Apple iPad Air review

There are many excellent apps, finger navigation is easy, operation is smooth and fast, and integration with the rest of the Apple ecosystem is excellent.

The Apple iPad Air fills the sweet spot between the regular iPad (9th generation) and the top-of-the-line iPad Pro. It brings the power of the new M1 chip and an improved front-facing camera with Center Stage, while maintaining the slim and light profile that iPads have always been known for. The Apple iPad Air has become the go-to choice for anyone looking to spend money on a great portable device without much compromise, whether it’s for entertainment or getting some work done. The Apple iPads offer an unmatched experience with tons of supported apps and really, there is nothing on the Android side of things that even comes close to the versatility of an iPad.

The fifth-generation iPad Air is here, and while it looks nearly identical to its predecessor, there are major upgrades that make it more of an iPad Pro competitor than ever. Key upgrades include Apple’s desktop-focused M1 chipset, 5G connectivity, and Apple’s Center Stage camera technology. The iPad Air (5th generation) also known as iPad Air 5 and iPad Air 2022 is a big deal. That’s almost entirely because, in a move that virtually no one anticipated, Apple decided to pack the incredibly powerful M1 processor into its extremely slim and light chassis. The intent is clearly to make the Air a sort of iPad Pro Lite that will satisfy the creative types for whom the full-fat Pro models are too expensive.

Apple iPad Air review: Design

Like the iPad Air 4, the iPad Air 5 is available in five colors, but with the exception of “Space Gray,” all of the colors are slightly different from their successors.” The “Silver” is now “Starlight,” a slightly more severe and cooler shade.” Rose Gold” is now a slightly more subtle “Pink,” “Sky Blue” is a richer, more vibrant “Blue,” and “Green” is now “Purple.” We liked the green finish on last year’s model, but perhaps buyers weren’t convinced; Apple just introduced green as a new option on the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, so green shouldn’t be so unpopular! But, as Apple just introduced a new green option for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, green shouldn’t be so unpopular.

Except for the color, the design of the iPad Air 5 is essentially the same as the iPad Air 4, with the only difference on the spec sheet being a 3 g increase in weight. The dimensions also remain the same at 248 x 179 x 6.1 mm, making it a very slim device. As before, there is no home button, only a narrow edge, with the screen taking center stage.

Apple iPad Air review: Display

The iPad Air 5 has a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 2360 x 1640 pixels which is identical to the iPad Air 4. We were impressed with the predecessor’s display as it delivered sharp image quality on a relatively small screen. Our only minor criticism was that the display could have been a tad brighter. Given these factors, we were very curious to see how the display of the current iPad Air compared to the older model. In our brightness test with a light gun, the iPad Air 5 achieved a peak brightness of 484 nits with adaptive brightness turned off. That’s on par with the regular iPad (484), but lower than the iPad Pro (571 nits). However, the new iPad Air is brighter than its last-generation counterpart, which achieved a maximum brightness of 440 nits.

Apple iPad Air review: Performance

The new iPad Air features the M1 chip, making it the second Apple tablet to feature the company’s powerful chip after the iPad Pro 2021. This M1 injection is the main thing that distinguishes the new iPad Air from its predecessor: as we saw with the 2021 iPad Pro, the M1 chip can significantly improve the iPad’s performance and power efficiency. But how much of a difference does the M1 chip make in the iPad Air 5? Compared to the iPad Air 4, the new iPad offers a significant performance boost across the board. The real limit in graphics is the 60 Hz refresh rate of the standard Liquid Retina display.

For those who want to play iOS games at a high framerate, the iPad Pro 11 may be the better – albeit much more expensive – option. It is also much more powerful than most of the Android competition in the CPU department, offering more than double the processing power of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra with Qualcomm’s top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, although the high refresh rate display allows the competing chipset to flex its muscles in the graphics department.

Apple iPad Air review: Camera

While tablet cameras aren’t usually as interesting as their smartphone brethren, Apple has upgraded the front-facing camera on the iPad Air 5 to bring it in line with the rest of the iPad lineup. That means the latest iPad Air comes with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle front camera, making it an excellent choice for group selfies. That wasn’t the main reason for the upgrade, though. Rather, it was to enable Apple’s Center Stage technology, which makes video calling a popular feature on tablets much easier.

Apple iPad Air review: Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard

The Apple Pencil 2 and Magic Keyboard are great optional iPad accessories that let you get more out of your device. With the Magic Keyboard, you can turn iPad Air into a mini laptop. The keyboard base is sturdy enough that you can comfortably carry the tablet around your home while viewing content. The keyboard has enough room to type comfortably, and the trackpad is responsive and easy to use. The Apple Pencil 2 is a great drawing and note-taking app. The thick stylus feels good and fits nicely in the hand. Although digital pens still don’t offer the same tactile experience as traditional pens and pencils, the Apple Pencil 2 works well.

Apple iPad Air review: Battery Life

The new iPad Air has the same 28.6 Wh battery as the previous generation Apple promises to offer up to 10 hours of watching videos. In our tests, we found that the iPad Air does live up to that claim as it went on for just about 10 hours playing a video file locally before giving up on us. In daily use, you can expect around 6-7 hours of average screen time but the best thing about this iPad is that it is an efficient device which doesn’t consume enough battery on standby. In 10 hours of being on standby, it only consumed 2-3% battery which speaks volumes about the kind of optimizations Apple has made with the M1 chip at the helm of everything. For all its speed and steadfast performance, charging the battery of the iPad Air is relatively slow because Apple packs in a 20W charging adapter which takes roughly 2.5 hours to fully charge.

Apple iPad Air review: Software

The iPad Air ships with iPadOS 15.4, the latest version of Apple’s tablet-optimized operating system. While there has been recent progress on the Android side with the mention of Android 12L for tablets with large screens, Apple’s iPadOS is still by far the most powerful and polished tablet OS available in 2022. The biggest strength of iPadOS is the huge library of apps and games available in Apple’s App Store. Unlike Android competitors that can use scaled-down mobile apps, all iPad apps are optimized for the big screen. This means you’ll have a better experience with apps that make the most of the available screen space with UI tweaks and other features.

Conclusion

This tablet is a real eye-catcher, especially in the deep blue color that Apple sent for testing. The flat sides and back have an industrial feel that we prefer to the rounded iPads, and as usual with Apple devices, the device has a high-quality finish. The milled holes for the speakers and USB-C port are precisely done, and even the antenna lines are well hidden on this 5G-capable model.

Dian Erwin
Dian Erwin
Dian Erwin is a review writer for Bollyinside, covering topics related to computing, such as laptops, tablets, phones, and other hardware. Dian spends much too much of his free time on Twitter, reading speculative fiction novels, playing video games, and reading comic books. He also enjoys reading video game manuals.

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This tablet is a real eye-catcher, especially in the deep blue color that Apple sent for testing. The flat sides and back have an industrial feel that we prefer to the rounded iPads, and as usual with Apple devices, the device has a high-quality build.Apple iPad Air review