iPad Pro 2020 Review (12.9 inch)

iPad Pro 2020(12.9 inch) is nothing less of a beast you can buy mixing both cutting-edge technology and ultra-sexy looks in a tablet. Faster than 92% of portable computers with longer battery life, it isn’t yet the replacement for laptops, but hey, it’s Apple, just wait and watch!

DESCRIPTIONS

1. Design: The 12.9-inch slab is almost all screen, with narrow bezels on all four sides, rounded corners and an ultra-slim profile. You’ll find an annoying square camera bump in the upper left corner which are the dual cameras and the LiDAR scanner very much like the iPhone 11 Pro but with limited colour options of Space Grey and Silver. The top-front landscape mode reveals a magnetic strip for attaching the Apple Pencil. The USB-C port for charging and plugging in accessories is on the right. Similar to the 2018 model, it has a TrueDepth camera upfront, with Face ID unlocking. However, the dimensions are the same 11.04 x 8.46 x 0.23 inches and a bit heavier than the previous model which is 1.41 pounds compared with 1.39 pounds for the 2018 iPad Pro. That weight touches 1.42 pounds for the Wi-Fi + Cellular version, though.
2. Display: The ProMotion technology for automatically adjusting the refresh rate to 120Hz makes the 12.9 inches (2732 x 2048 pixels) iPad Pro Liquid Retina display among the best screens on any mobile device. According to Apple’s website, it emits an average brightness of 600 maximum nits, and also delivers a wide array of colours, registering 122.9% of the sRGB colour gamut which is higher than any of its competitors. The 12.9-inch display boasts rounded corners exhibiting a beautiful curved design, resembling a standard rectangle. The screen is 32.77 centimetres (12.9 inches) long diagonally, but the actual viewable area is less.
3. Cursor and Magic Keyboard: Although the most wanted feature for the iPad is finally here with iPadOS 13.4 i.e., of trackpad support; but, annoyingly, Google Docs doesn’t support selecting text yet.
4. Magic Keyboard: It is a huge upgrade from its older $199 Smart Keyboard Folio ancestor, with an added cost, of course($349!) as the clicky keys provide a better feel and stronger feedback with its scissor-style mechanism than the fabric-textured keys on the Smart Keyboard Folio. iPadOS upgrade just made swiping three fingers left and right on the touchpad an amazing feel to swap between apps. The iPad Pro is adjustable between about 85 to 130 degrees, which beats the pair of positions the Smart Keyboard Folio allowed.
5. Performance: With the fastest A12Z Bionic, the 12.9 iPad Pro scored 4,720 on the multi-core and 1,126 on the single-core portion test on Geekbench 5, which measures overall performance – better than the A12X, but not compared to its Surface Pro 7 counterpart. According to toms guide, ‘it took only 34 seconds to export a 4K video to 1080p after applying a colour filter and transition in the Adobe Rush app. The iPhone 11 Pro needed 46 seconds to complete the same task.’ On GPU tests too, the 2020 version outperformed 2018 one, and there is still more this machine can do with more upgrades.
6. Cameras: Addition of a 10MP ultra-wide camera alongside the standard 12MP wide camera. Although not the best of its kind like the iPhone 12 Pro. Details, colouring, blurriness, contrast lightings were something the iPad Pro doesn’t disappoint even in candle shoots but is not the best either. The new iPad Pro also shoots up to 4K video without stuttering as expected from most devices after panning. Some reviewers furnish: ‘the Portrait mode only works with the 7MP TrueDepth front camera…[it] doesn’t offer a Night Mode like the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro does, but offer good exposure in low light, but it’s not as good as a true Night Mode with Apple’s computational photography assistance.’
7. LiDAR scanner and AR: The LiDAR scanner that measures the time it takes to reach an object and reflect is completely new on an Apple device. A very great upgrade for easing developers into making better AR apps. Normally, IKEA Place demands a few seconds by scanning the surface to start using the app, but that the iPad Pro AR placement is instantaneous thanks to the LiDAR scanner which works in close concert with the A12Z Bionic chip and Apple’s Neural Engine. The gaming experience that comes alongside the scanner and power performance is very enjoyable. However, developers cannot take full advantage of the feature without Apple’s new ARKit 3.5.
8. Apple Pencil: This is a must-have tool for notetaking, drawing and marking documents. The second-generation Apple Pencil($129)accessory allows you to change between options with just double-taps on it. And charging it has never been easier: you magnetically attach it to the top of the tablet and it automatically begins charging.
9. Battery life: 10 hours of wireless web surfing defines its stamina and strong endurance. Even starting your day early with bombarding emails, making the agenda for the day on the word processor, listening to music on the way to work, streaming video at lunch, taking photos, and battery only ‘…down to 39% by 4 pm, so the iPad Pro’ lasts you through most days with 150 nits of screen brightness and Wi-Fi connected which ‘looks promising versus the Surface Pro 7 (just 7:30) and Surface Pro X (9:45).’ The biggest overall gripe with the iPad Pro is its short 1-meter USB-C charging cable which isn’t long enough and has led a lot of reviewers to complain. Although a 2-meter cable is available for $19, Apple needs to include a longer cable that comes without extra cost.

