iPad Air 2019 unboxing & hands-on

It has almost been 5 years since Apple released the iPad Air, but now they’ve finally revealed a new version of this tablet for 2019.

And, as you may have guessed from the title of this article, I have the brand new iPad Air 2019 with me — and I’m so excited — because this is actually my first time unboxing an iPad, so without further ado let’s check out what’s in the box.

Inside the box, you will be greeted with the iPad Air 2019 itself, some paperworks, a lightning cable as well as the power adapter.

This is the third generation iPad Air that launched alongside the brand new iPad Mini. The new iPad Air sits between the iPad Pro and the basic iPad, while the iPad Mini is basically a smaller version of the Air for those who don’t want a big 10” tablet.

Since it sits above the basic iPad, the iPad Air actually has a couple of useful features from the more capable iPad Pro, which I will get into later. For now, let’s take a look at the device itself.

The iPad Air I have with me is the Space Grey version and the design actually looks very similar to the previous generation iPad Pro. At the back you will find a shiny Apple Logo and you will also notice that there’s a camera located at the top left corner.

At the front, you will find the iPad Air’s display and also Touch ID. So this device features a 10.5” Retina display and it also comes with True Tone technology.

With this True Tone technology, the display will actually adjust its colour temperature to be consistent with ambient lighting.

So, speaking of “pro grade” features, this time around the display of the new iPad Air also supports the first generation Apple Pencil.

So unlike the 2nd Gen Apple Pencil that allows you to charge by attaching it to the side of the Ipad itself, the first generation Apple Pencil was quite inconvenient in my opinion. The first gen Apple Pencil comes with a lightning connector at the top that means you will have to plug into the lighting port at the bottom of your device.

Besides that, this iPad also supports Smart Keyboard from the previous generation iPad Pro. Of course, this isn’t to be confused with the Smart Keyboard Folio that works with the current gen iPad Pros because this doesn’t cover the back of the iPad.

However, although it has a couple of the iPad Pro’s features, the iPad Air still isn’t as capable as the Pro.

For example, powering the iPad Air is an Apple A12 Bionic chip, which is the same processor as the ones we find on the latest iPhone XS, XS Max and XR. However, it’s not the same as the A12X Bionic processor that you’d find in the new iPad Pros

The display on the iPad Air also doesn’t support Pro Motion, so it doesn’t have that super fast refresh rate that the iPad Pro does.

In terms of cameras, this device gets a single 8MP rear camera while the front gets a 7MP FaceTime HD camera.

This means that if you’re looking for the most powerful and capable iPad, you should still get the new iPad Pros. However, if you want a little more power and versatility in your iPad, you should go with the iPad Air instead of the basic iPad because it has a better processor and support for Apple’s Smart Keyboard.

The iPad Air has a starting price of RM2,199 and if you are interested in getting the Apple Pencil as well as the smart keyboard, they are both priced at RM419 and RM649 respectively.

What do you think of the iPad Air?