Will the iPad Air 2 arrive in time for this post?  We’ll have to see.

It did!

Let’s take a moment to discuss packaging and security. I knew I’d have to sign for this, so I was surprised when my UPS man stuck it in the door, rang the bell, and walked away. I opened the door, called out a quick “Thanks!”, and took the package in the house. I was noting how there was nothing remarkable about it to indicate it came from Apple, when the doorbell rang again. I laughed. My UPS man was back. He said, I didn’t notice this was from Apple, and I need to get a signature. I signed for it and we briefly discussed the packaging. He volunteered it was sad there were people in their company who took advantage and stole products, so this was protection from that.  I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. I knew Apple products were hot commodities sitting on people’s porches after being delivered, but I hadn’t considered how they would be pilfered by the shipping company’s employees. As he said, for the part timers, one of these products represents a couple of week’s work. That’s one reason why I didn’t pre-sign.  I wanted to make sure I didn’t forfeit my recourse if anything happened along the way. My UPS guy is great for covering things up if we’re not here when he delivers. In fact, something arrived while we were on vacation, and him turning the empty trash can over the top of it on the porch kept it dry during a torrential rain. But it’s interesting that Apple has been taking these packaging security measures.

Back to the iPad. Here it is getting Restored (which, I hope will make the setup process so much easier):

I used the encrypted back up on the iPad2, which should mean all my passwords and other fun things that make using the iPad seamless will come down. What that should mean is I can resume using the iPad like it’s the same machine only with the new stuff still there.  We shall see. I’ve not had good luck with this part of Apple’s process on computers, but maybe IOS is different.

For physical comparisons, looking at the front from the top, they look very similar — the new iPad is nearly an inch narrower than the iPad2, but the viewing area on the screen is the same size.

The big change appears in the area of the camera and volume rockers (iPad2 on the left). There’s an additional microphone on the new iPad. The slider switch is missing (the additional microphone is in that area but much, much smaller), and I’m still trying to find the configuration area for that in setup. It used to be easy to find on the iPad2, but I’m feeling strangely disoriented on this new one. I found it.  The section for the switch that was easily found on the iPad2 is no longer there, because the switch is gone.  The capability is handled in the control panel exclusively now, and that was easily managed. Whew. The switches on the new iPad are silver instead of black. You’ll need to mentally rotate the new iPad 90 degrees to the left for the same orientation. The new microphone is to the left of the two volume control switches, and I’m not sure you can see it at this angle.

I must have selected the wrong restore the first time, because my iPad2 stuff wasn’t there. I selected a restore from back up the second time, and all my apps are coming down, and my email accounts are all set up and operating, so, yes, IOS gets this part right.

I’ve set up TouchID, but so far, I keep having to enter a passcode, so we’ll see how that matures after the apps finish installing and I can untether it from iTunes. Okay. I’ve figured out the TouchID. Instead of swiping to unlock, I need to touch the Home button. Makes sense.

Comparing from the top, it’s hard to see just how different these two machines are. Looking at the bottom helps tremendously.

See how bulbous the iPad2 looks on the right? Don’t get me wrong, they are both incredibly light, but the iPad Air 2 is lighter and smaller.

The transformation is nearly complete:

This is my iPad home screen with the apps I use the most. I haven’t needed the “Catch My Pain” app for a little while now (a good thing), so I may move it to a back screen and replace it with something else I use more often.

Overall, I’m seeing what I expected to see.  I’ll give a usage update on the next Tech Stuff in two weeks.