2020 Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch Wi-Fi 64GB) – space grey (4th Generation) review

Share

How to make a phone call with 2020 Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch Wi-Fi 64GB) – space grey (4th Generation)? With WiFi only iPad you can make calls from the iPad. First you must setup your iPhone on the same Apple ID and then turn on “Calls on Other Devices.” Then go to your iPad and open the Contacts app and open a contact,. At the top you should see “Audio” and tap on that to call the person without FaceTime. This only works on the ipad when on WiFi and connected to an iPhone.

Consumer Reviews is supported by its audience. This website contains Paid Links. As an affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchase. Find more

How long is the battery life in 2020 Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch Wi-Fi 64GB) – space grey (4th Generation)? Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi or watching video.; Up to 9 hours of surfing the web using cellular data network.

Know about benefits in 2020 Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch Wi-Fi 64GB) – space grey (4th Generation) review.

Pros & Cons – 2020 Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch Wi-Fi 64GB) – space grey (4th Generation)

FOR

  • Elegant thin and light design
  • Excellent webcam
  • USB-C charging
  • Magic Keyboard and 2nd Gen Apple Pencil support
  • Super-fast A14 Bionic processor
  • Bright, colorful and sharp display
  • Super-fast processor and internet speeds

AGAINST

  • RIP headphone jack
  • Unimpressive battery life
  • No Face ID
  • Expensive accessories
  • iPadOS still doesn’t multitask as well as Mac/Windows

Specs – 2020 Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch Wi-Fi 64GB) – space grey (4th Generation)

  • OS: iPadOS 14
  • CPU: A14 Bionic
  • Battery life: 10:29 (tested)
  • Size: 9.7 x 7 x 0.24 inches
  • Storage: 64GB, 256GB
  • Front camera: 7MP TrueDepth
  • Wireless: Wi-Fi 6, optional 4G LTE
  • Display: 10.9-inch (2360 x 1640 pixels) Liquid Retina
  • Rear cameras: 12MP wide (f/1.8)
  • Video: Up to 4K at up to 60 fps
  • Battery: 28.6 watt-hour
  • Weight: 1 pound 
  • Price: $599Operating System Apple iPadOS
  • Battery Life 4 hours, 45 minutes (video streaming)

Price

The iPad Air 4 came out on Friday, Oct. 23, and it starts at $599 for the 64GB configuration, and you can upgrade to 256GB for $150 — which brings you to $749. LTE cellular connectivity costs $130 more, bringing the max price to $879. 

That price looks good next to the iPad Pro, but some may experience sticker shock if they remember how the iPad Air 3 was $499.

Fortunately, we’ve started to see (minor) sale pricing so far. Currently, Amazon has the best sale, bringing the iPad Air 2020 to $549!

Region64GB64GB and LTE256GB256GB and LTE
US$599$729$749$879
UK£579£709£729£859
AU$899$1,099$1,129$1,329

For reference, the iPad Air 3 started at $499 / £479 / AU$779 for the Wi-Fi only model with 64GB storage, and $649 / £629 / AU$999 for 256GB.  

Compare 2020 Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch Wi-Fi 64GB) – space grey (4th Generation)

Apple iPad 10.9-inch (4th Generation)Apple iPad Air – 10.5-inch (3rd Generation)Apple iPad Pro – 11-inch (2nd Generation)
Display10.9 inch Retina display10.5 inch Retina display11 inch Liquid Retina display
Secure AuthenticationTouch IDTouch IDFace ID
ChipA14 Bionic chip with Neural EngineA12 Bionic chip with Neural EngineA12Z Bionic chip with Neural Engine
Camera12MP photos8MP photos12MP photos
Video4K video recording1080p HD video recording4K video recording
Apple Pencil CompatibilityApple Pencil (2nd generation)Apple PencilApple Pencil (2nd generation)
Smart Keyboard CompatibilityCompatible with Smart Keyboard Folio, Magic Keyboard and Bluetooth keyboardsCompatible with Smart Keyboard Folio and Bluetooth keyboardsCompatible with Smart Keyboard Folio, Magic Keyboard and Bluetooth keyboards
ConnectorUSB-C connectorLightning connectorUSB-C connector

2020 Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch Wi-Fi 64GB) – space grey (4th Generation) review

Build

The Air fits a 10.9-inch, 2,360-by-1,640 screen into the same body size as the 10.2-inch iPad by reducing the bezels. It’s laminated with an anti-reflective coating that makes it much less reflective, and more pleasantly usable, than the standard iPad’s screen; it also has Apple’s wide color gamut, which I’ve never really personally noticed.

