deals on the cellular versions of the iPad or is it mainly the WIFI only version?

I know if I sign a 2 year commitment I save $100...is this worth it?

 

[AppleFan360]

Please delete

 

[Squilly]

I don't see myself traveling a lot with my iPad, so the cellular is not really needed, but its nice to have it there incase...and probably the resale value is going to be much greater than the WIFI one.
I know if I sign a 2 year commitment I save $100...is this worth it?

Don't have the answers to the other questions (except space gray has black band, silver has white, as does gold). For the above one though, cellular iPad resale value sucks. I sold my Air 1 with cellular for $400. It's for your convenience, others don't seem to care.

 

[TRC-WA]

cellular iPad resale value sucks. I sold my Air 1 with cellular for $400. It's for your convenience, others don't seem to care.

Yep.... convenience. For $10 access fee a month on my bill I went with the cellular... The device was $130 more but averaged out over 2+ years that nothing to me.

 

[Squilly]

Yep.... convenience. For $10 access fee a month on my bill I went with the cellular... The device was $130 more but averaged out over 2+ years that nothing to me.

I buy for the added GPS and T-mobile free data.

 

[TRC-WA]

I buy for the added GPS

That too... an added bonus. Even if I rarely use the LTE and GPS I like it being there when I do need it. The minimal cost difference made it an easy choice.

 

[dannyyankou]

I just use my phone as a hotspot.

 

[mazz0]

I'd much rather the vibrations weren't there, but they don't stop it being my favourite Apple product since the original iPad. The form factor is just beautiful to hold. I just wish they'd made the aluminium a fraction thicker.

 

[scaredpoet]

Hi guys, I am considering the iPad Air 2 Cellular from AT&T since I have the 30GB Mobile Share plan with them...

I have a few questions, is the cellular band on the back white on the silver iPad Air 2? Does it match with the color of the tablet or does it look awkward.

The silver iPad Air 2 does have a white cellular band on the back. It looks about as awkward as the black one does. Personally, I rarely ever look at the back of my iPad so I never really notice it.

Right now I am somewhat undecided between the Space Grey and the Silver one, its going to be a tough choice...

They're both fairly nice. I had a white iPad Air and went with a black/space grey iPad Air 2. I think the white one is slightly better IMO for reading PDFs and documents since the white bezel blends in with the white background of most books and documents. But the black is less distracting when you're doing things like looking at photos or videos.

The speakers, I got to test the iPad Air 2 at best buy and boy the iPad vibrates a lot...does it bother you when watching movies? Are there any problems when cranking up the volume?

For all the vibrating my iPad Air 2 does with sound, it actually sounds BETTER than the iPad Air did, IMO. And the smart cover I use seems to dampen the vibration a bit.

I don't see myself traveling a lot with my iPad, so the cellular is not really needed, but its nice to have it there incase...and probably the resale value is going to be much greater than the WIFI one.

A lot of people have said the resale value doesn't change much. THough that might change. It seems more people are now interested in cellular iPads than before.

Lastly, should I wait for Black Friday? Do AT&T or any other providers offer any deals on the cellular versions of the iPad or is it mainly the WIFI only version?

You MIGHT see some small discounts on Black Friday. If you're in no hurry to get an iPad, maybe it's worth waiting.

 

[thecore762]

The silver iPad Air 2 does have a white cellular band on the back. It looks about as awkward as the black one does. Personally, I rarely ever look at the back of my iPad so I never really notice it.





They're both fairly nice. I had a white iPad Air and went with a black/space grey iPad Air 2. I think the white one is slightly better IMO for reading PDFs and documents since the white bezel blends in with the white background of most books and documents. But the black is less distracting when you're doing things like looking at photos or videos.




For all the vibrating my iPad Air 2 does with sound, it actually sounds BETTER than the iPad Air did, IMO. And the smart cover I use seems to dampen the vibration a bit.




A lot of people have said the resale value doesn't change much. THough that might change. It seems more people are now interested in cellular iPads than before.



You MIGHT see some small discounts on Black Friday. If you're in no hurry to get an iPad, maybe it's worth waiting.

Thanks for the input, still on the edge if I want the cellular version since I have the hotspot option on my Mobile Share plan with my iPhone 6...any downside between the cellular version and hotspot?

