Apple iPad Air 2 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 vs Google Nexus 9 vs Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet

Apple has made the iPad Air 2 tablet official, offering features like fingerprint sensor, ultra-thin body and faster processor. But the going won't be too easy for the new Apple tablet, as rivals like Samsung, Google and Sony have their own feature-rich tablets in the market.

Here is a quick comparison of the new Apple iPad Air 2 with it biggest competitors, Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, Google Nexus 9 and Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet...

1. Design and Build

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apple iPad Air 2 is a slim, attractive tablet with high-quality aluminium build. It is thinner and lighter than its predecessor but overall look is the same. The iPad comes in the standard colour options of grey and white along with a new gold option to bring it in line with iPhones. It weighs about 437g and with 6.1 mm thickness, it is definitely one of the thinnest tablets in the market.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S (10.5 inch) is not too far behind. With 465g weight and 6.6mm thickness it is close to what Apple offers. It also offers colour options in bronze and white.

Google Nexus 9 gets a little thicker with 7.9mm but weighs less that Apple iPad Air 2 at 425gm. The Nexus 9 comes in three different colours — indigo black, lunar white and sand.

The Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet is 6.4mm thick and weighs 439g. It is half a centimetre thinner than its predecessor. It is also available in standard white and black colours.

2. Display

Apple iPad Air 2 sports a 9.7-inch display with 2048x1536p resolution. In order to give better contrast and colour, Apple has fused the three display layers (touch sensor, LCD panel and cover glass) into one. iPad Air 2 also has the least reflective display of any tablet as it features an antireflective coating.

With 10.5-inch screen and 2560x1600px display resolution, Samsung Galaxy Tab has a display just as good as that of its Apple rival. It features Samsung's Super AMOLED technology that makes colours rich and deep.

With an 8.9-inch IPS LCD QXGA (2048x1536p) IPS display with 4:3 aspect ratio, Nexus 9 is the latest Google tablet. The shift from 16:9 to 4:3 screen makes Nexus 9 look a lot more like the iPad.

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet has a 10.1-inch TFT screen and sports 3264x2448p resolution, at with those of the other three rivals..

3. Hardware

iPad Air 2 has the new A8X 64-bit chip and M8 motion coprocessor with 16GB, 64GB and 128GB storage options. Apple does not disclose the RAM used in its products.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 has an octa-core processor (quad-core 1.9GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex-A7) with 3GB RAM. It has 16GB storage and allows storage expansion up to 128GB via microSD cards.

The Nexus 9 features a quad-core Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, clocked at 2.3GHz. It packs 2GB of RAM and comes with non-expandable storage options of 16GB and 32GB.

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet has a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor with 3GB RAM. It comes in 16 and 32GB options, and supports storage expansion up to 64GB via microSD card.

4. Camera

Apple iPad Air 2 features an 8MP iSight camera and 1.2MP front camera with improved low-light capability. Its rear camera can shoot 1080p as well as slo-mo videos and capture 43MP panorama photos. It is also the only iPad to have burst mode.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S has an 8MP camera on the back with LED flash as well as a 2.1MP front camera. It also has features like HDR support, burst mode and video recording in 1080p.

Google Nexus 9 also has an 8MP rear camera with LED flash as well as a 1.6MP front camera and has features such as face detection, touch focus and geo-tagging.

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet packs an 8.1MP primary camera and 2.2MP secondary camera, and has features like touch focus, smile detection, HDR and panorama.

5. Software

The new iPad Air 2 runs iOS 8 operating system and supports Apple Pay, the company's new mobile payments platform.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S currently runs on Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) with TouchWiz UI on the top. It also has Knox security software for business users. This tablet supports PayPal-based mobile payments.

Google Nexus 9 is the only device to be preloaded with the latest Android 5.0 (Lollipop) which is the “most ambitious release of Android.” The update offers a new design and notifications system, better security features and longer battery life to the tablet.

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet comes preloaded with Android 4.4.2. (KitKat), layered with a custom UI. It will get Android Lollipop update soon.

6. Price

Apple iPad Air 2 launches in India at a starting price of Rs 35,900 (16GB), Rs 42,900 (64GB) and Rs 49,900 (128GB) for the Wi-Fi models. iPad Air 2 with Wi-Fi + Cellular models will be available for Rs 45,900 (16GB), Rs 52,900 (64GB) and Rs 59,900 (128GB).

With only one variant, Samsung Galaxy Tab S is currently priced at Rs 42,499, online. While Google hasn’t announced the official price of its latest tablet Google Nexus 9, while Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet is available at Rs 49,990.