iPad Air and iPad Air 2 buyers and owners (1 Viewer)

[Pawl]

Have fun with your new toy, Brendan.

 

[McPaul]

Just purchased the black air 128 and am tremendously impressed. The device actually just disappears it is so small, I suppose this is what Steve jobs meant when he said you can hold the internet in your hands. You're not holding a device. You are holding an experience. It's almost... Magical. The battery lasted me a day and a half before requiring a charge! On the negative side, the screen does seem a bit fragile, as if lacking the heft from the iPad 4 will make it easy to damage. It's an odd feeling. For this frame, you'd almost want a bigger screen. To make it seem substantial. Can't wait for some good apps that will push this baby!

 

[Sam Posten]

Welcome to the club. LOVE MINE. 100% thrilled with this year's updates.

 

[Pawl]

The iPad Air is the greatest invention!

 

[Clinton McClure]

For the past couple of years, I've been using a Nook Simple Touch for e-reading. Monday, the battery was low so I plugged it in to recharge and it never did. The main screen stays frozen on a static "Press home button to power on" message. It was a freebie for buying a nice set of Continental tires so I wasn't too bent out of shape about it because this gave me an opportunity I had been waiting for. Enter the iPad Mini Retina! I bought one yesterday on the way home from work. Since I have two dedicated iPods for my 25GB music collection (a repurposed 32GB iPhone 3GS in the car and a 32GB classic for the gym) and I don't store photos and video on my iDevices, a large memory wasn't at the top of my requirement list. Cellular service was not a requirement since anywhere I would be using it would have wifi and if I absolutely needed a cellular data signal, I would have my iPhone with me anyway. I will also not be using it for productivity... That's why I have a MacBook Pro. No, all I needed was a basic tablet for media consumption so I opted for the 16GB black (space gray?) model. I like the elegant look of the white bezel but after playing with both colors for about a half hour, I ultimately decided it was too distracting for watching online content. I now understand the reason most tv screens have a black bezel. I also messed about with an iPad Air but decided I liked the smaller form factor of the mini since 75% of my usage will be reading books, twitter and HTF. I have small hands so the mini is a perfect size for me to hold one-handed. (Same reason I'm against the iPhone becoming a phablet, but that's a different discussion for a different thread.) I can also slip it in my backpack every morning before work. After setting it up last night and updating iOS, I must say... Wow... Just... Wow! For years I never understood what was so great about iPads. It's just a really big iPod Touch, right? Right? Wrong. I'm understanding now why iPads are not just great, but insanely great. The A7 processor kills. There's no noticeable lag and apps open quickly. I can't tell that it's any faster than on my iPhone 4s but it's fast nonetheless. This morning I installed what I consider to be essential apps... iBooks, Arvest mobile banking, Twitter, Facebook, Nook (so I'm not repurchasing my Nook books), THV11 (local news and weather), HTF, Speakeasy Speed Test, Netflix, Airport Utility and the iWork Suite (although I may remove that later) and I still have almost 10GB of storage for books. I can certainly live with that. I've also been using it nonstop for the past 3 hours and I still have 90% of my battery charge. I'll post back here in a week or so after using the mini, but for now it's an amazing little machine.

 

[Pawl]

I have the 16 GB mini iPad retina, and I really love it. Though, I wish I got the 64 GB, because I'm using it as much as my iPad Air.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Finally getting around to posting an update on my iPad Mini Retina experience. It's been almost a month and it's still an awesome machine. I found it much handier to use than my iPhone while waiting at the airport for my flight this past Monday. I find I'm also reading and surfing quite a bit on it when I get back to the hotel from class every afternoon and in the morning while I'm waiting on the hotel shuttle to ferry us from the hotel to class. It will REALLY come in handy in about 3 weeks when I have a flight from Little Rock to Connecticut with a multi-hour layover in Chicago.

 

[Pawl]

Thanks for your comments, Clinton. I thought for awhile you had forgotten to post on your experience with your iPad mini. I still love mine!

 

[DaveF]

Finally getting around to posting an update on my iPad Mini Retina experience. It's been almost a month and it's still an awesome machine. I found it much handier to use than my iPhone while waiting at the airport for my flight this past Monday. I find I'm also reading and surfing quite a bit on it when I get back to the hotel from class every afternoon and in the morning while I'm waiting on the hotel shuttle to ferry us from the hotel to class. It will REALLY come in handy in about 3 weeks when I have a flight from Little Rock to Connecticut with a multi-hour layover in Chicago.

Absolutely. I've had my iPad 3 for almost two years, and it's my traveling companion. I've been flying about every six weeks for this new job, and the iPad is awesome. I load it up on TV shows from my Tivo to watch on long flights, and at night at the hotel. If there's airport wifi, I can read my RSS feed and catch up on Facebook and HTF.

The only thing that could make it better would be dropping the weight down with an iPad Air or Mini
I'm glad I don't have to carry a laptop anymore and have a small shoulder bag with my iPad in it.

 

[Carlo_M]

Been in the Apple ecosystem since 2006 (actually started the 80's with the Apple II but I strayed then came back). Owned a 2006 and 2010 MBP, iPhone 3, 4, 5, and have now received my first iPad, the 16GB Air.

First of all, it's purchased by work, so that's why it's only 16GB. Couldn't justify more without it seeming like a play-device (we don't use all that much disk space in my work). I won't rehash what others have written as I very much like the device. Instead let me just add some thoughts that owning an iPad Air has brought to my mind.

