Apple iPad Air vs Nexus 10 vs Microsoft Surface 2 specs comparison

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Apple iPad Air vs Nexus 10 vs Microsoft Surface 2 specs comparison
The fifth-generation Apple iPad is here and it is the first time Apple’s 9.7-inch tablet has gotten a huge redesign going more compact and modern to deserve a brand new name - the iPad Air. The big change have come to the outside, but there’s a lot improved under the hood as well, so let’s take a look.

Apple has traditionally held the upper hand in tablet graphics and the iPad Air ups the ante in both CPU and GPU power with the Apple A7 chip. That looks to be the same chip Apple is using in the iPhone 5s, a somewhat strange decision since we’ve been accustomed to getting an Ax version of Apple’s chips with more graphical oomph in iPads. Not this time probably.

In terms of the performance gain, Apple put it simple and clear: the new iPad Air has up to 8x faster CPU performance and 72x faster graphics performance in comparison to the original. The company is usually pretty spot on with those numbers, so we have no reason to distrust them.

The new iPad Air is also 2x faster opening files and supports Wi-Fi n (not the latest 802.11ac Apple bragged about including in the new Macbook Pros).

Most importantly, at all this Apple manages to keep the 10-hour battery life. However how will this all stack up against the big competitors, the Google Nexus 10 and the Microsoft Surface 2? Take a look at the spec comparison right below.

Apple iPad Air Google Nexus 10 Microsoft Surface 2

Design

Dimensions
9.45 x 6.67 x 0.30 inches
240 x 169.5 x 7.5 mm
10.39 x 6.99 x 0.35 inches
263.9 x 177.6 x 8.9 mm
10.81 x 6.79 x 0.35 inches
275 x 172 x 9 mm
Weight
16.86 oz (478.0 g) 21.27 oz (603.0 g) 23.84 oz (675.8 g)
Materials
Back: Aluminum
Keys
Right: Volume control, Other
Colors
Black, Gray, Silver, White

Display

Size
9.7-inch 10.1-inch 10.6-inch
Resolution
1536x2048px, 264 PPI 1600x2560px, 300 PPI 1080x1920px, 208 PPI
Technology
IPS LCD True RGB Real Stripe PLS IPS LCD
Screen-to-body
71.65 % 62.50 % 65.41 %
Colors
16 777 216
Features
Oleophobic coating, Ambient light sensor Scratch-resistant glass (Corning Gorilla Glass 2), Ambient light sensor Scratch-resistant glass, Ambient light sensor

Hardware

System chip
Apple A7 Samsung Exynos 5 Dual 5250 (32 nm) NVIDIA Tegra 4 T114 (28 nm)
Processor
Dual-core
1400 MHz
Cyclone
Dual-core
1700 MHz
ARM Cortex-A15
Quad-core
1700 MHz
ARM Cortex-A15
GPU
PowerVR G6430 Mali-T604 MP4 Yes
RAM
1GB (LPDDR3) 2GB 2GB (LPDDR3)
Internal storage
128GB 32GB 32GB
Storage expansion
microSDXC
OS
iOS (12.x, 11.x, 10.x, 9.x, 8.x, 7.x) Android (5.1 Lollipop, 5.0 Lollipop, 4.4.4, 4.4.2, 4.4, 4.3, 4.2.2, 4.2.1, 4.2) Windows (RT 8.1)

Battery

Capacity
8820 mAh 9000 mAh
Type
Li - Polymer Li - Polymer

Camera

Rear
Single camera Single camera Single camera
Main camera
5 MP (Autofocus, BSI sensor)
Aperture size: F2.4
Focal length: 33 mm
5 MP (Autofocus) 5 MP (Autofocus)
Flash
LED
Video recording
1920x1080 (Full HD) (30 fps)
Time-lapse video, EIS, Video calling
1920x1080 (Full HD) (30 fps) 1920x1080 (Full HD)
Front
1.2 MP, Video capture: 1280x720 (HD) (30 fps) 1.9 MP 3.5 MP

Connectivity & Features

Bluetooth
4.0 3.0 4.0
WLAN
802.11 a,b,g,n,dual-band
Multiple antennas, MIMO, Hotspot
802.11 a,b,g,n
MIMO
802.11 a,b,g,n,dual-band
Multiple antennas, MIMO
USB
Lightning microUSB, USB 2.0 Full-size USB, USB 3.0
HDMI
Micro HDMI (Type D)
Location
A-GPS, Glonass, Cell ID, Wi-Fi positioning GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
Sensors
Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass, Barometer Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass
Other
Tethering, Computer sync, OTA sync, AirDrop NFC, Computer sync, OTA sync OTA sync

Multimedia

Headphones
3.5mm jack 3.5mm jack 3.5mm jack
Speakers
Multiple speakers Multiple speakers Loudspeaker
Features
Album art cover, Background playback Album art cover, Background playback Album art cover, Background playback
Screen mirroring
TV-out DLNA,TV-out TV-out
Additional microphone(s)
Yes Noise cancellation, Video recording

Cellular

4G (FDD)
Bands 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(AWS-1), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 13(700 c), 17(700 b), 18(800 Lower), 19(800 Upper), 20(800 DD), 25(1900+), 26(850+)
3G
Bands 5(850), 8(900), 2(1900), 1(2100)
Data Speed
LTE, HSPA, UMTS
SIM type
Nano SIM

Phone Features

Notifications
Flight mode, Silent mode Flight mode, Silent mode, Speakerphone
Other features
Voice commands, Voice recording Voice recording

Regulatory Approval

FCC approval
Date approved: Oct 22, 2013
FCC ID value: BCGA1475
Measured SAR
Body: 1.19 W/kg
Simultaneous Transmission: 1.33 W/kg

Buyers information

MSRP
$ 929 $ 499 $ 449
In The Box
Lightning to USB Cable, USB Power Adapter
Warranty period
12 Months

Availability

Officially announced
Oct 22, 2013 Oct 29, 2012 Sep 23, 2013


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