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Apple iPad Pro (9.7) Review

9.0/10
9.0/10



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Last year, Apple launched the iPad Pro, a bigger, more powerful iPad that is meant to do lot more than its smaller siblings. It features a big 12.9-inch screen and Apple’s new A9X chipset. Not just that, it also carries four speaker grills and support for Apple’s very own stylus, the Pencil. In true essence, it is a device designed to boost creativity among artists. Now, Apple is offering the same set of features, but in a smaller, iPad Air 2 size. It’s also available in the new Rose Gold colour. With all of that, the brand new iPad will set you back Rs. 49,900 and that’s just for the 32GB, Wi-Fi-only variant. The obvious question we have to answer is, if it’s really worth the price or are you better off with the older iPad Air 2.

Design and build

Apple hasn’t made a lot of changes to the design. In fact, the new iPad Pro features the same dimensions as the iPad Air 2 and even weighs the same, at 444g. It has the same metal build and it comes with a smooth finish at the back. If you’ve used the previous model, you’ll feel right at home with the iPad Pro. You don’t even have to change cover cases either. Overall, the iPad Pro is easy to hold and pretty lightweight.

 

One of the biggest changes with the new iPad Pro is that it is also available in Rose Gold, which was also the colour of our review unit. We weren’t very psyched about the colour at first, but it grows on you. It doesn’t look as tacky as we thought it would. On the contrary, it looks quite fancy. As the Wi-Fi variant doesn’t have the antenna at the back, the iPad looks much cleaner and stylish.

 

The speaker placement has also been changed. The new iPad has four speaker grills, two of which are placed above and below the screen. We’ll talk about the performance later, but the placement certainly works well for watching movies and playing games, especially in the landscape mode. On the left, you can also notice three docking pins, designed for their proprietary Smart Keyboard. The camera specifications have also been changed, which results in the camera lens protruding a little at the back.

 

Overall, the design is nice and we like the fact that Apple hasn’t made a lot of changes to the form factor. The 3.5mm jack is placed at the top and the Lightning connector is placed at the bottom, between the two speaker grills. In the cellular variant, the SIM card tray can also been seen in the same spot as the old version, which is on the left side of the iPad.


9.0/10

Features

Besides the screen, camera and battery, pretty much everything on the new iPad Pro is similar to its bigger sibling. With a smaller 9.7-inch screen, the new iPad comes with a lower resolution of 2048 x 1536. It’s the same as the older iPad Air 2. However, we noticed the blacks to be deeper on the new Pro. The new iPad Pro also comes with the added advantage of a True Tone feature, which changes colour temperature of the screen, based on the lighting around it. Indoor lighting made the screen look a bit warmish. Similarly, the Night Shift feature also changes the tone of the screen in order to give it a subtler look, during night time.

 

The iPad Pro comes with Apple’s new A9X processor. On paper, Apple claims it to be the about 1.8 times faster than the previous generation, the A8X. Not just that, it also promises to deliver double the graphics performance than the iPad Air 2. This means, intensive games will run smoother. The A9X processor is designed to take on Intel Core M processors, which goes with the idea of replacing portable laptops with iPads.

 

The new iPad Pro features the same battery capacity as the iPad Air 2. Apple still claims the same battery life of 10 hours, which is undoubtedly better than most portable laptops. This time, there is no 16GB variant. It makes a lot of sense though, because many people complain about dealing with limited storage space, especially when downloading new updates. If storage space is a huge issue with, then you should know that the basic 32GB Wi-Fi variant of the iPad Pro costs about Rs. 10,000 more than the 64GB of the previous variant. This makes it a matter of choosing between performance and storage. Out of the box, the new iPad comes with iOS 9.3. The interface has always been praised for its beautiful design and smooth performance and it is no different than its predecessors. In fact, it looks better. Scrolling through the home screen is no problem. The Spotlight search makes it possible to find anything on the device or on the web easily. We’re big fans of the Sidebar and the Split View feature. This feature lets you use two apps side-by-side simultaneously. Not to say the last variant was slow, but with new A9X processor, the performance is much smoother, especially with heavy apps.

