Why lawyers will love the iPad Air 2

Yesterday, Apple announced the 2014 update to the iPad, and the newest full-size iPad is called the iPad Air 2.  This is an incremental update, not unlike the update from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 5s, but it hits all the high notes for the iPad and looks like it will be a fantastic tablet for any attorney.  There is a 16GB model for $499 that you should NOT get, a 64GB model for $599 and a 128GB model for $699.  The 64GB model will be perfect for most attorneys, and the 128GB model is great for attorneys who want to carry around a lot of videos and pictures.  As before, an extra $130 gets you built-in cellular.

When I think of what makes the iPad great for attorneys, I think of four things: (1) it is thin and light, much lighter than a laptop, (2) it has a great screen, (3) it is powerful and (4) it is easy to use.  Those are the same four areas that Apple improved in the iPad Air 2, so the 2014 iPad has more of what makes the iPad so great to begin with.

Thinner and lighter

Before the Fall of 2013, I actually used two iPads.  I had a full-sized iPad, which was great for viewing websites and reading documents on a larger screen, and I had an iPad mini, which was great when I wanted something that was lighter and easier to hold.  But once I started using the iPad Air a year ago, it was light enough (1 pound versus the 1.4 pounds of the previous generation) and thin enough (7.5 mm versus the 9 mm of the previous generation) that I no longer felt the need to use my iPad mini.  The iPad Air was thin and light enough to hold for an extended period of time, plus it had the larger screen that I preferred over the iPad mini.

And to emphasize that which you already know, a thinner and lighter iPad is important.  When you are reading transcripts, caselaw, exhibits, pleadings, etc. you are going to be holding an iPad in your hand for a while.  If it is too heavy or awkward to hold for an extended period of time, that is a problem.

The new iPad Air 2 is 6.1 mm versus the 7.5 mm of the iPad Air 1 (or, as Apple describes it, 18% thinner).  That is really thin.  Even the new and thin iPhone 6 is 6.9 mm.  The iPad Air 2 is also slightly lighter at 0.96 pounds versus the 1 pound for the iPad Air 1 (or just a tiny bit heavier for both models if you got the versions with build-in cellular).  Based on what I read from folks who held one yesterday, the weight difference feels even more substantial because the iPad Air 2 is so much thinner than the iPad Air 1, and the thinner iPad 2 is also even easier to hold in your hand.

Suffice it to say that if you have an iPad Air 1, the iPad Air 2 will be slightly easier to hold.  But if you have any prior model of the iPad, which is true for so many attorneys, then the iPad Air 2 is going to be significantly easier to hold than whatever model iPad you have.  Indeed, you could stack two iPad Air 2s and they would still be thinner than one of the first generation iPads.  The thinness and weight will likely be the main reason that attorneys will love the iPad Air 2.

Better display

Apple has been using a great-looking retina display on the iPad since March of 2012.  The iPad Air 2 improves upon that display in two ways.

First, the iPad Air 2 display is laminated, which makes the screen look even better.  Jason Snell of Six Colors was able to try the new iPad yesterday, and here is how he described it:

But what I really liked about the iPad Air 2 was its display.  On these devices, the display is where the rubber meets the road.  The iPad Air 2’s display is laminated, eliminating the air gap between the glass and the screen – they’re attached together now.  This has the same effect it did when the iPhone switched to a laminated display – the pixels just feel that much closer to your finger when you’re touching the screen.  It’s a good thing.

The second improvement to the display is that Apple has found a way to reduce the glare.  Thus, bright overhead lights are less likely to interfere with using an iPad, and the iPad should be even more usable when you are outside.

More powerful

A faster iPad is a more powerful iPad.  You don’t see spinning circles or hourglasses on an iPad like you do on a computer, but when an iPad is faster it is more responsive, which lets you be more efficient and makes the experience of using the iPad more pleasant.  The iPad Air 2 has a new processor (the A8X), which like the processor in the new iPhone 6 (the A8) makes it faster.  Apple says that the CPU is up to 40% faster and the GPU is up to 250% faster with the iPad Air 2.  Another way to look at it is that the newest iPad has 12x the regular processor and 180x the graphics processor as compared to the original, 2010 iPad.

The iPad Air 2 (like the iPhone 6) adds support for the 802.11ac WiFi standard, which came out in 2013 but is starting to see more widespread adoption in 2014.  802.11ac can be twice as fast as the previous 802.11n standard.  It is also more powerful, so if there is a “dead zone” in your home or office in which you used to get a poor WiFi signal, you may now get a better signal when you use 802.11ac.  So if you have a newer router that supports 802.11ac, you should see better WiFi performance with the iPad Air 2.

