The iPad Pro 12.9 Review – Getting your Money Worth
In October 2018 the iPad pro was introduced to the tech world. It was an upgrade from the 11 – inch to 12.9 – inch iPad pro models.
Some of the upgrades are:
● Edge to edge display that got rid of the home button.
● Slim bezels all around.
● True depth camera which enables face ID.
● Works with Apple pencil 2.
● A revamped keyboard.
IPad Pro 12.9 Review – Features
● A 12.9 – INCH 2732 X 2048 OR 11 INCH 2388 X 1668 display
● A12X processor
● The body was redesigned to make it ultra-thin
● Edge to edge display without the home button
● 1 TB storage
● True depth camera with face ID
● Apple pencil 2 which is optional and a smart keyboard
● Available in silver and grey
The iPad pro 12.9 has adopted the iPhone Xs style design which comes with an edge to edge display, slim bezels and no home button. The home button was meant for navigation and biometric authentication. It features a camera system with Face ID which replaced the touch ID. The face ID is compatible with both portrait and landscape orientation.
The 10.5 – inch iPad pro was replaced by the 11-inch model which offers more display in body but still maintains the same size. The 12.9 inch has the same inch display, but with a smaller body of at least 25 percent less volume. The new models are thinner at 5.9 mm with the elimination of the headphone jack.
The 11 inch and 12.9-inch models have an imagined aluminium chassis with a flat rounded edge, a copycat of the iPhone SE which wraps around a new liquid retina display. This model as claimed by Apple has the most advanced display ever with:
● A wide colour supports
● True tone for adjustment to the ambient light
● Pro motion 120Hz refresh technology
This model is equipped with an eight – core A12X bionic chip which offers 35 percent speed, faster than a single core performance. An up to 90 percent boost during multi – threaded tasks in comparison to previous models.
The GPU, which is a new seven core Apple design offers twice the graphic performance. Apple claims that this model is faster than 92 percent of portable PCs, despite the speed increase that battery will last for about 10 hours.
It comes with a next generation neutral engine which offers improved performance for Core ML tasks and augmented reality features. Most pro models come with 4GB RAM, the higher capacity 1TB models comes with 6GB RAM.
The iPad comes with a USB -C port instead of the lighting port. The USB – C port connects it to the USB – C accessories including 4K and 5K display. It can also be used to charge accessories like the iPhone and the Apple watch.
There’s a 12 – megapixel f/1.8 aperture camera at the back of the iPad pro 12.9 with:
● Smart HDR
● A quad – LED true tone flash
● Wide colour
● Supports for 4K video recording up to 60fps
This new version of iPad unfortunately does not support optical image stabilisation compare to the old versions, but uses auto image stabilisation. The front depth camera comes with a 7 – megapixel lens with support for:
● Portrait mode
● Portrait lighting
● Animoji
● Memoji
● Smart HDR
You can connect the iPad pro 12.9 with a series of magnets to a second-generation Apple pencil that supports tab gestures, pairing and wireless charging. The new smart keyboard folio is also being sold with the iPad pro and Apple pencil.
IPad Pro 12.9 Review – Design
● The 11 – inch is 9.74 inches long and 7.02 inches wide.
● The 12.9 – inch is 11.04 inches long and 8.46 inches wide. It’s an inch wider and taller compare to the previous model.
● They share the same thickness of 5.9mm which is thinner than the previous 10.5- and 12.9-inches pro models.
● The 10.5 inch was 6.1mm thick and the previous 12.9 was 6.9 mm thick, shows a major difference in the larger model.
● The 12.9-inch model has lost a lot of weight and now weighs 1.39 pounds, while the 11 – inch still weighs 1.03 pounds.
This 2018 model is completely different from the 2017 model with the edge to edge display that eliminates the touch ID home button at the front. The bezels at the top and the bottom are slimmer resulting in a smaller 6mm bezel at the top, bottom and the sides.
Older versions of iPad are known for having smooth round edges that taper into the back, but the new comes with a flat industrial band around the sides, a copy cat design of the iPhone 4 or SE. The body is still made from aluminium in silver and space grey.
The sleep/wake button along with two speakers are located at the top. There is volume button, a magnetic connector and a Nano – SIM tray on cellular iPad. There’s a single lens camera at the back the protrude slightly from the body plus a smart microphone and a connector for the key folio accessories at the bottom. There’s a USB port and additional speakers. The true depth camera system enables face ID and a set of three microphones at the front bezel of the iPad.
IPad Pro 12.9 Review – No headphone jack
There was a headphone jack on previous models, but none with this model, this seems deliberate to produce a slimmer look and reduce the overall thickness and aligns it with the iPhone. Headphone jack were no longer available with the invention of iPhone 7 and the customers has since got used to it.
The blue tooth option is available instead or a USB – C headphones, to use 3.5mm headphones, you need an adapter from Apple. The adapter won’t allow you to charge while the headphone is in use because it uses the single USB – C port on the device.
USB – C PORT
The USB – C – port is for charging and accessory connection which replaced the lighting port. The iPad is connected to 4 or 5K displays via the USB – C devices. Apple said the USB – C – port supports USB 3.1 Gen 2 transfer speed. This port can also be used to charge the iPhone or Apple watch.
Navigating through the home button
The home button does not exist, there’s a new gesture for navigation, which is identical to the ones on some of the iPhones. Do a quick swipe from the bottom of the display to get to the home screen to bring up the app switcher. The upward swipe motion produces the iPad dock this allows you to access additional apps for multi-tasking.
