Naturally the device calls back to the iPad design language as well as having echoes of the iPhone, but the larger form factor allows Apple to pull out some design tricks in the chassis:
The iPad Pro feels like what you would expect with an iPhone or iPad with its brushed aluminum body, beveled edges, edge to edge glass and a physical home button with Touch ID. It’s as thin as an iPhone at 6.5mm and feels lighter than you would expect for a device with a 12.9” display. The iPad Pro weighs nearly the same as the original iPad at 1.57 pounds, which means that you can use it easily with two hands, but it could be a challenge with one hand for extended periods of time.
Unlike previous iPads, the iPad Pro has four speakers that have been channeled though the physical innards of its aluminum body, and my audio experience was really good, with a much deeper bass response than I’ve ever experienced on an Apple iOS product. I really appreciated the new speaker system while playing games and movies. Apple could have added more battery or another hardware feature, but then again, this would have made it heavier.
Daring Fireball’s Jon Gruber sets out the practical impact of the iPad Pro’s specifications. For all the talk of the numbers, the chips, or the architecture, the real power of the iPad Pro is that is surpasses the majority of laptops available today, including Apple’s own Mac range:
The iPad Pro is without question faster than the new one-port MacBook or the latest MacBook Airs. I’ve looked at several of my favorite benchmarks — Geekbench 3, Mozilla’s Kraken, and Google’s Octane 2 — and the iPad Pro is a race car. It’s only a hair slower than my year-old 13-inch MacBook Pro in single-core measurements. Graphics-wise, testing with GFXBench, it blows my MacBook Pro away.
A one-year-old maxed-out MacBook Pro, rivaled by an iPad in performance benchmarks. Just think about that. According to Geekbench’s online results, the iPad Pro is faster in single-core testing than Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 4 with a Core-i5 processor. The Core-i7 version of the Surface Pro 4 isn’t shipping until December — that model will almost certainly test faster than the iPad Pro. But that’s a $1599 machine with an Intel x86 CPU. The iPad Pro starts at $799 and runs an ARM CPU — Apple’s A9X. There is no more trade-off. You don’t have to choose between the performance of x86 and the battery life of ARM.
Of course the most obvious change is the screen, and at 12.9 inches it’s not only the biggest iPad screen, it’s larger than many laptops (and Microsoft Surface devices). Lauren Goode looks between the pixels for The Verge:
The display on the iPad Pro is stunning. With a resolution of 2732 x 2048 at 264 pixels per inch, it’s actually the highest-resolution display on any iOS device, but all that means nothing until you see it. Photos, videos, even text look big and crisp and real. The only knock you could make on the display is that it doesn’t include the new 3D Touch technology Apple introduced with the iPhone 6S, something that arguably could have been more useful on a tablet meant for multitasking than it is on a smaller-screened phone.
The iPad Pro does come with a camera, even with its bulky size. Andrew Cunningham looks over the results for Ars Technica, and finds a camera unit that matches most of Apple’s ‘not an iPhone’ range of devices.
The 8MP rear camera on the iPad Pro appears to be roughly the same one that Apple ships in most of its non-iPhones these days, including the iPad Air 2, the iPad Mini 4, and the sixth-generation iPod Touch. The iPad Pro’s size means that it’s going to make an even worse point-and-shoot camera than a regular iPad (not that it seems to stop people), but if you do decide to be That Guy you’ll get pictures with decent color and white balance, good-if-unexceptional noise and detail levels in outdoor and indoor light, and poor low-light performance. Your iPhone (or modern, high-end Android phone, in many cases) is the better camera. If the A9X’s new image signal processor is helping at all, the differences are subtle.
One of the most prominent features of the iPad Pro is the keyboard cover. While there are many press pictures without it, Apple’s keyboard and cover attachment has played a prominent role in the marketing. It helps the iPad Pro stand out, and for those looking at the device as a laptop replacement it’s a key selling point.
But is it any good? Time-served tech reviewer Walt Mossberg isn’t sure:
Second, I was disappointed with Apple’s optional keyboard case. It’s essentially a shallow Mac keyboard, with keys like Command that mean something only in Mac OS X, but not a single shortcut key to an iPad function, like Home or Search. It’s also not backlit, and it has only one angle in which it holds the screen. Additionally, it’s so light and small compared to the screen that I find it difficult to balance properly on my lap for typing. It’s also really costly, at $169.
Apple’s keyboard is actually cleverly made, with flat keys that depend, for their minimal travel, on a special springy fabric that covers the whole thing, which means the keys don’t seem like individual units, but behave that way. I got used to typing on it, on a flat surface. But I just kept looking for shortcut keys that weren’t there. And I kept wishing for a trackpad, so I didn’t have to keep reaching for the screen.
The other departure from the regular iPad is the Apple Pencil. It offers touch sensitivity, the ability to register the angle of contact as well as the pressure, yet the charging of the pencil along with the slapped on pencil-topper connector cover is awkward at best.
