Today at its annual iPhone press event, Apple didn't just unveil
two new handsets, but also a
refreshed Apple TV and the long-rumored
iPad Pro.
As the name would suggest (and as leaks already told us), this is a
supersized tablet meant, with a 12.9-inch screen, an optional pen
(excuse me:
Pencil) and a click-in keyboard. Though the pen and some
forthcoming Adobe apps
underscore how this might be useful for creative pros, the split-screen
view and added processing power might also make it a good fit for other
kinds of workers, running the gamut from spreadsheet monkeys to
engineers to people in medical fields. I had a chance today to play with
the new Pro and
its accessories
for a few minutes, and while it's too soon to tell how this stacks up
next to, say, the Microsoft Surface Pro or even a similarly priced
touchscreen laptop, it's definitely not too early to share some first
impressions.
Where to begin? With the hardware, I suppose. It's so obvious
-- the larger screen, the keyboard, the pencil. At the same time, all
of these features would be fairly useless without the apps; without
software designed to help you take advantage of that extra screen real
estate. But I won't get ahead of myself here. Before we talk about what
you can do with a 12.9-inch iPad, or why you might want one, let's take a
brief tour of the hardware. As we've by now established, this is a big
tablet, measuring nearly 13 inches diagonally. All told, it weighs in at
1.57 pounds, roughly the same as the original iPad. I know we tech
bloggers say this a lot in hands-on posts, but it feels lighter than it
looks. That's not to say I'd want to use this much in portrait mode; it
feels a little too top-heavy in-hand. But in landscape, the height is
actually on par with the iPad Air 2's height in portrait mode; it's just
wider. That makes it pretty manageable in horizontal use. And while the
iPad traditionally
has been designed for portrait mode, I suspect is how most iPad Pro-optimized apps were actually meant to be used anyway.
Other than the size, this looks, at first glance, like other iPads
you've seen, with a matte aluminum finish, available in three colors
(silver, space gray and gold), and all the usual buttons and openings --
namely, a volume rocker and Lightning port. What's new here is a
special connector at the bottom designed to accommodate the optional
keyboard, dubbed the Smart Keyboard. Whereas other two-in-one devices
rely on Bluetooth to power their keyboards, this one draws power through
that connector. Similar to other keyboards, too, there's a flap in the
back that folds up to help prop up the tablet when it's docked in.
Unlike other tablet keyboards, though, including the Surface's, it only
holds the tablet at one angle; you can't adjust it. Good thing, then,
that the Retina display has wide viewing angles.
And what of that keyboard? It's really too soon to put down a firm
verdict, but tentatively, I like it. The cloth-covered keys feel nice
beneath the fingers, and help give the illusion of control, despite the
fact that these are otherwise some fairly flat buttons. As a bonus, too,
the cloth covering helps make the keyboard splash-resistant, though an
Apple representative here at the event wouldn't go so far as to call it
water-resistant, much less waterproof. In addition to the textured feel,
I appreciated that the buttons offered at least a modicum of travel --
not unlike the new Macbook,
actually, which also has some deceptively flat keys. It would be
disingenuous to say it's as comfortable as the MacBook Air's keyboard,
but it should do in a pinch, especially if you're using the iPad Pro as a
travel machine; a stand-in for your primary computer.
The Apple Pencil, as it's officially called, has a slightly chubby
feel and a glossy white finish. So it doesn't literally look like a
pencil, but it kind of does feel like one. This is another platitude
you're probably sick of hearing in tech writers' hands-on posts, but
there actually is enough resistance on the display that when you drag
the pencil across it, it feels sort of like writing on paper. I don't
believe anything will ever fully replicate the real thing, but the
friction is definitely there.
The accuracy is as well: The screen never once failed to register my
Pencil presses. Thanks to a variety of sensors in the tip too, you can
tilt the Pencil and the marks on the screen will be different depending
on whether you hold it head-on versus making "shavings" with the side of
the Pencil head. As with other tablets too (again, the Surface), the
pen is pressure-sensitive, so your markings will look different
depending on whether you press hard or drag the Pencil softly. Make no
mistake, there are lots of uses for Apple's so-called 3D Touch screen; I
just don't think pressure-sensitive drawings are particularly
buzzworthy. That said, even if this feature isn't unique, it at least
works well in practice.
Personally, I was more impressed by the forthcoming Office for iPad
app, which adds some optimizations specific to the iPad Pro. Using the
Pencil, you can highlight and markup text, as well as choose from a
range of writing implements. (I guess I really am a sucker for good ol'
yellow highlighters.) In general, iPad Pro apps like Office are at their
best when coupled with the new split-screen mode in iOS 9, which, as we
already suspected, was added to iOS in anticipation of there one day
being a bigger-screened iPad. That split-screen view will come in handy
for not just multitasking, but also copying and pasting elements from
one app to the other.
While some apps will be updated specifically for the iPad Pro, I'm
told that there will not be separate iPad Pro versions of the app.
Meaning, you download the same version for the Pro and Apple's other
tablets, but you can only take advantage of certain features if you have
the pressure-sensitive screen and Apple Pencil. Other apps, such as
Autodesk's AutoCAD, won't be
updated, per se; they'll just run better on the Pro, thanks to the new A9X chip
inside. Unfortunately, although Apple has been forthcoming with
performance claims about its new chip, these few minutes of hands-on
time I had weren't enough to convince me how powerful it is. Yes, video
and games are smooth, but it's too soon to say how the performance
compares to similarly priced devices -- not just the Surface Pro, but
also ultraportable laptops, too.
Indeed, the iPad Pro is about as expensive as a PC, even if it does
look like just an overgrown version of one of Apple's cheaper tablets.
It arrives in November, starting at $799 for a 32GB, WiFi-only model.
From there, you can buy a 128GB version for $949, or an LTE edition
(also with 128GB of storage) for $1,079. The accessories don't come
included either, and they aren't cheap: $99 for the Pencil and $169 for
the keyboard. With Microsoft still not bundling the keyboard with its
base-model Surface, I can't fault Apple
too much for not
throwing in the keyboard, though for the money, it would sure be nice.
If anything, I wish Apple at least included the pen, as Microsoft does
with the Surface. Because without it, you just have a big iPad, without
all the benefits the Pro has to offer.
Source: Engadget
