The hardware feels like a big improvement. I don't notice the screen sounding any different unless I tap it with a fingernail, which there's no point doing anyway. I'm not aware of a sliding scale of cheap and expensive-sounding tapping noises but the iPad Air has obviously rewritten those rules.
As for the design, it's smaller and lighter and a joy to pick up.
I notice the speed difference because now I can put over 1500 PDFs into my favorite storage app and it indexes with no sign of a slowdown or a system collapse. Having tried the same with iPads 1-4 and a Mini I'm impressed.
IOS 7 is painful. It works better on the Air than on my other iPads but it's still full of bugs, unexpected crashes and strange phenomena I notice mainly when using Pages (keyboard going blank is the main annoyance, also happening on my iPad 4 and I set both up as new). I don't care about the colors and flying icons, though I switched off the latter
The camera has become fuzzy and disappointing. I haven't decided what to do about that yet as I was achieving excellent results on iOS 6. It's not hardware, my cameras got worse on every device in iOS 7.
The speakers sound...different. Not just mine, I tried some at the store. Unimpressed.
So after two weeks was the upgrade worth it? To me it was because the device was a gift. I feel my document storage solutions are doing a better job all round, which is the whole reason I have an iPad anyway (reading, writing and researching). I will try to skip iPad 6.
Screen: 10/10
Design and weight: 10/10
Camera: 4/10
Speakers: 6/10
OS: 4/10
Usefulness: 10/10
As for the design, it's smaller and lighter and a joy to pick up.
I notice the speed difference because now I can put over 1500 PDFs into my favorite storage app and it indexes with no sign of a slowdown or a system collapse. Having tried the same with iPads 1-4 and a Mini I'm impressed.
IOS 7 is painful. It works better on the Air than on my other iPads but it's still full of bugs, unexpected crashes and strange phenomena I notice mainly when using Pages (keyboard going blank is the main annoyance, also happening on my iPad 4 and I set both up as new). I don't care about the colors and flying icons, though I switched off the latter
The camera has become fuzzy and disappointing. I haven't decided what to do about that yet as I was achieving excellent results on iOS 6. It's not hardware, my cameras got worse on every device in iOS 7.
The speakers sound...different. Not just mine, I tried some at the store. Unimpressed.
So after two weeks was the upgrade worth it? To me it was because the device was a gift. I feel my document storage solutions are doing a better job all round, which is the whole reason I have an iPad anyway (reading, writing and researching). I will try to skip iPad 6.
Screen: 10/10
Design and weight: 10/10
Camera: 4/10
Speakers: 6/10
OS: 4/10
Usefulness: 10/10