The control centre appears if you swipe down on the right side at the top of the display and the lock screen/notification centre appears if you swipe from the left or centre. A left swipe displays today’s centre widgets.
IPad Pro 12.9 Review – Face ID and true depth camera system
The touch ID fingerprint was for authentication and unlocking in other versions but with this comes the face ID feature that debuted first in the iPhone x thereby unlocking your device via face recognition.
Face ID has the same features as touch ID such as unlocking the iPad, giving access to third party passcode protected apps, confirming purchases and authenticating Apple pay payments. The face ID operates through sensor and camera built into the top bezel of the iPad known as multi – component setup for the true depth camera. The scan of your face for authentication purposes is created via a dot projector which projects over 30,000 invisible infrared dots onto your face.
The infra-red camera reads the dot map on your face and the structure of your face is relayed to the A12X bionic processor and then transfer into a mathematical model. The scan takes few seconds to scan your face and recognise then unlock. Face ID is more secure than touch ID and cannot be fooled by face mask and other facial imitation.
The attention aware society protects an intruder because it has been programmed for facial recognition and only unlocks when your face appears on the screen. Face ID is stored in a secure enclave of the A12X chip after encryption. Data’s are not stored in the icloud, sent to Apple nor can it be accessed through the apps.
Face ID has no problem functioning in the dark, even when wearing sunglasses. A face that is partially obscured by:
● Beards
● Glasses
● Make up
● Scarves
● Other accessories
Face recognition will still recognise you regarding the above factors. It also adapts to changes in your face, if you’re growing a beard or losing your hair, you have nothing to worry about. It works in both landscape and portrait orientation, this is a unique feature for this device. The face ID must be in the portrait mode on the iPhone to function.
Display
Display improvements are introduced with new innovations and the 2018 is no exception. Apple boast that the liquid retina “edge to edge” LCD in the 2018 pro model is the most advanced ever. The term liquid retina was first used for the LCD in the iPhone XR. Pro models use subpixel anti – aliasing for the rounded corners, individual pixels are fine tuned to produce smooth edges and also free from distortion.
Rich, vivid colours are produced through support from wide colours that are true to life and accurate. The true tone makes adjustments to match the white balance of the lights in the room and ensure screen refection and not too strong for the eyes.
A 120Hz display refresh rate from the promotion display technology is included, this makes the motion content on the screen:
● Smoother
● Crisper
And more responsive for:
● Reading
● Gaming
● Movies
● And more
It has a dynamic, fresh rate and changes depending on what you’re viewing. If you’re watching a movie or playing a game, the refresh rate is 120Hz. If you’re reading a web page or looking at a photo, you need less that 120Hz, it makes the necessary adjustments.
Display feature like other models are:
● 600 nits brightness
● 1.8 percent reflectivity
● Anti-reflective coating
● Fingerprint resistance coating
The 12.9-inch model has a resolution of 2732 x 2048 and the 11 – inch model has a resolution of 2388 x 1668. They both have 264 pixel inch like previous models.
A12X Bionic chip
The is a better version compared to the ones included in the iPhones. It’s a 7 – nanometre bionic, which is faster. The bionic chip consists of:
● Four high performance cores
● Four efficiency cores
They can all be accessed at the same time because of the new performance controller. The A12x with a single core performance is up to 35 percent faster than the A10x fusion chip in the previous models If all cores are in operation all at once, performance will shoot up to 90 percent.
The seven core GPU produces up to twice the graphic performance for richer AR experiences and console quality graphics when playing games.
Neural engine
Neural engine is built into the A12X and its performance can be up to five trillion per seconds, which allows more to be accomplished in real time. All learning features are powered by the neural engine such as:
● Photo search.
● Face ID.
● Augmented reality experiences.
It was designed for:
● Faster facial ID recognition.
● Faster plane detection for augmented reality apps.
● Speed improvements for another task that uses real time machine learning.
Developers also use the A12X to their advantage because of its improvements through CORE ML, on Apple’s machine learning feature that is useful for the apps.
Cameras
At the back of the iPad sits a 12 – megapixel f/1.8 camera just like iPhone such as XS, XR and XS max. The camera supports:
● Smart HDR
● A quad LED true tone flash
● Wide colour capture
● Live photos
The optical image stabilisation was removed from the camera and now uses a simple auto image stabilisation. This was necessary because a reworking was needed for bezels reduction. The video feature can record 4K video at 30 or 60 fps and slow-motion video at 1080p at 120fps and 720p at 240 fps.
The camera house at the front is the same 7 – megapixel that can be found in iPhone such as XS, XS max and XR. Portrait mode is supported for capturing images when the main subject is focused with a blurred background with portrait lighting adjustments. It works with Animoji and Memoji in messages and Facetime.
Battery life
The battery lasts for 10 hours at a stretch when:
● Browsing the web
● Watching videos
● Listening to music
This is considered by Apple has all day battery life. Cellular models drop to 9 hours when browsing the web over LTE.
The 11 – inch model has
● 29.37 watt – hour battery and 7,812mAh capacity and
The 12.9 – inch model has
● 36.71-watt hour battery
Conclusion
The iPad pro is at your service in any position you hold it, with an all screen design and loaded with the most advanced technology which makes it a magical piece of glass. You’re able to navigate easily with the new intuitive gesture. The new liquid retina is display from one edge to another and you get a lovely presentation because of the true to life colour and promotion technology.
This cutting edge device provides the benefit of effortless high performance and comfort, thanks to an outstanding innovation. The secret behind this stunning device is the amazing design which provides much functionality with effortless power. The device offers an amazing feeling of comfort and control.