Joshua Ho & Ryan Smith have focused solely on the Apple Pencil in their first thoughts ‘review’ of the iPad Pro for Anandtech. They praise the accuracy and latency of the pencil, while noting the relative lack of software support at launch.
The final aspect of the user experience here is software, and in that regard the Notes app is great for what’s implemented, but the features implemented are relatively few. In some ways this is exactly like paper because there’s no real way to transcribe notes taken with the Apple Pencil to a word processing document. However, I think the iPad Pro is probably the only device I’ve ever tried that comes close to actually achieving the same feel as pencil in paper.
With the larger screen comes the demand both for larger applications, and for apps that work in the split-screen environment. At launch these are few and far between, and those that are available have typical ‘first generation’ issues. Scott Stein for CNet:
What the iPad Pro needs most of all are killer apps. At the time of this review, days before the iPad Pro is even on sale, there are few optimized apps that take advantage of what this Pro can do. But those that are here show off the extra pixels and potential. Adobe’s creative tools take advantage of the extra space and Pencil compatibility nicely; art apps like Procreate get bigger canvas sizes. iMovie feels easier to navigate, it’s easier to look at video clips and it can handle video editing more smoothly. Apps like Evernote begin to feel almost like desktop applications, because you can manage so much at once.
The other major third-party application for the iPad Pro is Microsoft Office. Thanks to the larger screen Microsoft has not made its ‘free to download’ versions of the Office Suite apps available, so you will need an Office 365 subscription to get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and their ilk, on your iPad Pro.
Microsoft Office is another interesting case. Pro-optimized versions weren’t yet ready at the time of this review. But when they do arrive, you’ll need to be a subscriber to Office 365. Unlike the smaller iPads, the Pro won’t run the freemium, “it does most of the stuff you need” version of the apps. Yes, your employer (or your school) probably pays for your subscription, but it’s just another one of those asterisks on the Pro, at least in these early days.
The iPad Pro is a first generation device, and it is quirky. At its best it can cover the needs of someone looking for a portable device with a certain feature set, but the next person in line could find the restrictions of iOS 9 too much to bear. The keyboard and pencil peripherals unlock the full vision of the device, but do add significantly to the cost.
In time the iPad Pro’s feature set and third-party software choices will help better define its place in the workplace and as a leisure device. For now it will be a must-buy for a subset of iOS users, but for most people an iPad Pro purchase will need some careful thought.
The iPad Pro feels like what you would expect with an iPhone or iPad with its brushed aluminum body, beveled edges, edge to edge glass and a physical home button with Touch ID. It’s as thin as an iPhone at 6.5mm and feels lighter than you would expect for a device with a 12.9” display. The iPad Pro weighs nearly the same as the original iPad at 1.57 pounds, which means that you can use it easily with two hands, but it could be a challenge with one hand for extended periods of time.
Unlike previous iPads, the iPad Pro has four speakers that have been channeled though the physical innards of its aluminum body, and my audio experience was really good, with a much deeper bass response than I’ve ever experienced on an Apple iOS product. I really appreciated the new speaker system while playing games and movies. Apple could have added more battery or another hardware feature, but then again, this would have made it heavier.
Daring Fireball’s Jon Gruber sets out the practical impact of the iPad Pro’s specifications. For all the talk of the numbers, the chips, or the architecture, the real power of the iPad Pro is that is surpasses the majority of laptops available today, including Apple’s own Mac range:
The iPad Pro is without question faster than the new one-port MacBook or the latest MacBook Airs. I’ve looked at several of my favorite benchmarks — Geekbench 3, Mozilla’s Kraken, and Google’s Octane 2 — and the iPad Pro is a race car. It’s only a hair slower than my year-old 13-inch MacBook Pro in single-core measurements. Graphics-wise, testing with GFXBench, it blows my MacBook Pro away.
A one-year-old maxed-out MacBook Pro, rivaled by an iPad in performance benchmarks. Just think about that. According to Geekbench’s online results, the iPad Pro is faster in single-core testing than Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 4 with a Core-i5 processor. The Core-i7 version of the Surface Pro 4 isn’t shipping until December — that model will almost certainly test faster than the iPad Pro. But that’s a $1599 machine with an Intel x86 CPU. The iPad Pro starts at $799 and runs an ARM CPU — Apple’s A9X. There is no more trade-off. You don’t have to choose between the performance of x86 and the battery life of ARM.
Of course the most obvious change is the screen, and at 12.9 inches it’s not only the biggest iPad screen, it’s larger than many laptops (and Microsoft Surface devices). Lauren Goode looks between the pixels for The Verge:
The display on the iPad Pro is stunning. With a resolution of 2732 x 2048 at 264 pixels per inch, it’s actually the highest-resolution display on any iOS device, but all that means nothing until you see it. Photos, videos, even text look big and crisp and real. The only knock you could make on the display is that it doesn’t include the new 3D Touch technology Apple introduced with the iPhone 6S, something that arguably could have been more useful on a tablet meant for multitasking than it is on a smaller-screened phone.
