New Delhi, October 20 – Apple and Google are two top players in the tablet market. Apple actually created the market with the iPad in 2010. Google, on the other hand, showed the world in 2012 with Nexus 7 that a 7-inch tablet can be as good as a large-screen tablet. The smaller tablets became so popular that Apple then released iPad Mini.
Until now Google has been happy selling the 7-inch tablet, cleverly side-stepping the part of market ruled by Apple with its 9.7-inch and 7.9-inch iPads. But this year it is changing.
A day before Apple announced its iPad Air 2, Google came out with the Nexus 9. With a 8.9-inch screen — and more importantly with 4:3 aspect display ratio that Apple loves — the Nexus 9 is directly gunning for the iPad.
We will have more to say about which tablet is better once we get them in India but for now, let’s see how they compare on paper.
Display:
The first-generation iPad Air, released last year, has a superb display. And we don’t expect it to change this year. Apple is a company that truly deeply believes in putting the best possible displays in its devices and even though we are yet to see the iPad Air 2 we are very confident that the tablet will have an outstanding display.
As far specifications go, they are top notch. It has a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, which should make it very sharp. But the interesting bit here is that just like Apple, Google too is a believer in Good displays.
The nexus 7, released last year, had a fantastic display. In terms of specifications, the display on the Nexus 9 matches what the iPad Air 2 is offering. It too has a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels for its 8.9-inch screen.
Bottom line: We expect both the iPad Air 2 and Nexus 9 to have fantastic displays. The pixel numbers sure look good and both Apple and Google often put best displays possible on their flagship products.
Internal hardware:
This one doesn’t matter as much as we think but at least on paper, Nexus 9 wins this round. The Tegra K1 processor that powers Google’s tablet is a chip custom-created by Nvidia. It has two cores and runs at 2.3GHz and if the early benchmarks are any indication, it is beast of a chip, rivalling the kind of processors that we used to get in laptops till a few years ago.
The processor is paired with 2GB RAM, which would give the tablet enough room to deal with the RAM intensive workload during multitasking or web browsing.
The iPad Air 2, meanwhile, uses the A8X processor. This too is a custom created chip, this time by Apple. And it is a very capable processor. It has two cores though currently we don’t know at what frequencies it runs in the iPad.
But we do know it is going to perform very well because it is a faster version of the A8 processor found inside the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Also, we currently don’t know the amount of RAM that the iPad Air 2 has. If it has 1GB RAM like the last year’s iPad, it could be an issue in some instances. Though, we suspect that it has 2GB RAM.
Bottom line: In terms of raw performance, the Nexus 9 looks like a winner. In terms of actual performance, both the iPad Air 2 and the Nexus 9 are going to be very fast.
Camera:
A tablet is not exactly a good tool to take images. It is awkward to hold a tablet in front of you and click photos with it. But people don’t mind. So now tablet makers have started putting good cameras in their devices.
As it released the iPad Air 2, Apple made a big deal of the camera in it. The company said that the 8-megapixel camera in iPad Air 2 is much improved and will shoot better photos than what is possible with the earlier iPads.
Apple usually doesn’t boast about cameras in iPhones and iPads if they are no good. And at this moment we do believe that iPad may have a really good camera. The Nexus 7 last year had a quite good 5-megapixel camera. We expect that the Nexus 9, which has an 8-megapxiel camera, will do even better than the last year’s tablet.
Bottom line: Barring the Nexus 7 tablet last year, Google doesn’t have a great record of putting class-leading cameras in its devices. The Nexus 9 may surprise us in a pleasant way but for now, we feel the iPad Air 2 will be better shooter.
Design and build quality:
The iPad Air 2 uses a full-metal body and a design that makes it incredibly thin. In fact, this is the thinnest iPad ever with a thickness of just 6.1mm. This is a tablet, that feels and looks premium. It oozes class.
The Nexus 9, meanwhile, has more utilitarian design. But by all means, it is as good looking as any other tablet. It is made by HTC, a company that definitely knows how to make good-looking and classy smartphones and tablets.
The Nexus 9 has metal frame around its body and uses a back cover that may have been made of plastic but has a textured surface that is bound to feel good in hands. While the Nexus 9 weighs 425 grams, the iPad Air 2 has a weight of 437 grams.
Bottom line: Both are classy and well-made tablets but some people may like the full-metal body of the iPad more.
Software:
This is the biggest difference between the iPad Air 2 and Nexus 9. The Apple’s tablet is powered by the iOS 8 while Google is using its own Android Lollipop aka Android 5.0 on the Nexus 9.
When it comes to ease of use, iOS is definitely better. It is quite slick and has smooth animations.
But Android is more versatile and on a tablet provides much more functionality than the iOS. The basic file system, for example, makes a big difference in how you use the tablet. In terms of looks too Android has caught up to the iOS. The Android Lollipop has beautiful animations, a fresh design that is subtle and colourful at the same time. The extra flat elements in the Android Lollipop also add to its appeal.
Also, there was a time when iPad had access to much better apps compared to what users could install on Android tablets. That has gradually changed. The iPad still has better apps but the situation is no more as dire on the Android tablets as it was last year.
Bottom line: iOS 8 looks slick on iPad but Android on Nexus 9 will offer more functionality.
Extras:
Both the iPad Air 2 and the Nexus 9 have a few extra features unique to them. While the importance of these features will depend on how you use the tablet, we feel that the Nexus 9 offers a little bit more in terms of features.
The iPad Air 2 has a fingerprint scanner. But that in our opinion is more like a luxury rather than a necessity. But on the other hand, the attachable keyboard (sold separately) that Google is offering for the Nexus 9 is going to be more useful to more people. Similarly, HTC’s BoomSound stereo speakers in the Nexus 9 are going to make it a better multimedia tablet than the iPad Air 2.
-INDIA TODAY
