Apple iPad Air

Another release from Apple, the iPad Air, follows in the same vein as the company’s previous tablet models, i.e. with very few surprises and software upgrades. However, the Air does address one of the few problems that has dogged iPads since the launch of the original: By shedding some 30% of its weight, the terms “Apple iPad” and “heavy” are no longer synonymous.

In fact, at first glance it’s nearly impossible to tell the Air tablet apart from its immediate predecessors, the iPad 3 and 4. With the classic design already established as the benchmark for electronic devices, Apple is content (and justifiably so) to stick with what works. But just lift up the new model and wow – Who knew 0.4 pounds lost could make such a difference.

Good news, too, that the technical specs all basically stay the same in the iPad Air. The industry-topping “Retina” display with rich 2048 x 1536-pixel resolution is in place, the operating system is Apple’s current standard iOS 7 and front and rear cameras are included. The new dual microphone at top on the front is a nice upgrade, if minor. The 16 GB on internal storage offered in the basic version isn’t mind-blowing, but note that 32 GB, 64 GB and a massive 128 GB versions are also available.

Some product reviewers are calling the iPad Air Apple’s first “major redesign” since the iPad 2, but we’re not sure we’d go quite that far. In the end, the iPad Air may be termed more evolutionary than revolutionary, another logical step in the progression of the world’s most popular tablet. And you can bet that subsequent iPads will never again be among the heaviest on the market.