iPad Air first impressions.

Ladies and gentlemen. I have always loved the my fat iPad. Yeah sure i have since bought other tablets like the Asus Transformer, the Blackberry Playbook and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, the original first generation iPad still holds a special place in my heart. So much so that I still keep it to entertain the kids and it is being utilised to the maximum.

So when it came to indulging my gadget acquisition syndrome, i finally decided on the iPad Air. The tablet is truly a magnificent engineering marvel. A slim and sleek design, gorgeous display and it just have a solid premium feel to it. Coming from a samsung tablet, the iPad Air oozes quality in its build and i'm not just saying this because i'm a fan.

In terms of the hardware specs, you can always argue that there are many other android tablets that have better configurations. But when it comes to Apple, what matters is how you utilize the hardware to provide the best user experience for their customers. This time, Apple have taken the Microsoft approach in bundling its best apps free with every new purchase. Productivity apps like Keynote, Pages and Numbers along with multimedia apps like iPhotos and iMovies along with GarageBand are now free. To me this is a very good move as Apple would make more money off selling their hardware and Apple users would get more from their devices right out of the box.

The battery life is as expected from any apple tablets. Its brilliant. You should expect a full working day use depending on your usage patterns. The iPad Air, despite being slim and thin is quite hefty to be used for long periods. If you want something as powerful but lighter you may wanna opt for the iPad mini with retina display. Its the same iPad inside and out only smaller. Okay that's stretching it a bit eh.

My planned usage scenarios would be to use the iPad as my main communication device when i'm at the office. So i've popped in a celcom simcard in and activated the LTE. And it flies. Again this will depend on your area of coverage but so far i've been getting good 4G signals around the house. I do believe that the iPad has more 4G bands covered compared to the iPhone 5 that i have so maybe that's another factor too.

I am now in the process of getting a good stylus for the iPad. That will be the only thing that i will miss the most from the Galaxy Note 10.1. There are some options out there which i may cover in later updates. 

I'll leave you guys to some comparison pictures of the iPad Air, the original iPad and the Galaxy Note 10.1 (2012)

Original vs Latest

Stacked

Stacked 2

Same screen size thinner bezel.

From the back

Note 10.1 vs iPad Air

Stacked 3

Compared