A new year means a new iPad, and here we are with another model ready for consumers to take home. Is the latest iteration Apple's best, and does it have what it takes to survive the onslaught of tablet competitors heading its way?

Lovely clear screen; Display has much faster touch support; making typing just that much easier and more accurate when you're a fast typist; Still one of the prettiest tablet designs out there; Touch ID fingerprint unlocking included

No flash on the rear camera; Mute and lock switch has disappeared; Still no expandable storage; No NFC

Gadgets get thinner every year. That's a given. But the iPad Air 2 crosses a threshold where thin makes a difference. I bought my first iPad in the summer of 2012, under the pretense that it would be a really killer digital photo frame at my wedding.

It's an iPad, which means it's a finely crafted tablet with an app store filled to bursting with the latest mobile games and utilities; This one is better than ever before

I don't give a damn about Touch ID until Apple trusts my fingerprint enough not to require a password ever again; and until Apple lets me use it to buy things at brick and mortar stores with Apple Pay

This product is a requirement at my son's school when he becomes a Freshman next year at a private high school. The staff there has given it raving reviews.

Durable; Easy To Configure; Lightweight; Quiet; Versatile

A bigger screen? Nope. A lower price? Nah. How about a bit more storage in the base model? You must be joking. So what is the headline feature of the iPad Air 2? It's thinner, because that's exactly the feature everyone had been clamouring for. "You know that iPad Air?

We give this model a 9.5 out of 10 for design, a 9.8 for hardware and a 9.5 for OS and UI. The final grade is 9.6 out of 10 and this is still the best 10 inch tablet (or close) that money can buy in 2014. However, the iPad Air 1 is also a very solid buy, since the price is lower now.

slim; but solid; very light; less glare than many tablets; good battery; loud speakers; good display; good cameras; ultra fast browser; excellent hardware; fast rendering; good productivity

big bezel; long charging; back vibrates a lot; UI getting old

I thought I was buying 16 GB but it's showing,in Settings About capacity as 12.0 GB with available 10.5 GB so maybe I'm not reading it right but...kinda disappointed in product. It will be okay for a few things but not exactly what I thought I was buying.

The iPad Air 2 takes the title (from Apple's original Air) of Best Tablet You Can Buy. The updates aren't enough to force an upgrade from a 2013 Air, but it'll feel like a tablet from another planet if you're still using an original iPad or iPad 2, or an early Android.

Somehow; even thinner than ever; Very snappy performance; thanks to A8X chip upgrade; Fingerprint login; Better cameras

The familiar iPad-family gripes (no MicroSD card slot; reliance on iTunes; Rear camera lacks a flash; Physical mute/orientation-lock switch has been eliminated

I formerly had a Kindle Fire (2011 model) before I got the iPad Air 2. The Air 2 is a massive upgrade over the Kindle Fire in every way (when it is 3 years newer, it should be). The screen is really nice.

Top of the line; Excellent camera; Very fluid; Runs 20+ apps at once

Expensive

My son love to watch videos and play games on his iPad. He loved how much better the graphics are on the new iPad. The camera is also a lot better and the sound is very clear. There are so many upgrades on this iPad it is amazing, my son had to check something on his old iPad and he told us he...

App Availablity; Easy To Customize; Screen; Web Browsing

Charging time; Speaker Quality

I've had an iPhone for several years and this is my first iPad. i bought it to use for work. So far I'm very happy with it. It's much easier than carrying my laptop around with me and I can do pretty much the same things with it that I could do with the laptop.