MERITS

1. The new Magic Keyboard with a trackpad and satisfying scissor switches makes typing and content creation streamlined like never before
2. iPadOS now fully supports cursor input
3. Artistry, painting, note-taking, augmented reality features are something this device keeps competitors off the course
4. Gaming, video and audio editing work like PROs

DEMERITS

1. Charging cord too short
2. Some apps not optimized for the trackpad
3. Rear cameras can’t do portraits or Night mode
4. Computing comfort still not at par with the Macbook Pro

UNIQUE FEATURES

1. Redesigned apps include sidebars and pull-down menus to provide more PC-like versatility as well as more info on the home screen,
2. Apple Pencil upgrades like the new Scribble feature that automatically converts handwriting to text
3. Advanced shape recognition
4. Pinned conversations in Messages
5. Site translation in Safari Browser
6. Spatial audio support(for AirPods Pro users)

CONCLUSION

Now that it has a real keyboard with a touchpad, the competition with the Surface Pro 7 and Surface Pro X has been never higher. The iPad Pro’s snappier performance and longer battery life are worth spending the big bucks on. And not only that: better cameras, the ability to run a new class of AR apps, two areas where the Surface Pros are far behind are really important upgrades on a single device. Although developers have not yet optimized their apps for the new cursor control powers in iPadOS, Apple still has room for improvement to make the iPad more touchpad- and keyboard-friendly. The length of the charging cable is a joke given the monstrous performance and battery life the iPad Pro exhibits. The game-changing device’s utility dimensions and ease of operability are heightened with the Magic Keyboard and the Apple Pencil. Overall, it is good as a tablet first and a laptop second.

The cursor control is not bad overall, but apps like Google Docs need to be optimized for text selection to work. The new LiDAR scanner, however, makes instantaneous setup supercharging AR apps. Photographers are provided with versatility with the new ultra-wide camera similar to that of the iPhone 11 Pro and beyond.

The pricing might be high, but it is worth the tech: starts from $999 for 128GB of storage and upgradable to 256GB for $1.099, 512GB for $1,299 and 1TB for $1,499. Upgrading from Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi + Cellular puts up an extra $150. Plus, it does not include the Apple Pencil(2nd generation) worth $129 or The Magic Keyboard which costs $349.

A very revered question is: is the iPad Pro 2020 a good replacement for a laptop? I do think the iPad Pro 2020 can replace a laptop for some. Those who want to travel very light and creative pros of content creation and editing on the go should opt for this device without a second thought. However, its replaceability with a laptop question depends on the model of laptop it is being compared with. No fool would replace a MacBook Pro with the iPad Pro 12.9. The biggest reason: Chrome browser isn’t optimized for iPadOS. Chrome browser has a lot of market impact with a lot of unique features and feasibility over most browsers which means users aren’t going to find a browser transition that the iPad forces, very easy. In addition, hopping from tab to tab in the browser and starting to edit documents in Google Docs(the default for most users) is also something the iPad Pro disappoints by making you open a separate app and even then you can’t start editing until you tap the pen icon – a deal-breaker! Again, according to a reviewer, ‘…[we] expect iPadOS to be smart enough to recognize when a keyboard is attached and to respond accordingly. For example, if you’re on the Home screen and start typing, nothing happens contrary to the popular expectation with Spotlight search to come up so that you can simply type in the name of an app and boom. Fortunately, you can just hit Command + Space Bar to launch [the] search.’ The App Store experience becomes piggish when you cannot start searching without having to tap the search icon. Although the iPadOS is a bit new, developers should optimize their apps for cursor and keyboard support keeping the iPad Pro’s touch-first approach.

Buy the 512GB Space Grey Wi-Fi model here!

AUTHOR BIO

Deep Pathak was born in 2000 in Guwahati, India. Deep ranked 14th all over India in the CITDEE engineering entrance exam in 2019. Deep is an incrementalist and learns by undertaking ambitious self-challenging projects. Criticisms and rejections are his metaphorical shadows and so are his high ambitions and persistent effort. He is a voracious reader and writer of various subjects and has won recognition in international essay competitions; a firm devotee of the enlightenment; and believes in the potential of constructive amalgamation of science and arts to increase the scientific knowledge base and start new areas of research. Culture matters a lot for him and he is the most efficient in a calm and serene environment. Deep wants to light sustainable and the brightest torches of enlightenment: the case for reason, science, humanism, liberty, and progress.