This should be called the bloody big iPad thats bigger than the iPad Air 2 and even bigger than the iPad Mini!
- 9/10
- 769.00
- Buy iPad from Apple
What we love...
- 3/4G Connectivity
- Size and Weight is great
- Screen is awesome
What we don't love...
- Price isn’t much different to MacBook
- Accessories Expensive
- Apple Pencil Optional
I’ve wanted a graphics tablet with a screen in for a long time, having seen them in KRCS in Nottingham and playing with them for a good half an hour. Trying not to notice the ridculous price tag thats attached to them. I have had basic Wacom ones before for various bits and have used them on Adobe Illustrator, but never really got the hang of it.
As previously mentioned, I love small portable devices. I use a Retina Macbook, iPad Mini and an iPhone for my day to day tasks, they are small and light and I can work on the train without taking up too much room. Apple were always saying that the iPad Pro would never be launched, it goes against everything that Steve Job’s ever said, however, they did it…
Build and Design...
This iPad Pro is big but surprisingly not too heavy. Its very thin and does feel delicate yet sturdy at the same time.
The bevels around the screen are quite thin, so its screen feels much bigger than it actually is. This particular model is the gold version with the cellular modem built within, so there is a plastic wedge at the top for the mobile signal to enter.
Its bigger than the Retina Macbook and takes up a nice chunk of my laptop bag but with them both in my bag, it deosn’t feel too heavy.
What can you do with it...
The iPad Pro has a 12.9″ Retina display! Its massive, bloody huge! Yet so clear and crisp! I can see people going out and buying one of these to watch Netflix and BBC iPlayer on them!
From a designers point of view, it maybe a fantastic optional extra. You see Apple have broken the rules and created a stylus for it! Called the Apple Pencil (Separate Review), this works like a piece of cake with the iPad Pro and feels like a pen and not a stylus. I have used the Pencil by 53 a number of times and I hate its rubber end.
You really can’t see where the pixels are on the screen either! Its fantastic, well done Apple.
Operating System and Apps...
Well, its the same iOs Operating system that we are all used to, teamed up with iCloud, Dropbox and a few other apps and you have got work syncing effortless between everything that has the Apple Symbol on it.
There are a few apps that Apple push that are geared towards the iPad Pro, in particular their is Duet – an App that acts as a second screen for your iMac. Astropad – Which turns the iPad Pro into a Graphics Tablet and lots of Adobe App’s that talk nicely with Creative Cloud.
Performance and Speed...
This iPad Pro feels quick, even recent benchmark tests show how quick this piece of kit is! Just a shame that they didn’t put a full or stripped down version of OSX on to it. Photos load up quick, split screen is easy! And Picture in Picture on YouTube and other apps is brilliant.
Camera & Videos...
Not really tested the camera or video capabilities of the iPad! I detest people who use Tablets to take photos when you can pick up a cheap camera from PC World for £50-80 or even better, use your iPhone, the photos on these devices are brilliant! However, I do take that statement back if that person has bad sight!
Battery Life Thru The Day...
Excellent! Couldn’t fault it! Lasted me all day in the office and a few hours on the train, the only thing I would say is that it seems to take ages to charge it back to full!
On Standby, it lasts a good 5 days without a charge. But that is occasional use and push emails turned to fetch.
Would I Buy One...
Certainly would! I do love it and showing off our work on these things is brilliant, although we haven’t quite worked out whether our clients are looking at their new websites or our iPad Pro. We took ours on a Vodafone contract, overall it worked out the same price to have it with a data contract then buy it up front. The benefit to this is that we can also use it when out and about.
Would It Go With Anything Else...
Apple have released a fantastic looking Keyboard Case, with the same butterfly technology as the Retina Macbook, however at this moment in time its available in US layout only. I ordered a Belkin iPad Pro case (reviewed elsewhere) but I hated it. Felt big and bulky.
The Apple Pencil is a must! So good and beats everything else thats out there!
Get some good apps, in particular the ones mentioned above and of course a case for it to save it from scratching. But don’t expect a choice of colours, black or white, thats it! I went for a black case!
Disclaimer...
We are not in anyway affiliated with Apple and this model inparticular was not supplied as a demo unit or a press model. It was simply purchased online by us, reviewed, used for a while and then sold to Mazuma Mobile. But, by clicking on some of the links within this page, may provide us with a commission or a kickback of somekind. Sometimes, the links don’t give us anything, we just want to help!