The iPad Pro does come with a camera, even with its bulky size. Andrew Cunningham looks over the results for Ars Technica, and finds a camera unit that matches most of Apple’s ‘not an iPhone’ range of devices.
The 8MP rear camera on the iPad Pro appears to be roughly the same one that Apple ships in most of its non-iPhones these days, including the iPad Air 2, the iPad Mini 4, and the sixth-generation iPod Touch. The iPad Pro’s size means that it’s going to make an even worse point-and-shoot camera than a regular iPad (not that it seems to stop people), but if you do decide to be That Guy you’ll get pictures with decent color and white balance, good-if-unexceptional noise and detail levels in outdoor and indoor light, and poor low-light performance. Your iPhone (or modern, high-end Android phone, in many cases) is the better camera. If the A9X’s new image signal processor is helping at all, the differences are subtle.
One of the most prominent features of the iPad Pro is the keyboard cover. While there are many press pictures without it, Apple’s keyboard and cover attachment has played a prominent role in the marketing. It helps the iPad Pro stand out, and for those looking at the device as a laptop replacement it’s a key selling point.
But is it any good? Time-served tech reviewer Walt Mossberg isn’t sure:
Second, I was disappointed with Apple’s optional keyboard case. It’s essentially a shallow Mac keyboard, with keys like Command that mean something only in Mac OS X, but not a single shortcut key to an iPad function, like Home or Search. It’s also not backlit, and it has only one angle in which it holds the screen. Additionally, it’s so light and small compared to the screen that I find it difficult to balance properly on my lap for typing. It’s also really costly, at $169.
Apple’s keyboard is actually cleverly made, with flat keys that depend, for their minimal travel, on a special springy fabric that covers the whole thing, which means the keys don’t seem like individual units, but behave that way. I got used to typing on it, on a flat surface. But I just kept looking for shortcut keys that weren’t there. And I kept wishing for a trackpad, so I didn’t have to keep reaching for the screen.
The other departure from the regular iPad is the Apple Pencil. It offers touch sensitivity, the ability to register the angle of contact as well as the pressure, yet the charging of the pencil along with the slapped on pencil-topper connector cover is awkward at best.
Joshua Ho & Ryan Smith have focused solely on the Apple Pencil in their first thoughts ‘review’ of the iPad Pro for Anandtech. They praise the accuracy and latency of the pencil, while noting the relative lack of software support at launch.
The final aspect of the user experience here is software, and in that regard the Notes app is great for what’s implemented, but the features implemented are relatively few. In some ways this is exactly like paper because there’s no real way to transcribe notes taken with the Apple Pencil to a word processing document. However, I think the iPad Pro is probably the only device I’ve ever tried that comes close to actually achieving the same feel as pencil in paper.
With the larger screen comes the demand both for larger applications, and for apps that work in the split-screen environment. At launch these are few and far between, and those that are available have typical ‘first generation’ issues. Scott Stein for CNet:
What the iPad Pro needs most of all are killer apps. At the time of this review, days before the iPad Pro is even on sale, there are few optimized apps that take advantage of what this Pro can do. But those that are here show off the extra pixels and potential. Adobe’s creative tools take advantage of the extra space and Pencil compatibility nicely; art apps like Procreate get bigger canvas sizes. iMovie feels easier to navigate, it’s easier to look at video clips and it can handle video editing more smoothly. Apps like Evernote begin to feel almost like desktop applications, because you can manage so much at once.
The other major third-party application for the iPad Pro is Microsoft Office. Thanks to the larger screen Microsoft has not made its ‘free to download’ versions of the Office Suite apps available, so you will need an Office 365 subscription to get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and their ilk, on your iPad Pro.
Microsoft Office is another interesting case. Pro-optimized versions weren’t yet ready at the time of this review. But when they do arrive, you’ll need to be a subscriber to Office 365. Unlike the smaller iPads, the Pro won’t run the freemium, “it does most of the stuff you need” version of the apps. Yes, your employer (or your school) probably pays for your subscription, but it’s just another one of those asterisks on the Pro, at least in these early days.
The iPad Pro is a first generation device, and it is quirky. At its best it can cover the needs of someone looking for a portable device with a certain feature set, but the next person in line could find the restrictions of iOS 9 too much to bear. The keyboard and pencil peripherals unlock the full vision of the device, but do add significantly to the cost.
In time the iPad Pro’s feature set and third-party software choices will help better define its place in the workplace and as a leisure device. For now it will be a must-buy for a subset of iOS users, but for most people an iPad Pro purchase will need some careful thought.
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