Tablets Compare: Review: Great iPad Pro especially suitable for small niche

The iPad from Apple Pro has a large size, excellent specifications and two interesting accessories. But the tablet seems only really suitable for little scenarios.

The difference between 9.7 inches (the size of the iPad Air) and 12.9 inches (iPad Pro) may not sound very big. But appearances are deceptive: the iPad Pro is much larger than the tablets that most people will be accustomed

The iPad Pro reminds of a laptop without a keyboard.. Although he weighing just over 700 grams is not particularly heavy, you slide the Pro less easily tap into a bag than the iPad Air or Mini.

Apple presents the new variant therefore primarily as productivity tablet supported by an optional stylus and keyboard cover. The Pro thus moves in the waters of the Microsoft Surface and other hybrid devices running Windows 10. But a true laptop replacement is the iPad Pro not, and the unit price of at least 919 euros for few people will be worth.

See how the keyboard and stylus works:

Review: Pro iPad with keyboard and stylus

Design

The design of the tablet is excellent, as we expect from Apple. The finish of the aluminum housing is neat, and the device feels solid. The edges of the screen to be relatively thin, so that the tablet is not unnecessarily large.

The screen itself has a resolution of 2732 by 2048 pixels, so that the pixel density remains approximately equal to the ipad air. As with the other tablets from Apple falls on the screen quality irreproachable.

The iPad Pro has a fairly large screen of 12.9 inches. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

The machine does almost more like a laptop without a keyboard than a tablet. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

Furthermore, the iPad is more or less the same as previous versions, with Touch ID and the familiar aluminum enclosure. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

Performance

Under the sleek aluminum on the back of the iPad Pro is the new A9X processor, which is quite a powerhouse. Particularly to graphics tablet leaves the competition far behind. The A9X is even faster than the chips found in many laptops, including the 12-inch Macbook from Apple itself.

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For the first time an iPad four speakers:. Two on top and two on the bottom. This managed to produce a decent volume. Nice detail is that the speakers consider the orientation of the tablet, so the bottom speakers always provide the bass. That makes a small but audible difference.

Keyboard

Also new is a magnetic connection on the left side of the tablet. Since the iPad Pro Keyboard Cover can be connected. The cover, which is available separately for the rather shocking price of 179 euros, has a significantly less attractive design than the iPad Pro itself. Closed, it is not quite flat, but puts part of the cover that off.

iPad Pro – Smart Keyboard

The iPad Smart Keyboard Pro is available, a keyboard and a stand for the tablet. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

Smart Keyboard is connected to the side of the iPad Pro, through this new connection. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

When folded, sticking out of some key; not a very elegant design. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

When folded, the Smart Keyboard a pretty thing; the middle part can be folded for use as a standard. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

The keys stabbing not very far off the cover and can not be pushed very far; which takes getting used to. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

It is in the beginning quite complicated to cover as folding the tablet upright. The keyboard itself is quite small, and it is not possible to put the device on another corner down.

The keys themselves are not bad, and it is possible to type on the Smart Keyboard, but compared with for example the Type Cover of the Microsoft Surface Pro series of Apple keyboard is insignificant.

Stylus

second accessory for the Apple iPad Pro has made a stylus called Pencil. This pin (at 109 euros) is impressively accurate, though most iPad users will have none need.

The Apple Pencil is an impressive stylus that works accurately. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

During charging, plug the Pencil in a rather clumsy way from the tablet. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

Fortunately expires charging very fast, so the stylus is not so often have to stabbing. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

The lightning connector sits under a cap. Unfortunately, the Pencil can not be inserted into a slot of the tablet; You must therefore store it separately. © NU.nl/Jeroen Crane

As a non-artistic person I was after half an hour signs weather bored with the Pencil, but I was immediately impressed by the accuracy and pressure sensitivity of the pen.

Awkward is the accessory via the Lightning port of the iPad is charging. While doing this puts the Pencil far from the tablet, which looks weird. If you do not use the Pencil there is no way to stabbing him in the tablet or to hang on to, so you have it yourself store them properly.

Software

The biggest problem with the iPad Pro is not in the hardware but in the software. The device runs like all iPads and the iPhone on iOS. That is an excellent mobile operating system, but it’s just not optimized for productivity scenario that Apple Pro will allow.

The home screen of the iPad Pro is almost comical by the waste of screen space. There’s an enormous amount of unused space between app icons and widgets and other useful additions still missing from the home screen; for that you have to turn to the notification panel. Therefore it sometimes feels like you’re using a huge iPhone.

There are some small changes to make it more useful to the big screen. It is possible to have two apps side by turning each other, a feature that was already standard in Windows 8 and also for many years by Samsung on its tablet is made available.

this on the iPad Pro works intuitively and nice. Many apps scale automatically entered when you change the size of the two windows. True multitasking on an iPad Pro, however, still a lot less possible than on a Windows or OS X device. A whole day working on the iPad Pro was not there for me.

This is also due to the lack of applications that are made specifically for the iPad Pro. Among other apps from Adobe and AutoCAD, and the drawing app Paper are already optimized for the larger version. For designers is nice, but many other frequently used apps display on the iPad Pro even a scaled-up version of the existing iPad app, so they get blurry.

Probably, many existing apps in the near future support iPad Pro installation, but it is still questionable whether there will be many apps developed which are specially made for the Pro. That will depend inter alia on the number of tablets sold and the willingness of users to pay for iPad Pro apps.

Screen Size	12.9 inches
Resolution	2732 x 2048 pixels
Processor	Apple A9X
RAM	4GB
Storage	32 to 128 GB
Battery Capacity	10 307 mAh
Cameras	8 and 1.2 megapixel
weight	713 g
Dimensions	305.7 x 220.6 x 6.9 mm
Price	From 919 euro

Conclusion

The iPad Pro is a good tablet with impressive specifications, but for most people it will not be interesting are. Who wants to buy a tablet to work on and a lot of text processing on, is still better off with a Surface from Microsoft or a compact MacBook.

With a price of 919 euros, plus 179 euros for the keyboard, the iPad Pro is also slightly cheaper than a high-end laptop. Perhaps the device interesting for designers or artists with the Apple Pencil want to work, but most other people the iPad Pro can safely ignore.