I always get the WiFi version of the iPad, but if you pay the extra $130 for the version with built-in cellular, there is another new feature with the iPad Air 2.  Instead of coming with a SIM that works on only one carrier, you can now get the Apple SIM that can be used with AT&T, T-Mobile or Sprint.  As I understand it, you could try AT&T for one month, then switch to T-Mobile for the next month, etc.  I look forward to hearing about how this new feature works in practice.  Note that, so far, Verizon has not signed up, so you cannot use its service with the new Apple SIM (but you can get a Verizon-only SIM).

Easier to use, thanks to Touch ID

The final major change to the iPad Air 2 is support for Touch ID, Apple’s fingerprint sensor.  I’ve been waiting for this change for a year, ever since I started using Touch ID on the iPhone 5s.  I can’t even count the number of times that I unlock my iPhone and iPad every day, but this is no longer a problem on my iPhone because it recognizes my fingerprint almost instantly.  The iPad is going to get so much easier to unlock with the addition of Touch ID.  And of course, all attorneys need to be using a passcode lock on their iPads.  If you don’t have one yet, I don’t even want to hear your excuses, start doing so right now.  You don’t want someone else to pick up your iPad and have easy access to all of the confidential attorney-client communications and work product that is on every lawyer’s iPad.  But now with Touch ID, the passcode lock becomes much, much less of a burden.

And starting Monday when Apple Pay debuts, you will also be able to use Touch ID on the iPad to make secure purchases.  No, you won’t be able to walk into a store and tap your iPad on a sensor to make a purchase – which would, of course, look silly – but you will be able to use Touch ID to make secure online purchases with the iPad.

Better camera

For most attorneys, I doubt that the camera on the iPad makes much of a difference.  Even though I can understand in theory the advantage of taking a picture with an iPad because the large screen is a huge viewfinder, in practice it just seems ridiculous.  About the only thing I do with the camera on the back of my current iPad Air is that I sometimes scan a document.

But if the iPad’s back camera is important to you, you’ll be happy to learn that the iPad Air 2 has a better camera.  It is not quite as good as the camera in the iPhone 6, and it is not even quite as good as the camera on the iPhone 5s, but it is better than the camera on prior iPads.

iPad mini 3

If you are a fan of the iPad mini, you won’t be as impressed by the new iPad mini 3.  It adds Touch ID, but otherwise is the same size, weight and speed as last year’s iPad mini 2.  The only other difference is that you can now buy a gold version of an iPad mini.  (There is also a gold iPad Air 2.)

The new range of iPads

Apple is now offering a larger range of iPads than ever before becuase along with the new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, Apple is continuing to sell many of the older iPads at reduced prices. 

You can now get the first generation iPad mini, the one that came out two years ago, starting at only $249.  I don’t recommend that any attorney do that because the retina screen on the iPad mini 2 and 3 is so much better, but it is interesting to see Apple selling any model of the iPad at a price that low.  Although I no longer use my iPad mini, my wife still uses it just to read books using the Amazon Kindle app.

The choice between the iPad mini 2 and the iPad mini 3 is tougher.  You pay an extra $100 for the iPad mini 3, but the only improvement (other than coming in gold) is Touch ID.  As much as I look forward to using Touch ID on an iPad, there is nothing unreasonable about saving $100 and getting the iPad 2.  You can even use that $100 savings towards a larger capacity or towards built-in cellular, two features that many will find more valuable than Touch ID.

If you want a full-size iPad, you can also save $100 by buying last year’s iPad Air 1, but I don’t recommend that you do so.  For all of the reasons that I listed above, the iPad Air 2 is easily worth an extra $100 for most any attorney.

Conclusion

If you already have an iPad Air that came out last year, there are some great new features in the iPad Air 2, but you are unlikely to upgrade unless you really want the latest and greatest and/or there is a really good home for your current iPad.  For example, my wife uses an iPad 2 and is ready to upgrade, so she has already called dibs on my iPad Air.  But if you are using an iPad 4 (which came out in the Fall of 2012) or earlier iPad, then you are going to really love the new iPad Air 2.  It has more of everything that you want in an iPad:  it is easier to hold, easier to see, more responsive thanks to the faster processor and WiFi, and easier to unlock thanks to Touch ID.

Apple is now taking online orders for the new iPad Air 2 (with delivery dates of Oct. 23-27), or you can pick one up in an Apple Store and other retailers starting some point later next week.