 

In the photography department, the new iPad even leaves the larger iPad Pro behind. The 9.7-inch iPad Pro features a 12MP rear camera, which is highest on iPads. It features a wider F/2.2 aperture for better performance in low-light situations. Apart from just taking better pictures, Apple has also equipped it with 4K video recording, a much awaited feature. Slow motion recording is also bumped to an impressive 1080p at 120fps, which sounds really good.

 

The front camera is also bumped to 5MP from 1.2MP, in the older variants. It features Retina flash, which creates a flash on the screen making it possible to shoot good looking selfies in low-light conditions. Video recording is limited to 720p and HDR is also available. The iPad supports the new Apple Pencil, which means it can measure the pressure applied on the screen. This feature allows you to get a more realistic drawing experience, as you would get on a piece of paper. The Pencil is a separate accessory you need to buy to experience the pressure sensitivity of the display. That said, it is a disappointment that the 3D touch feature isn’t available on the new iPad. It would have really been a good mix over the other multi-tasking features available on iOS 9.3.


9.0/10

Performance

The new A9X processors makes a difference when it comes to the overall experience. It doesn’t matter if you’re running simple tasks or heavy apps. It enables the experience to be smooth throughout. Opening and closing apps is quick. The interface is quite responsive and snappy. It barely takes the finger print scanner a second to unlock the device. Other quick gestures like the four-finger swipe from one app to another happens smoothly too. The Split View feature also worked very well with heavy sketching apps running alongside tutorials on YouTube.

 

To get a more practical idea of the performance, we used heavy aps and games on the iPad Pro. Everything on the iPad ran without a glitch. We tried FreeBlade and it gave us a good idea of the graphic performance. The game looked fantastic and it is extremely detailed. We played games on the iPad for at least 30 minutes, during which we noticed some heating. It wasn’t a big problem and it didn’t hamper the gaming experience. If you have a cover on the iPad, you won’t even notice it.

What we really like about the new iPad Pro is the screen. It’s bright, sharp and looks lively in every scenario. The anti-reflective coating makes it possible to enjoy games and videos in bright-lit rooms, and even the outdoors. It also helps offer exceptionally good viewing angles. You don’t necessarily have to set the brightness to high either. We played some 4K videos on the iPad and have to say that the experience was quite mesmerising. According to Apple, the iPad Pro offers about 25 per cent better colour saturation than the previous variant. It helps make colours a bit more vivid, which we did notice when we compared it to our iPad Air 2.

 

Apps such as Procreate and Pixelmator are still enticing. With just a simple stylus and a wide range of drawing features, you can have fun and still come up with something extremely creative. The wider colour range also helps in creating more natural looking art.

 

The iPad Pro has two speakers placed on each side of the screen. It’s one feature that completes the iPad Pro in being pretty much better than most other tablets and laptops. It’s very loud, making it possible to play music even outdoors. However, the audio output is not very sharp and distorts a lot at high volumes, especially in the case of bass-heavy music. In such cases, a portable Bluetooth speaker works better when you want to play music. For us though, it wasn’t a lot about music, but about watching YouTube videos or TV series online. The problem with the Apple Air 2 is that the audio output of the speakers wasn’t very good. If you wanted a good experience, you had to rely on headphones. That’s not a big problem with the new iPad Pro. You won’t miss out on a single dialogue or minor details, which makes the entire experience more enjoyable. The camera performance on the new iPad has improved significantly. The Auto-White Balance works better, presenting much vibrant and accurate photos in different lighting. Colours look lively and offer much sharper detail with minor things. Macro photo are well focused on with the right exposure. Slow motion videos look enthralling. The fact that it is full HD and at 120 FPS makes it possible to review every minor detail. The FaceTime camera is the best one yet. Selfies are well focused and show natural skin tone. There is a lot of detail in photographs too. There are no signs of framing, which means a better video calling experience.


9.0/10

Verdict

The 9.7-inch iPad Pro is one of the best iPads Apple has ever made. It manages to carry all the power you need in a laptop, while being extremely portable. It’s packed with features such as the four speakers, support for Pencil and Smart Keyboard, making it quite the upgrade over the Air 2. For that reason, we consider the price to be a perfect fit. Depending on the iPad Pro, instead of a laptop for everyday work may not be easy though. It is however a product those in the creative space will find interesting.


9.0/10