The Apple iPad Air 2 release is upon us…well, sort of. You have to pre-order it. Is it worth the suspense, or the money?
The pre-order doors were open on Friday, October 17. Shipping should? take a maximum of four business days. In other words, don’t go lining up, rushing, camping out, or trampling over or fighting over the last one. That’s not happening this time…yet. Battery life is very important to me, and the length of it seems to beat all the competitors, even Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S 10.5. According to charts, the iPad Air 2 leads their competitors in display brightness, graphics performance and hard drive speed. But what’s getting attention is the thinness of this design. This device is so thin you can cut butter with it (don’t go trying that). It weighs about 15 ounces and measures 9.4 x 6.6 inches. You can set up Touch ID and use Apple Pay with this iPad. The pixel resolution is the same as the original iPad Air. The iPad Air 2 contains twin bottom speakers which should guarantee a clear, but bumping audio sound; so make sure you get good headsets for it. The camera has been upgraded from five to eight megapixels. Can you believe there are over 675,000 apps for iPad products, including Apple iPad 2? Now let’s talk price. One can order an Apple iPad 2 from the online Apple store for $499 for a 16 GB version. If you want to really go all out, you can get a 128GB version for $828.
Personally, I’m impressed. I think all the right moves to make iPad Air 2 a success are being done. Everything from the pictures to the battery life is being improved. Even the price is reasonable, for the 16GB version at least. But I’m most grateful for the selling and ordering process. As for right now, it’s only online, so no chaos at the physical Apple stores. Chaos at stores may be a tradition for some folks, but I deplore it. I’m glad Apple is doing it this way…for now at least. Is the Air 2 worth the hype?