[*]I will never buy a non-retina-display type of Mac (or any other laptop/phone/monitor). Yes I've had retina on my iPhone but you don't truly appreciate the beauty of it until you've had it on an iPad or larger screen. Now working on my 1440x900 MBP feels like I'm looking at pixel hell.
[*]Multitasking is sorely needed. I used to think, who needs to multitask on iOS, when all I used it for was my phone. Last night I'm watching Kings v. Blackhawks on my iPad using the NBC Sports app and my friends are all iMessaging me when the Kings go on their barrage (Go Kings Go!). Of course I couldn't iMessage them back without kicking out of the app and having to restart the stream (and watch the start-up commercials) so I have to get my phone out to do that.
[*]For productivity, a separate keyboard is absolutely needed. Luckily I purchased Zagg bluetooth keyboard cover which I love using. Without it I think the iPad experience for me would be much more painful.
[*]16GB is pointless. Even loading a minimum of entertainment apps, and none of my music. movies or pictures, but loading iWork, I'm already at 5GB remaining. I say pointless to be kind, it's borderline insulting, given the price of memory. The next iPad Air 2 and Mini Air 2 should come only in 32/64/128/256GB configurations. Surface 3 just announced with a 256GB option, so Apple really needs to keep up with the Joneses (plus that would allow me to put my entire music library on it, effectively replacing my iPod Classic). I would seriously just buy a separate Mini Air 2 at 256GB to replace my iPod, in addition to a full Air 2 for all other iPad needs.
[*]Battery life is tremendous! As I watched the Kings game on the NBC app in near high-def (it was definitely better than SD, but probably not 1080, more like 720), the entire 2.5 hour game took about 25% of the battery life. This was while rendering the video and audio playback over wifi.
[*]I miss keyboard shortcuts. Even with the bluetooth keyboard attached, in Safari and other browsers, to scroll you have to use your finger. Can't use direction arrows. Can't use spacebar. At least you can do CMD+L to get to the URL address bar in Safari (but not in Chrome). Can't page forward/back using CMD+left/right arrow, need to swipe or press the back/forward buttons onscreen. I wish that iOS would, when it knows you have a keyboard with the appropriate buttons, allow the full suite of keyboard shortcuts.
[*]Ability to store productivity docs locally would be nice (especially in light of new Office for iPad).
[/list]
That's it for now, I'll post more as I gain more experience. It's been a great first week with the device, even with my little complaints above. If Apple gives me local document storage, and 256GB, I may finally be able to use this device exclusively for work as opposed to bringing a laptop.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Was thinking of upgrading from my iPad 3 to an Air....

...but I would bet Apple is going to announce a new Air very soon.

 

[Carlo_M]

Hi Ron, depends on your definition of "soon". With one exception Apple has been averaging about one year between releases, and the Air has been out 207 days according to Macrumors. So if they hold to their average it could be as much as five months before an upgrade. None of the WWDC rumor sites have an iPad as a hardware update rumor, most think it will be a 12" MacBook Pro/Air hybrid, or AppleTV or Mac Mini update. I would bet we will see an iPhone/iPad update in the late summer/early fall. If you can wait that long, definitely hold out, I can't wait to see what the Air 2 is going to bring to the table!

 

[Sam Posten]

September is my bet.

Multitasking is sorely needed. I used to think, who needs to multitask on iOS, when all I used it for was my phone. Last night I'm watching Kings v. Blackhawks on my iPad using the NBC Sports app and my friends are all iMessaging me when the Kings go on their barrage (Go Kings Go!). Of course I couldn't iMessage them back without kicking out of the app and having to restart the stream (and watch the start-up commercials) so I have to get my phone out to do that.

We'll see. I for one want nothing to do with Multitasking on iOS as it is currently implemented on either Android or Windows. Snapping oddly shaped widgets? No thanks.

But I do have a solution for your problem listed above: Use Siri. Hold down the button, say "Text XXX my message" and boom back to your app when done.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I am probably going to buy a 64G Wifi Air within a week. I have a cellular iPad 3 now but have never used the cellular option. I can just tether from my phone when needed.I just want to wait and see what Apple is unveiling on Monday. It won't be a new iPad, but if it is a new Retina Macbook air or watch I may buy that instead.Happy to see I can get up to $170 selling my current iPad 3 with Gazelle.com

 

[Sam Posten]

Lock in now, there is no penalty for reneging if you decide not to sell.

 

[Pawl]

I saw somebody using the Zagg Bluetooth keyboard the other day, and was impressed the way it looked. It practically turns your iPad into a laptop, and the lighted keyboard is very attractive. I might consider purchasing one.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Sam,

I locked in the price with Gazelle. Was surprised that they have no problem
taking in an iPad that has been engraved.

As I said, if nothing big comes up on Monday's WWC, I will buy an iPad air.

Will not go for the cellular model. I can tether off of my phone.

Any reason why I would want to go with the cellular model otherwise, though?

Thanks

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Oh by the way...

Kind of looking for a nice case for the iPad Air.

Something that does not add bulk to it.

I already own a Seneca Folio. They are expensive, but quality wise, the best.

Here is what I am looking at...

http://www.senacases.com/apple/ipad-air-cases/folio-ii-cases/

 

[Pawl]

I'm guessing that the upcoming iPad Air will have the thumbprint scanner, it would be ridiculous not to have it. And, it is tiring having to type my long password all the time.

 

[Carlo_M]

Good luck with your purchase and search for lightweight cover - I can't really suggest one because I needed mine to be a functional keyboard as well, so the Zagg is obviously not lightweight (although for what you get it's surprisingly light).

Funny story about how quickly habits change: while using my MBP to post on HTF last night, I caught myself pressing the post button onscreen instead of tabbing over and hitting enter.