A tour around the iPad

- Let's begin by familiarizing ourselves with the physical layout of the iPad.The layout of the buttons and other features of the iPad has remained fairly consistent throughout its generations, but there are a couple of differences to note between models. I'm gonna be using photos mainly of the iPad Air 2 for this walk-through, which is the current full size iPad model as I'm recording this movie, but I'll also point out the differences between it and other models as we work our way through. Alright, so when you're looking at the screen of the iPad, you'll find the Sleep/Wake button in the upper right hand corner of the device. This is the button you use to turn the iPad on and off by holding it down, or to put the iPad to sleep, just by clicking it.

On the back of all current and recent iPads, you'll find the camera. Next to the camera there are tiny holes, which are the microphones. On iPad minis and older iPads, the microphone is centered at the top of the iPad. Centered below the screen on all IOS devices is the home button. On newer iPads, this is also the Touch/I.D. button, which is the fingerprint censor you can use to unlock your device. If your iPad has cellular capabilities, you'll also have a plastic bar going across the top of the back here. This is where the cellular antennae is housed. All IOS devices have a front facing camera as well, located above the screen, and it's used for taking self-portratits and for using the FaceTime video chatting feature.

This is a slightly lower resolution camera than the rear facing camera, so when shooting photos or videos, you'll usually want to use the rear camera. Moving down the right side of the iPad, we have the volume buttons for turning the sound, coming out of your speakers or connected headphones, up and down. Now, one noticeable difference on the iPad Air 2 is that there's no longer a switch above the volume buttons. On previous versions of the iPad and on the iPad minis, you'll fine a switch here that can be customized to serve either as a mute switch, or to lock the orientation of your screen, but here on the iPad 2, muting and orientation lock are controlled through the operating system settings, instead of a hardware switch.

I'll be showing you how to find those settings later. On cellular capable iPads, you'll also find a SIM card slot on the right side, so you can access and connect to your cellular provider's network. The bottom of the iPad is where you'll find the lightening connector for charging your device, or for attaching accessories. On older iPads, you'll find the previous 30-pin dock connector here. On either side of the lightening port are the speakers, where you'll hear audio when you don't have headphones plugged into the headphone jack, and the headphone jack is found at the top of the iPad, and it accepts standard 1/8th inch or mini jack plugs from headphones or earbuds.

You can also connect headphones or earbuds that include built-in microphones, such as Apple's EarPods, which can provide better sound captioning than the iPad's built-in microphone, making for better video or audio calls. Alright, so that's your basic tour of the outside of the iPad.