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Roundup with iPad Air's first impressions and hands-on thoughts

RaduTyrsina

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The iPad Air officially launches for consumers on November 1st, but the journalists present at the unveil event managed to spend a few minutes with Apple’s fifth-generation iPad. We have collected some of the most relevant and useful first impression from the event attendees. As expected, almost all of them agree that Apple’s iPad Air is a well-done upgrade.

David Pierce with The Verge:

"Long story short: it looks and feels like a larger (but not that much larger) iPad mini, and that’s mostly a really good thing. It’s really beautiful, with cleaner bezels, a much thinner profile, and sharper, boxier edges. Along with the new A7 processor and a handful of under-the-hood improvements, this is just about the upgrade we expected, but more than ever the iPad Air feels like you’re just holding a big screen full of the internet. That’s probably a good thing."

Joanna Stern with ABC News:

"So, no, the iPad Air isn't an entirely new iPad, but that might not matter. It's that app selection combined with some incredibly beautiful hardware engineering that will allow the iPad to lead the tablet pack, new name or not."

Brad Moler with Engadget:

"Naturally, iOS 7 looks great on that Retina display – but you knew that already right? What’s really notable here, however, is just how zippy things are, thanks to the inclusion of an A7 chip, the same one introduced on the iPhone 5s. You really notice that speed when launching apps like iMovie, which boots up in an an instant. With a chip like this, you should be getting around the new free version of iLife pretty swiftly."

Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch:

“In our hands-on tests this difference in weight was marked, and made for a hugely different experience. Users who may have wanted a lighter tablet, but didn’t want to sacrifice screen real-estate to move to an iPad mini, will probably be pleased.â€

Andrew Cunningham of Ars Technica:

“The iPad Air doesn’t completely swing things back in the other direction for me, but the reduced size and weight combined with the 4:3 screen ratio (which I still think is more sensible in a 10-inch tablet than a widescreen ratio) makes the iPad Air the most comfortable large-screened tablet I’ve used.â€

Anand Lal Shimpi & Brian Klug of AnandTech:

“In the hands, it’s shocking how much of a difference the change in profile makes, analogous somewhat to the way moving from the iPhone 4 or 4S to 5 felt. The chamfered edge and narrower profile makes it easier to grip the iPad Air in the hands, and there’s still enough bezel around as well, though it is smaller.â€

Chris Davies with SlashGear:

"The slimmed down bezels on the sides make a considerable difference to how it feels in your hand, leaving the tablet as a whole feeling somewhere in-between the 4:3 aspect of its display and the 16:9 of most rival Android slates. There’s still enough room to grip it, however, without overlapping the display too considerably. It’s the little details that you notice after a while, however. The chamfering to the casing where it meets the toughened glass of the fascia, for instance, or the slimline side controls and lock-switch. Unfortunately there’s no Touch ID embedded into the home button, but we can see ourselves holding the iPad Air for longer periods since the 1-pound weight is almost a third reduction on the old model."

After examining these first hands-on thoughts, what is the conclusion that you make?
 

s2mikey

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Well, the conclusion is that apple will be selling quite a few of these! I'm going to sit tight for right now with my trusty iPad 2 but eventually I have a feeling ill cave in and buy one. I hope to read more about the bezel not being too thin though, that was one concern I had.
 

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