 

[melman101]

Thanks for the input, still on the edge if I want the cellular version since I have the hotspot option on my Mobile Share plan with my iPhone 6...any downside between the cellular version and hotspot?

The downside of using your hotspot as a phone is that it will deplete your phones battery. Also, the cellular iPad model has GPS as well.

 

[thecore762]

The downside of using your hotspot as a phone is that it will deplete your phones battery. Also, the cellular iPad model has GPS as well.

I see, does your iPhone need to be on for the hotspot to work? Or can it stay locked?

 

[Yebubbleman]

Hi guys, I am considering the iPad Air 2 Cellular from AT&T since I have the 30GB Mobile Share plan with them...

1.

I have a few questions, is the cellular band on the back white on the silver iPad Air 2? Does it match with the color of the tablet or does it look awkward.

They're doing what they did with the first iPad Air and every generation of iPad mini that has ever been so far...which is to say that it matches and doesn't look weird or awkward.

2.

Right now I am somewhat undecided between the Space Grey and the Silver one, its going to be a tough choice...

Silver is prettier, in my opinion. Though not by as much as it was when Slate was the "black" option instead of Space Gray.

3.

The speakers, I got to test the iPad Air 2 at best buy and boy the iPad vibrates a lot...does it bother you when watching movies? Are there any problems when cranking up the volume?

This has been a common complaint. Though it was also a complaint with the first iPad Air. Speakers have never been super-awesome on iPads. I'd just get headphones or proper external speakers.

4.

I don't see myself traveling a lot with my iPad, so the cellular is not really needed, but its nice to have it there incase...and probably the resale value is going to be much greater than the WIFI one.
I am going for the 64GB version.

Cellular is handy as hell because unlocked WiFi that you don't have to pay for is becoming increasingly uncommon. But the resale value won't devalue any slower than a WiFi model would (which is to say that you'll still lose the money you put into it if you put more money into it). If you actually want to add it to your plan, I'd get a new SIM card from AT&T so that you can still use your AppleSIM for travel if and when you do travel.

5.

Lastly, should I wait for Black Friday? Do AT&T or any other providers offer any deals on the cellular versions of the iPad or is it mainly the WIFI only version?

The discounts are never THAT huge on iPads on Black Friday. I guess if you like Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Cyber-Week/Holiday discount shopping, then sure, you'll probably find it for an inconsequential double-digit amount less than you would've otherwise.

AT&T and the other carriers only stock the cellular versions. For the original iPad Air and the first and second generations of iPad mini, they will only carry the models for your carrier. For the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3, they carry the cellular models with their carrier's SIM in tow instead of the Apple SIM (if my understanding is correct).

I know if I sign a 2 year commitment I save $100...is this worth it?

I mean, if you're going to subscribe to a data plan anyway (and stay subscribed for two years) and you know you're gonna keep the same iPad for two years (without wanting to sell it), then sure, you might as well.

Otherwise it seems to be a blatant forfeiture of your freedom to (a) not be in a cellular contract and (b) not be in a cellular contract with that provider.

 

[radioking]

I see, does your iPhone need to be on for the hotspot to work? Or can it stay locked?

It doesn't have to be unlocked. You can activate the hotspot in the iPad wifi settings without taking the phone out of your pocket.

 

[s2mikey]

I wouldn't buy an iPad again without cellular support. I don't use it all the time but when you need it you NEED it! Plus, the GPS is great too.

I also like how felixible the data plans are for the iPad. No contracts, several options for different levels of data use, easy to change, great connectivity, etc.

Love my ATT iPad Air!

 

[scaredpoet]

Thanks for the input, still on the edge if I want the cellular version since I have the hotspot option on my Mobile Share plan with my iPhone 6...any downside between the cellular version and hotspot?

As mentioned already, battery use can be an issue. Hotspot does drain the battery pretty quickly. I've also found it heats up your phone, too.

Most importantly for me, I travel now and then and take my iPhone and iPad with me. In the past, there have been cases where I've misplaced my phone, and that left me both panicking to find my iPhone, and without internet access for my (then Wifi-only) iPad and my laptop to go to iCloud and locate it. I ended up having to find a Starbucks with Wifi to ultimately locate the phone and recover it. Although it turned out okay, it was time wasted, and could've been a lot worse if the phone had been lost for good.

So, for me, spending the extra cash to have a backup cellular data option built into the iPad has been worth it to me. The situation might be different for you of course.