If there are faults with the iPad Air, the only two I can find are the suggestion, in the branding, that it's a totally new product, and the fact that the smartcover now adopts the flimsier three-panel design used in the original iPad Mini. But these are tiny issues. This is the iPad that was already brilliant in an even better design. Almost entirely thanks to the 475,000 tablet apps, iPad Air is the best tablet on the market. And Kindle fans beware - the Air is now more useful for reading, its clever software knowing whether your thumb is interacting with the device or simply holding it.
There is a question, of course, over why anyone should spend £399 on a tablet when Carphone Warehouse will sell you one for £49, and Tesco will sell you the perfectly decent Hudl for £119.But neither of these devices, nor for that matter Samsung's more expensive versions, feel like the truly premium iPad. And none has that vast library of unique tablet apps. While Android phones have caught up with the iPhone, and in many aspects surpass it, the iPad remains a unique proposition and the iPad Air is the best iPad yet.
Its light weight and thin form mean it gets out of the way – you don't notice it, but you notice what you're doing on it. That, potentially, unleashes a new generation of tablet-based productivity. The fact that Apple is now giving away even more software means that perhaps the rebranding is, therefore, more than simply a marketing exercise. Air may yet be the oxygen for a new wave of uses for the iPad.
Manufacturer's specifications
240 x 169.5 x 7.5mm
469g
Retina display
9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display
2048x1536 resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi)
A7 chip with 64-bit architecture and M7 motion coprocessor
Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n); dual channel (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and MIMO
Bluetooth 4.0 technology
Front: 1.2MP photos/720p HD video
Rear: 5MP photos/1080p HD video
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