The iPad Air Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 29, 2013 9:00 PM ESTDisplay
In building the iPad Air Apple shrunk all elements of the tablet’s design, including the thickness of the display. We’re still dealing with a 9.7-inch 4:3 2048 x 1536 IPS LCD panel with true RGB stripe rather than some weird subpixel structure. Viewing angles are still great, and overall the display remains the best you can get at this size.
The iPad Air continues Apple’s recent history of shipping color calibrated displays. Color accuracy on my iPad Air review sample is better than on any previous iPad I’ve ever tested, in fact it’s more accurate than any other tablet I’ve ever tested. The numbers are easily backed up by images that show a vibrant and, more importantly, accurate display.
The iPad Air gets pretty bright at 426 nits, although black levels aren’t all that impressive at 0.44 nits. Overall contrast ratio is in line with what we’ve seen from previous iPads. My only complaint on the display front is I would like to see Apple laminate the cover glass to the LCD display. Reducing reflections would go a long way towards improving the usability of the device, not to mention the impact that would have on improving display quality in dark movie scenes.
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abazigal - Saturday, November 2, 2013 - link
The A7 chip in the iPad air is clocked higher than on the 5s. I think that it technically counts as the A7X, Apple just decided not to market it as such.ipadair469g - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Like to point out that apple lists the weight of the wifi iPad air as 469 grams on their website, not 450. Seems important on a review that touts the reduced weight so prominently.Drumsticks - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
He already said the LTE model weighs 1.05 pounds.Eug - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
I think Apple's 64-bit iDevices really do need 2 GB RAM. I've been getting the tab reloads in Safari on my iPhone 5s, which is rather annoying, esp. if you're trying to copy from one tab to a text entry box in another tab.dishayu - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
You nailed it. It's an absolute experience killer. Unless I have > 10 tabs open with music player and a couple of downloads in background, random tab reloads are NOT acceptable.PC Perv - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Yet another "Apple can do no wrong and this thing is the best since a sliced bread.. Until the next Apple thing ships, that is." stuff. When the next iPad ships with more memory and GPU resources, you will no doubt gush over how Apple "fixed" the shortcomings of this iPad. You wanted to keep your iPad for longer than a year? Too bad. Tech blogs and the industry are sailing on a same ship and I don't care how much you (consumers) waste as long as my wife is happy.Oh, and the obligatory Intel mention is duly noted. lol. This is like a never-ending nightmare around here.
ws3 - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Translation: I'm vewy vewy angwy because nobody cawes about my ovewcwocked watew-coowed wig anymowe.Coda: I'll get you, you wascawy Apple!
dugbug - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
he he :)ssiu - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
I think that is very harsh. Anandtech does generally like Apple products, but the article does say about the display "The only thing that the iPad Air leaves me wanting on the display front is a lower reflectance stack ....", and a paragraph about "My only complaints are limited to iOS 7, memory size and pricing. ..."pdjblum - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
I totally feel your pain and frustration.