With the display off and a single notebook tethered wirelessly to the iPad downloading at a constant 50KB/s, the LTE iPad 3 lasted 25.28 hours on a single charge. The new iPad Air moves to a much smaller battery (32.4Wh vs. 42.5Wh), but at the same time it enjoys much lower platform power. The A7 SoC is built on Samsung's 28nm LP process, while the A5X used in the iPad 3 was a 45nm part. Qualcomm's MDM9600 in the iPad 3 was also built on a 45nm process, compared to the 28nm process used on the MDM9615M (the same modem used in the iPhone 5s). An improvement of two process nodes on both the SoC and modem should account for something.

The full iPad Air review can be found here:

Apple's decision to unify silicon across the iPhone 5s, iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display is an interesting one, but ultimately it doesn't come with any real tradeoffs for iPad owners. Apple's own 64-bit Cyclone cores are incredibly powerful, even more so than I originally expected when I reviewed the iPhone 5s. Apple seems to have built a bigger, higher performance CPU architecture than any other ARM player, including ARM itself. The design isn't perfect, but it's a completely different caliber performer than anything else it competes against. As such, Apple was completely justified in putting the A7 in both the iPhone 5s and the iPad Air. If anything, I'd argue that it might be overkill for the 5s given the device's smaller battery, but my sensibilities soon get the best of me and remind me that more performance on tap is never a bad thing

Improvements around the edges are nice as well. The inclusion of a second microphone can improve FaceTime HD calls in noisy environments, and faster WiFi is a nice addition.

My only complaints are limited to iOS 7, memory size and pricing. It's clear that even on the fastest hardware Apple has to offer, iOS 7 isn't always super smooth (particularly when using multitasking gestures to switch between apps) on an ultra high resolution device. The move to a 64-bit OS and applications makes a lot of sense, but with no corresponding increase in DRAM size Apple creates additional memory pressure on all of the A7 enabled devices. Finally, I'd love to see Apple update the default iPad configurations. Although 16GB is fine for a device that's not going to be storing a ton of photos/videos locally, it would really be nice to get at least 32GB on the entry level iPad. The first complaint I suspect will be addressed over time. The second is a reality we just have to live with unfortunately, and the third won't change until market dynamics force it to.

The iPad Air is the most significant upgrade to the 9.7-inch iPad in its history. It's lighter, more portable, more usable and faster than any previous iPad. It doesn't fundamentally change what you can do with a tablet, but if you're in the market for one the iPad Air really is the best iPad to date. Competition is definitely more stiff among the smaller tablets thanks to the Nexus 7, but in the nearly 10-inch tablet space it seems like Apple is going to continue to enjoy a great position there.

Walmart has slashed $20 off the $499 MSRP for the 16GB iPad Air, bringing the effective price down to just $479. You would assume with the $20 savings that most people would then flock to Walmarts across the last to grab the tablet, but you don't have to do that. It has now been confirmed that several stores will be price-matching Walmart on this deal. This includes the Apple Store itself, as well as Best Buy and Staples. You You just have to ask, but they may ask you to bring in a Walmart ad. In the case of Staples, they've even listed the 16GB iPad Air at $479 straight up. If you were hoping to get the price match at your local RadioShack, then you're unfortunately out of luck. They're sticking with the $499 MSRP for the 16-gigger, but they did say that they are increasing trade-in values for old iPads, so you may be able to enjoy some increased savings by taking that route. And they're already honoring the new $299 price point for the iPad mini (non-Retina).