Jiří Filip This year's first apple conference brought several novelties. In addition to the 3rd generation iPhone SE, Mac Studio and the new display, Apple also introduced the 5th generation iPad Air. Apparently no one was surprised by this product, as leaks had been talking about the new iPad Air for many weeks before the keynote. In the same way, almost everything about the hardware was known, and the closer the keynote got closer, the more it became clear that there would be very little news. So is it worth getting a new iPad Air 5 or switching from the 4th generation? We will look at that together now.
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Flying around the world with Apple Package contents
The new iPad Air 5 arrives in a classic white box, following the pattern of the previous generation, on the front of which you can see the front of the iPad. The interior is also no surprise. In addition to the iPad, you will of course also find all kinds of manuals, an adapter and a USB-C/USB-C cable here. The good news is that Apple still supplies an adapter for the iPad. So if you don't own a more powerful iPhone charger, you can use this one with USB-C/Lightning. Even if the constant switching of cables will not be very pleasant, for some this fact can be a benefit. The supplied cable is 1 meter long and the power adapter is 20W.
Design
As I mentioned above, it was obvious that the changes will happen mainly under the hood. So the novelty again comes with an almost frameless display from edge to edge. On the front, of course, you can see the display and the selfie camera, which we will discuss in more detail below. The upper side belongs to the speaker vents and the Power Button, which hides Touch ID. The right side hides the magnetic connector for the Apple Pencil 2, with which the tablet understands. On the bottom of the tablet you can see another pair of vents and a USB-C connector. On the back, you will find the camera and the Smart Connector, for example for the keyboard. The design of the tablet can only be praised. In short, the aluminum of the iPad Aur 5 fits well. The blue matte color looks great and if you don't have experience with this design, you will sometimes get caught just looking at the workmanship. Just like the display, the back of the device suffers from various dirt, prints and the like. So it pays to always have a cloth on hand for possible cleaning. As for the dimensions of the device, the "five" is completely identical to the last generation. At a height of 247,6 mm, a width of 178,5 mm and a thickness of only 6,1 mm. Compared to the iPad Air 4, however, this piece has gained a little weight. The Wi-Fi version weighs 461 grams and the Cellular version, which also supports 5G, weighs 462 grams, i.e. 3 and 2 grams more. As with the previous generation, you will come across 64 and 256 GB of storage. It is available in blue, pink, space gray, purple and space white variants.
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Display
There was no change in this regard either. Even this year, the iPad Air 5 gets a 10,9″ Liquid Retina Multi‑Touch display with LED backlighting, IPS technology and a resolution of 2360 x 1640 at 264 pixels per inch (PPI). True Tone support, P3 color gamut and maximum brightness of up to 500 nits will also please you. We also have a fully laminated display, an anti-reflective layer, a wide color range of P3 and True Tone. The novelty also boasts an oleophobic treatment against smudges. In this case, however, I would like to recall the famous scene from the film Ball Lightning, in which Granny Jechová, played by Milada Ježková, comes to ask if she could see the cellar. The display of the iPad Air is constantly smudged, dirty, dust catches on it, and it is an exaggeration to say that the product is ripe for cleaning after every use. However, the display cannot be denied with high-quality color rendering, good viewing angles and decent brightness. It should also be added that technologically it is the same display that we see in the classic iPad (which, however, is without lamination, anti-reflective layer and P3). The basic iPad 9 also has a Liquid Retina Multi‑Touch display with LED backlighting, IPS technology and a resolution of 2160 × 1620, which gives the same delicacy in the form of the same 264 pixels per inch.
Performance
Even a day before the conference, it was believed that the five-inch iPad Air would arrive with the A15 Bionic chip, which beats in the latest iPhones. It wasn't until basically on the day of the keynote that the news appeared about the possible deployment of the Apple M1, i.e. the heart of, for example, the iPad Pro. Much to my surprise, these reports turned out to be true. The M1 therefore has an 8-core CPU and an 8-core GPU. It doesn't happen often, but Apple mentioned here that the new product has a total of 8 GB of RAM. So you can really have a lot of applications open, and you might be surprised at what applications are still open and ready to use after some time. As for the "em number one", the numbers look nice on paper, but the practice itself is much more important. Since I don't edit photos or edit video, I relied mainly on games for performance testing.
Titles like Genshin Impact, Call of Duty: Mobile or Asphalt 9 look absolutely great. After all, Apple claimed at its keynote that it was a tablet made for games. However, I must point out that you can play just as well on the iPad Air 4 or the already mentioned iPad 9. The only problem with the latter is the large frames. Call of Duty is there, if you don't have a bear's paw, almost unplayable. However, even this older piece is quite sufficient for current games. Honestly, there aren't many quality and good-looking smartphone/tablet games these days. But can change be expected in the near future? Hard to say. If you feel like you are and intend to play games on the iPad, the Air 5 will be ready for years to come. Nowadays, however, you can play similarly on older pieces as well. I've noticed that Asphalt 9, which has been looking great for years, is the one that takes the tablet the most. The tablet was heating up a lot and eating a really big chunk of the battery.