Design

The iPad Air 4’s 10.9-inch screen is bigger than the iPad Air 3’s 10.5-inch panel. Measuring 9.7 x 7 x 0.2 inches and weighing 1 pound even, the iPad Air 4 has the same measurements as the 11-inch iPad Pro, while being slightly thinner and lighter than the 10.2-inch iPad (9.8 x 6.8 x 0.3 inches, 1.1 pounds). The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 (10 x 6.5 x 0.2 inches, 1.1 pounds) is also a touch heavier.

Buttons

On the top of the tablet, there’s a really cool innovation in the form of a power button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor. This means the Air doesn’t have to have a big bezel for a physical Home button, but it can also use a fingerprint sensor so you don’t have to futz around with trying to face-unlock the tablet when you’re wearing a mask.

Brightness

The iPad Air 4 maxes out at 440 nits of brightness, a rating that’s good on its own. In terms of sharpness, the iPad Air 4 has a 264ppi pixel density, which is the same rate as you find in the normal iPad and the iPad Pro. 

According to the Klein K10-A colorimeter, the iPad Air 4 produces 102.9% of the sRGB color spectrum, a rate that falls under both the Galaxy Tab S7’s ratings (111% on Natural mode, 152% on Vivid) and the 122.9% from the 12.9-inch iPad Pro as well. The regular iPad comes close, at 97%. 

Resolution

The resolution is impressive at 2360 x 1640, which equates to 264 pixels per inch. We found the screen to be fantastic for watching video, with vibrant colors and a strong peak brightness, so you’ll enjoy a premium viewing experience when watching Netflix or other streaming services.

A13 Bionic chip

The iPad Air 4 runs on the A14 Bionic chip, which has a hexa-core CPU and a quad-core GPU, which combine to give it a serious speed advantage over most tablets. I saw zero stutter under basic everyday usage — splitting its screen between 12 Safari tabs and a 1080p YouTube video. It has with 4GB of RAM and either 64GB or 256GB of storage. It’s the fastest iPad available, and benchmarks faster than any Android device, as well.

Camera

On the rear of the iPad Air 4 is a 12MP shooter with an f/1.8 aperture which serves as  your primary camera, and which also comes in useful when you’re using features such as augmented reality.

The iPad Air has a 12-megapixel main camera, the same as the main camera on the iPad Pro, and a 7-megapixel front-facing camera, again the same as the front camera on the Pro. The main camera is a bit of an improvement over the base iPad’s 8-megapixel sensor—it records 4K video rather than 1080p, and has better HDR and low-light capabilities.

Audio – does it support headphone jack

The iPad Air 4’s stereo speakers produce enough sound to fill not just my small-to-medium-sized home office, but also spill over sweet tunes to adjacent rooms.

The iPad Air 4 doesn’t have a headphone jack, but neither does the iPad Pro nor Tab S7. Apple’s letting too many devices drink from the iPhone’s fountain of ‘courage,’ and that’s probably annoying for those who haven’t jumped to wireless headphones. And while I wish this trend would end, I love my AirPods Pro and I’ve started to just keep my wired headphones connected to my podcast mic, the only device that truly needs them.

Keyboard

The iPad Air 4’s support for the Magic Keyboard means that typing on this iPad is as easy as on the iPad Pro. Its keys make for a much more comfortable typing experience thanks to increased vertical travel, the movement that makes them feel like you’re using a real keyboard, and not clicking the small sensors of the iPad Smart Keyboard Folio. The Magic Keyboard also wins because it has a touchpad, which the Smart Keyboard always lacked — and which makes the iPad Air 4 more like a real laptop. 

WiFi

The iPad Air comes in two networking models—a Wi-Fi-only base version and, as usual, a model with LTE added on for $130. This year’s iPads don’t support 5G, but 5G doesn’t make a big difference right now. Better Wi-Fi and 4G performance, on the other hand, does.