Sound
I said during the unboxing that I was quite disappointed with the sound of the iPad Air 5. But I honestly hoped I would change my mind, which I did. The tablet has a stereo and four speaker vents. It must be said right away that the sound is not the most dynamic, and true audiophiles will be disappointed. On the other hand, it is necessary to realize that this is a tablet with a thickness of 6,1 mm and miracles cannot be expected. The maximum volume is absolutely fine, and you will notice some bass here and there, mostly when you have the tablet in your hand. You will enjoy pleasant sound while watching movies and playing games. Here is one plus compared to the classic iPad, when you often blocked one speaker with your hand when playing widescreen. There is no such thing here, and you can listen to stereo while playing.
touch ID
To be honest, this is my first experience with a product that has Touch ID in the top Power Button. If you were used to Touch ID in the Home Button, you will have a hard time getting used to it. In any case, placing Touch ID at the top seems like a good and more natural step to me. With a classic iPad, it is sometimes quite difficult to reach the button with your thumb. However, I sometimes forgot about the location of Touch ID in the iPad Air 5. Mostly at night, when I had a tendency to simply reach for the display and look for the Home Button. But it is a matter of a few days before you get used to this state of mind. What surprised me unpleasantly was the processing of the button itself. Sure, it works and it works very reliably. However, on the tablet I received, the button is quite movable. It is by no means "fixed" and moves quite noisily when touched. I mention this because of the recent discussion regarding the build quality of this model. I only encountered this problem, which is not exactly pleasant to me. If you have an iPad Air 4 or 5 at home or mini 6, I wonder if you have the same problem. When I asked a colleague who reviewed the iPad Air 4, he didn't come across anything like that with the Power Button.
Battery
In the case of Apple, nothing is ever said at the conference about battery capacity. On the other hand, it's a total no-brainer and the main thing is how long the product lasts. In the case of the iPad Air 5, according to the apple company, it is up to 10 hours of web browsing on a Wi-Fi network or watching video, or up to 9 hours of web browsing on a mobile data network. These data therefore completely coincide with the iPad Air 4 or iPad 9. The tablet can be charged even every other day, if you use it sensibly at the normally set brightness. By reasonable use, I typically mean avoiding gaming. Especially the already mentioned Asphalt 9 really takes a lot of "juice" from the tablet. So if you want to play the most demanding games, this piece will last you all day. The supplied 20W USB-C power adapter will then charge the tablet in about 2 to 2,5 hours.
Camera and video
Before we get into rating the photos, we have to overwhelm you with some numbers first. The rear camera is 12 MP with an aperture of ƒ/1,8 and offers up to 5x digital zoom. We also have a five-person lens, automatic focusing with Focus Pixels technology, the ability to take panoramic photos (up to 63 megapixels). Smart HDR 3, Photos and Live Photos with a wide color range, automatic image stabilization and sequential mode. I have to say for myself that I can't imagine taking pictures with an iPad. Of course, it is a large device and I don't really enjoy taking pictures with it. In any case, the photos pleasantly surprised me. They are sharp and relatively good for the "first time". But it is a fact that they lack "color vibrancy" and the images seem quite gray to me even in good lighting conditions. So your primary camera will most likely continue to be the iPhone. Where the iPad surprised me were the night photos. Not that there is perhaps a night mode that will conjure up a beautiful photo, but the M1 tends to lighten up the photos quite a bit. So even photography in the dark is not bad.
The front camera was a significant improvement, where Apple deployed a 12 MP ultra-wide-angle camera with a 122° field of view, an aperture of ƒ/2,4 and Smart HDR 3. So, even though there was an increase from 7 to 12 MP, don't expect any miracles. But during Face ID, the image will be sharper. The function of centering the shot is great, when the camera will follow you even when you are moving around the room. If you're also interested in video, the new iPad Air 5th generation can capture (with the rear camera) 4K video at 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps or 60 fps, 1080p HD video at 25 fps, 30 fps or 60 fps or 720p HD video at 30 fps. If you are a fan of slow-motion footage, you will be pleased with the option of slow-motion video with a resolution of 1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps. Compared to the previous generation, the novelty can boast an extended dynamic range for video up to 30 fps. The selfie camera can record 1080p HD video at 25 fps, 30 fps or 60 fps.
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Summary
You probably noticed that in the review I compared this piece with the iPad Air 4 and the iPad 9. The reason is simple, the user experience is not very different from each other and I dare say that the iPad Air 4 will be completely identical. Of course, we have M1 here, i.e. a substantial increase in performance. The selfie camera has also been improved. But what next? Is the presence of the M1 chip an argument to buy? I'll leave it up to you. I am one of those users who have used the iPad for distance learning, watching Netflix, browsing the internet and playing games. The iPad doesn't do anything else for me. So a few questions are in order. Is it worth switching from the iPad Air 4 now? No way. From the iPad 9? I would still wait. If you don't have an iPad and are considering welcoming the iPad Air 5 into the Apple family, that's totally fine. You get a great and powerful tablet that will serve you for many years. But it should be kept in mind that there are very few changes from the last generation, and even three M1 Ultra chips wouldn't save it. The price of the iPad Air 5 starts at 16 crowns.