The Air uses the Wi-Fi and 4G chipsets from the iPad Pro line, which have significantly better performance than the one in the base iPad. The Air has Wi-Fi 6, which the base model doesn’t, but you don’t need a Wi-Fi 6 router to see the difference here.

2020 Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch Wi-Fi 64GB) – space grey (4th Generation) Performance review

The iPad Air 4 earned a 4,262 on the Geekbench 5 general benchmark, which beats its main competitor. The Galaxy Tab S7 (Snapdragon 865+) hit a mark of 3,074 and the iPad 2020 (A12 Bionic) nothced 2,685. The iPad Pro 2020 (A12Z Bionic) is the only model that did better, at 4,720.

The mobile racing game Asphalt 9: Legends ran super-smoothly on the iPad Air 4, as I drove a MItsubishi lancer around a snowy hill. I saw nary a stutter or frame drop as I knocked cars off the road and sped through to the finish line in first place.

Tested against a 500Mbps Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) connection, a weak 5GHz Wi-Fi signal gave us 136Mbps on the iPad Air (about the same as on the Pro and most flagship smartphones right now), but only 20.6Mbps on the base iPad. That’s a big difference. Note that you need to be using 5GHz Wi-Fi to see this difference, as the two tablets have about the same performance when ratcheted down to 2.4GHz-only mode.

Battery life

The iPad Air 4 offers all-day battery life, going 10 hours and 29 minutes on the Tom’s Guide web-surfing-based battery test. That narrowly beats the iPad Pro (10:16), but the 10.2-inch iPad (12:57) and Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 (13:16) lasted longer. That difference may mean you’re going to charge the iPad Air 4 a little more often, but not by much. 

The iPad Air comes with a 20W USB-C power adapter and a charging cable. It works with accessories for the 11-inch iPad Pro, including Apple’s Magic Keyboard ($299) and Smart Keyboard Folio ($179), as well as third-party keyboards like the Logitech Slim Folio Pro ($119.99) and Logitech Folio Touch ($159). It also works with Bluetooth keyboards and mice, which is a much cheaper way to put together a virtual laptop; you can go with the Logitech K480 keyboard ($49.99), which has a groove for the tablet, plus an M350 mouse ($29.99), for instance.

2020 Apple iPad Air (10.9-inch Wi-Fi 64GB) – space grey (4th Generation) customer review

iPad air 2020 vs iPad pro 2021

i was having a hard time figuring out if i should spend the extra 200 on the new ipad pro or purchase this one and as you can see i obviously chose the cheaper option. personally, i have no artistic skill or passion, so all the cool specs the M1 ipad pro has are wasted on me. i didn’t care for the improved camera either, i own the 12 pro max so if i need to take any pictures i’d preferably use that. i even own a macbook pro, i didn’t need this ipad as a laptop replacement. i simply wanted an ipad so i could read books and manga, and maybe even stream a few shows.

with my few days of experience i can say, as a first time ipad owner, that i am enjoying my choice and purchase. i’m loving the quality and all the little things i can do with the ipad air. battery life seems great and everything’s running as it should be.
the only thing that made me hesitate was the fact that the ipad air has touch id versus the ipad pro’s face id. i know we’re in a pandemic wherein having touch id is starting to seem like a better option, but since im mostly using it at home i do wish it had face id instead. i haven’t used it in public (stay inside!) but maybe ill feel more thankful for me touch id once i do. but even with this, the touch id is unquestionably fast, it even unlocks when im wearing long acrylics (with small struggle).
all in all, this was a good purchase from me.

By Rachel at Best Buy

Editor’s recommendations

Lead Content Editor
Lead Content Editor

I enjoy creating stuff and giving back to my community. My days are spent producing content for brands who need an internet presence and for things that I adore. I bring with me six years of experience generating content and obtaining leads from untapped markets. I concentrate on the qualities and advantages of the goods that add value for my audience. After reading my reviews, anyone who want to purchase a product from me are given my honest and open recommendation. I integrate my reviews with those of actual people to make the content authentic and accurate. Please take a moment to contact me if you see any deviations; I always value and appreciate hearing from my readers.

Articles: 1375